Over at Foreign Policy magazine’s website, I have a quick review of Hillary Clinton’s performance yesterday at her confirmation hearings before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. My first reaction listening to this just one-notch-short-of-a-love-fest hearing was that Norm Coleman’s absence has made a huge difference. Coleman was a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee….
Well, in the 2008 Weblog Awards Category for Very Large Blogs, The Washington Note has seen a huge surge. And with that surge, we are declaring success — in a Bush administration sort of way. In fact, TWN declares victory. . .
Politico reports that Rob Portman intends to run for Ohio Senator George Voinovich’s Senate seat when he retires in 2010, and the early word out of Ohio suggests that it may be difficult for Democrats to find a formidable challenger.
Free TV : Ustream This morning, from 9:00 am EST until 10:30 am, I will be chatting with journalist Elizabeth Becker and Mother Jones DC Bureau Chief David Corn on partisanship, journalism, and foreign policy. The meeting is sponsored by the Conflict Prevention and Resolution Forum and Search for Common Ground. More soon.
Mousa Abu Marzook, a senior member of Hamas exiled in Damascus, has another opinion piece out, this one, naturally, regarding the Israeli incursion into Gaza.
No matter what one may think of Condoleezza Rice’s diplomatic record — which I think is better than many liberal critics gauge — the fact that Israel Prime Minister Ehud Olmert gave her a kick in the teeth as she departs her office is obnoxious and harmful all around.
I’ve been more than a bit irritated by Vice President Cheney’s recent comment that no one saw the financial crisis coming. In response, Zachary Karabell has a very interesting essay on Robert Shiller and his prescience not only about the financial crisis but the character and drivers of that meltdown.
Well, I’m not losing real badly — but not winning either. I might make a big push on Monday to pull in a couple of thousand votes — but if you want to help by sending your ten or twenty or hundred best friends to vote for The Washington Note, we’d be quite pleased.
David Sanger has an important and revealing piece coming out Sunday on the security and survivability of Pakistan’s nuclear arsenal. In addition to depicting the vulnerability of Pakistan’s nuclear complex, the article illuminates some other pressing elements the incoming administration will need to apprehend.
For those of you who can’t laugh now and then, move on. I’ll be serious again soon. Promise.
