typo fixed
Some bits:
Sen. COONS, a moderate Biden ally, says it would be "reductionist" to assume Biden won't get rid of the filibuster of his history/love of the Senate.
“We are in a dire crisis and he ISN'T going to sit by for four years and see his entire agenda stymied”
1 thing McConnell & Obama aides agree on: it wasn't that Obama didn't schmooze enuf w/ McConnell
Don "Stew" Stewart, McConnell's frm deputy Cos:
“It’s not personality, it’s policy. None of the beers or whiskey or anything matters. If your policy stinks, it’s not going anywhere”
But even if Biden succeeds where Obama didn't re: McConnell, some Obama aides argue it will be b/c Biden is white.
A whole hosts of rxn's to Obama writing in his memoir that part of the reason he sent Biden to deal w/ McConnell was b/c of race.
McConnell aides fumed all winter about that Obama line. fwiw, some Biden and Obama aides think that's not true.
1 person who agrees w/ that the GOP in congress were more obstructive b/c of his race? McConnell's first wife (who is now an Elizabeth Warren-supporting MA liberal)
a dive into McConnell & race
progressive by Southern GOP standards
Says he voted for LBJ over Goldwater b/c of civil rights
stood up to Reagan on Apartheid
But in a 1970 article (that he cited on the Sen. floor during Bork fight): he praised Chief Justice Taney cont...
McConnell praised Taney "as among the most outstanding of American jurists" w/ an "exceptional career."
McConnell tells me he made a "mistake" in what he wrote as a 28-year-old.
"Taney was the author of one of the worst decisions (the Dred Scott decision) in American history,"
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Where’s Greg? (Schultz)
Biden’s first campaign manager is not join the admin now
He was angling for political director before it meant reporting to Jen O’Malley Dillon, who replaced him during the campaign. politico.com/newsletters/tr…
Schultz has become a surprisingly divisive figure w/ some feeling he was made to be a scapegoat even though the theory of the case to win the primary proved correct
Others say they won in spite of Greg and the strategy came from many sr. Ppl.
Here’s one: “he couldn’t execute”
MORE
Personnel scooplet: @robsfriedlander
is the new associate director for communications in the White House’s Office of Management and Budget.
Gina Raimondo’s financial disclosure form is boring.
The left-wing praises Biden’s ethics plan (seriously)
Oppo Book: What did @RonaldKlain's wife say about Kevin Spacey playing him in the HBO movie about the 2000 Florida recount?
"He may be better-looking than you and more glamorous — but you have a full head of hair, and he doesn’t!”
FYI: Klain continues to have excellent hair
Trivia: which President said this in their 2nd inaugural address?
“During this course of administration, and in order to disturb it, the artillery of the press has been levelled against us, charged with whatsoever its licentiousness could devise or dare."
Scoop: a list of the transition aides staying on for cabinet picks, etc. b/c of delays in confirmations
The virtual inauguration is also making it harder for Biden to reward his big inaugural donors. One event for major donors? a “preferred viewing” Zoom w/ Bradley Whitford.
and DNI nominee Avril Haines is the one who used to host erotica nights at a local bookstore she co-founded in Baltimore. Here's a write up from the Sun in 1995 w/ Haines reading lines from "The Claiming of Sleeping Beauty” (our summary below)
you can change the rules on impeachment trials w/ a majority but
Unc’s Michael Gerhardt says: “If it got streamlined further I think some people would begin to question whether it’s a credible trial, and some of those people might be in the U.S. Senate”
the main purpose of continuing the impeachment process after Trump leaves office would be to disqualify him from running for president in 2024 or any federal office in the future.
That requires a separate vote by the Senate BUT only after a conviction with two-thirds majority.
Here's the video of the Capitol police shooting Ashli Babbitt as she and others attempted to break into the Speaker's Lobby (a warning about viewing this)
the clip is from this much longer YouTube account of the entire mob, riot of the Capitol.
Bedlam after the shooting.
"She's dead. She's dead. I saw the light go off in her eyes."
This is when the rioters pushed through more police inside the Capitol chanting "Stop the steal"
someone said: "let's be peaceful" and you can hear someone say "fuck that shit."