A broken ankle will prevent Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) from attending her party's convention in Denver next week, the senator announced this afternoon.
Feinstein was walking with Rep. Ellen Tauscher (D-Calif.) on a trail in Tahoe forest Friday, the day before an environmental summit at Lake Tahoe, when she slipped and broke her ankle, the senator said.
"My doctor has advised me not to travel in the short-term, and so, regretfully, I am unable to attend what will surely be an historic convention in Denver," Feinstein said. "I was very much looking forward to chairing the California Delegation, and I offer my best wishes to California
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) blasted Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.) Wednesday as "totally irresponsible" for his attacks against Barack Obama, adding that after the election Democrats "won't need him."
"Joe Lieberman has said things that are totally irresponsible when it comes to Barack Obama. Here we have a leader for the future, really a great leader for the future and one that comes along only every now and then, and they know it so they have to undermine him. And one of their best weapons, of course, is someone who is considered by some to be a Democrat," Pelosi said on a San Francisco radio show.
Lieberman, the former Democratic vice presidential nominee, has been highly critical of Obama including a suggestion this week Obama had not always put his country first.
But despite the remarks, Pelosi said there is little Democrats can do, for now.
"The Democrats in the Senate are in a tough spot. They have 51 votes. Joe Lieberman organizes with them," Pelosi said.
"In 85 days or something, they will have five more Democrats they won't need him to make the majority. And it will be interesting to see what the leadership in the Senate, the Democratic leadership in the Senate, does at that point in terms of Joe Lieberman's chairmanship of his committee."
A grassroots effort to draft Virginia Rep. Eric Cantor (R) as John McCain's vice-presidential nominee was launched Wednesday.
Brian A. Wittman, the movement's chairman, urged supporters in an e-mail to visit its new website and contact the Republican Party and McCain's campaign to tell them to select Cantor as veep.
Wittman writes: "For years, Congressman Eric Cantor has been a rising star in the Republican Party. Congressman Cantor has been a leader while protecting America through strong national security, keeping taxes low, and preparing America for its next biggest challenges. Senator John McCain has recognized Congressman Eric Cantor's leadership and is currently vetting Cantor as one of a short number of candidates to be considered for the Vice-Presidential Candidate. America needs Senator John McCain as President, and America needs Eric Cantor as its Vice-President."
The website encourages visitors to contact Wittman--his email address is listed on the home page--to help spread the movement's word.
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) scolded Sen. Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) on Monday for wanting to hold off on energy legislation until Barack Obama is in the White House.
McConnell criticized Schumer for not wanting to immediately deal with "the most important issue in the country."
"He basically wants to put this whole issue off," McConnell said during the conference call with reporters. "In the meantime, consumers are paying the price."
Schumer told the Washington Post last week that Congress may pass smaller legislative energy items, but that no comprehensive energy bill will be in the works until until after the election.
The New York senator said that if Obama is elected and anticipated House and Senate margins are realized, "you will get, for the first time, a real energy policy."
Sorting through Saturday's 72-13 vote on the Senate housing bill, one finds a curious split between the chamber's two top Republicans: Minority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky voted for the bill, while Minority Whip Jon Kyl of Arizona opposed it.
The likely, unsurprising answer: Politics. McConnell is facing a somewhat challenging re-election this fall from Democratic businessman Bruce Lunsford, while Kyl doesn't face voters again in the Grand Canyon State until 2012. Kyl was also joined by 12 other senators, all Republicans, in opposing the bill.
Still, McConnell and Kyl are usually in lockstep on most major votes, and their staffs take pains to emphasize that the two leaders work in harmony.
Speaking publicly on Tuesday, McConnell said "most of my members share [the] view that we need to wrap this up. It's been going on for a while, and it's time to -- time to finish it."
Kyl issued a statement that blamed his opposing vote on the bill's cost and ineffectiveness.
"In Arizona and across the nation, homeowners are having a hard time making their mortgage payments, but the legislation Congress approved today is not aimed at helping them," Kyl said. "Rather, it is designed to bail out mortgage lenders and the two big government enterprises Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae. In fact, the bill will place an immense financial burden on every American taxpayer, including those who are struggling to make their mortgage payments, and waste billions of dollars in misguided efforts to help lenders deemed 'too big to fail.'"
Comedy Central host Stephen Colbert called Rep. Robert Wexler (D-Fla.) a flip-flopper last night when Wexler, appearing on Colbert's show for the second time, refused to say he enjoys cocaine.
Wexler had made the statement before on the show at Colbert's request.
"The last time I did this Stephen, I did not have an opponent," Wexler said last night, "This time I have two, so I think I should be out of the repeating business."
"But sir, you're flip-flopping," Colbert replied.
Wexler first appeared on the show in 2006 while running unopposed for reelection. Colbert asked Wexler to say something that would surely lose him the race had it been contested, urging him to complete the sentence, "I enjoy cocaine because..."
Wexler responded, "I enjoy cocaine because it's a fun thing to do." (See the video here.)
The Florida Democrat appeared on the show last night to promote his new book, Fire Breathing Liberal: How I Learned to Survive (and Thrive) in the Contact Sport of Congress. See the video below:
Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.) is back in the Senate Tuesday. Clinton will attend votes and the Senate Democrats caucus lunch, her office says.
This is Clinton's first appearance back in the Senate after ending her presidential bid and endorsing Barack Obama. Clinton will make her first joint campaign appearance with Obama Friday in Unity, New Hampshire.
Libertarian presidential candidate and former congressman Bob Barr (R-Ga.) thanked Rep. Ron Paul (R-Texas) for his work on behalf of Libertarian values today, upon hearing Paul had ended his Republican bid for the presidency.
Barr encouraged Paul to keep fighting "through whatever avenues he sees fit."
"Congressman Ron Paul has fought tirelessly in both the Libertarian Party and the Republican Party to minimize government power and maximize individual liberty," Barr said in a statement released by his campaign. "I want to thank him for all that he has done for liberty in this nation, and encourage him to continue his fight through whatever avenues he sees fit."
Paul ran for president in 1988 as the Libertarian Party's candidate, finishing third behind Vice President George H.W. Bush (R) and Massachusetts Gov. Michael Dukakis (D) with 432,000 votes.
Chuck Norris got a taste for politics on former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee's (R) campaign, and he liked it.
Norris is now working for former House Speaker Newt Gingrich's (R-Ga.) group "American Solutions for Winning the Future."
In a web ad cut for group, Norris complains about the cost of filling his truck with gas and directs viewers to sign a petition being circulated by American Solutions urging Congress to "act immediately to lower gasoline prices...by authorizing the exploration of proven energy reserves."
Standing at the gas pump, Norris says, "I'd like to roundhouse kick this pump all the way into the next county."
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