A New Era Of Comity And Bipartisanship

I was half-joking when I said that John Roberts' flubbing of the Presidential oath of office (which he couldn't recite from memory - what a Constitutional literalist) would cause wingnuts to muse about whether Obama's Presidency is illegitimate because he didn't repeat the right words. (Short answer - it doesn't matter)

Well, Chris Wallace apparently put it out there on Fox News a little while ago.

And adding to that...

Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton’s smooth ride to confirmation as secretary of state hit a small bump on Tuesday as one of her Republican colleagues blocked a vote on Mrs. Clinton’s nomination, citing ethical questions arising from donors to her husband’s charitable foundation.

Senator John Cornyn of Texas objected to including Mrs. Clinton’s name in a unanimous consent vote for several Cabinet nominees, scheduled for hours after the swearing-in of President-elect Barack Obama. The Senate majority leader, Harry Reid, plans to hold a roll-call vote on Mrs. Clinton’s nomination on Wednesday, which she is expected to win easily.

A spokesman for Mr. Cornyn, Kevin McLaughlin, said, “this is not an effort to scuttle or block the nomination, but a legitimate policy difference. Senator Cornyn’s goal is to create transparency on all levels of government.”

There will be a roll call tomorrow and she'll win. And Cornyn's claims about conflict of interest, given that he pocketed a million dollars from Enron executives before they collapsed, are absurd.

But none of that really matters. Republicans play trench warfare. If they can delay Hillary Clinton a day, they'll do it. They cannot be placated or bargained with.


...deep thought: Should the "Obama isn't President because he didn't say the oath of office exactly" lawsuits be combined with the "Obama isn't President because he isn't a natural born citizen" lawsuits to create an omnibus wingnut cert?