Blogging the Countdown
Salesman in Chief:
The author of the guest Op-Ed in today's Washington Post warned of disastrous consequences if Congress does not pass the Stimulus. Only his first and last names were given in the by-line. At the article's conclusion, his job is referenced. Quote: "The writer... is president of the United States." Our fifth story tonight: "If nothing is done," the part-President part writer opines, "Our nation will sink deeper into a crisis that, at some point, we may not be able to reverse." CONTINUED >>
David Shuster in for KO tonight...
Vet to the Point: When Senator Tom Daschle redd the newspaper this morning... he said he knew it was over. As he told our own Andrea Mitchell, in a brief and emotional telephone conversation, quote: "I redd the New York Times. I can't pass health care if it's too much of a distraction... so I called the president this morning." Our fifth story on the Countdown: Daschle withdrew his nomination as President Obama's Secretary of Health and Human Services. And he wasn't the only member of the administration to quit today over tax problems.
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Shame That Tune:
The men of the past were called Robber Barons... The ones who dreamt of cornering the Gold Market, or monopolizing silver, or even of paying 450 million in bonuses to 400 people who caused a company to collapse -- that last example coming from the ancient history that was... yesterday. But in our fifth story tonight, financial treason so injurious to the nation that it makes a beggar out of language, and an angry President out of a heretofore almost imperturbable new chief. 18 billion in bonuses for Wall Street last year... the year you and I gave Wall Street...billions more... as bail-outs. CONTINUED >>
Economy by Partisanship:
It is Lucy pulling away the football she has held for Charlie Brown. As she always has. As she always will, in perpetuity. The Republicans who have pushed to strip decades of regulations that had protected the economy from -- from, well, this... Have, now, in our fifth story on the Countdown, reneged on promised bi-partisan support for the Stimulus Package, and offered instead... more George Bush tax cuts, which they had promised would protect the economy from -- from, well, this. CONTINUED >>
Everything Must Go:
Having spent his first full day in office enacting orders to make his administration open and transparant... President Obama, spending this, his second full day, starting to reclaim America's moral high ground. Our fifth story on the Countdown: The President, signing an order to close the prison at Guantanamo Bay Cuba... by one year from today. CONTINUED >>
Almost Here: Inheriting a nation at war on two fronts...as well as a financial crisis. At least one stimulus plan already seeming to have been put into action... even before Mister Obama takes the oath of office at Noon tomorrow on the steps of the Capitol behind me: Our fifth story on the Countdown: For all the grim reality, it is as if a grimmer one still has been removed, exorcised... As if a storm has broken, and for whatever the devastation, now, at long last, the clean-up and the repair, can finally begin.
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America's Torture Scars:
And virtually everything Mr. Obama must undo starting next Tuesday, President Bush did... in the name of 9/11. We had to shred the Constitution, for 9/11. We had to become torturers, for 9/11... to prevent another one... to ensure justice for those behind 9/11 itself. And tonight, in our fifth story, on the eve of Mr. Bush's last fevered attempt at legacy re-writing, tonight we know for sure not only that Mr. Bush's decision to torture merited that word -- we know it now from a Bush official... But we also know that it has denied this nation, the victims of 9/11, and their loved ones... the chance to see some justice done... for that awful day. CONTINUED >>
You're Welcome, America:
The ranking Republican on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee today calling Senator Hillary Clinton, quote: "the epitome of a big leaguer"...Making reference to working with her "when she is secretary of state"...Adding that "her qualifications for the post are remarkable."Our fifth story on the Countdown: Since her fitness for the job is not and never was the question...Congressional Republicans today dredging up their most memorable accomplishment of the 1990's. Pointlessly beating up on her husband. CONTINUED >>
Closing Argument:
He ranged from reminding the viewer of the angriest of Richard Nixon's news conferences... to recalling Hillary Clinton choking up with emotion at a diner in New Hampshire... to finally, ultimately, sounding like the buzzed guy at the bar running the gamut of emotions from regret, to buying a round for the place, to challenging everybody there to a fight. Our fifth story on the Countdown: at least there was this to say about the final news conference of George W. Bush, as President...Nobody threw a shoe at him this time. CONTINUED >>
War Crime and Misdemeanors:
The trouble with running as a change candidate...With presenting your candidacy as a vessel to wipe clean the abuses of the previous administration...Is that -- upon taking office -- people are going to be expecting change... substantial change... with the urgency of now. Our fifth story on the Countdown: On the one hand, President-elect Obama again promising today that his administration will not torture... On the other... picking as his top adviser on counter-terrorism... a CIA veteran under fire for his past statements about... torture. CONTINUED >>
