An unpardonable use of power
If President Bush cares about his place in history, he should think twice before issuing pardons that call his judgment, and the integrity of the rule of law, into question.
By Sen. Russ Feingold

Conservative Columnist: "Religion Is Killing The Republican Party"

Matt Taibbi: A Requiem for John McCain
The Republican candidate ran one of the most incompetent campaigns of modern times - and smashed the GOP to pieces.

Holder Seen as Justice Choice as Obama Forms Team
By ERIC LICHTBLAU and JOHN M. BRODER
Barack Obama’s transition team has signaled to Eric H. Holder Jr. that he will be chosen as attorney general, but no final decision has been made, people involved in the process said.

Should Obama Chase Osama?

On Sunday the president-elect told "60 Minutes" he wants to capture or kill bin Laden. Is he setting himself up for failure?
By Juan Cole

Conservative Identity Crisis
By E.J. Dionne —
There is a second transition under way over which President-elect Barack Obama has no control—the transition of conservatives to minority status. How they do this will have a powerful impact on the new presidency.

A Wal-mart Christmas for a Wal-mart Country
By Marie Cocco —
The giant discounter is the only store where hard-squeezed consumers can afford to buy anything, and so it has kept posting sales gains amid the retail bloodbath

The Moose Stops Here

By FRANK RICH
ELECTION junkies in acute withdrawal need suffer no longer. Though the exciting Obama-McCain race is over, the cockfight among the losers has only just begun. The conservative crackup may be ugly, but as entertainment, it’s two thumbs up!

Paul Krugman Schools George Will on The Great Depression

On ABC's This Week, conservative pundit George Will took up the case against Franklin Roosevelt's New Deal, arguing that it sent confusing signals to capitalists (who apparently might otherwise have pursued lucrative deals in the 1930s market place) and turned a depression into the Great Depression.

Thankfully, Nobel laureate Paul Krugman was around to remind Will of some history -- that the economy improved after the New Deal, and that it was FDR's attempt to balance the budget in 1937 (a move favored now by many conservatives) that then cut into that progress.

Watch:

Obama on 60 Minutes

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Part II

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Part III

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GOP not playing "Minnesota Nice" with Franken

Republicans have flooded the airwaves with baseless propaganda to discredit the Coleman-Franken recount in advance.
By Joe Conason

The Newest GOP Myth: We've Drifted From Our Priniciples
by David Corn
In the aftermath of a decisive defeat, Republicans and conservatives are nursing their wounds and wondering what went wrong. Many have come up with an easy answer: the GOP has drifted from its core principles; consequently, the voters have handed it the pink slip.
But is the drift more to blame than the principles?

The Wild Wordsmith of Wasilla

by Dick Cavett

What will ambitious politicos learn from this? That frayed syntax, bungled grammar and run-on sentences that ramble on long after thought has given out completely are a candidate’s valuable traits?

Your Weekly Address from the President-Elect

Bush sets free-trade trap for Obama

The outgoing president wants to spur Democratic infighting by attaching an agreement with Colombia to the economic stimulus package. Obama should say, "no deal."
By David Sirota

This Week in Science
by DarkSyde
Planned Parenthood has a blog and they're understandably pissed off at the Bush-Cheney-Palin-McCain axis of evil and ignorance for, well, for a shitload of reasons as you can imagine. The most recent being as the economy crumbles, families are evicted from foreclosed homes, two unresolved trillion dollar wars rage, and the ranks of the unemployed balloon, the Nutjob-in-Chief has his priorities in order: denying healthcare to women by redefining birth control as abortion.

Last surviving member of the Jimi Hendrix Experience, drummer Mitch Mitchell, dies.

Who's afraid of a Filibuster?
by Joe Conason
Is there enough muscle behind a filibuster threat to block Mr. Obama’s mandate?
The short answer is no.

How do you solve a problem like Joe Lieberman?

A great debate between Rachel Maddow and Evan Bayh lays out the stakes, for both sides.
by Joan Walsh

Bob Cesca: What Doesn't Kill The Far-Right Only Makes Them Crazier
Since their thumpin' last week, the far-right has pushed the crazy to eleven and snapped the knob clean off -- an opening salvo of twisted hackery portending an insane four-to-eight years of attacks on the Obama administration

Goodbye and Good Riddance

by Paul Waldman

After eight years of President Bush, we almost don't know how to function without him -- almost. But before we move on, we should pause to remember just what we're leaving behind.

Let Us Now Praise Howard Dean

by John Nichols

With that 50-state strategy, his full embrace of netroots activism and, above all, his refusal to pull punches, Dean made being a Democrat mean something. That turned out to be the cure for what ailed a party that has benefited immeasurably from the doctor's able treatment of its condition.

Beyond The Fat Cats

By BOB HERBERT
The most important thing the Democrats and President-elect Obama can do with regard to the economy is bring back a sense of fairness and equity.

The GOP's last chance: Become Democrats

With all trends running against them, Republicans' only hope is to reinvent themselves as pragmatists. That, or nominate Sarah Palin and go out in a blaze of glory.
By Gary Kamiya

America The Liberal

by John B. Judis

The Democratic majority: It emerged!

Boogie Man: The Lee Atwater Story
Airs on PBS, Tuesday, Nov. 11 9pm

*************************2012?

How did that realignment work out for you, Republicans?

Five years ago, overweening conservatives predicted they would dominate the future. Goodbye to all that -- for now.
By Joe Conason

The First 100 Days
by Katrina vanden Heuvel
At the end of this remarkable week, a look ahead to the first 100 days of the Obama presidency.

Right-Wing Media Feeds Its Post Election Anger
Rush Limbaugh and Sean Hannity dive shamelessly in, talking about the 'Obama recession' and other partisan lines.
By JAMES RAINEY

Operation Leper!

Slow Learners
by Jonathan Chait
What part of "overwhelming electoral defeat" does the GOP not understand?


Obama And The War On Brains
By NICHOLAS D. KRISTOF
Barack Obama’s election is a milestone in more than his pigmentation. The second most remarkable thing about his election is that American voters have just picked a president who is an open, out-of-the-closet, practicing intellectual

Obama Positioned to Quickly Reverse Bush Actions
Stem Cell, Climate Rules Among Targets of President-Elect's Team
By Ceci Connolly and R. Jeffrey Smith

Late Night Snark: Post Election Edition:

"Attention passengers: The Straight Talk Express is no longer in service. ... Barack Obama is our new president. I think I speak for everybody when I say, 'Anybody mind if he starts a little early?' ... At the end of the night, the electoral vote count was 349 for Obama, 148 for McCain. Or as Fox News says: 'too close to call.'"
---David Letterman
-
"People were worried about the Bradley effect. Apparently, it was not nearly as strong as the Bush effect."
---Jay Leno
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"You know who I blame? The Large Hadron Collider. It is the world's largest and highest particle accelerator. You may remember we were warned that it could create a black hole and destroy the Earth. Consider this: it launched in mid-September, when John McCain was leading in the polls. I believe it jolted us into a parallel universe that was exactly like our own, only Barack Obama is president and the Phillies are world champions."
---Stephen Colbert
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"Yesterday, first lady Laura Bush called Michelle Obama and invited her and her young daughters to the White House. Laura Bush told Mrs. Obama, 'While I give you a tour, the girls can watch SpongeBob with the president.'"
---Conan O'Brien
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"We're all very happy except Sean Hannity, who is too busy in the bathroom crying."
---Fox News's Chris Wallace on The Daily Show
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"People all over the world are celebrating Obama’s victory. Sarah Palin watched the Russians celebrating from her house. ... Sen. John McCain’s concession speech was beautiful. It was dignified, and it was classy. And I think the reason for that is he didn’t let Palin say anything."
---Craig Ferguson
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"President Bush called Barack Obama to congratulate him. ... Obama thanked Bush for his call and for all he did to help Obama get elected."
---Jimmy Kimmel

Postelection poll results contradict media claims that U.S. is a "center-right" country

Several media figures have claimed that President-elect Barack Obama won the election because he ran as a conservative and that notwithstanding Obama's victory, the United States is a conservative country. However, a poll conducted November 4-5 showed strong support for the progressive positions that Obama has articulated on the issues, rebutting the claim that the United States is a conservative country. Read More

Obama's designated a--hole

Even a poetic president needs a ruthless deal maker to help execute his agenda. Enter Rahm Emanuel -- aka "Rahmbo" -- the legendary Democratic operator.
By Mike Madden

Bush's seven deadly environmental sins
How Bush made a mockery of the nation's environmental laws and values -- and what Obama must do to get us back on track.
By Katharine Mieszkowski

First Press Conference

Stolen Election From Alaska?

by Shannyn Moore

Something stinks. Not just an ordinary low tide smell. Not like something you'd blame on the dog. It smells like an infection. For me to plug my nose, I'd have to overlook some curious facts.

Bob Cesca: At Long Last, It's Beginning To Feel Like America
In terms of race, in terms of history, politics and American life we've crossed over to a better place and a more hopeful time. Not simply because of one man, but because we were prescient enough to have recognized ourselves and the true nature of America reflected in that one man. And then we set about the task of freeing ourselves from the darkness of this decade and the shadows that have for too long haunted us. In this respect, all of us -- all races -- are a little more free at last. After all these years, we've finally arrived at moment when America feels like it's supposed to feel.

VOTING SHIFTS The NY Times breakdown of how the country voted compared with 2004. The redder the area, the more people shifted towards republicans. The bluer the area, the more people shifted toward the Democrats. Get the interactive map here.Image courtesy NY Times

Lipstick Confessions
by Scout Finch

From the minute Sarah Palin sat down with Charlie Gibson and then again with Katie Couric, it was obvious to all but the most ardent Kool-Aid drinkers that Sarah Palin was woefully unqualified to be the Vice President of the United States. Ironically, it was around the time of the Palin pick that John McCain settled on "Country First" as his theme, after several previous attempts at an identity. It is obvious now that he meant "country" in the sense of rural or country-western, because by picking the unqualified Palin - he certainly wasn't putting his country first.

Turns out, McCain staffers and the talking heads at Fox News knew all along that Palin was wholly unqualified for the job, but they all sucked it up to put their party first. It must have been a bitter pill for many because now that the election is over, they can't wait to throw Palin under the Straight Talk Express. They've started releasing their own versions of "Lipstick Confessions:

Highlights from the latest Lipstick Confessions include:

-Palin did not know which countries were part of NAFTA.
-It had to be explained to her that Africa was a continent, not a country
-She was angry at staffers over the Gibson and Couric interviews, yet she previously refused staff requests to prepare for the interviews

Just to repeat -- It had to be explained to her that Africa was a continent, not a country. One wonders whether the McCain camp even Googled her before selecting her for VP. There appears to have been no vetting process whatsoever.

Newsweek teased yesterday with a few Lipstick Confessions of their own. Among them:

-Palin went "rogue" by attacking Obama for his loose "association" with Ayers, before the McCain camp had a plan of attack.
-McCain advisors showed up at Palin's hotel room to meet with her and Todd during the RNC and she entered the room in nothing but two towels (one wrapped around her wet hair).

Look for more stories of implosion over the coming weeks as the GOP begins to eat it's own. Will Palin fire back with some McStories of her own? Stay tuned for more Lipstick Confessions....

(Lively discussion on Palin's cluelessness is also underway in ksh01's recommended diary.)

Sarah Palin, freeloader. Also.
by Kagro X

Dansac has already introduced you to today's version of the story, but I feel compelled to revisit an earlier call on this in order to restate a now obvious theme: Sarah Palin is The Chiseler Supreme.

What a really, truly unpleasant experience has been our exposure to the two insta-celebrities created by the McCain campaign. These two grubbers, Joe the Plumber and Sarah Palin, became the perfect symbol for everything that was wrong with and ingenuine about modern Republicanism.

Joe griped endlessly about taxes even as it turned out he was ducking them, and groused that Obama's "socialism" would mean there was no incentive to work hard and succeed in earning more than $250,000 a year, even as he shopped around for an agent and a Nashville recording contract. (And excuse me -- what?! A recording contract? Based on what, Mr. Hard Work?) Meanwhile, there was Sarah griping about pork and wasteful spending even as she tried to rip off the Feds for the Bridge to Nowhere, rip off the state for her per diem, and rip off the campaign for her clothes (and her husband's, and her family's).

Yes, in the few short weeks we knew her, Sarah Palin turned out to have more hands in more pockets than we could keep track of. She and Joe were the perfect pair. Instantly famous but for no good reason, pushy, greedy, and all the while cheating behind the scenes, and cheating on the very issues about which each of them complained that regular Americans were getting a raw deal from the elite.

Good riddance. I get enough of that crap from Reality TV as it is.
It's like a whole election nearly went down the wrong pipe. Thank God the country coughed them back up.

Three huge, immediate reasons to be happy about last night

by Glenn Greenwald

With numerous cases likely to be decided by the Supreme Court in the next several years that linger from the years of Bush radicalism -- involving truly vital questions of executive power and core individual liberty -- a McCain/Palin victory would have been, for this reason alone, a genuine disaster, possibly a final nail in the coffin of our constitutional framework.

OBAMA
Racial Barrier Falls as Voters Embrace Call for Change

A Historic Vote Defying Racism

The Republican Rump

by Paul Krugman

Why will the G.O.P. become more, not less, extreme? For one thing, projections suggest that this election will drive many of the remaining Republican moderates out of Congress, while leaving the hard right in place.

Beyond Election Day
by Bob Herbert
Americans have to decide if they want a country that tolerates this kind of debased, backward behavior. Or if they want a country that aspires to true greatness — a country that stands for more than the mere rhetoric of equality, freedom, opportunity and justice.

Obama and the Better Angels of Our Nature
by John Nichols
At the close of his first inaugural address, Abraham Lincoln spoke to those who would divide the United States.

If The Whole World Could Vote

No Currency Left To Buy Big Lies
by John Cusack
Senator McCain, Governor Palin and assorted surrogates are delusional and breathtakingly corrupt. They disgrace themselves and their country as they lie, smear, slur and write it off as political manner.

I believe all the polls, and none of them

Will Americans do the impossible and elect a black president? The alternative is monstrous.
By Greil Marcus

McCain's Chief Surrogate/Plumber Questions Obama's Loyalty to the USA

Normally it would just be funny, if Joe the Plumber (or JTP as press insiders have dubbed him) was just another sudden celeb shooting off his mouth and getting ludicrous airtime, even if it is mainly just Fox. But the man has appeared at numerous rallies at McCain's side. McCain has called him his "mentor," an "American hero" and promises to bring him to Washington with him if elected. So this brief video from Fox today, in which Joe suggests Obama is disloyal to his country, really shows how far the campaign -- and the mainstream media -- have fallen. To watch a real friend of the working man, here's video of Springteen singing in Cleveland today. -- Greg Mitchell

The Obama Difference
By Howard Zinn
Howard Zinn leans toward Obama despite his views on Afghanistan.

"I think it's realistic to have hope. One can be a perverse idealist and say the easiest thing: 'I despair. The world's no good.' That's a perverse idealist. It's practical to hope, because the hope is for us to survive as a human species. That's very realistic."-Studs Terkel

Legal experts question US Attorney's decision not to prosecute Obama "assassination plot"

The Known Unknowns
by Bob Herbert
The polls show Senator Obama ahead, but there is no reliable precedent for this election. There are too many “known unknowns,” as Donald Rumsfeld might have said.

Obama's winning argument

The U.S. economy has prospered under Democratic policies, and the candidate knows it. But the real battle begins once Obama takes the White House.
By Joe Conason