Rush Limbaugh says Kennedy won’t live to see health care reform

Dow Jones drops 4% for second time in week

The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell another 281.40 points today, a total of 4.09%. This is the second time in a week that the Dow has dropped 4%.

Barbara Bush has open heart surgery

Barbara Bush, the former first lady of the United States, underwent open heart surgery earlier today. The surgery was scheduled last week after Mrs. Bush experienced shortness of breath.

Dow continues freefall; loses 4.24% today

The Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 299 points in trading today, the equivalent of 4.24%, and fell below 7,000 points for the first time since 1997. Today’s loss was spurned by a deepening lack of investor confidence as well as dismal unemployment numbers and AIG, who reported the worst quarterly loss in history. In less than a year, the Dow has lost almost 50% of its value.

US considering taking ownership of up to 40% of Citibank

The United States government is in talks with Citibank to take take over as much as forty percent of the bank’s publicly traded stock. The talks were initiated by Citibank and designed to keep the bank from going under, while federal officials would gain a greater influence in decisions made on Wall Street.

The news will likely push the stock market lower when trading resumes tomorrow.

Japanese finance minister forced to resign after appearing drunk at economic summit

Japan’s finance minister was forced to resign after appearing to be drunk at a press conference at an economic summit.

Graham says nationalizing banks should be considered

Senator Lindsey Graham (R-SC) appeared on ABC’s This Week this morning and said that the government should not rule out nationalizing banks because of the multitude of bad assets that are in the banking and financial community.

This idea of nationalizing banks is not comfortable, but I think we have gotten so many toxic assets spread throughout the banking and financial community throughout the world that we’re going to have to do something that no one ever envisioned a year ago, no one likes, but, to me, banking and housing are the root cause of this problem. And I’m very much afraid that any program to salvage the bank is going to require the government to get…

At which point Graham was interrupted by moderator George Stephanopoulos, who asked what should happen now. Graham responded:

I would not take off the idea of nationalizing the banks.

Senator Graham’s quote begins at 1:18 of the clip:

C-SPAN ranks ten best & ten worst presidents

C-SPAN has released its list of the ten best and ten worst presidents of the 42 (yes 42) former presidents of the United States (while President Obama is the 44th president, Grover Cleveland was the 22nd and 24th president). The list was comprised by a “cross-section of 65 presidential historians.”

Ten best (in order):

1. Abraham Lincoln
2. George Washington
3. Franklin Roosevelt
4. Teddy Roosevelt
5. Harry Truman
6. John F. Kennedy
7. Thomas Jefferson
8. Dwight Eisenhower
9. Woodrow Wilson
10. Ronald Reagan

Ten worst (in order with 1 being worst):

1. James Buchanan
2. Andrew Johnson
3. Franklin Pierce
4. William Henry Harrison
5. Warren Harding
6. Millard Fillmore
7. George W. Bush
8. John Tyler
9. Herbert Hoover
10. Rutherford B. Hayes

Burris: Blagojevich wanted money for Senate appointment

Senator Roland Burris (D-IL) has revealed that former Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich approached him and asked for $10,000 in exchange for being named to the Senate seat he now occupies. The revelation comes after Burris gave testimony under oath to an Illionois House committee investigating Blagojevich. In that testimony, Burris failed to disclose that Blagojevich wanted money for the Senate seat once held by President Obama.

While the disclosure by Burris is meant to bolster his standing in Illinois, it will most likely end up backfiring as a result of statements Burris made during the period when he was Senator-designate Burris. Burris repeatedly said in interviews that the appointment was not tainted and maintained that he was never asked for money in exchange for being named to the Senate seat.

Possible 2012 GOP presidential candidate Huntsman backs civil unions

Governor Jon Huntsman (R-UT), who is being widely mentioned as a frontrunner for the 2012 GOP presidential nomination, shocked his state this week when he came out in support of same sex civil unions.

When asked by the local Salt Lake City ABC affiliate if he supported same sec unions, Huntsman replied:

Well, its something I have given a lot of thought to and the answer is yes.

The move will not go over well with social conservatives, but is designed to appeal to moderates and bolster his argument that he can win over swing voters in a general election. Adding to his moderate appeal, Huntsman also holds moderate to liberal environmental views.

Coulter under investigation

Conservative commentator Ann Coulter is under investigation for violating Connecticut election laws. Connecticut authorities are probing whether she broke the law by repeatedly voting in Connecticut while maintaining her primary residence in New York City for the past ten years.

Justice Ginsburg has pancreatic cancer

The Supreme Court announced today that Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg has pancreatic cancer. She is currently in New York having just undergone surgery to remove the tumor and will remain in the hospital for seven to ten days.

As pancreatic cancer is conisdered to be extraordinarily difficult to overcome, legal groups from both sides of the aisle are already preparing, abeit quietly for now, for a fight over a possible vacancy in the Supreme Court.

George Will says buy American provisions could start second Great Depression

On today’s This Week, conservative columnist George Will made one of the most scary and interesting statements about the economic stimulus bill and how the “Buy American” provisions throughout it could cause other countries to retaliate economically through trade, which would push the United States into a “second Great Depression.”

Putnam to not seek reelection to House

Representative Adam Putnam (R-FL), who until last year was the third-ranking Republican in the House of Representatives, will not seek reelection in 2010. Putnam, 34, will instead run for Florida’s agriculture commissioner after being elected to five terms in the House.

The move by Putnam coudl very well be viewed as a springboard to winning major statewide office in Florida. In 2014, Governor Charlie Crist (R) will be term limited (or have lost his 2010 reelection to a Democrat), creating an opening for Putnam to emerge as the GOP frontrunner for governor. Putnam could also have his sights set on the Senate, as Democratic Senator Bill Nelson will be up for reelection in 2012.

GOP hit over Rush Limbaugh in new web ad

Blagojevich removed from office

The Illinois State Senate voted unanimously to remove Rod Blagojevich from office. The 59-0 vote removes Blagojevich from office immediately. Blagojevich is the eight governor in United States history to ever be removed from office.

In a second vote, the Illinois State Senate voted 59-0 to ban Blagojevich from ever again seeking or holding public office in Illinois.

Illinois Lt. Governor Pat Quinn will now take the oath of office and become governor of Illinois.

Blagojevich defends himself in front of IL State Senate

Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich defends himself in front of the Illinois State Senate, who could, and likely will, remove him from office by the end of the day. Many are now betting that it will be a unanimous vote to remove Blagojevich.

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Part 5:

Blagojevich asks to speak at impeachment trial

This should be entertaining.

Blagojevich on The View

Part 1:

Part 2:

Dowd: Paterson showed he is a joke in Gillibrand pick

Maureen Dowd compared Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich and New York Governor David Paterson in their method for selecting their state’s Senate replacements for President Obama and Secretary of State Clinton. The piece concludes that Paterson looks more like a joke and unprofessional, while it also politely attacks Senator-designate Kirsten Gillibrand:

Instead they have Gillibrand, who voted against the Wall Street — as in New York — bailout bill. And who introduced a bill to balance the federal budget annually, which suggests she would oppose the $825 billion in deficit spending that President Obama proposes to rescue the country, not least New York.

[snip]

Paterson wasn’t thinking of New York, only of how an upstate ally who was a woman would bolster his own chances for re-election. We can only hope that an avenging Andrew Cuomo takes him out in a primary.

The 42-year-old Gillibrand, who has been in the House for only two years, is known as opportunistic and sharp- elbowed. Tracy Flick is her nickname among colleagues in the New York delegation, many of whom were M.I.A. at her Albany announcement.

Fellow Democrats were warning Harry Reid on Friday that he was going to have his hands full with the new senator because she’s “a pain.”