Bill Clinton has heart surgery
The former president is said to be in good condition (and good spirits) after getting two stents implanted, to remove arterial blockage. Word is he did not have a heart attack, just some discomfort in the chest. Per MSNBC:
“President Clinton is in good spirits, and will continue to focus on the work of his Foundation and Haiti’s relief and long-term recovery efforts,” adviser Doug Band said in a statement.
The former president, who had quadruple bypass surgery in 2004, was to stay the night at Columbia Campus of New York Presbyterian Hospital, where he was admitted earlier Thursday.
Sounds like all is well. Best wishes to the former prez for a speedy recovery.
The Saturday morning round-up (1/16/10)
President Barack Obama, center, speaks about Haiti as former presidents Bill Clinton, left, and George W. Bush, right, listen in the Rose Garden at the White House in Washington Saturday, Jan. 16, 2010. Obama asked Bush and Clinton to help with U.S. relief efforts after the earthquake in Haiti. (AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais)
How will the right spin the Clinton-W. Bush mission to help Haiti? There’s got to be some way to criticize President Obama for tapping the two former presidents, we’ll just have to wait and see how long it takes them to come up with it. (If you want to donate to the effort, go to www.clintonbushhaitifund.org.)
Meanwhile, it was interesting to hear Harold Ford Jr., who purports to be the answer to New York’s Senate prayers, say on MSNBC this morning that it was “good to hear President Bush’s voice.” Heckuva job, Harold. Now back to the Regency’s salon for that pedicure! (More on Harold Ford’s gothic family legacy, and his implosion, at the Beast.)
BTW, how is what MSNBC is doing with Ford, including slavish praise for him from its morning show and a thinly veiled attempt to prop up his political candidacy while keeping him on the “analyst” IV drip, any different from what Fox is doing with Sarah Palin (including a blatant attempt to prop up her political candidacy while putting her on the “analyst” IV drip, dosed daily with slavish praise for her during the morning show and across its programming day?) Just a thought…
The desperation of the people in Haiti is growing, news reports say, just as aid is beginning to flow. The Naval hospital ship Comfort has deployed from Maryland (it should be there by Wednesday.) Secretary Clinton arrives in Haiti today. The Miami Herald reports there is basically no government in Haiti at this point, but what authority there is is saying 20,000 bodies have been buried, mostly in mass graves, since the earthquake.
Meanwhile, Vice President Biden is in Miami (along with the elusive WH political director Patrick Gaspard, who is Haitian himself, and HSS Janet Napolitano) to talk to Haitian-Americans who are frantic for news on what’s happening on the island.
And the media fixates on celebrity philanthropy for Haiti (which of course, is a good thing.) Hope for Haiti, organized by George Clooney, will air January 22nd on most networks.
Up in Massachusetts, Democrats definitely seem to be freaking out over the Senate race (or is it just the media?) … with the possibility of a teabagger grabbing Teddy Kennedy’s seat even lighting a fire under the painfully dull Martha Coakley (Alex Sink, take note: boring doesn’t win elections…) The Boston Globe has six (fairly obvious) factors to watch out for on Tuesday. President Obama will head to Mass to campaign for Coakley.
And proving he can triple multi-tax, President Obama also devoted part of his day today, including his weekly address, to his plan to tax the big banks (note to Mass voters: Pretty Boy Brown is AGAINST sticking it to the fat cats.)
Read this book, and despair!
It’s all about “Game Change” in the MSM and online this morning. A slow Monday can only mean one thing: gossip time! Of course, the authors of the book Mark Halperin and John Heileman, deny that their book is a gossip tome, although it sure is juicy… So it looks like the people who will love the book least are Bill Clinton and Elizabeth Edwards, who come off terribly in the clips that have been released so far (the continuing decline of Bill Clinton in the esteemed of African-Americans has been something to behold.) But apparently, they’re not the only ones about whom dirt is dished.
McCain aides confront Cindy McCain over reports that she had an extramarital affair (page 281):
“The man was said to be her long-term boyfriend; the pair had been sighted all over town in the last few years. Members of McCain’s senior staff discussed the unsettling news, and their growing concerns that Cindy’s behavior had been increasingly erratic of late. [John] Weaver and others suspected that the Cindy rumor was rooted in truth. It was upsetting, Weaver believed, but not a threat.”
Oh, and Sarah Palin thought God willed her to be the Republican VP candidate, and she didn’t know why there was a North AND a South Korea (we already knew she didn’t realize Africa was a continent. … See what kind of bullet we dodged?)
Unlike the Washington press corps, those of us in the red states don’t have the book yet. I headed over to Barnes and Noble this weekend only to find that the book was only available on pre-order (it’s officially out today.) But I got it cheaper by ordering online at Amazon.com. So I should have my gossip fix filled by the end of the week.
Bubbafied
Fresh off his North Korea triumph, Big Bill fires up the ground troops on healthcare reform.
In a speech rallying progressives to make one last major push to pass health care reform, former President Bill Clinton accused Republicans of propagating a campaign of disinformation reminiscent of the effort to bring down his own attempt at reform.
“Do you want to go through that again?” the 42nd President asked the crowd of bloggers, online activists, and a slew of Democratic lawmakers at the Netroots Nation convention in Pittsburgh. “Of course you don’t. I’m telling you no matter how low they drive support for this with misinformation, the minute the president signs a health care reform bill his approval will go up. Secondly, within a year, when all those bad things they say will happen don’t happen, and all the good things happen, approval will explode.”
Hey, that’s what I said…! And it happens to be true. Meanwhile, Obama heads to Montana tomorrow to make his case at … gulp … yet another town hall. Let’s hope the Secret Service thoroughly frisks and wands the wingers.
Great job, Bill Clinton
I was tough on Bill Clinton (and Hillary Clinton) during the 2008 campaign, on my blog and on the radio. Like many African-Americans, I had what you might call a disharmonious divergence from my former status as a “Clinton Democrat,” due to the harshness of the primary campaign with Barack Obama. So I think it’s only fair that I be equally effusive in praising the former president when he does good. Well, Bill Clinton, you “done good.”
According to NBC’s Andrea Mitchell (on MSNBC this morning),Clinton stepped in when negotiations being worked through by his former vice president, Current TV chief Al Gore, went as far as they could go — North Korea didn’t want Gore to come and retrieve the detained journalists, Euna Lee and Laura Ling, who had been held since March. They wanted the former president. And so, this time according to CNN, after “due dilligence” and a briefing by the Obama administration, the husband of our secretary of state flew to North Korea, gave the kook NK dictator his photo op, and brought the two women home to their families. I’m sure more details of the dramatic rescue mission will unfold (journalists love this stuff, and I’m sure the made-for-TV movie, books and feature films are already being cooked up in the minds of New York and Hollywood…) but for now, what we know is that a coordinated mission between three once disparate factions of the Democratic Party — the Gore, Clinton and Obama wings — came together with a phenomenal result:
I’m sure right wingers won’t be able to bring themselves to be happy for the families of these women, or to join the rest of the nation in thanking the former president on behalf of all decent members of the human family. But no matter. Who needs them. Thank you, President Clinton, for a job well done. Once again, I think we’ve established that Republicans may make a lot more noise, but Democrats actually get things done.
Cross-posted at Open Salon.
Bill Clinton succeeds in North Korea: journos headed home
Former President Clinton scores a big win for himself, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, and Team Obama, winning the release of two journalists detained in North Korea. From ABC News:
North Korea’s leader Kim Jong-Il pardoned two jailed U.S. journalists , Laura Ling and Euna Lee today, just hours after former President Bill Clinton arrived in the country to press for their release.
The pardons were announced by North Korea’s state-run news agency, The Associated Press reported.
Clinton, who took a surprise trip to the country to negotiate the release of the two journalists, met with them earlier in what was a very emotional meeting, a government source told ABC News.
The source, who has knowledge of the Clinton team’s mission, was hopeful that the two will leave North Korea tonight for the United States, possibly even on the same plane as Clinton.
This is a big win for the Obama administration, and Big Bill is looking pretty great right about now. This guy? not so much. (For a more coherent analysis than Mr. Moustache’s, click here.)
In case you missed it: Bill Clinton rolls somewhat merrily along
The New York Times Magazine’s Peter Baker takes a fascinating, in-depth look at the post-presidential life of Bill Clinton.
The Herald dissects Meek’s fundraising
Let me start out by saying that I don’t have a dog in the Florida U.S. Senate fight. But do you ever get the idea the Miami Herald is, shall we say, a bit cynical about a certain second-generation politician running for the job? From today’s paper:
For Senate race, Kendrick Meek is raising big money from out of state
At a recent campaign rally, U.S. Rep. Kendrick Meek of Miami branded his U.S. Senate bid a ”grassroots campaign,” boasting of more than 1,000 donors in Florida.
”The more Floridians that we have who are stakeholders in this campaign sends a message, a message that we’re here to do business on behalf of working people,” he told about 100 supporters in the parking lot of a small Hallandale Beach diner.
Hundreds of thousands of dollars from out-of-state corporate interests and Washington lobbyists also have helped Meek — the only Florida Democrat on the powerful Ways and Means Committee — emerge as a fundraising powerhouse with nearly $1.5 million in donations. Democratic party officials say he appears to have raised more than any other non-incumbent running for the Senate nationwide.
”When you are in a leadership position like he is, you do develop relationships with people all over the country,” said Ana Cruz, a senior advisor to the campaign. “It’s a testament to the number of people who believe in him in and outside of the state.”
Cruz notes that Meek received support from more than 800 Florida donors who gave less than $200 each. ”Those are dollars from working-class folks from all over,” she said.
Since he began his campaign in mid-January, Meek accepted $293,000 from political action committees representing law firms, drug companies, payday lenders and other businesses. PAC donations also came from Democratic Reps. James Clyburn of South Carolina and Xavier Becerra of California. In total, 44 percent of Meek’s money came from outside Florida.
In contrast, 10 percent of the money raised by Meek’s leading Democratic rival, state Sen. Dan Gelber, came from other states. He received $9,500 from political action committees.
Stipulating that we are talking about an off-year election, but just 100 supporters? By Obama rally standards what’s that, about 2 people? Another bite:
His campaign calculated that he raised nearly $17,000 a day in the first three months of the year. His total even surpassed Democratic incumbents like Sens. Chris Dodd of Connecticut and Michael Bennet of Colorado.
At the Hallandale Beach rally on Monday, Meek suggested his aggressive approach takes its cue from the president’s record-setting campaign — though Barack Obama did not accept money from federal lobbyists and political action committees.
Much of that power fundraising is coming from Kendrick palling around with Bill Clinton (they are sharing another “Thelma and Louise” moment at the upcoming commencement at FAMU, and Clinton has been hitting the streets for Kendrick since day one, as have Big Bill’s major Florida fundraisers.) And they left out the fact that taking cues from Obama is ironic given the fact that had Meek had his way, Obama would be Hillary Clinton’s secretary of state, rather than the other way around …
A review of Meek’s campaign report due at the FEC on Wednesday found he spent more than $200,000 on cell phones, catering, a website, plane tickets and consulting. He paid more than $14,000 for a private jet to fly former President Bill Clinton to Florida for a fundraiser.
Meek’s expenses also included $428 on a ”campaign dinner” at the Biltmore Hotel, $177 at Ruth’s Chris Steakhouse in Washington and $149 at Houston’s in Miami. ”Some of these are strategy sessions and some are cultivating donor relationships,” Cruz said.
One of the Democratic congressman’s biggest donors is the political arm of Wackenhut, a Palm Beach Gardens-based security company that retains his mother and wife as lobbyists. Wackenhut gave Meek the maximum donations of $5,000 for the primary and $5,000 for the general election. Miami-Dade County has accused Wackenhut of overbilling; the company denies any wrongdoing.
Meek — who would be Florida’s first black senator if elected — also received big donations from former officers of the Congressional Black Caucus and Robert Johnson, the founder of Black Entertainment Television. Individual donors can give a maximum of $2,400 for the primary and another $2,400 for the general election.
Cue the Dan Gelber email campaign … though so far, they’ve been as quiet as a mouse.
On appointments under ‘a cloud’
On December 19, 1998, U.S. President William Jefferson Clinton was impeached by the United States House of Representatives for allegedly committing perjury, obstructing justice and abusing his presidential powers in the Paula Jones sex harassment case (and the icky, irrelevant Monica Lewinsky scandal.) After the prurient Ken Starr, the Republican House leadership (led by confessed wife thief Bob Livingston, who replaced the disgraced, wife dumping fellatophile Newt Gingrich, and then resigned himself,) and the fatuous press corps had put the country through a full year of bawdy, useless sturm und drang (and about $80 million in wasteful spending,) Clinton was acquitted in the Senate, by a vote of 55-45 on the obstruction charge, and a 50-50 deadlock on the perjury charge, on February 12, 1999. [Photo at left from coolstamps.com]
During the time of impeachment, Bill Clinton continued to exercise the full powers of his office, including operating a joint military campaign with Great Britain that was actively bombing Saddam Hussein’s Iraq. The Senate did not move to curb his powers. And Clinton felt no burden to stop making appointments during that awful period in his presidency, including the following additions to his State Department:
On December 28, 1998, he appointed Eric James Boswell to a career diplomatic security post in the Office of Foreign Missions.
On December 29, he made a recess appointment of James F. Dobbins to a career post at the Office of European and Canadian Affairs.
And because the impeachment sideshow was just the end of a full year of fruitless investigation by Starr, and sensational media coverage, it’s helpful to look at the entire year of 1998, when Clinton managed to make a number of appointments to the federal bench, all of which were acted on by Congress, even as Clinton was “under a cloud.” Those included:
*Vote 190+: June 30, 1999
Keith Ellison Southern District of Texas
Gary Feess Central District of California
Stephen Underhill District of Connecticut
W. Allen Pepper Northern District of Mississippi
Karen Schreier District of South Dakota
Vote 262: September 8, 1999
Adalberto Jordan Southern District of Florida
Vote 263: September 8, 1999
Marsha J. Pechman Western District of Washington
Vote 307: October 5, 1999
Ronnie L. White Eastern District of Missouri
Vote 308: October 5, 1999
Brian T. Stewart District of Utah
Vote 309: October 5, 1999
Raymond C. Fisher 9th Circuit
And Congress didn’t even hint at not seating them. In fact, 1998 marked the high water mark for roll call votes on Clinton judicial nominees – there were 13 such votes on lower court picks, more than any year in the Clinton presidency. And by the end of his second term, Clinton had put more judges on the bench than any president before him: fully 47% of those actively serving on the court.
What’s the point? Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich is in the midst of a pretty ugly scandal; and he is attracting the gaze of the excitable press corps. But he made his Senate appointment before he has been convicted of anything, and before he has even been impeached. By what grounds, legal or ethical, can Harry Reid (who didn’t seem to mind seating Clinton appointees during the president’s impeachment, and worse, who had no trouble seating the treacherous Joe Lieberman, gavel and all, deny Blago’s appointment of Roland Burris?
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She’ll take it: and why it’s a good idea is she does
The Guardian reports that if (or more like “when”) the secretary of state position is offered, Hillary Clinton will grab the brass ring.
Obama’s advisers have begun looking into Bill Clinton’s foundation, which distributes millions of dollars to Africa to help with development, to ensure there is no conflict of interest. But Democrats believe the vetting will be straightforward.
Clinton would be well placed to become the country’s dominant voice in foreign affairs, replacing Condoleezza Rice. Since being elected senator for New York, she has specialised in foreign affairs and defence. Although she supported the war in Iraq, she and Obama basically agree on a withdrawal of American troops.
Clinton, who still harbours hopes of a future presidential run, had to weigh up whether she would be better placed by staying in the Senate, which offers a platform for life, or making the more uncertain career move to the state department.
With Ted Kennedy firmly in charge of healthcare, I suppose HRC felt this was her best play.
So what about Big Bill’s big donors? Apparently, the Obama team has it handled:
The Obama team do not believe that Mr Clinton is a serious obstacle to appointing his wife. Yet if she were given the job she would face scrutiny over her husband’s connections with foreign governments – the same leaders that she would be dealing with on behalf of Mr Obama – and fresh calls for him to reveal the list of foreign donors to his presidential library in Little Rock, Arkansas, and his charitable foundation.
Mr Clinton is not required to reveal the list of donors, and has consistently refused to do so. Known foreign benefactors include the King of Morocco, the governments of Kuwait and Qatar, the Saudi Royal Family and the son-in-law of Leonid Kuchma, Ukraine’s deposed President.
Since founding the Clinton Global Initiative, Mr Clinton says that he has garnered $46 billion (£30.6 billion) that has improved more than 200 million lives in 150 countries.
And that final point may be the most important one. While some Obamaphiles may find the Clinton juxtoposition uncomfortable, I am starting to think it’s a damned good idea, not least of which because of the tremendous popularity and good will — and therefore leverage — that the Clintons, both of them, have abroad. Bill Clinton’s stature will only lend to Hillary’s. And she is already a formidable international presence in her own right — something Obama will need in order to play the major cards he seems destined to play: a serious bid for Israeli-Palestinian peace (the Clintons are trusted by the Israelis, and not an abomination to the Palestinians, and Bill Clinton came closer than any modern president to making peace); negotiations with Iran (HRC’s tough rhetoric during the campaign will provide a hawkish shield for Obama’s policies), nuclear proliferation and dealing with the fearsome actors of Pakistan and Russia. Hillary can handle the portfolio, she isn’t seen as an “Arabist,” like Dennis Ross or even James Baker, and she is a known quantity overseas.
Will Bill Clinton use his wife’s would-be position to try and overshadow the president? Actually, I don’t think so. Big Bill seems comfortable in his role as international statesman — more so than he did as campaign hatchet man. That is his niche, and as he fills it, he can only help Obama shine.
And another thing: on the domestic front, allowing Hillary to exit the Senate will relieve that body of the “what to offer her” question, ease some tension about putting her into the leadership, and allow New York Gov. David Patterson to appoint a replacement, who would likely be to Hillary’s left, adding another progressive voice to the 100-member club. Not bad for a day’s work.
Related: Steve Clemons explains his scoop, and un-scoop.
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