Vermont Gov. Jim Douglas (R) announced Thursday that he would not seek reelection to a fifth term in office, declining to run for any higher office in the immediate future.
"I will not seek another term as governor of Vermont," Douglas said during a press conference at Vermont's statehouse in Burlington.
"I know there will be some speculation about my future plans," Douglas quickly added. "I am not running for president. I'm not running for the U.S. Senate, the U.S. House or any other office in 2010."
Douglas, a centrist Republican, has been elected to four two-year terms as Vermont's governor. National Republicans had sought to draw him into the Senate race in 2006, to run against then-Rep. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) for the open seat.
While Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) is up for reelection in 2010, Sanders won't be up until 2012 -- leaving the slightest possibility open that Douglas could challenge the considerably less entrenched Sanders (relative to Leahy, at least) in that cycle.
Douglas cited a desire to hand over the reins of state government to someone new as part of his desire to decline reelection, noting that his first grandson had been born recently, and that he wished to spend more time with family after a grueling work schedule.
Former President Jimmy Carter eulogized the late Sen. Edward Kennedy (D-Mass.) as a firm advocate for the disadvantaged while acknowledging that the 1980 Democratic primary between the two like handed Republicans the presidency.
"We've never seen anyone in the Senate that more assiduously and constantly and enthusiastically dedicated his life to trying to make sure that everything that the U.S. government decided was in the best interest of the people who were deprived of poor, neglected or felt the ravages of discrimination," Carter said during an appearance on CNN.
Kennedy challenged the incumbent President Carter during the 1980 presidential election. Carter managed to fend off Kennedy, only to go on to lose the presidential election to Republican candidate Ronald Reagan that fall.
Carter acknowledged the rift between the two men caused by the primary -- as well as the broader split within the party -- but said the two had long ago buried the hatchet.
"The Democratic Party division that was promulgated between the Kennedy group and mine never was healed during that summertime and the fall campaign," Carter said. "And that was one of the factors that was important in a general election."
"But after that occurred, and even before I went out of office, Ted Kennedy and I were completely reconciled as far as friendship was concerned," the former president added. "And since then, whenever I had a major problem that dealt with the Carter Center's business overseas or in any way related to health or welfare or the benefit of poor people in this country and others, I have called on Ted Kennedy as a friend and he's always been fully supportive."
Carter said he hoped that Kennedy's lifelong dedication to healthcare in the U.S. would be in the mind of senators as they take up legislation to overhaul healthcare this fall.
"I believe that would really be the culmination for the Kennedy family of acknowledging the great contribution that he's made to our country," he said.
Former President George W. Bush isn't to blame for the current budget situation, one freshman Republican lawmaker argued Tuesday.
"It's not George W. Bush's fault," conservative Rep. Jason Chaffetz (R-Utah) argued during an appearance on a conservative radio news program.
Chaffetz blamed Democrats and insufficiently conservative Republicans in Congress in recent years for having driven up the deficit to record levels this year.
"This 'credit card Congress' has done absolutely nothing under Democratic control to curb spending," he said.
"Look, and I am very critical of the Bush administration, but fundamentally we need to remember that it's Congress that authorizes and spends money, not the president," Chaffetz added. "The reality is that Democrats have been in control -- and believe me, when the Republicans were in control, it was bad then -- but now it's literally four times worse than what it was, with no end in sight."
The first-term congressman's claims take a slightly different tack than the Obama administration, which saw its Treasury secretary, Tim Geithner, argue in an interview with the Wall Street Journal posted today that the Bush administration was fundamentally to blame for current deficits.
The previous administration's failure to pay for tax cuts, an expansion in Medicare benefits, and extended military engagements in Iraq and Afghanistan largely explain the current budget situation, Geithner asserted.
Rep. John Shadegg (R-Ariz.) said on Tuesday that President Barack Obama's decision to re-appoint Federal Reserve chairman Benjamin Bernanke shows that "all that criticism of the Bush administration last time around wasn't all correct."
It was reported on Monday night that Obama would recommend Bernanke for a second four-year term. The Senate must vote to confirm Bernanke for him to remain at his post.
But the Energy and Commerce Committee Republican said on CNBC's Squawk Box that Bernanke has been "too interventionist" and recommended that Congress reduce Fed's role in the economy.
Shadegg said that the Federal Reserve is simultaneously controlling monetary policy and directly bolstering the economy by advocating for such measures the economic stimulus. He preferred that the Fed stick to its traditional role regulating the money supply.
The Fed increased its presence in economic policy under Bernanke during last year's credit crisis. The rapid tightening of credit was part of the reason the economy nearly plunged into a Depression-like state.
"[Bernanke is] seen as safe and as changing the topic quite frankly from what's dominated the news lately which is healthcare, which is not going well for the president," Shadegg added.
Rep. Vic Snyder (D-Ark.), who sits on the Joint Economic Committee, praised Obama's decision to re-appoint Bernanke as a display of bipartisanship.
"If he sees talent, he goes after it, even if they were former Bush administration appointees," he said in the same interview.
Snyder agreed that the Fed should reduce its role in the economy.
Would conservative Fox News and radio host Sean Hannity ever run for president?
Probably not, but don't count it out.
The conservative website World Net Daily is reporting that when Hannity was pressed on a run during his radio show on Friday, he wouldn't rule it out.
""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."
Those words call to mind what Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.) had said when asked if she'd ever run.
"If I felt that's what the Lord was calling me to do, I would do it," Bachmann said. "When I have sensed that the Lord is calling me to do something, I've said yes to it. But I will not seek a higher office if God is not calling me to do it."
"Would any of you really want me to run?" Hannity asked the live audience at Friday's show, to cheers. When he asked if he should stay on the radio, World Net Daily reported, there was no applause.
It's become apparent that the Department of Homeland Security's terror threat level system were part of the Bush administration's "political toolbox," Rep. Jim Moran (D-Va.) said Friday.
Reacting to former Secretary Tom Ridge's revelations in a forthcoming book that he was pressured to raise the threat level around election time, Moran said liberals' suspicions about the manipulation of the system have been confirmed.
"I think the threat alert was the kind of tool they would bring out in their political toolbox," Moran said during an appearance on MSNBC this afternoon.
"Tom is essentially confirming what many of us suspected: the timing was suspicious," he explained. "The reason that George Bush was reeelected in 2004 was because largely because people were scared, and they felt that he would be toughest on the perceived enemies, real or unreal."
Moran blamed the Bush administration for manipulating Americans' sense of fear of another terrorist attack via the infamous, color-coded threat level system.
"I do think that the Bush administration had a habit of using emotions like fear and the need for security and so on for its own political advantage," he said.
Former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin (R) continued her Facebook note campaign against healthcare reform, writing Friday that tort reform is a necessary part of healthcare legislation.
"As Governor of Alaska, I learned a little bit about being a target for frivolous suits and complaints (Please, do I really need to footnote that?)" Palin wrote on her Facebook page.
Paraphrasing former President Bill Clinton, Palin said she feels health care providers' pain, arguing those companies are targeted by "opportunists and people with no scruples."
"We cannot have health care reform without tort reform," Palin insisted. "The two are intertwined."
Palin posed questions for Obama, a recurring feature in her series of Facebook notes: "Why no legal reform? Why continue to encourage defensive medicine that wastes billions of dollars and does nothing for the patients? Do you want health care reform to benefit trial attorneys or patients?"
Palin's Facebook notes, of course, set off the debate over so-called "death panels" in regards to end-of-life care in healthcare reform legislation earlier this month.
Former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin (R) praised a Senate committee's decision to drop an end-of-life provision from its healthcare reform bill, but continued to pound away at the overall bill -- especially a proposal by Dr. Ezekiel Emanuel.
"It's gratifying that the voice of the people is getting through to Congress," Palin said in a new note on her Facebook page posted early Friday morning of the Senate Finance Committee's decision to drop end-of-life consultations from its health bill. (The Alaska politician had derided those consultations as "death panels" seeking to aid the euthanasia of the elderly.)
"However, that provision was not the only disturbing detail in this legislation; it was just one of the more obvious ones," Palin added.
Palin alleged that Emanuel, a White House healthcare adviser and brother of White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel, would advocate a "Complete Lives System," which "if enacted, would refuse to allocate medical resources to the elderly, the infirm, and the disabled who have less economic potential."
President Obama's silence on the Complete Lives System is troubling, the 2008 Republican vice presidential candidate asserted, and called on the president to answer questions about the theory.
"Why the silence from the president on this aspect of his nationalization of health care? Does he agree with the 'Complete Lives System'?" Palin asked. "If not, then why is Dr. Emanuel his policy advisor? What is he advising the president on?"
The note marks the latest in a series of attacks Palin has launched on the president's heatlhcare reform proposals, and signals that while the conservative Republican had managed a small political victory over end-of-life care, she would continue to hammer away against Obama.
"We must stop and think or we may find ourselves losing even more of our freedoms," she wrote.
Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-Mo.) has cooled her once vigorous opposition to an extension for the money-starved "Cash for Clunkers" program, saying that she now considers the matter a "tough call."
"This is a tough call, but at least wanted to let eveyone (sic) know that I'm studying all of it and trying to make a decision that is not rushed, but thoughtful," McCaskill wrote on her blog Tuesday.
Last week, the centrist Democrat tweeted that she "will vote no on any extension of Cash for Clunkers program."
Now McCaskill has taken a more measured approach. She reached out members of the auto industry to discuss issues facing a prolonged version of the program. McCaskill tweetedlateTuesdaynight:
Still getting info on C4C. Phone calls to Mo car deaers today getting their view.Need to know how many deals are in the pipeline.
Also worried about inventories.Chrysler dealer today told me inventory low,& we could be pushing his customers to foreign if we extend.
Will push tomorrow for GM, Chrysler,& Ford available inventory,and if we extnd can progrm be closed down without penalizing dealer/consumer?
Of course the cash for clunkers program is popular, we're giving away money. My concerns are first, that we... http://tumblr.com/xbx2kx50y
The junior senator linked to the aforementioned blog post, saying "I realize all car sales, both foreign and domestic, are good for the economy, but I hate the idea that there may not be a level playing field for the next few weeks because of inventory issues."
Yesterday, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) said that the upper chamber will extend the "Cash for Clunkers" program before recess commences over the weekend. Reid made his remarks after the Senate Democratic Caucus lunched with President Barack Obama.
Don't count on Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) to support another $2 billion for the cash-for-clunkers program when it comes to the Senate floor this week. The 2008 GOP presidential nominee thinks the idea is
ridiculous.
"I just don't think it's a proper use of the taxpayers' dollars," McCain told The HIll. "The argument can be made, 'Why don't we have cash-for-refrigerators?' Or cash-for-anything? It's just a very, very bad use of tax dollars."
McCain acknowledged the program has brought an uptick in car sales, but said the effects will actually be negative in the long run.
"The results will be temporary, and when the money runs we're going to see the distortions that it's created in the market," he said.
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