I never saw the point of picking Daschle in the first place.  His one plus would be his knowledge of folks in the Senate.  However with the Senate nearly filibuster proof, what the heck good is that? If Obama can't get a majority of Dems on board with his plans, I don't think Daschle can.

I would rather have someone with actual chops in the healthcare field, preferably with public health experience and some knowledge of the FDA, which in the wake of the recent Poison Peanut Butter problems (salmonella again), would be far more useful.

They aren't.

Kristof is defending sweatshops.

Ergo, he is not a liberal, which is something I thought everyone knew.

Well, Kaine did not say exactly how the 50 state strategy would be different.

I'm hoping it will still be recognizable as a 50 state strategy-that is, that it would not be a 30 state strategy or even a 49 state strategy.

Especially under a picture of Rosie the Riveter, symbol of all those women who were trained and hired to support the world war II effort, and then fired after the War was over so that the men coming home could take their jobs.

I can't say I'm in favor of the JustGive or otherwise making donations on behalf of people who giving preferences you may not know.  You will alienate a lot of people.

I'm still angry at a relative who donated money to her fundamentalist church in my name, when I bother to think about it (which happens rarely, but always when I read a thread like this).

At the very best, it looks like you're saying to the giftee, "Heads up, Mr. Scrooge!  You should be donating more money to charity!  Here, I'll put training wheels on you to help you!"

You forgot the perfectly good option of giving the universal gift card--money.  In these times, sad to say, it is desperately needed by people on fixed incomes trying to cope with upside down mortgages with real estate taxes going through the roof.  They make cute gift cards to make this look less lame, BTW.

The suggestion of offering to do heavy chores is excellent.  Here's some I could have used this year.  Stuff that involves ladders is really good:

1.  Leaf raking

2.  Snow shovelling
   
3.  Lawn mowing
   
4.  Gutter cleaning
   
5.  Exterior painting (if you want to give grandma and grandpa a really big gift)

That would have been the one and only  plus ... A Mr. Mom in Washington.

Gender biased heads would definitely have exploded.

Which is why I used the word "appears"

Appearances are as they say, deceiving sometimes, and I hope this is the case.

No, only into my pessimism, and I hope I'm completely wrong.

It's newsworthy because it appears Michelle is going to do the Barack's little woman thing as FL.  Which is her right & her family's right & choice, but highly disappointing.  

Not if they're all white, straight guys.

I do hope someone looks at the black church angle.

Percent of African Americans who are Muslims (homosexuality is forbidden to Muslims)

Percent of African Americans who are evangelical Christians (another group where homosexuality is frowned on)

In fact, in 2005 in CA, there was an organized movement among African American ministers to drop support for 'gay marriage'.  According to the article, the GOP was much in support of this, and in fact tried to play on it to woo black voters away from the Democratic party.

http://articles.latimes.com/2005/feb/01/ nation/na-pastors1

It may.  Richardson has been mentioned on a short list, but have you seen either Dodd or Clinton on any list for any position with Obama?

And that's despite Dodd working hard for him.

Is there some other enticement Obama could give Kerry?

Let's hope not.  

Both Arthur & Gwenivere and the Kennedy's stories, ultimately, were tragedies, both for themselves and their countries.

The only thing more boring than Gov. Sebelius speaking would be reading about the IRS in a 1935 edition of the encyclopedia.

I would love to vote for any of the following:  Carol Moseley Braun.  I loved her in 2004, and she got NO traction at all.  Barbara Boxer.  Barbara Mikulski.  Or Hillary.