A slip of Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich’s (D) tongue has liberal bloggers wondering if Rep. Danny Davis (D-Ill.) will replace President-elect Barack Obama in the Senate, while others are surprised that a former critic of Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.) has found a position in Obama’s transition team.
Blagojevich may have revealed his pick for Illinois’s next senator on Thursday, Firedoglake’s Teddy Partridge suggests after Blagojevich referred to Davis as “senator” while addressing reporters at a Thanksgiving event. Blagojevich’s slip might not mean anything, MyDD’s Jonathan Singer suggests, but the blogger says Davis could mean a friendly Senate vote for progressives if he is tapped.
It is ironic that former Obama campaign adviser Samantha Power has taken on a role in the Obama’s State Department transition operation, given that she resigned from Obama’s campaign after calling Clinton a “monster,” writes RedState’s Pejman Yousefzadeh. With Clinton reportedly offered a job as secretary of state, Kevin Drum says Clinton would do well to promote Power to a meaningful position in a show of unity.
And after The Washington Post today called for Rep. Charles Rangel (D-N.Y.) to step down as chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, Townhall.com’s Amanda Carpenter points out that pressure is mounting on Rangel to relinquish his gavel following a wave of ethical scandals for the longtime congressman. Cable news stations have not given that pressure much play, Carpenter says, though Instapundit‘s Glenn Reynolds notes that both the Post and the Albany Times-Union have called for Rangel’s committee ouster since news that he helped preserve a tax loophole for a donor to the City College of New York center bearing his name.
FROM THE BLOGS:
OTHER NEWS SOURCES:
Trade Deals Will Face More Critics in Congress – Wall Street Journal
U.S. ‘Not Getting What We Pay For’ – Washington Post
Liberal Groups Feel Welcome Again in Washington – LA Times