Hey, all -- have 2 million people ever gathered anywhere else at any other time?

Yes. 3.5 million came to a Rod Stewart concert in Rio.

Yes. 3.5 million came to a Rod Stewart concert in Rio.

so much for the whole 'wisdom of crowds' theory.

I hope he had the wisdom not to sing "Do You Think I'm Sexy"

Val Kilmer running for Governor, eh? If he supported Nader over Gore, he better run on the Green Party ticket. Even with the Chimperor gone back to Texass, Dems are still pissed at Nader for helping create the mess of the last eight years.

Nader over Obama? In 2008? Ash heap of history, meet Mr. Kilmer.

Yeah, Danp, @12:07. But, in Rio, it wasn't cold enough to freeze the balls off a brass monkey. No sacrifice, no honour :)

BTW... Does anyone know how long it takes for politically-induced euphoria to run its course? It's only been 24hrs and I'm already quite exhausted from all those little thrills that I get every time I hear "President Obama", "first lady" applied to Michelle Obama and "former administration" applied to the shrubbery.

According to Wiki, over 45 days 70 million attended a festival in India. On a single day(April 5, 2004) in India, 30 million attended a festival.

Note to NM dems from a MN dem, celebrity candidates are not worth the trouble, find someone else.

Franken in the Senate would be fun and he's smart too (not "just a comedian") but I want his win fair and square. How true, the claim that some ballots were double counted for him (not even implying on purpose, just were they?)

As for the Oath "controversy" (groan):
I still haven't gotten the definitive scoop on the claim that Obama (like predecessors) signed a written document before the spoken oath. Well I still haven't seen formal confirming evidence of many commenters' claim that PE signs a written Oath first, which makes it a valid transfer regardless. Wikipedia does not mention the written version, and Google was not conclusive. That bothers me.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oath_of_office_of_the_President_of_the_United_States

Forget whether this really matters. I would just like to know, for rebuttal as needed, so I could make tee shirts of the signature etc: did Obama really sign the Oath and how can we find out and see it? tx

Rachel, WRONG! (Though I supported official Green nominee McKinney, not Nader.)

New Mexico has one of the stronger Green Party movements in the country, and has run candidates as high as the Congressional level, with double-digit support.

If Val Kilmer decided to run as a Green, depending on the Democratic nominee, he would still have a serious chance.

Sarah Barracuda, also wrong. Nader didn't create that mess. Theresa Poore did.

Neil B, and all:

Several points regarding the oath of office.

1. The Constitution, of course, doesn't have "so help me God" specified. (Of course, village idiot atheist Michael Newdow was suing the wrong person in Roberts rather than going after Obama.)

That said, the Constitution specifies very little.

2. It does NOT say a Bible needs to be used (LBJ, Nov. 22, 1963, used a missal).

3. It doesn't say someone from SCOTUS must give the oath. LBJ used a federal district judge; Coolidge used a JP when Harding died.

4. It doesn't even specify a judge, or even another person at all to administer the oath.

As far as I can tell, Obama simply signing a written oath, or else speaking the words himself at the start of his Inaugural Address, would pass constitutional muster.

Thanks SG but my question was, *did* Obama really sign a written Oath?

BTW what's the latest on "Tripp" the magical mystery baby? Has anyone credible seen him or pictures yet? Heh, as I remind readers too often I was first in the whole World to call the Gov's digs and offer my congrats via a naive young secretary who didn't even know about it. Don't let the latest Constitutional Crisis take our minds off the ball ... ;-)

so much for the whole 'wisdom of crowds' theory.

So much for the whole "Brasilians are cool" theory.

Per the updated Wiki article, and my reference above to Newdow's suit, I DO like that Roberts put the "so help YOU God?" as a question, rather than a declarative. If he's going to be a strict constructionalist, maybe he'll at least be a more consistent and logical one than Scalia.

Neil, I've been a regular blogger on Sarah, Trig, Bristol and Tripp, all. Still haven't heard about the pix that People allegedly paid so much for, or any others. (I don't KNOW that Trig's mom isn't Sarah, but I've still seen nothing on her end to end the controversy, and I honestly remain skeptical, and consider reasonable possibilities.)

In all the kerfuffle over Obama's oath, one small thing has gone unremarked upon.

Roberts started by saying "Are you ready to take the oath, Senator"? The thing is, as of 12:00pm, Obama was President. Surely Roberts, a constitutional scholar, would be aware of that, right?

Sure, it's a small thing, but one I thought worth mentioning since no-one else had.

Neil, re Obama signing a written oath; I don't know. I was speaking on the hypothetical side, that such a document would "cover" him, of course; Jonathan Turley is suggesting today (without talking about any knowledge he has of a written oath) that Obama should be (re)sworn, just in case the wingers go bat-shit crazy.

I think it's safe to assume that the "they" that asked Kilmer to run were the Lizard People.

Raff: See the Wiki link provided above. Roberts, IMO, was taking the view that he was "senator" until administration of the oath. Also, re my other comment about the "so help me," other than flubbing the early part of the oath, I thought Roberts otherwise did well, and brought a certain style to the occasion.

Hey, I can't be first with this title but: Call Obama's becoming President an "Onaugural" and say that just has its own logic.

"Much has been made of Michael's communication skills. But there is a lot more to the story with Michael. While he is a great communicator, his first love has always been rooted in grassroots organizational politics. It seems to me that the Party must have someone who can effectively communicate a message"- Sean Hannity

In other words:
Steele is black, he has grassroots organizational skill, is a great communicator, and therefore he's the perfect Republican to mimic Democratic success.

Sean Hannity's brain must be the size of a pea.

Gadfly,

Thanks for the wiki link. It raised more questions than it answered regarding the oath/12:00pm debate (my take-away is that at Jan/20,12:00pm, the President Elect is technically President, but cannot execute the duties of his office before taking the oath).

But as for Roberts referring to Obama as 'Senator' rather than 'Mr. President', it seems he was simply following a 75 year-old tradition. I had the wrong end of the stick on that one. My previous assumption is cheerfully withdrawn.