Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.) has no chance of securing the GOP presidential nomination, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) said on Friday, just one day before she won the Ames Straw Poll.
"She doesn't stand a chance to win the Republican nomination," Reid said.
The Las Vegas Review-Journal is all riled up this weekend after Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) reportedly told the newspaper's director of advertising, "I hope you go out of business."
And later, in a speech delivered to the Las Vegas Chamber of Commerce, Reid also insinuated that he would rather the Review-Journal sell ads because the Las Vegas Sun, another newspaper, is delivered inside of it, the Review-Journal reported.
Of course, this hardly sat well with the newspaper's reporters and editors, who quickly took to the Web to excoriate Reid for his remarks. Said Sherman Frederick, the Review-Journal's publisher:
"Such behavior cannot go unchallenged.
You could call Reid's remark ugly and be right. It certainly was boorish. Asinine? That goes without saying.
But to fully capture the magnitude of Reid's remark (and to stop him from doing the same thing to others) it must be called what it was -- a full-on threat perpetrated by a bully who has forgotten that he was elected to office to protect Nevadans, not sound like he's shaking them down.
No citizen should expect this kind of behavior from a U.S. senator. It is certainly not becoming of a man who is the majority leader in the U.S. Senate. And it absolutely is not what anyone would expect from a man who now asks Nevadans to send him back to the Senate for a fifth term.
[snip]
So today, we serve notice on Sen. Reid that this creepy tactic will not be tolerated."
Reid's relationship with the Review-Journal has always been a bit bumpy, but this exchange -- especially at a time when Reid's poll numbers are unimpressive -- could soon prove especially troublesome for the Senate Majority Leader.
Countless spectators packed Constitution Avenue and Capitol Hill this evening to greet the motorcade carrying the casket of the late-Sen. Edward Kennedy (D-Mass.) and his family.
The motorcade, despite arriving nearly two hours later than expected, met the sustained applause of aides and lawmakers, many of whom had previously worked with Kennedy and knew him personally.
"Here we are to briefly pray with you, offer our sympathy, and to thank you," said Daniel Coughlin, the House Chaplin, to Kennedy's family. "Thank you for sharing the senator and so much of his life with us."
Following a solo rendition of "America the Beautiful," Rep. Patrick Kennedy (D-Mass.) stepped to the microphone to thank those in attendance for their support.
"He couldn't have done it without all of the people he worked with. He knew the value of good staff and that's why he was so successful," he said. "I hope ... the many hours you put into legislating and policy making gives you some sense of satisfaction... because that's the legacy he'd want you to feel good about. Thank you on behalf of my family for being here."
As the crowd erupted into its own rendition of "God Bless America" and "America the Beautiful," the motorcade departed for Arlington National Cemetery, where Kennedy will be buried during a private ceremony. Onlookers shouted "thank you" to the hearse as it passed them.
Conservative talk show host Sean Hannity isn't ruling out a more formal life in politics, according to some remarks he made on his television show Thursday night.
Appearing on a discussion panel, Hannity made reference to a report on the conservative website WorldNetDaily that he may run for president.
The bombastic anchor didn't address those rumors directly, but left the door open to elected office.
"I would run for office at some point in my life," he said. "Yes, I would."
"I've never made a decision in my life without -- whatever destiny God has you've got to fulfill it," Hannity said. "I'm not sure that's my destiny."
Interestingly, Hannity appeared on the panel alongside former Notre Dame coach Lou Holtz, who'd mulled running for Congress as a Republican against Rep. Suzanne Kosmas (D-Fla.) for a short amount of time before ruling out a challenge.
Watch a video of Hannity's remarks, flagged by the liberal group Media Matters for America, below:
President Obama should fire Attorney General Eric Holder for appointing a special prosecutor to investigate potential CIA abuses of terrorist detainees, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich (R-Ga.) wrote Friday.
"In the latest skirmish in the Democratic Party's war on the CIA, Attorney General Eric Holder has failed to uphold this fundamental public trust. And for that, there should be consequences," Gingrich wrote. "If Holder and his senior team won't do the right thing and resign their positions, Obama should do the right thing and fire them."
Holder had attracted Republican ire earlier this week for appointing a special prosecutor to investigate abuses that had taken place during the Bush administration.
The White House had emphasized that although the president believes that CIA officials shouldn't face prosecution for following the advice of the prior administration's lawyers, Holder would be able to decide on the special prosecutor independently.
"In the latest skirmish in the Democratic Party's war on the CIA, Attorney General Eric Holder has failed to uphold this fundamental public trust," Gingrich said. "And for that, there should be consequences."
Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney leads an early field of potential Republican challengers to President Obama in 2012, a new poll found, though Obama maintains an early lead over all would-be GOP opponents.
The Massachusetts conservative leads a potential field including former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee (R), former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin (R), former House Speaker Newt Gingrich (R-Ga.), and Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal (R), according to the poll.
22 percent of Republicans prefer Huckabee, 18 percent like Palin, 15 percent want Gingrich, and four percent support Jindal, according to the poll.
Still, President Obama maintains a comfortable lead over all the Republicans tested in the poll.
Of all Republican candidates, Romney fares the best with independent voters -- claiming a two point edge over the president -- while Palin fares the worst, with Obama enjoying a 15 point margin above Palin.
The poll, conducted by live telephone interviews between August 14-18, has a 3.1 percent margin of error.
As both parties parse the possibilities to fill Sen. Edward Kennedy's (D-Mass.) vacant seat, The Boston Globe this morning offers one suggestion: former Governor and previous Democratic presidential nominee Michael Dukakis.
Wrote the Globe's editorial board:
"Surely the governor can find a temporary replacement whose views are consistent with those of Kennedy and the Massachusetts voters who kept faith with him since 1962. Michael Dukakis, an elder statesman of Massachusetts politics, would be one good choice to uphold the Kennedy legacy for the few critical months before a special election. The former governor's career speaks of a politician whose explicit promise not to seek the office could be trusted, even if no law can be cited to enforce the pledge."
Of course, the Globe's pitch assumes state lawmakers will honor Kennedy's request and change state law to permit the governor to fill Senate vacancies through interim appointments. As both parties weigh that possibility, Secretary of State William F. Galvin announced Thursday the special election to replace Kennedy would take place on Jan. 19 or 26.
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