Don't worry Steve. Dick Morris is bound to sink even lower.

I'm not sure if there's any real point to polling voters on Obama's transition, but for what it's worth, 67% approve of the president-elect's efforts thus far.

He's had a great run in Assmussen's index (+21 today).

And I think it IS instructive. It's about expectations and impressions of his leadership before he even governs. Not a bad benchmark, and when they keep track of Bush's numbers it provides a stark contrast.

More importantly, in the current environment, transition is as important as the current administration's "efforts" and bodes well for actual governance. He's moving fast to hit the ground running in January, which is way more critical now than in 2001 or 1993.

We've got the lamest duck of all in charge right now, but he's pretty much abdicated so keeping tabs on Obama is more important. Consider his presidency as having started on 11/5...

Looks like Biden's replacement was picked.

Edward "Ted" Kaufman, a former aide to Sen. Joe Biden, was named Monday by Delaware Gov. Ruth Ann Minner to fill the Senate seat Biden is leaving for the vice presidency.

As I said in an earlier post, this will be the LONGEST 60 ( now what--58?) days ever...

Times are very rough and I can see businesses around my neighborhood closing up and offering "specials" to draw folks in. I had to return something the other day, and I might as well have been the devil incarnate with my return in hand.

I've been pulling out my old Joan Baez and Bob Dylan and Paul Simon and Pete Seeger and Peter Paul and Mary and Holy Near and ...well you get the idea--and ya know what's most alarming?

It all fits--some of it, like a glove.

From the Virgil Goode link, speaking about Virginia statewide elections: Jean Cunningham, board chairwoman, said heavy voter turnout did not cause any big problems, largely because so many Virginians voted early.

Interesting, since VA required early voters to show cause.

With a Parriello victory in VA and a probable Kilroy win in OH, plus perhaps one of two in Louisiana runoffs, that would make 258 Dems in the House compared with 233 this year and 202 in 2006. Only fifty more needed to reach the center of the political spectrum.

I notice that when Congress asked the Big Three CEOs if they'd be willing to work for $1 per year as Lee Iaccoca did when Chrysler was previously bailed out only Chysler's CEO said he would.

I wonder if this is because he'd look like a chump after Iaccoca did it, or if it's because Chrysler is privately-owned and he could be fired if he didn't.

As publicly owned companies are generally run by their managers and management-captive boards, .in no way except stock price responsible to the owners of the company, there is no way for the CEOs of GM or Ford to be fired

It's comical really. Dick Morris has been fulminating ever since Bill Clinton fired him over the "toe sucking" incident with the prostitute. What a loser. And naturally, he works for Fix Network. What a total idiot.

"GM's CEO got the message about traveling to Washington in a private jet."

Cosmetics.

EFCA ludicracy ...

It's just so malicious and deceitful the attempt to pass the EFCA.

First of all, many rational workers would immediately recognize that unions turn the workplace into a stultified seniority based promotion system that utterly thwarts meritocracy and undermines productivity. In addition, unions take wages; whether they provide benefits accordingly is for workers to decide. Moreover, the union takes wages and donates to the Democratic Party ... er, uh, it's OK if some workers are Republican and would not want that, right?

But in the end, the article is absurd; if there are problems, pass laws to address those problems rather than the absurdly off-target law that remooves the secret ballot which clearly, on it's own, is coercive toward union formation.

Democrats who support this are a disgrace and do so merely to augment the political prospects of the Democratic Party at the expense of workers; just as they do at the expense of school children in their subservience to education unions.

TOH

"I'm not sure if there's any real point to polling voters on Obama's transition, but for what it's worth, 67% approve of the president-elect's efforts thus far." It's the same brain-dead one-third of our population that is dragging us down. How can anyone disapprove of what Obama has done so far? I've even heard Republican pundits on Fox praising his decisions and public appearances. He's going to be a real president, not some lazy fraud hiding his ignorance from us.

On another note, it's a pretty sick system that judges the economy every single day on the performance of the world's largest gambling casino - the stock market. The problem is, of course, that it's both funny money and real money at the same time. Funny money, because there's no investing going on, no tangible effect on the real economy, but wealth and leverage are nevertheless based on market values, funny money, which find their way into the pool of real money.

On a final note, I wonder why the crowd of speculators who jacked up the price of oil to nearly $150 a barrel aren't clamoring for their share of the bailout dough, now that oil has sunk 67% to under $50 a barrel (yeah, I know, it rallied to nearly $55 today). Now there was real funny money, but which in our naivete, we call "supply and demand" money, a convenient term we use to describe what goes on in capital markets because we don't like to admit it's gambling, because it makes us look stupid for having such a ridiculous system that plays such havoc with our lives.

I really didn't think Dick Morris couldn't get any lower. I stand corrected. = I really did think Dick Morris could get lower. I stand corrected.

He didn't go lower?

What's the point of the post, then?

Ah, double negatives ARE a tricky thing...

* GM's CEO got the message about traveling to Washington in a private jet. -- Steve Benen

That's because they haven't got their handout yet. Those who had -- Wall Street -- aren't changing their expensive habits one bit:

http://thinkprogress.org/2008/11/24/sports-sponsorships/

Anyway, giving up two out of eight is hardly a hardship; when they bicycle up to the Hill with their tin cups, in the middle of January, I'll take their retrenching more seriously.
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Looks like Biden's replacement was picked. -- doubtful, @ 17:49

That one is fascinating, especially since Biden has not yet resigned his seat (unlike Obama). A part of the general speculation about why (he hasn't) is that he's going to postpone resigning until Jan 6, when the change of guard happens and newly elected Governor takes office (and will have the task of appointing the "seat filler". This looks like Minner might have jumped the gun a bit, possibly to preempt the new Gov; I understand there's not much love lost between the two.

Even a member of the Mafia has more class than Dick Morris. And is more trustworthy.

It's the same brain-dead one-third of our population that is dragging us down. How can anyone disapprove of what Obama has done so far? -- hark, @19:31

Are you calling our Xanthippe (aka Socratic Gadfly) "brain dead"? It's been doing nothing but nag, nag, nag (thus justifying its Xanthippian connection to both Socrates *and* horse flies), about *every* Obama pick, at least once a day (and twice on Sundays)...

thank you, exlibra, for your observations. you have said it so much better than i ever could have

This, from http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg20026786.000-special-report-how-our-economy-is-killing-the-earth.html, is a chilling look at what's wrong with the very idea of how modern economies work. The loss of "natural capital" is worse than the financial losses. I wonder if Obama is really committed to sustainability, or to Clintonesque accomodationism.

When Rachel Maddow leaves a caption there:

OBAMA NOT LILELY TO LAUNCH NEW PROBES OVER.....

well...anything..it admittedly makes me feel VERY ill at ease.

Corporate jets have been de rigueur for any company that is anybody in the corporate world since the '80s. Even local banks have them. A non-issue hyped by those who would punish people employed by unions.

Should read through unions.

At least they were used for business. One wonders how the Wall St. moguls got to their spas and 'retreats" after their bailouts.