The Daily Background

Today at the annual Macworld conference in San Francisco, a media-saturated venue where Apple traditionally demos new products, Apple Senior Vice President of Marketing Phil Schiller demoed several new software innovations– and took what could be interpreted as a shout out to president elect Obama while doing so.

Among the products he demonstrated was iWork 09, a productivity suite meant to compete with Microsoft’s Office suite. iWork contains a presentation application called Keynote, Apple’s Mac-only competitor to Microsoft’s PowerPoint. While demonstrating a new way of adding effects to text, Schiller show the word “Bush” flipping to the word “Obama” to great applause by the audience.

Video of the incident:

It was unclear whether the audience was applauding for the political implications of the transition, or the technology behind the transition itself (probably both). Afterwards, Schiller joked “read whatever you want into it.”

A moment later, he used another transition to make the word “Energy” transform into the word “Efficient.” As he did so, Schiller remarked, “This one’s for you, Al,” referring to Al Gore, who was in attendance at the presentation. Gore has been on Apple’s Board of Directors for several years now and is known to regularly attend events where Apple introduces new products.

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RNC Chairman Mike Duncan on the Minnesota State Canvassing Board’s certification of Al Franken’s win:

“Al Franken’s declarations of victory are as inaccurate as they are premature. This recount has taken some time and we won’t know a winner for weeks to come. And, when a winner finally does emerge, we are confident it will be Norm Coleman.

During this process, Minnesotans have shown a great amount of patience and respect; Al Franken and Washington Democrats should follow their lead and do the same.”

Keeeeeeep telling yourself that, fellas. Just keeeeeep telling yourselves that.

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Huh?

New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson on Sunday announced that he was withdrawing his nomination to be President-elect Barack Obama’s commerce secretary amid a grand jury investigation into how some of his political donors won a lucrative state contract.
[…]
A federal grand jury is investigating how a California company that contributed to Richardson’s political activities won a New Mexico transportation contract worth more than $1 million. Richardson said in a statement issued by the Obama transition office that the investigation could take weeks or months but expressed confidence it will show he and his administration acted properly.

“I have concluded that the ongoing investigation also would have forced an untenable delay in the confirmation process,” Richardson said. “Given the gravity of the economic situation the nation is facing, I could not in good conscience ask the president-elect and his administration to delay for one day the important work that needs to be done.”

I can think of a couple of different explanations for this development…

1. It’s all exactly the way they say it is, and Richardson really did do nothing wrong and it was really his decision to nobly withdraw his nomination and Obama really did want him to stay on like he says he does.

2. Richardson realized that he could really get in trouble and he doesn’t want to tinge the Obama administration from his own wrongdoing.

3. The Obama people forced Richardson out of this nomination which he still wanted, fearing that the investigation might uncover serious wrongdoing (or at least that a lengthy and bruising nomination process would ensue).

4. Richardson, known for being a pretty ambitious guy, has decided he doesn’t really want to be Commerce Secretary after all (perhaps he considers it beneath him?) and is using this little investigation as an excuse to beg off while not publicly insulting the incoming administration.

…Which of these do you think is the most likely?

UPdate: Jake in Milwaukee from the comments seems to be right. CNN is reporting (and ABC News is corroborating):

… Democratic strategists outside the transition told CNN that Obama aides pushed the withdrawal because they did not want another ethical distraction in the wake of controversy surrounding embattled Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich. Federal prosecutors charge that Blagojevich had hoped to barter Obama’s Senate seat for either money or influence.

One of these Democrats described Richardson as “stunned” by the sudden turn of events. But Democrats who talked with CNN noted it was in keeping with the Obama philosophy of resolving issues quickly.

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Great news from Minnesota:

Franken’s lead now stands at 225 votes after gaining 176 votes more than Coleman in Saturday’s review of the formerly sealed absentee ballots. Franken started the day with a 49-vote advantage.

The 933 absentee ballots were among those rejected by poll workers but later found to be excluded in error. The campaigns eventually agreed they should be added to the recount.

Unless Coleman wins a pending court petition that seeks to add hundreds more ballots to the recount, the counting is done and the Canvassing Board can sign off on the result on Monday or Tuesday. The result cannot be certified for at least one more week under state law.

It seems that there’s no way that Franken will be sworn in on Tuesday, but make no mistake about it: he will be sworn in. And probably sooner rather than later too.

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The AP reports:

The Illinois House has changed its schedule and will meet several days next week.

A spokesman for House Speaker Michael Madigan says the chamber may vote on a recommendation from the special committee studying whether Blagojevich should be impeached.

It would take a simple majority vote for the House to impeach — which basically means accusing him of misconduct.

A trial would then take place. Blagojevich has been languishing at like 30% approval rating for months now (he’s now at like 7% approval), and they’ve been organizing these articles of impeachment for a year now, but the whole senate seat business really made them speed up the pace. A removal would require a separate vote after the trial, presumably.

Update: A removal would take a 2/3rds majority in the state senate.

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Things are looking stellar in Minnesota:

Al Franken could be declared the winner of the Minnesota recount as soon as Monday, but due to the peculiarities of Minnesota election law, Sen. Norm Coleman (R-MN) could keep the seat bottled up in the courts for weeks or even months before a decisive resolution to the race, making it harder for the Democratic majority in the Senate to seat Franken on even a provisional basis.

Assuming Franken emerges as the recount winner at Monday’s meeting of the state canvassing board, what happens next?

The Coleman campaign has publicly guaranteed that they will file an election contest, challenging the result in court. That would be a key development because Minnesota law actually prevents the issuing of a certificate of election to the winner until a contest proceeding is settled (unlike other states that will certify a win, and then allow the loser to pursue legal challenges if they want).

[…] does Coleman have a realistic chance of winning an election contest? Probably not.

And none too soon either. When it is sworn in on Tuesday, January 4th, it’ll be down three Democratic senators (one each from Minnesota, New York and Illinois), awaiting appointments or the results of an election. Democrats need those seats to be filled ASAP so they can have a running start in 2009 to get done all the leftover work from the past few years of the Bush Administration.

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Boy, the times we live in…

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Says Blagojevich at his press conference formally announcing his intention to appoint the former Illinois Attorney General and state Comptroller, “Please don’t let the allegations against me taint this good and honest man.” Obama supported Burris when he ran against Blagojevich and others in the Democratic primary for the gubernatorial race in 2002, though it’s not clear to me if there were any reasons for this support other than race.

Some Lexis-Nexis-ing back to the 1980s finds nothing of interest about Burris, other than the fact that he once as AG got in a fight with car dealerships who wanted to offer coupons he claimed were illegal and that he referred to primary opponents as “nonqualified white boys.” I was able to find very little in the way of candidate surveys from special interest groups which were very popular in the 1990s when he ran several races, though I learned that he’s pro-choice.

A look at Burris’ FEC contribution records, which only detail contributions over $200 in federal races show that he has donated exclusively to Democrats, most of whom were running in Illinois.

The Sun-Times has some dirt on Burris, who has lost a combined 5 races for the Governor’s office, Senate, and mayor of Chicago in recent decades:

In 2002, Burris became a lobbyist and has had a portfolio that has included Commonwealth Edison, Comcast and the state’s funeral home industry. His lobbying firm — Burris & Lebed Consulting, of Chicago — also has snared $294,545 in state contracts under Blagojevich since 2004, state records show.

He, his lobbying firm and his law firm — Burris Wright Slaughter & Tom — have contributed $20,296 in cash and services to Blagojevich’s campaign fund since 2002. The most-recent contribution, $1,000, came last June. It was already widely known at the time that Blagojevich was a target of federal investigators.

Burris didn’t appear to be among the candidates under consideration for the post before the governor’s Dec. 9 arrest.

Illinois Secretary of State Jesse White, who formally has to approve Blago’s pick has indicated that he might simply refuse to do so. Meanwhile, national Senate Dems are saying they’re going to refuse to seat him if he gets as far as the US Senate, although it’s a bit murky as to whether they can actually do this. Meanwhile, the IL state legislative assembly will meet next week to take up a bill which would take away Blago’s appointment powers and fill the seat through a special statewide election.

Update: Obama opposes Blago’s appointment.

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From the December 27th copy of the Chicago Tribune. To be fair however, Obama’s senate seat will only last another 2 years (not 6 as the ad says) before his term runs out and whoever is filling it would have to run for re-election.

Hat tip- Randy Haddock.

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So, apparently Blagojevich is going to (try to) appoint Roland Burris, the former IL state attorney general to serve out the last two years of Obama’s old Senate seat. Burris, 71 and the first African American to win statewide office in Illinois, tried but failed to be elected to the seat in 1984 when he didn’t win the Democratic primary. The intrepid Lynn Sweet reports however that Burris’ appointment is hardly a sealed deal:

However, Burris will face resistance from the Senate Democrats who control the chamber in seating him, I’ve just been told by Jim Manley, a spokesman for Senate Leader Harry Reid (D-Nv.).

Reid had said when the Blagojevich scandal broke earlier this month he would ask the Senate not to seat any Blagojevich appointee, in order to make sure the seat is free of taint. All the Senate Democrats concurred. Manley said Reid’s position has not changed.

Burris may also face opposition here in Illinois, as the state legislators down in Springfield probably won’t like Blagojevich going back on his pledge of a week ago that he wouldn’t appoint anyone in order to save the seat from appearing tainted. And they’ve already moved forward with legislation that would allow a special election in lieu of his promise.

Also– side note– I wonder how long it took the Chicago Sun-Times to register the domain BlagoBusted.com? Frankly, I wouldn’t be all that surprised if they just had that one lying around waiting for use.

Update: More…

The Democratic governor can announce Burris as his pick, but it may be an empty gesture. Illinois Secretary of State Jesse White, who must certify the appointment, said Tuesday he will not do so. And U.S. Senate leaders reiterated that they wouldn’t accept anyone appointed by Blagojevich, who was arrested Dec. 9 on federal corruption charges.

In a letter released Tuesday afternoon, Senate Democrats maintained that Blagojevich should not make the appointment because it is unfair to Burris, unfair to the people of Illinois and ultimately won’t stand.

“It is truly regrettable that despite requests from all 50 Democratic Senators and public officials throughout Illinois, Gov. Blagojevich would take the imprudent step of appointing someone to the United States Senate who would serve under a shadow and be plagued by questions of impropriety,” the statement said.

“Under these circumstances, anyone appointed by Gov. Blagojevich cannot be an effective representative of the people of Illinois and, as we have said, will not be seated by the Democratic Caucus.”

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Chris Bowers has got a pretty promising looking plan for demystifying the inevitable deluge of new legislation to be introduced when the new Congress is sworn in in a few days. Check it out, and keep your eyes peeled on Open Left for more in the coming days.

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So, Obama has invited him to be one of the many speakers at his inauguration. Naturally, a lot of progressives have been outraged.

1. Do I think Rick Warren has backward 17th Century-esque thoughts about homosexuality and is totally wrong about them and has probably failed the standard of tolerance that Jesus set out? Yes.

2. Do I think that Obama will be the most gay-friendly president ever, by a long shot, and will preside over some of the greatest gains toward LGBT-equality that the country has ever seen? Also yes.

And no, the two aren’t contradictory at all. Anybody who says they are is in serious need of recalibrating their umbrage goggles. Seriously, he’s going to talk for a couple of minutes and then be done– it’s not like his mere presence will convert Obama or anybody else to his idiotic way of thinking (and you can bet he sure as hell isn’t going to say anything controversial or about gays and lesbians while up there). Enough talk about him. Move on already.

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A high-up Republican named Chip Saltsman is running for the position of Chairman of the Republican National Committee. In order to woo those who elect the Chair, Saltsman sent out a compilation CD titled “We Hate the USA” to RNC members for the holidays. It features songs making fun of liberals, including one called “Barack the Magic Negro.”

CNN adds this great quote:

“I think most people recognize political satire when they see it,” Chip Saltsman told CNN. “I think RNC members understand that.” Saltsman, a former chair of the Tennessee Republican Party, was a top advisor to former Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, and managed former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee’s presidential campaign.

The song, set to the tune of “Puff the Magic Dragon,” was first played on Rush Limbaugh’s radio show in 2007. Its title was drawn from a Los Angeles Times column that suggested Obama appealed to those who feel guilty about the nation’s history of mistreatment of African-Americans. Saltsman said the song, penned by long-time friend Paul Shanklin, should be easily recognized as satire directed at the Times.

Okay, two things real quick.

First, yeah, I bet RNC members find that realllllllly funny. Seriously, I bet they do. I would be surprised if there’s anything other than the chortling of laughter on their part. I doubt he’s misjudged his real audience (RNC members).

But second, what’s he really saying here? Let’s suspend our better judgment here for a second and actually believe what he’s saying. Break down the joke and what you have is this: a bunch of conservative white men (by far the majority of RNC members and certainly the Rush Limbaugh demographic) are making fun of how crappy they think race relations in the United States are and will continue to be.

Yeah, real funny guys. I’m sure an ignorant racist prick like Saltsman will have no trouble getting elected as chairman of the Republican National Committee.

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And the results are, from the yearly Gallup poll:

Obama’s the first president-elect to be the most admired in this poll since Eisenhower. By the way, Obama is up from 5% in the same poll last year (and Bush is down from 10%).

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If the campaign season had started today instead of two years ago, the candidates would have had a lot more trouble raising money. It might have, in fact, been one of the cheaper campaigns in modern history instead of the most expensive ever.

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