On FNS, John McCain actually criticized Obama’s”close Gitmo in a year “policy” by suggesting John Boehner’s you got to know the logistics first” angle.

On TW. Nancy whispered sweet nothings in George Stephanopoulos’s Gregory’s ears. For his part, Steph was taken aback by how important she is.

On MTP, Larry Summers was almost clueless.

On FTN, Bob Schieffer reacted to Larry Summer’s argument that all government spending is a form if stimulus with silence.

JOHN MCCAIN ON FOX NEWS SUNDAY. Host Chris Wallace’s first guest on FOX News Sunday was John McCain, who postured that his failed Senate run would give him more posture to be proactive in the U.D. Senate. For the upcoming Obama stimulus spending package, McCain well we should eliminate excess spending.

McCain criticized Obama’s stance on Gitmo, pointing out that you ought not to announce freedom for the inmates before you’ve decided what do with them.

And he announced that he had “no regret over Sarah Palin. As if she damaged the campaign in actually view or any but the lefties and the self-appointed GOP attention seekers.

NANCY ON ABC’s THIS WEEK. Steph introduced Speaker Nancy Pelosi as the “most popular woman in Washington.” She angered, “We need more women [in politics].” (Sorry, Nancy, but Ned failed miserably against Lieberman in Connecticut a few years back.)

LARRY SUMMERS ON MTP. David Gregory’s first guest on NBC’s Meet the Press was a man seen by Obama as decidedly less fit to handle the office o Treasury Secretary as the tax cheat Tim Geithner, Larry Summers. Summers said that his job was to brief the President every morning on how bad the economy he has inherited is.

Obama will address the problem of earmarks without doling out earmarks to his Congressional cronies.

Gregory confronted Summers with the observation that there was very little genuine stimulus in Obama’s package. Summers responded, basically, that any type of government spending stimulus.

JOHN BOEHNER ON MTP. For the Republicans, John Boehner spoke. Boehner said that there was a lot of slow-moving governor spending which will not work. The American people, he said, want a rescue package that works. He spoke of the Republican stimulus plan, which was pretty solid, market-wise.

Earlier, he spoke to Clinton.

JOE BIDEN ON FACE THE NATION. From Wilmington, Vice President Joe Biden was host Bob Schieffer’s guest, his 53rd on such show. Schieffer estimated that Biden was following the most powerful vice President in history. Biden said that he only wanted to be the “last guy in the room when a president makes an important decision.

Joe Biden stated confidently that more American soldiers will die in Iraq than lately under President Bush. He promised that he will remain talkative and outspoken, but he will have to remember that he is not president.

JOHN MCCAIN ON FOX NEWS SUNDAY. Host Chris Wallace’s first guest on FOX News Sunday was John McCain, who postured that his failed Senate run would give him more posture to be proactive in the U.D. Senate. For the upcoming Obama stimulus spending package, McCain well we should eliminate excess spending.

McCain criticized Obama’s stance on Gitmo, pointing out that you ought not to announce freedom for the inmates before you’ve decided what do with them.

And he announced that he had “no regret over Sarah Palin. As if she damaged the campaign in actually view or any but the lefties and the self-appointed GOP attention seekers.

NANCY ON ABC’s THIS WEEK. Steph introduced Speaker Nancy Pelosi as the “most popular woman in Washington.” She angered, “We need more women [in politics].” (Sorry, Nancy, but Ned failed miserably against Lieberman in Connecticut a few years back.)

LARRY SUMMERS ON MTP. David Gregory’s first guest on NBC’s Meet the Press was a man seen by Obama as decidedly less fit to handle the office o Treasury Secretary as the tax cheat Tim Geithner, Larry Summers. Summers said that his job was to brief the President every morning on how bad the economy he has inherited is.

Obama will address the problem of earmarks without doling out earmarks to his Congressional cronies

Gregory confronted Summers with the observation that there was very little genuine stimulus in Obama’s package. Summers responded, basically, that any type of government spending stimulus.

JOHN BOEHNER ON MTP. For the Republicans, John Boehner spoke. Boehner said that there was a lot of slow-moving governor spending which will not work. The American people, he said, want a rescue package that works. He spoke of the Republican stimulus plan, which was pretty solid, market-wise.

Earlier, he spoke to Clinton

JOE BIDEN ON FACE THE NATION. From Wilmington, Vice President Joe Biden was host Bob Schieffer’s guest, his 53rd on such show. Schieffer estimated that Biden was following the most powerful vice President in history. Biden said that he only wanted to be the “last guy in the room when a president makes an important decision.

Joe Biden stated confidently that more American soldiers will die in Iraq than lately under President Bush. He promised that he will remain talkative and outspoken, but he will have to remember that he is not president.
=====

Someone get these Obama jokers off the Sunday shows until they’ve made up their minds about something.

On ABC’s This Week this morning, Obama strategist David Axelrod was still campaigning.

On FNS, Nancy Pelosi screeched, cackled, and discussed bipartisanship done her way. Obama spokesman Robert Gibbs promised us that he’d never lie. If he was uncomfortable with the truth, he would move on to the next subject.

On MTP, Rahmbo said a lot of stuff to moderator David Gregory, mostly defending a stimulus package of some sort, and then they all went out for Drinks. Gregory was buying.

On CBS’s FTN, Obama economic advisor Larry Summers said that we will see additional job losses will not hit 10%. He did not again hold forth on the stupidity of women.

(Read on for the review.)

AXELROD ON TW. George Stephanopoulos, host of ABC’s This Week, spoke to Obama strategist David Axelrod in what appeared to be obtuse and uneventful Axelrod said of the Obama stimulus: “We have to act. We have to try.” Otherwise, we’ll surely get double-digit inflation. Contrary to John Boehner’s assertion that the Republicans were not consulted about the Obama stimulus, Axelrod asserted that “there have been consultations with Republicans.

Axelrod insisted that President Bush, with malice aforethought, personally killed the “Clinton surpluses” and he did not hear members of Congress complaining about that. Axelrod concluded that Obama was not spending to create jobs; rather, he was investing in our future.

NANCY ON FNS. Host Chris Wallace’s first guest on FOX News Sunday was House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, who bitterly complained that more House Republicans should support TARP now, as they had “voted for TARP in a high number when Bush was President.” Well, technically, Nancy, he still is, and he helped Obama to appeal for this second batch. Of course, what did we get for the first half?

Nancy claimed that her stimulus package creates by its lonesome 3 to 4 million jobs. She reported that according to the “Republicans’ Congressional Budget Office (CBO),” nothing had contributed more to the deficit than Bush’s tax cuts for the wealthiest. She said that she put everything on the table, including benefit reductions.

She applauded Conyers’ rabid promises of Congressional investigations into the past doings of the Bush Administration, as we must “learn from the past” and “let the truth come forth

Finally, said Nancy: “I wish President Bush would have been bipartisan.”

ROBERT GIBBS ON FNS. “You can tell by the way I use my walk, I’m a woman’s man, no time to talk.” And no time for the Bee Gees, either.

Wearing a nicer suit and sporting a better haircut than he did at the FN last summer, incoming White House spokesperson Robert Gibbs held forth on FNDC. He said that the “American people are going to have to give something,” as in: Uncle Sam demands a sacrifice!

Obama is “more transparency,” “do things differently,” etc.

Gibbs insisted that “we have to ask the financial sector to reform themselves” He quickly revised that to telling the financial sector that they must get with the program.

Obama’s going to have us out of Iraq in 16-months. In his major changes, Gibbs insisted, Obama’s going to consult with the military and hand more responsibility over to the Iraqis. (Can they really be that oblivious to what President Bush has been doing post-surge?)

Gibbs declared that the Pelosi stimulus package was not Obama’s.

He added, “I don’t think Mr. Geithner about paying his taxes.” I don’t know what he’d call it, then. Perhaps he liked the phrasing that Geithner didn’t want to pay his taxes until he was caught and wanted to fill a position of trust with the American people.

RAHMBO ON MTP. On NBC’s Meet the Press, Moderator David Gregory talked to Chicago-style Rahmbo. In his inaugural address, Rahmbo intimated, that he’ll say the same things we heard in the campaign. Obama will talk about his new “era of responsibility,: as opposed to the current culture of “anything goes.” We’ll have to “do what we need to do as a country to regain America’s greatness” in the global test. This is larger, Rahm intoned, than just sacrifice and the economy.

Gregory took the opening to discuss the economy, pointing out that the “era of big government is back in a big way.” Rahmbo blamed, part, overruns in defense spending.

Gregory confronted Rahmbo with the wasteful spending in Obama’s plan, ad Rahmbo retorted that the Pell grant was no wasteful because it sent people to college. He suggest that he and Gregory “would not be sitting here” if it weren’t for Pell grants. Gregory asked Rahmbo what he says to people who report that under the guise of stimulus, the Obama package is really just the Dem domestic agenda. Rahm continued the blather about how important this plan is, without answering the question, and Gregory let him go.

Rahmbo, several times, repeated: “This is the single worst economic crisis since the Great Depression.” Gregory grunted his agreement

On Tim Geithner’s failure to pay income taxes until Obama wanted to put him in charge of the IRS, Rahmbo called it a “mistake” and an “embarrassment,” but added that Geithner was the right and only man who could run the Treasury Department at this point. As proof of this, he pointed to Geithner’s broad bipartisan support: Lindsey Graham and Orrin Hatch.

LARRY SUMMERS ON FTN. Obama economic advisor Larry Summers, a Clinton retread, has declared that Obama’s stimulus package is “shovel ready” and will pass in a month. He said that no one who earns less than $250,000 will receive a tax increase, but “the focus is on getting this economy started. This “won’t be fixed in a week, or a month, or a year,” but they have to show the commitment to fixing everything for everyone. Summers thinks “we’re gonna see substantial job losses,” but unemployment won’t hit 10%.

He said that Obama and Geithner (the tax cheat) are going to use the economy rather than the banks to create loans.

He did not reiterate his deeply held belief that women are stupid.

CNN’S LATE EDITION. evidently, this television show is no more and has been replaced by State of the Union starring John King. When I tuned in, King was talking to Donna Brazile, Alex Castellanos, and the worthless, shriveled David Gergen worshipping at the altar of Obamamania. One of them even managed a “son of Africa.”

I’ll see what’s up here next week, if they will bother with legitimate news.
~~~~~

We’re ready for the inauguration of our new President. Let’s wish each other luck.

FOX News Sunday (FNS): Host Chris Wallace will talk to Nancy then to that strange Robert Gibbs fellow.

This Week (ABC): Host George Stephanopoulos will talk to David Axelrod.

Meet the Press (NBC): Moderator David Gregory will listen to Rahmbo.

Face the Nation (CBS): Host Bob Schieffer will speak with Larry Summers, perhaps about the tax cheat whose Senate trial is scheduled to begin next week.

Late Edition (CNN): Host Wolf Blitzer Obama and Axelrod. Bush and Perino.

~~~~~
The main hindrance to Barry’s real-quick agenda will be from her imperial Speakership, that woman, Nancy Pelosi. Axelrod played a good political game as proven by his ability to sell the American people a blank slate, bill of goods, but I’m sure Steph doesn’t see it that way.

Oh, Inauguration Day is almost here, with Obama ready to greet DC with the most expensive one in history, with Democrats celebrating their worst economy since the collapse of the Soviet Union.

On Friday, Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell indicated that Obama’s Attorney General pick, Eric Holder, would be the most likely of the Obamakins to be blocked by the minority.

“You know, beyond that, I don’t anticipate trouble for the new president’s nominees,” McConnell said on National Public Radio on Friday. “I think most of them are people that we’re familiar with and have outstanding records.”

McConnell said Holder “has got serious questions” to answer about his role in President Clinton’s pardon of Marc Rich and “some other matters.”

Some other matters? Like the taxpayer-funded thugs whom Holder helped embolden to deport young Elian Gonzalez to Cuba? And what was his role in burning up that religious cult, the Branch Davidians, in Waco, ‘93? He was Janet Reno’s main squeeze at Justice.

Okay, so many of us, including Senator McConnell have serious questions about Holder and his fitness to serve as Attorney General. Orrin Hatch, though, does not.

The all-powerful Republican and former Judiciary Committee chairman has told The Hill that he supports Holder.

“I intend to,” said Hatch.

When Reagan was President, I trusted Senator Hatch; he was the best that stood opposite the two main Dem gadflies on the committee he’d later chair: the one who liked his Scotch and the other, more smarmy one, whom we’ll soon call, Mr. Vice President.

Now this?

“I start with the premise that the president deserves the benefit of the doubt. I don’t think politics should be played with the attorney general,” he said.

“I like Barack Obama and want to help him if I can.”

It’s a lot like Chris Matthews said,

This country needs a successful presidency.

The problem is, Senator Hatch, your duty to your State of Utah and to the country is not to accept Holder on the basis of your fondness for Obama and desire to help him succeed. You ought instead to examine Holder’s fitness for office as you learn from the information presented at his Judiciary Committee hearing.

Nice guy that he may be, Obama is fundamentally wrong on many things; on these things, we should push back.

PREFACE:

Obama went on ABC’s This Week this morning, where he and host George Stephanopoulos demanded a sacrifice. From each and every American. For the common good, says he, The once we’ve appeased them, I suppose they’ll demand a second shrubbery, only slightly higher so you get a two-level effect with a little path running down the middle..

David Gregory, on MTP, killed time with tedious roundtables.

On FNS, Brit Hume interviewed the two Presidents Bush.

On FTN, Dick Durbin said that Roland Burris’s paperwork from the Secretary of State was strange; Burris said that it was fine and that he is the junior Senator from Illinois. John Boehner was confident that there will be no tax increases in Obama’s economic scheme.

And on Late Edition, Dick Cheney said that as a conservative, he would always like to see less government spending, except in wartime and in periods of national crisis.. Up next, Nancy Pelosi blamed Bush and the Republican Congress for last and this years’ huge deficits but promised that she will fix everything.

Read on for the show-b-show review:

OBAMA ON THIS WEEK On ABC, host George Stephanopoulos spent some time talking to Obama. He asked such hard ball questions as: “Does it feel like you’re President yet?” (Obama answered: No.)Something about “bells and whistles.”

Steph took questions from his viewers for to ask Obama, and he reported that most of them were versions of: “Can you fix this?” Obama’s answer was yes, but it will take a while. He maintained that this was the “worst recession since the Great Depression™.”

Steph asked Obama, who has promised some tax cuts in his package, if he really believed in that trickle-down nonsense or were these tax cuts really just a sop to the Republicans? Obama assured Steph that the vast bulk of his economic recovery program was comprised of new government spending, but that even though they will not help as much as this spending, the tax cuts do provide some sort of stimulus.

“We don’t want this to be a Christmas Tree.”

Obama declared that his spending plan must be passed by Presidents’ Day (February 16) or “Congress is going to hear from me.” (I’m sure Nancy likes Presidential threats.)

Steph asked Obama if everyone in the country is going to have to sacrifice something for “the greater good.” Obama answered in the affirmative, adding: “Everybody’s going to have to give.”

Obama told Steph that he thinks our country’s “basic principle” is protecting its citizens.

Obama said that Iran has been supporting terrorism and trying to build nukes, so he is going to try to “engage” them. (Predictions: The Mullah’s won’t marry him.) Obama also promised that Janet Napolitano, as DHS secretary, will help to keep us safe.

Obama promised to close Gitmo, but he explained that this cannot be done immediately. After all, he claimed, there are dangerous people imprisoned there. “It’s going to take time.”

A viewer wrote to ask if Obama would demand a special prosecutor for President Bush’s most severe war crimes, like torture and wiretapping. Obama admitted that he doesn’t “believe that anybody’s broken the law,” and that he is looking towards moving forward rather than dwelling in the past.

ROUNDTABLE ON MTP. David Gregory, host of Meet the Press, had as his opening guest, five notable journalists, et al., to discuss the economy.

TWO BUSHES ON FNS. Brit Hume hosted FOX News Sunday this morning, and he spoke to the two President’s Bush. The show will re-air on the FOX News Channel this afternoon.

DURBIN ON FTN. On CBS’ Face the Nation, host Bob Schieffer spoke to Senator Dick Durbin about Roland Burris. He demands the Illinois Secretary of State’s signature on a Burris document. There are new, different documents which had been filed Friday which might or might not” comply with Senate rules.” He declared that the Senate has the power to stand in judgment of its members and decide who is seated.

Schieffer switched to Obama’s hugely expensive stimulus package, asking if it can pass. Durbin answered that this is the worst economic crisis since forever. They will act like quickly but prudently. Schieffer asked her about Nancy’s demand that there be no tax cuts for the “rich,” and Durbin said that he hadn’t heard that from the Senate.

ROLAND BURRIS ON FTN. Schieffer explained that he wasn’t sure what Durbin had just said, and Burris said that is appointment was valid through the law of the State of Illinois, everything was in order and in compliance with Senate rules.

He declared that he is “now the junior Senator from Illinois.” He did not dismiss the question of whether his attorneys will take this to court if they have to do so.

Schieffer asked Burris how he could accept an appointment from such a strange and corrupt character as Blago and expect to be taken seriously. Burris answered that he had nothing to do with Blago’s problems but that Blago’s choice of him was good for the people of Illinois.

BOEHNER ON FTN. Schieffer’s last guest was House Republican leader John Boehner. Asked about Burris, he said that he would not tread those waters. He wished the Senate the best.

Boehner said that in a time of great economic crisis, they don’t want to raise taxes on anyone; he is confident that there will be no tax hikes in the Obama scheme. He said that the plan needs to be done quickly but in a responsible way. He had hoped to have it done by mid-February, but when he hears concerns from people like David Obey, he sees that this may not be possible

He wants to lower taxes on families and small businesses .

Boehner asserted that no one has really seen this package, so no one really knows what they’re talking about.

CHENEY ON LE. On CNN, Late Edition host Wolf Blitzer interviewed Vice President Dick Cheney. Cheney said that we “are in the middle of a serious recession.” He said that they have committed about half of the TARP funding; not half has been spent.

Cheney said that as a conservative, he would always like to see less government spending, except in times of war on national crisis, when we have no choice.

Blitzer suggested that the Bush Administration was complicit in the banking crisis for talking about an “Ownership Society” in the 2004 election. Cheney said that though he’s not an economist, he thinks that situation called for more federal regulation of Fannie Mae and Freddie Max.

Blitzer asked Cheney if this were the worst economic crisis we’ve face since the Great Depression, and Cheney responded that we cannot really say that.

NANCY ON LE. Wolfe talked to Nancy Pelosi about her plans to fix everything. She vowed to change the priorities in Obama’s legislation but she’s “proud” of the “dialogue” that’s taking place, including with some Republicans. She said that this must be done quickly, as the economy is worsening “by the day.”

Blitzer pointed out that the deficit last year will be a record $1.2-trillion. She blamed President Bush and “Republicans in Congress” for last year’s debt. (She’s run the show since 2007.) She said that repealing the Bush tax cuts would not be the wrong thing to do in a time of recession, as warned by economists; rather, it would be “correcting a mistake” which has led to the crisis.

She agreed with Blitzer that her majorities are so huge in the House that she doesn’t need Republican support, but that she wants it, basically, so she can say she has it. (The terms she used were “legitimacy” and “sustainability.”

= = = = = =

Have at it.

FOX News Sunday (FNS): Brit Hum will be the host this week, interviewing the country’s two Presidents Bush.

This Week (ABC): Host George Stephanopoulos interviews Obama then has his roundtable.

Meet the Press (NBC): Moderator David Gregory offers us an entertaining lineup with Bill Cosby and Maxine Waters; he also takjs to DC Mayor Adrian Fenty and Dr. Alvin F. Poussaint.

Face the Nation (CBS): Host Bob Schieffer talks to John Boehnor and Dick Durbin, and also to Illinois Senator-but-for-the-whining Rollie Burris.

Late Edition (CNN): Host Wolf Blitzer chats with Dick Cheney, Nancy Pelosi, and that strange man, David Gergen.

~~~~~

And that’s what they have in store for us on the second Sunday of shows in the Year of our Lord, 2009. This could be a forgettable week, as far as raw and exciting news, unless Maxine says something truly bizarre. She tends to do that, you know.

Alas, Reid was the lone guest on NBC’s Meet the Press [transcript], and moderator David Gregory was not shy about the questions he asked. But I had to uncover the most brazen lie myself.

Gregory asked Reid about charges reported at Politico.com this morning that he had called Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich to make known that he would not accept Representative Jesse Jackson Jr., Representative Danny Davis, or Illinois Senate President Emil Jones to fill the vacant Obama seat. Those men are all black. Instead, Reid asked for either Illinois Veterans Affairs Director Tammy Duckworth, a Thai-American, or Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan, who is white.

Reid countered:

I have–anyone that suggests there’s any racial bias in this instance doesn’t realize I went to the Clark County district attorney’s office to find a nobody — people thought was a nobody – to become a federal judge, Johnnie Rawlinson. She was a great judge. She’s now on the Ninth Circuit. I did that myself. So anyone to suggest anything racial is part of the Blagojevich spin to take away from the corruption that’s involved his office in Illinois.

Harry Reid is still a liar.

According to Reid’s hometown Las Vegas Review-Journal, that “nobody” African American woman was not Reid’s first choice for that judgeship (U.S. District Court for Nevada). His actual first choice was U.S. Attorney Kathryn Landreth, a white woman, who asked that her name be withdrawn so she could do other things.

Harry Reid did not boldly march down to a district attorney’s office and select an African American with no reputation to be a federal judge because he felt it was the noble and just thing to do; rather, Rawlinson’s name came up after Reid’s first choice turned him down.

In this morning’s Politico.com article, a spokesman for Roland Burris, Blago’s designated Obama replacement, had this to say:

“It’s interesting that all those who are viable [to Reid for the Obama seat] are white women and the ones who are unacceptable are black men,” Prince Riley, a senior consultant to Burris, told Politico.

And he hadn’t heard Reid’s Rawlinson claim.

On MTP, Reid reacted to Riley’s statement in this manner:

I have no idea who Prince Riley is. But I do know that I’ve served in the United States Senate with two outstanding senators, Carol Moseley Braun and Barack Obama, both African-Americans from the state of Illinois.

This story does not charge Harry Reid with racism; rather, it reflects Blago being Blago-in-trouble. This point is that Harry Reid lied about Judge Rawlinson. And he called her a nobody. (We can say what we will about the Ninth Circuit, but they go to great lengths to assure the country loudly that they are not “nobodies.”)

Harry Reid is still a liar.

PREFACE:

Opening ABC’s This Week, Israeli President Shimon Peres asserted that Israel had no desire to crush Hamas or occupy Gaza; rather, they wanted to eliminate terror.

Next up for host George Stephanopoulos was Dick Durbin, who appeared to indicate that he would be willing to seat Burris provisionally until the Senate could investigate and determine if Blago played by the rules in appointing him. That would be an easy out for Harry Reid from his self-made mess.

Then on TW, Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell pointed out that half of the American public was represented by a Republican Senator, and the GOP would be a part of the process.

On FOX News Sunday, House Dem Leader Steny Hoyer said that the Obama Spending Package (stimulus) will not be “overloaded with earmarks,” but that he will not give the Obama Administration an “informal veto.”

Next up on FNS, former President George Herbert Walker Bush endorsed his son Jeb for the U.S. Senate if that is what Jeb wants: “I’d like to see him be President.”

On MTP, Harry declared that Senators can decide who can be a Senator and who cannot. He denied that he is a racist because a black woman was once his second choice to be a federal judge.

On FTN, host Bob Schieffer went through a partial list of the vacuous lefty lunatic howls and Vice President Dick Cheney withered them with calm and factual logic. So. There.

First on LE, Palestinian (Hamas) “negotiator” Saeb Erekat blamed Israel for attacking innocent Palestinians in Gaza. He called for an immediate cease fire so that the international community could sort things out.

Next up on LE, Benjamin Netanyahu pointed out that Israel could have done a Dresden on Hamas but sought to diminish civilian casualties.

Then Mark Sanford and Jon Corzine were Blitzer’s guest on LE. Corzine argued that Obama’s spending package was a “partnership with the federal government,” not a “bailout.” Sanford argued that it is daft to get the federal government to “solve” a problem by throwing money at it when the government was the root of the problem.

SHIMON PERES ON TW. On ABC’s This Week, host George Stephanopoulos’s first guest was Israeli President Shimon Peres, who explained that Hamas had been attacking Israel without cause or provocation but are now beginning to “feel the weight of their mistake.”

He indicated that Israel had no desire to crush Hamas or occupy Gaza; rather, they wanted to eliminate terror.

He blamed Iran for this mess, pointing out that the Islamic Republic was responsible for both Hezbollah and Hamas.

DURBIN ON TW. Next up on TW, Illinois Senator Dick Durbin, a Dem, said that Israel’s incursion into Gaza was justified.

Durbin said that he’s known Blago-appointed Senator Roland Burris (D-Illinois) for twenty years; this matter is not about Burris but about “the process” (Blago) of appointing him. He indicated that the U.S. Senate has the Constitutional authority to ascertain if this appointment was done in a proper manner.

Durbin seemed to indicate that he would be willing to seat Burris provisionally until the Senate could investigate and determine if Blago played by the rules in appointing him. That would be an easy out for Harry Reid from his self-made, lip-flapping mess.

Durbin expressed outrage that Blago would accuse Harry Reid of having called him and told him not to nominate various African-Americans. He accused Blago of “flailing in every direction.”

MCCONNELL ON TW. Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell was next for Steph. He reminded the host that half of the American public is represented by a Republican Senator and the Republicans want to be a “part of the process.” The Republicans, McConnell said, want to see that the Obama Spending Package is not just a huge spending bill, but actually addresses the problems it should resolved. One thing which the Republicans want to ask, he indicated, was do they really want to create that many new government jobs.

McConnell called for immediate middle –class tax relief. He suggested that it might be a good idea to lend money to the States which request it; this way, they could spend it the way it was needed and some States wouldn’t need anything.

McConnell suggested that a quicker way to handle this would be to look at the Omnibus appropriations bills passed in October. It is ready now and it has already been vetted by both sides.

McConnell suggested that a special election is needed for the vacant Senate seat from Illinois. He agreed that the Israeli action in Gaza is justified.

HOYER ON FNS. On Fox News Sunday, host Chris Wallace’s first guest was House Dem leader Steny Hoyer, who agreed with House Republican leader John Boehner call to make the debate on the Obama Spending Package in the public light. He insisted that the Dems have already held scads of public hearings on the package.

“This is not a bill we want to see overloaded with earmarks,” Hoyer insisted, but then he blew off Wallace’s suggested that they give the Obama Administration an “informal veto.”

Hoyer said that he will vote to release the second half of Hank Paulson’s stimulus money but that Dems are angry that it has bailed out Merrill Lynch when the company’s executives take vacations. Hoyer called for “restraint, oversight, mortgage relief.”

FORTY-ONE ON FNS. Wallace next talked to former President George Herbert Walker Bush, who wants his son home and away from the snipes. (He and Barbara are “not good sports” about hearing their some trashed, the elder Bush intoned, and the mentality which blames everything on him is “grossly unfair.”)

He endorsed his son Jeb for the U.S. Senate from Florida if that is what Jeb wants, adding: “I’d like to see him be President.” (He understands that this won’t be for a little while, what with so many Bushes in that office of late.)

He’s going to jump from an airplane to mark his 85th birthday to prove that “old guys can still do stuff” other than drooling and “sucking your thumb in the corner.”

REID ON MTP. Host David Gregory talked to Harry Reid. Right off the bat, Reid demanded that Hamas have a “peace arrangement” with Israel, much like Fatah has.

David Gregory accused both Rod Blagojevich and Roland Burris of “defying” Harry Reid’s power. Reid added that Blago was a “corrupt individual” who appointed Burris only to distract attention from his own arrest. He said that “Mr. Burris is tainted,” but hid behind Obama and said that it was nothing personal.

Gregory pointed out that Blago has been formally accused and/or convicted of nothing and is legally the governor of Illinois. Reid countered that Congressman Danny Davis was offered the job but turned it down because he thought it would be tainted.

Reid said that he and Durbin will meet with Burris on Tuesday, and he hopes that Blago steps down by then and Pat Quinn can appoint someone. He will not seat Burris, he said, because all precedent indicates that the Senators – “Democrats and Republicans” – are the ones who determine who is allowed to sit in the Senate and who isn’t. Gregory mentioned a Los Angeles Times editorial which pointed out that the Constitution nowhere says that the Senators can exclude another Senator because of the “unrelated wrongdoing of the governor making the appointment.” The editorial used the case of Adam Clayton Powell in Powell v. McCormack, 395 U.S. 486 (1969). Reid declared that the case did not apply now, because it dealt with Powell’s qualifications to be a Congressman while this case deals with Blago’s fitness to appoint a Senator. Gregory asked him where in the Constitution he’s given the power not to seat Burris, and Reid said that “we determine who sits in the Senate.”

Gregory asked Reid if the real problem here was that he thought Burris might not be reelected in 2010. Reid said that he was not that way with Governor Ritter in Colorado or David Paterson in New York. Reid said that he told Blago only that he should “make sure you give us someone who could hit the ground running.” Gregory asked Reid about his conversations with Blago, during which Reid told Blago that he should not appoint Jesse Jackson Jr, Danny Davis, or Emil Jones, all blacks. Reid accused Blago of “making all this up.” He pointed out that he’s served with two blacks from Illinois: Carol Mosley Braun and Barack Obama.

Reid said that he personally went to the Clark County district attorney’s office “to find a nobody” – he stressed “nobody” — named Rawlinson a judge, and she now sits on the 9th Circuit. And she is a nobody, according to Reid. “I did that myself!” In actuality, though Gregory did not mention this, Rawlinson was Reid’s second choice, after his first choice, a white, female U.S. attorney Kathryn Landreth, withdrew her named from consideration.

From the Politico.com piece linked above:

“It’s interesting that all those who are viable are white women and the ones who are unacceptable are black men,” Prince Riley, a senior consultant to Burris, told Politico.

Gregory did mention the quote to Reid, who dismissed it because doesn’t know who Prince Riley, is.

VICE PRESIDENT CHENEY ON FTN. In the studio, live, with host Bob Schieffer was Vice President Dick Cheney. Israel did not seek clearance with the United States to invade Gaza. Schieffer asked him if the invasion were a mistake, and Cheney said that one must remember that the enemy is a terrorist organization called Hamas. Schieffer asked him if they should seek a ceasefire, and Cheney pointed out that they cannot “go back to a status quo ante.”

Cheney thinks “we’ve done some very good things” in the past eight years, listing protection from terrorist attacks, education, prescription drug benefits, etc.

Cheney thinks Iraq “is much better off than they were in ‘03, when we went in.” He said that we made a “miscalculation” when we underestimated the extent to which Saddam had crushed the spirit of the Iraqi, their willingness to step forward and lead. Schieffer insisted that we needed more troops, but Cheney discounted that it would have made a difference. Schieffer asked “how did we get this song wrong.” Cheney said that we got a lot right. Schieffer said “NO WMD.” Cheney faulted the intelligence. Schieffer insisted that Cheney “looked at the intelligence and saw what you wanted to see,” rather than making a reasoned analysis of it. He was pulling out the vacuous lefty lunatic howls, perhaps to have Cheney address the nonsense. Cheney pointed out that we agreed with the world on the intelligence. We agreed with Saddam on the intelligence, as he thought he had WMD.

Cheney called the surveillance program “one of the great intelligence success stories.” It was all done with the President’s Article II authority, and no one’s civil rights were violated.

SAEB EREKAT ON LE. First up for Wolf Blitzer was Palestinian (Hamas) “negotiator” Saeb Erekat, who called Israel’s response to the Hamas attacks, “disproportional.” He called for a cease fire in Gaza brokered by Egypt in June of 2008.

Erekat wants to “stop all forms of attack against Gaza” so that the international community can sort it out. He asserted that the Palestinians had no army, navy, or air force. He did not mention the rockets.

Erekat would not blame Hamas for the problem, saying he was not there “to point fingers,” then he pointed his wagging finger at Israel.

BIBI NETANYAHU ON LE. After a break, Blitzer talked to former Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Netanyahu explained that the “humanitarian crisis” in Gaza was caused by the Hamas rocketing, and Israel must make sure that Hamas does not use a cease fire to reload and begin firing again.

Netanyahu explained that there is no political “opposition” in Israel right now. He told Blitzer to imagine hearing air raid sirens in Washington every hour, every day, and he’d have to run to the nearest shelter. He pointed out that Israel could have done what Britain did to German cities in WWII – firebombing – which he did not criticize based on the circumstances, but that Israel was doing its best to diminish civilian casualties.

Blitzer asked how ascared Netanyahu is of making Hamas more politically popular by Israel’s actions. He isn’t.

CORZINE AND SANFORD ON LE. South Carolina Governor Mark Sanford (R) and New Jersey Governor Jon Corzine (D) were Blitzer’s next guest to discuss the economic crisis. They both agreed that Israel had to defend herself.

Blitzer played a clip from Obama’s weekly YouTube address. Sanford said that Obama’s comments caused him believe that Obama would repeat President Bush’s mistakes of bailout after bailout, throwing taxpayer money at problems that cannot be solved in that way. Corzine countered that we need a “strategic, short-term solution” to the problem. He wants a trillion dollars spent over two years, lest there be a “tremendous consequence on human beings” if we don’t make jobs for people and “educate our children.”

Sanford said that the incorrect assumption is that the federal government can solve the problem. The federal government, he said, was “at the root of the problem.”

Corzine said that this was a “partnership with the federal government,” not a “bailout.” He insisted, “We are making the tough choices!” He called for giving Obama a “line item veto” to reduce pork in the plan. (Steny argued against this on FNS. See above.)

= = = =

Have at it.

FOX News Sunday (FNS): Host Chris Wallace will discuss the first 100 Days of Dem Congress, 2009, with Steny Hoyer.

This Week (ABC): Host George Stephanopoulos will talk to Senators Roland Burris (D-Illinois), Dick Durbin (same), and Mitch McConnell (R-Kentucky).

Meet the Press (NBC): Moderator David Gregory talks to Harry Reid about his mounting woes.

Face the Nation (CBS): Host Bob Schieffer has his last interview with Vice President Dick Cheney.

Late Edition (CNN): I think John King will be taking over, and I’m sure he’ll talk to lots of nice folks.

= = = = =

I applaud Stephanopoulos for interviewing Rollie Burris, and contra what I implied, he’s not yet a Senator. It will be interesting to hear what Durbin has to say about this. Reid is addled, but he might say something controversial, and I wonder if Steny will purport to speak for Nancy.

The Sunday Shows return to the Front Page at RedState on Sunday afternoon.

FOX News Sunday (FNS): Host Chris Wallace runs a taped interview with Laura Bush.

This Week (ABC): Host George Stephanopoulos talks to ex-WH chiefs of staff Ken Duberstein and Leon Panetta, then he talks to future White House Press Secretary Robinert Gibbs.

Meet the Press (NBC): Moderator David Gregory talks with that nice Axelrod fellow. Of note, one of his journalists on the roundtable will be the Washington Posts’s Michelle Singletary, who, NFL rumor has it, will be asked to continue coaching the San Francisco 49ers next season.

Face the Nation (CBS): Host Bob Schieffer talks to that nasty Paul Krugman fellow and then to Axelrod. Oh, and Illinois Lt. Governor Pat Quinn, part of the Daley-Blagojevich-Obama-Rahmbo Chicago political machine.

Late Edition (CNN): Host Wolf Blitzer will run a bunch of old interviews of which his producers are proud.

= = = = ==

That is the lineup, and the Sunday Show Review will return to this space next Sunday.

Happy New Year.

Ph’nglui mglw’nafh Atwater R’lyeh wgah’nagl fhtagn.

FOX News Sunday (FNS): Host Chris Wallace has a recently taped interview with Vice President Dick Cheney.

This Week (ABC): Host George Stephanopoulos has a recently taped interview with Joe Biden.

Meet the Press (NBC): Moderator David Gregory will talk to Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, probably taped recently.

Face the Nation (CBS): Host Bob Schieffer will talk to Kerry Kennedy about her hyper-qualified cousin, Carolyn no-Schlossberg. He’ll talk to others about this matter: Representative Thomas Reynolds (R-New York), Geraldine Ferraro, Representative Gary Ackerman (D-New York), and Representative Peter King (R-New York).

Late Edition (CNN): Host Wolf Blitzer talks to Barney Frank, Eric Cantor, Laura Tyson, Carly Fiorina, and his usual cast of thousands.
—–

Unless (or until) events shake things up, I’m beginning my Christmas vacation from these shows. The interviews and retrospectives are interesting and entertaining, but there is little or no news in them.

And if they find the temerity to interview the leader of one of these LGBT groups, with a side of fries. I’ll cover that. That would no doubt be awesome TV, in a perverse way.

President-elect Barack Obama is a product of Chicago politics, and despite being elevated to the highest political post in the nation, he cannot seem to crawl completely out of that particular gutter. His carefully selected chief of staff, Rahm Emanuel, has been operating under the Chicago rules even as he helps Obama plan to bring Chicago’s politics to Washington.

The Chicago Sun-Times reports this AM:

Emanuel talked with the governor in the days following the Nov. 4 election and pressed early on for the appointment of Valerie Jarrett to the post, sources with knowledge of the conversations told the Sun-Times. There was no indication from sources that Emanuel brokered a deal, however.

A source with the Obama camp strongly denied Emanuel spoke with the governor directly about the seat, saying Emanuel only spoke with Blagojevich once recently to say he was taking the chief of staff post.

But sources with knowledge of the investigation said Blagojevich told his aides about the calls with Emanuel and sometimes gave them directions afterward. Sources said that early on, Emanuel pushed for the appointment of Jarrett to the governor and his staff and asked that it be done by a certain date.

And, sources tell the Sun-Times newspaper,” Rahmbo” and his discussions with Governor Blago, or some of them, are caught on Patrick Fitzgerald’s audio tapes.

Of course, as is pointed out in another piece from the paper:

Emanuel, who has refused to comment on the issue, is not accused of wrongdoing.

Not by investors or law enforcement, anyway. Yet.

It is time for Vegas to set odds on “Rahmbo” remaining in the Obama Administration until the inauguration. If he is ousted – “not the ‘Rahmbo’ I knew” – we might have to move to the next Cook County name on the list. This should not give us great confidence in the ethics of the incoming Administration.

Whether or not “Rahmbo” has been caught “brokering a deal,” or even agreeing to one, the intent is obvious and the appearances foul.