This is stupid. She has a great chance to take Brownback’s senate seat in ’10 but no way she can run from HHS.
Dean is the best choice. "Bi" partisanship means 2 parties, or sides, and their are damned few liberals in Obama’s cabinet. I don’t care who is pissed at Dean, he is the most qualified person for that post.
2.
Zifnab
Seriously. IRS needs to audit every last statewide office holder, Congressperson, and ranking bureaucrat for the last 8 years. I absolutely refuse to believe that Republicans have a better record paying their taxes than Democrats. Completely disbelieve. Just say’n.
3.
Bootlegger
@Zifnab: The Dems are not being caught by audits, they are self-reporting the problems which is something an R will never do.
You are right. The Dems are "eating their seed corn" by taking too many qualified office holders out of the field and putting them in the administration.
5.
JL
But Sarah had to pay back taxes and she is still considered a role model by those on the right.
6.
Tom65
So we’re willing to give up a likely Senate pick-up to fill a cabinet position? Damn, Rahm must really hate Howard Dean.
7.
MattF
I think Dems generally understand that Obama has to succeed– this means that the big jobs have to go to the smartest and most qualified people. If reform of the current health care ‘system’ in the country actually happens and succeeds, Sibelius can claim any job she wants.
8.
Walker
You are right. The Dems are "eating their seed corn" by taking too many qualified office holders out of the field and putting them in the administration
The reason why Kansas did not go through a (smaller) version of California’s budget impasse was because of her work with the legislature. Pulling her out of that state right now is crazy. Do we want Kansas going back to being red?
9.
Damned at Random
Bootlegger – Agreed. I was looking forward to seeing Gov Sebelius take down Senator Bareback. Guess I’ll have to get my entertainment from WWF instead.
10.
Bootlegger
@MattF: Sure, but Dean is the smartest and most qualified person for HHS.
11.
blahblahblah
Boy, he must really hate Howard Dean.
12.
Brian J
This is stupid. She has a great chance to take Brownback’s senate seat in ‘10 but no way she can run from HHS.
As I’ve noted many times before, the Democrats have what looks like a pretty decent chance to get to 67 Senate seats, or very close to it, even before you look at states like Kansas. We have New Hampshire, Pennsylvania, North Carolina, Ohio, Florida, Missouri, and Kentucky, for starters. Let’s just assume that Kansas would be a long shot for a bunch of reasons. That still leaves places like Georgia, Texas, and Iowa, among many others, even if they get harder as the list gets bigger. But let’s also assume that Sebelius becomes the head of HHS and health care reform is passed, even if it doesn’t happen this year. Wouldn’t that be worth a Senate seat? Leaving aside issues of fairness or economics, it’s bound to be a political goldmine for any Democrat involved. Hell, I could see Sebelius running for the nomination in 2016 and winning it if she helped passed health care reform, even though she’d be fairly old at the time.
Both issues are relevant to HHS so I assume that they’ll account for most of the stupid questions. It’s actually nice to have these sorts of distracting-but-ultimately-not-gamebreaking issues around; if Daschle had a few irrelevant microcontroversies the tax thing might not have even come up.
@Bootlegger: She can totally run as HHS secretary. She’s got KS name recognition in spades (so she doesn’t have to be in state to campaign as early and as often) and successfully ushering in universal healthcare will be a net positive in KS, I think. It probably takes some of the libertarian-ish fence-sitters out of her camp who’ve been brainwashed by Larry Kudlow, but it’ll widen her coalition in other ways. This increases the probability that the GOP will primary a ultraconservative nutjob to oppose her who will go around calling her a socialist baby killer (the two leading candidates at the moment fit that bill) — this works in her favor.
16.
Bootlegger
@Brian J: All of those are maybes, while K would be a high percentage roll. Also Dean is the most qualified and the health care fight will be brutal, whoever leads the charge will have gore all over them by the end of the battle. Even if they win, it won’t be pretty and I’m not convinced it will parlay into anything bigger. We need our best fighter for this, someone who doesn’t have future aspirations who will go to the ground and gouge some eyes if need be.
17.
Gus
Given Kansas’ current fiscal crisis, she’s smart to jump ship.
18.
Brian J
Boy, he must really hate Howard Dean.
Or it could be that, for whatever reason, Dean wouldn’t necessarily be the best salesman for whatever package Obama presents to congress and the public because of his past as the DNC chairman and because of the Dean Scream. The latter simply baffles me, because it’s not like he stripped off his clothes and did a stage dive at that rally; he just yelled to get his supporters in a positive mood. The former makes more sense, because it’s an overtly political position. This doesn’t mean he’d do a bad job or act in an unprofessional manner, just that he already has a public persona that unfortunately lends itself to easy stereotypes from idiots on the right.
I don’t think anyone can say the same about Sebelius. In fact, people seem to be saying the opposite.
19.
Punchy
Great Gov here in the sticks. She’s been the only brakepedal on so many wingnut KS Leggy bills/proposals that I’ve lost count. Fought like hell against adding several ginormous coal plants (read: huge polluters).
Everyone outside of KC and Lawrence will applaud this decision, as it means she’s out as that roadblock. But the rest of us lefties dont like the O poaching our token red-state Dems.
20.
gil mann
Rahm must really hate Howard Dean
He’ll never forgive Dean for undermining his 20-state strategy.
21.
Just Some Fuckhead
Ms. Sebelius’s family and her administration have both been notably bipartisan. Her father was a Democratic governor of Ohio and her father-in-law was a longtime Republican member of Congress from Kansas. She won her first term with a former Republican businessman as her running mate and a second term with the former Republican state party chairman on her ticket.
Broder ejaculated.
22.
Martin
Sure, but Dean is the smartest and most qualified person for HHS.
And the GOP hate him almost as much as they hate Hillary. That’s the challenge with Dean – he’d be a great HHS, but he’d get nowhere – he’d be stonewalled unless Obama and the Dems are willing to carry every health proposal on their own – and they’d be battling somewhat with Dean on the inside as well. Now, that can all be done, but it takes time away from other things, and there are plenty of other things that also need to be done.
I’m mixed on Dean for that reason. Dean deserves a shitload of credit for getting Obama and Dems elected, but he burned bridges doing it. Doesn’t stop them from putting Dean in as an advisor to Obama though.
And the GOP hate him almost as much as they hate Hillary. That’s the challenge with Dean – he’d be a great HHS, but he’d get nowhere – he’d be stonewalled unless Obama and the Dems are willing to carry every health proposal on their own – and they’d be battling somewhat with Dean on the inside as well. Now, that can all be done, but it takes time away from other things, and there are plenty of other things that also need to be done.
Seconded. Just look at Hilda Solis and the Employee Free Choice Act. She’s been in limbo for months over it.
26.
David Hunt
Seriously. IRS needs to audit every last statewide office holder, Congressperson, and ranking bureaucrat for the last 8 years.
Absent actual evidence of deliberate fraud or outright failure to file their taxes at all. The most that the IRS can go back is three years. That’s why Geitner(sp?) still had that 34K that was unpaid from old years. When he/IRS found out about the error, the year statute of limitations had already run out on some of the returns. No sane accountant would have told him to pay the money from the prior returns. The only reason he paid the IRS back for the old balance was PR. I don’t think the IRS would have even accepted the money if he hadn’t been a public figure making a political gesture.
27.
Tsulagi
Geez, you already have this one tagged “Democratic Stupidity”? Where’s the faith? I’m guessing by this time the tax question is near the top of their vetting form.
For a little comedy, of course RedState proclaims the Virgin Sarah’s tax faux pas entirely different from those scumdog Dems. If anything, she’s been victimized by gotcha tax code and an overly aggressive IRS. No way she could have predicted that sitting at home yet billing and collecting traveling per diem 312 times from the state could be construed as income by IRS. The comments are good too.
28.
Bootlegger
@Zifnab: But what’s the alternative to "battling"? Caving in? The R’s already proved they won’t go willingly and we need a pitbull for this fight. Dean can have coffee with ’em and ask for ideas, do all the nice play that O wants to see, but in the end it will take a scrapper to get ‘r done.
29.
Stooleo
That’s the challenge with Dean – he’d be a great HHS, but he’d get nowhere – he’d be stonewalled unless Obama and the Dems are willing to carry every health proposal on their own
These fuckers are going to stonewall whoever it is. Obama could appoint the reanimated corpse of Ronald Reagan and these shit dicks would still be saying no.
30.
kay
I agree with Howard Dean on a lot. I know he expanded health care in Vermont. I know he’s a physician.
However. I watched a debate on C-SPAN between Howard Dean and a conservative lawyer on the Patriot Act and it was cringe-worthy. Dean was completely unprepared. He got creamed. He conflated the Patriot Act with other related law again and again, and he continued to do it after it was pointed out to him. He sucked. He got flustered and angry because he knew he sucked. It was a train wreck, and I AGREE with him on the Patriot Act.
If he’s supposed to sell complicated health care legislation, I’m worried.
It was one debate. Maybe I got him on a bad day.
31.
MikeJ
I’m impressed by how many people here know that Rahm was actually responsible for this decision and everything that went into his thing.
I don’t know what made me laugh more, the usage of the term "shit dick" (given the likes of Larry Craig et al it seems very fitting) or the idea that the Republicans are so bent on obstruction that they’d go against St Reagan if he were in the position. That said, I have no reason to not agree with you that their only objective right now is to sit and pout and try to not get anything through.
33.
tomjones
@Bootlegger: What makes you think Gov. Sebelius isn’t liberal?
She’s a better choice than the Governor of Tennessee, who would be a nightmare.
35.
tomjones
@MikeJ: Because of Dean’s awesomeness!!!!, the only explanation for him being passed over for a job we’re not even sure he wanted must be…the villainous Rahm. Or an even vaster conspiracy.
36.
Zifnab
@Bootlegger: At the moment, we’re looking at a Senate that still leans very conservative. Despite having a 58 vote majority, we’ve got a lot of Dems – Nelson, Bayh, Fienstein – that could revolt in the face of health care reform. We ultimately need a Dem that can work with conservative politicians and still win a progressive solution.
Now there’s a question of whether a softballer like Daschele or Sebilius could get the job done any better than a hardballer like Dean. Perhaps the Senate really does need some tough love. But HHS needs more than just talent in administration. It needs someone that can pull strings and twist arms among conservatives. I don’t know if Dean’s got that kind of pull.
37.
headpan
Dean deserves a shitload of credit for getting Obama and Dems elected, but he burned bridges doing it.
I haven’t seen any evidence of bridge-burning on Dean’s end. If anything, it’s been the other way around. That said, you’re not going to hear that from Dean, either. He’s been impeccably loyal to the party and dedicated to getting more Dems in office – and he accomplished just that. So I’m not really sure what you are talking about.
38.
Bootlegger
@tomjones: Just what I hear from liberals in Kansas. Perhaps it is more accurate to say not as liberal as Dean, but whatever.
@Zifnab: Maybe, maybe not. But I think the "unknowns" are enough that you go with the guy with real health care experience and real state-level experience where any health care changes will be implemented. I’m not saying K would be bad, just that Dean would be better IMO.
39.
headpan
I mean, look, as far as Dean is concerned, it has been obvious for some time that establishment Dems want nothing to do with him, despite the fact that he helped them so much. They wouldn’t touch him with a ten-foot pole. A sad truth, but that’s how they roll, apparently. And we are definitely dealing with establishment Dems here. The fact that Sebelius is being "praised" for bipartisanship says it all. I just don’t understand how this ‘bipartisanshit’ business will get us anywhere when the other side wants us to fail and fail miserably and have made absolutely no bones about the fact that they do. They want us to fail so badly, they’re willing to take the entire country down with them. So, they’re like, um, crazy – you don’t really want to be making deals with these people, do ya?
40.
Tom65
@Stooleo: That’s the real problem here. If Reid would just sack up and not try to get a quorum on every fucking vote, it wouldn’t matter that the GOP hates "X".
Isn’t anybody else disturbed that Barack Obama is appointing an El Greco painting to his cabinet?
Anyhow, my choice among the rumored short-listers was DeLauro. She’s a progressive, qualified, wouldn’t have the potential drawbacks that many would ascribe to Dean, and wouldn’t throw away a chance at Brownback’s senate seat.
But Sebelius isn’t a bad pick by any means. A damn site better than Phil Bredesen.
42.
Cain
It’s going to be a delicious couple of months. If you see the front page of teh Huffingtonpost, we see that UBS is going to release the names of everyone whose got offshore accounts and also closing them. We’re going to see all kinds of fun, fun stuff. The right is going to go bonkers switching between defending the right and crying foul on the left. You can bet their already sharpening their knives to see if Soros is on that UBS list. :-)
Keerist. Just get over it and fucking pick Dean already.
47.
Cain
@Cain: I saw that. Maybe they can recoup some of the Madoff money. It will be interesting to see which corporate heads have money in Swiss Banks.
It’ll be hard to say that the rich is getting over taxed if they got offshore tax havens. Hopefully Sebelius doesn’t have any…… It’s almost like we’re getting these things to finally clear the air. It’s a sign…
Obama could appoint the reanimated corpse of Ronald Reagan and these shit dicks would still be saying no.
Lewis Black once joked about how re-electing the corpse of Ronald Reagan would scare the rest of the world into not messing with those crazy Americans.
So, Reagan/Palin 2012 ?
50.
Stuck
Dean is a true maverick and a genuine outside the box thinker. It is why so many of us love him, and establishment dems fear and/or loathe him. He threatens their one dimensional mindset, though many reluctantly now see him as a kind of rebel genius. It is grudging respect and I’m guessing that Obama does like him, but is wary of his past tendency to be outspoken and say things, though true, maybe better said privately, or more tactfully in public.
I think Dean has realized this himself and isn’t quite as shoot-from -the hip as he once was, so maybe Obama will give him the job. It’s Dean’s and our misfortunes however, that the job will require massive ass kissing to the prima donas in Congress. And that just isn’t his style.
51.
TheLorax
I second, third,.. echo everyone else that has mentioned it. Taking her out of Kansas is just. plain. st00pid.
Really.
52.
Jim
Let the people of Kansas join those of us in Arizona who have lost the modest protection a moderate Democrat provided against a Wingnut infested legislature. If the nutters in Kansas are anything like those in Arizona, watch out KU and KSU, you’re about to be reduced to community college standards.
53.
Bootlegger
@Jim: Whoa. What happened to higher ed out there?
PhD, University of Arizona 2001
54.
gil mann
I mean, look, as far as Dean is concerned, it has been obvious for some time that establishment Dems want nothing to do with him, despite the fact that he helped them so much
Helped them? Are you kidding? Minority party incumbents have the plushest job in the world. Thanks to Dean, they have to actually work now.
(No, I don’t actually believe this explains their antipathy, but I haven’t heard an explanation that makes more sense)
55.
anonevent
Does anyone know if Dean has any back taxes he owes?
56.
Jim
Bootlegger: This is what is happening. Those cuts were viewed as a big concession to the universities. As you may know, the U of A is a big part of Tucson’s economy, and probably the biggest attraction for bigger companies doing business here. Gutting the universities is so shortsighted by the legislature.
57.
bartkid
>I absolutely refuse to believe that Republicans have a better record paying their taxes than Democrats.
No.
They just have better oppo research.
>he’d be a great HHS, but he’d get nowhere
No.
This is where he would get:
-New Hampshire
-South Carolina and Oklahoma and Arizona and North Dakota and New Mexico
-California and Texas and New York
-South Dakota and Oregon and Washington and Michigan, and then
-Washington, D.C., to take back the White House! Yeah!!1!
Sorry, but Sebelius is better at HHS. No way is this sorry state electing a Dem. senator–the only reason she’s governor (and I’ll miss her in that slot big time) is that the rethugs have been conducting a major purge of evil moderates; but that schism doesn’t seem to impact national races. She can’t do a speech for a damn, but she’s bright, organizes well and has a political pedigree that bridges the Midwest.
59.
Cyrus
Pulling her out of that state right now is crazy. Do we want Kansas going back to being red?
Well, isn’t it the conventional wisdom these days that all governors’ approval ratings are going to go down the tubes in the next year or two because of budget crunches? If so, Governor Sibelius may be more likely than any other Democrat to win a Senate race while still being very unlikely.
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Bootlegger
This is stupid. She has a great chance to take Brownback’s senate seat in ’10 but no way she can run from HHS.
Dean is the best choice. "Bi" partisanship means 2 parties, or sides, and their are damned few liberals in Obama’s cabinet. I don’t care who is pissed at Dean, he is the most qualified person for that post.
Zifnab
Seriously. IRS needs to audit every last statewide office holder, Congressperson, and ranking bureaucrat for the last 8 years. I absolutely refuse to believe that Republicans have a better record paying their taxes than Democrats. Completely disbelieve. Just say’n.
Bootlegger
@Zifnab: The Dems are not being caught by audits, they are self-reporting the problems which is something an R will never do.
Napoleon
@Bootlegger:
You are right. The Dems are "eating their seed corn" by taking too many qualified office holders out of the field and putting them in the administration.
JL
But Sarah had to pay back taxes and she is still considered a role model by those on the right.
Tom65
So we’re willing to give up a likely Senate pick-up to fill a cabinet position? Damn, Rahm must really hate Howard Dean.
MattF
I think Dems generally understand that Obama has to succeed– this means that the big jobs have to go to the smartest and most qualified people. If reform of the current health care ‘system’ in the country actually happens and succeeds, Sibelius can claim any job she wants.
Walker
The reason why Kansas did not go through a (smaller) version of California’s budget impasse was because of her work with the legislature. Pulling her out of that state right now is crazy. Do we want Kansas going back to being red?
Damned at Random
Bootlegger – Agreed. I was looking forward to seeing Gov Sebelius take down Senator Bareback. Guess I’ll have to get my entertainment from WWF instead.
Bootlegger
@MattF: Sure, but Dean is the smartest and most qualified person for HHS.
blahblahblah
Boy, he must really hate Howard Dean.
Brian J
As I’ve noted many times before, the Democrats have what looks like a pretty decent chance to get to 67 Senate seats, or very close to it, even before you look at states like Kansas. We have New Hampshire, Pennsylvania, North Carolina, Ohio, Florida, Missouri, and Kentucky, for starters. Let’s just assume that Kansas would be a long shot for a bunch of reasons. That still leaves places like Georgia, Texas, and Iowa, among many others, even if they get harder as the list gets bigger. But let’s also assume that Sebelius becomes the head of HHS and health care reform is passed, even if it doesn’t happen this year. Wouldn’t that be worth a Senate seat? Leaving aside issues of fairness or economics, it’s bound to be a political goldmine for any Democrat involved. Hell, I could see Sebelius running for the nomination in 2016 and winning it if she helped passed health care reform, even though she’d be fairly old at the time.
Bougie Applebum
I second that emotion…I hope she’s paid her taxes. BUT
If she hasn’t paid her taxes or is running an underage sweatshop in her basement, she needs to let us know NOW!
Zach
No financial issues that I’m aware of; just the usual confirmation fodder. She’ll be attacked from the right for her role in covering up underage abortions and she’ll be attacked from the left because her son makes and sells a tasteless boardgame about prison rape.
Both issues are relevant to HHS so I assume that they’ll account for most of the stupid questions. It’s actually nice to have these sorts of distracting-but-ultimately-not-gamebreaking issues around; if Daschle had a few irrelevant microcontroversies the tax thing might not have even come up.
Zach
@Bootlegger: She can totally run as HHS secretary. She’s got KS name recognition in spades (so she doesn’t have to be in state to campaign as early and as often) and successfully ushering in universal healthcare will be a net positive in KS, I think. It probably takes some of the libertarian-ish fence-sitters out of her camp who’ve been brainwashed by Larry Kudlow, but it’ll widen her coalition in other ways. This increases the probability that the GOP will primary a ultraconservative nutjob to oppose her who will go around calling her a socialist baby killer (the two leading candidates at the moment fit that bill) — this works in her favor.
Bootlegger
@Brian J: All of those are maybes, while K would be a high percentage roll. Also Dean is the most qualified and the health care fight will be brutal, whoever leads the charge will have gore all over them by the end of the battle. Even if they win, it won’t be pretty and I’m not convinced it will parlay into anything bigger. We need our best fighter for this, someone who doesn’t have future aspirations who will go to the ground and gouge some eyes if need be.
Gus
Given Kansas’ current fiscal crisis, she’s smart to jump ship.
Brian J
Or it could be that, for whatever reason, Dean wouldn’t necessarily be the best salesman for whatever package Obama presents to congress and the public because of his past as the DNC chairman and because of the Dean Scream. The latter simply baffles me, because it’s not like he stripped off his clothes and did a stage dive at that rally; he just yelled to get his supporters in a positive mood. The former makes more sense, because it’s an overtly political position. This doesn’t mean he’d do a bad job or act in an unprofessional manner, just that he already has a public persona that unfortunately lends itself to easy stereotypes from idiots on the right.
I don’t think anyone can say the same about Sebelius. In fact, people seem to be saying the opposite.
Punchy
Great Gov here in the sticks. She’s been the only brakepedal on so many wingnut KS Leggy bills/proposals that I’ve lost count. Fought like hell against adding several ginormous coal plants (read: huge polluters).
Everyone outside of KC and Lawrence will applaud this decision, as it means she’s out as that roadblock. But the rest of us lefties dont like the O poaching our token red-state Dems.
gil mann
He’ll never forgive Dean for undermining his 20-state strategy.
Just Some Fuckhead
Broder ejaculated.
Martin
And the GOP hate him almost as much as they hate Hillary. That’s the challenge with Dean – he’d be a great HHS, but he’d get nowhere – he’d be stonewalled unless Obama and the Dems are willing to carry every health proposal on their own – and they’d be battling somewhat with Dean on the inside as well. Now, that can all be done, but it takes time away from other things, and there are plenty of other things that also need to be done.
I’m mixed on Dean for that reason. Dean deserves a shitload of credit for getting Obama and Dems elected, but he burned bridges doing it. Doesn’t stop them from putting Dean in as an advisor to Obama though.
Billy K (D-TX)
Yup. Rahm hates being wrong.
Just Some Fuckhead
@gil mann: lolz
Zifnab
@Martin:
Seconded. Just look at Hilda Solis and the Employee Free Choice Act. She’s been in limbo for months over it.
David Hunt
Absent actual evidence of deliberate fraud or outright failure to file their taxes at all. The most that the IRS can go back is three years. That’s why Geitner(sp?) still had that 34K that was unpaid from old years. When he/IRS found out about the error, the year statute of limitations had already run out on some of the returns. No sane accountant would have told him to pay the money from the prior returns. The only reason he paid the IRS back for the old balance was PR. I don’t think the IRS would have even accepted the money if he hadn’t been a public figure making a political gesture.
Tsulagi
Geez, you already have this one tagged “Democratic Stupidity”? Where’s the faith? I’m guessing by this time the tax question is near the top of their vetting form.
For a little comedy, of course RedState proclaims the Virgin Sarah’s tax faux pas entirely different from those scumdog Dems. If anything, she’s been victimized by gotcha tax code and an overly aggressive IRS. No way she could have predicted that sitting at home yet billing and collecting traveling per diem 312 times from the state could be construed as income by IRS. The comments are good too.
Bootlegger
@Zifnab: But what’s the alternative to "battling"? Caving in? The R’s already proved they won’t go willingly and we need a pitbull for this fight. Dean can have coffee with ’em and ask for ideas, do all the nice play that O wants to see, but in the end it will take a scrapper to get ‘r done.
Stooleo
These fuckers are going to stonewall whoever it is. Obama could appoint the reanimated corpse of Ronald Reagan and these shit dicks would still be saying no.
kay
I agree with Howard Dean on a lot. I know he expanded health care in Vermont. I know he’s a physician.
However. I watched a debate on C-SPAN between Howard Dean and a conservative lawyer on the Patriot Act and it was cringe-worthy. Dean was completely unprepared. He got creamed. He conflated the Patriot Act with other related law again and again, and he continued to do it after it was pointed out to him. He sucked. He got flustered and angry because he knew he sucked. It was a train wreck, and I AGREE with him on the Patriot Act.
If he’s supposed to sell complicated health care legislation, I’m worried.
It was one debate. Maybe I got him on a bad day.
MikeJ
I’m impressed by how many people here know that Rahm was actually responsible for this decision and everything that went into his thing.
ronin122
@Stooleo:
I don’t know what made me laugh more, the usage of the term "shit dick" (given the likes of Larry Craig et al it seems very fitting) or the idea that the Republicans are so bent on obstruction that they’d go against St Reagan if he were in the position. That said, I have no reason to not agree with you that their only objective right now is to sit and pout and try to not get anything through.
tomjones
@Bootlegger: What makes you think Gov. Sebelius isn’t liberal?
rikyrah
She’s a better choice than the Governor of Tennessee, who would be a nightmare.
tomjones
@MikeJ: Because of Dean’s awesomeness!!!!, the only explanation for him being passed over for a job we’re not even sure he wanted must be…the villainous Rahm. Or an even vaster conspiracy.
Zifnab
@Bootlegger: At the moment, we’re looking at a Senate that still leans very conservative. Despite having a 58 vote majority, we’ve got a lot of Dems – Nelson, Bayh, Fienstein – that could revolt in the face of health care reform. We ultimately need a Dem that can work with conservative politicians and still win a progressive solution.
Now there’s a question of whether a softballer like Daschele or Sebilius could get the job done any better than a hardballer like Dean. Perhaps the Senate really does need some tough love. But HHS needs more than just talent in administration. It needs someone that can pull strings and twist arms among conservatives. I don’t know if Dean’s got that kind of pull.
headpan
I haven’t seen any evidence of bridge-burning on Dean’s end. If anything, it’s been the other way around. That said, you’re not going to hear that from Dean, either. He’s been impeccably loyal to the party and dedicated to getting more Dems in office – and he accomplished just that. So I’m not really sure what you are talking about.
Bootlegger
@tomjones: Just what I hear from liberals in Kansas. Perhaps it is more accurate to say not as liberal as Dean, but whatever.
@Zifnab: Maybe, maybe not. But I think the "unknowns" are enough that you go with the guy with real health care experience and real state-level experience where any health care changes will be implemented. I’m not saying K would be bad, just that Dean would be better IMO.
headpan
I mean, look, as far as Dean is concerned, it has been obvious for some time that establishment Dems want nothing to do with him, despite the fact that he helped them so much. They wouldn’t touch him with a ten-foot pole. A sad truth, but that’s how they roll, apparently. And we are definitely dealing with establishment Dems here. The fact that Sebelius is being "praised" for bipartisanship says it all. I just don’t understand how this ‘bipartisanshit’ business will get us anywhere when the other side wants us to fail and fail miserably and have made absolutely no bones about the fact that they do. They want us to fail so badly, they’re willing to take the entire country down with them. So, they’re like, um, crazy – you don’t really want to be making deals with these people, do ya?
Tom65
@Stooleo: That’s the real problem here. If Reid would just sack up and not try to get a quorum on every fucking vote, it wouldn’t matter that the GOP hates "X".
Fwiffo
Isn’t anybody else disturbed that Barack Obama is appointing an El Greco painting to his cabinet?
Anyhow, my choice among the rumored short-listers was DeLauro. She’s a progressive, qualified, wouldn’t have the potential drawbacks that many would ascribe to Dean, and wouldn’t throw away a chance at Brownback’s senate seat.
But Sebelius isn’t a bad pick by any means. A damn site better than Phil Bredesen.
Cain
It’s going to be a delicious couple of months. If you see the front page of teh Huffingtonpost, we see that UBS is going to release the names of everyone whose got offshore accounts and also closing them. We’re going to see all kinds of fun, fun stuff. The right is going to go bonkers switching between defending the right and crying foul on the left. You can bet their already sharpening their knives to see if Soros is on that UBS list. :-)
cain
Blue Raven
@MikeJ:
Aw, c’mon, man. It’s Rahm Emanuel’s fucking world. We fuck-knuckles just live in it.
JL
@Cain: I saw that. Maybe they can recoup some of the Madoff money. It will be interesting to see which corporate heads have money in Swiss Banks.
David
.
Vlad
Keerist. Just get over it and fucking pick Dean already.
Cain
It’ll be hard to say that the rich is getting over taxed if they got offshore tax havens. Hopefully Sebelius doesn’t have any…… It’s almost like we’re getting these things to finally clear the air. It’s a sign…
cain
Ella in NM
@Just Some Fuckhead:
Reading that gave me a "Nancy Kerrigan" (ignore the sliding ferret)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=stfBPzmHm70&feature=related
"WHYYYY? WHAAAYYYY?"
Mike in NC
Lewis Black once joked about how re-electing the corpse of Ronald Reagan would scare the rest of the world into not messing with those crazy Americans.
So, Reagan/Palin 2012 ?
Stuck
Dean is a true maverick and a genuine outside the box thinker. It is why so many of us love him, and establishment dems fear and/or loathe him. He threatens their one dimensional mindset, though many reluctantly now see him as a kind of rebel genius. It is grudging respect and I’m guessing that Obama does like him, but is wary of his past tendency to be outspoken and say things, though true, maybe better said privately, or more tactfully in public.
I think Dean has realized this himself and isn’t quite as shoot-from -the hip as he once was, so maybe Obama will give him the job. It’s Dean’s and our misfortunes however, that the job will require massive ass kissing to the prima donas in Congress. And that just isn’t his style.
TheLorax
I second, third,.. echo everyone else that has mentioned it. Taking her out of Kansas is just. plain. st00pid.
Really.
Jim
Let the people of Kansas join those of us in Arizona who have lost the modest protection a moderate Democrat provided against a Wingnut infested legislature. If the nutters in Kansas are anything like those in Arizona, watch out KU and KSU, you’re about to be reduced to community college standards.
Bootlegger
@Jim: Whoa. What happened to higher ed out there?
PhD, University of Arizona 2001
gil mann
Helped them? Are you kidding? Minority party incumbents have the plushest job in the world. Thanks to Dean, they have to actually work now.
(No, I don’t actually believe this explains their antipathy, but I haven’t heard an explanation that makes more sense)
anonevent
Does anyone know if Dean has any back taxes he owes?
Jim
Bootlegger: This is what is happening. Those cuts were viewed as a big concession to the universities. As you may know, the U of A is a big part of Tucson’s economy, and probably the biggest attraction for bigger companies doing business here. Gutting the universities is so shortsighted by the legislature.
bartkid
>I absolutely refuse to believe that Republicans have a better record paying their taxes than Democrats.
No.
They just have better oppo research.
>he’d be a great HHS, but he’d get nowhere
No.
This is where he would get:
-New Hampshire
-South Carolina and Oklahoma and Arizona and North Dakota and New Mexico
-California and Texas and New York
-South Dakota and Oregon and Washington and Michigan, and then
-Washington, D.C., to take back the White House! Yeah!!1!
Heh.
les
@Damned at Random:
Sorry, but Sebelius is better at HHS. No way is this sorry state electing a Dem. senator–the only reason she’s governor (and I’ll miss her in that slot big time) is that the rethugs have been conducting a major purge of evil moderates; but that schism doesn’t seem to impact national races. She can’t do a speech for a damn, but she’s bright, organizes well and has a political pedigree that bridges the Midwest.
Cyrus
Well, isn’t it the conventional wisdom these days that all governors’ approval ratings are going to go down the tubes in the next year or two because of budget crunches? If so, Governor Sibelius may be more likely than any other Democrat to win a Senate race while still being very unlikely.