{"id":3927,"date":"2009-01-05T06:00:26","date_gmt":"2009-01-05T11:00:26","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.shotinthedark.info\/wp\/?p=3927"},"modified":"2009-01-05T02:45:11","modified_gmt":"2009-01-05T07:45:11","slug":"you-can-grow-your-beard-back-now","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.shotinthedark.info\/wp\/?p=3927","title":{"rendered":"You Can Grow Your Beard Back Now"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Oops. <a href=\"http:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2009\/01\/05\/us\/politics\/05richardson.html?_r=1&#038;partner=permalink&#038;exprod=permalink\">Richardson is out<\/a>.<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>WASHINGTON \u2014 Gov. Bill  Richardson of New Mexico, President-elect Barack  Obama\u2019s choice for commerce secretary, withdrew from consideration for that  job on Sunday, saying a pending investigation into whether his administration  gave lucrative contracts to a political donor would have \u201cforced an untenable  delay\u201d in his confirmation.<\/p>\n<p>&#8230;and said his administration had \u201cacted properly in all matters.\u201d But he said he  had concluded that the inquiry could last weeks or even months, drawing out his  confirmation hearings and distracting the new administration as it grappled with  the economic crisis.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Maybe he just wasn&#8217;t interested in the grappling.<\/p>\n<p>It&#8217;s okay. He, like Obama, wasn&#8217;t qualified any way. He&#8217;s been a politician since he graduated from college. Commerce? He&#8217;s done none.<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>The investigation concerns CDR Financial Products Inc., a Beverly Hills,  Calif., company that in 2004 was awarded two consulting contracts worth about  $1.4 million to advise the State of New Mexico on a large bond issue for  building infrastructure, one of Mr. Richardson\u2019s initiatives. The company\u2019s  president, David Rubin, a major Democratic contributor, gave about $100,000 to  two political action committees controlled by Mr. Richardson, as well as $10,000  to his re-election campaign in 2005, according to published reports.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Oh, well other than <em>that<\/em> transaction. <em>Sounds<\/em> like commerce.<\/p>\n<p>&#8230;allegedly.<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>The announcement, just days before the Senate is to begin confirmation hearings  for some of Mr. Obama\u2019s cabinet selections, was a setback for the  president-elect, who has assembled his cabinet in near-record time. It raises  questions about the thoroughness of Mr. Richardson\u2019s vetting, deprives the Obama  administration of a prominent Hispanic \u2014 Mr. Obama has, however, named two  other Latinos, Representative Hilda  L. Solis of California and Senator Ken  Salazar of Colorado, to cabinet posts \u2014 and leaves a hole in the new White  House economics team at a critical juncture.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Whatever happened to just picking the most qualified candidate for each position, whether they are Women, Men, Black, Red, White or Blue; Catholic or Jew; Pet Lover or Snappy Dresser?<\/p>\n<p>Would America &#8211; no, not the media &#8211; the average American, actually give a rodent&#8217;s rear end? Are there teams? Are we all making sure we each get our guy (gal) in Obama&#8217;s cabinet? If so, then I&#8217;m pissed because I&#8217;ve heard no mention of an Irish-Italian making the cut.<\/p>\n<p>We didn&#8217;t pick our <em>President<\/em> that way.<\/p>\n<p>&#8230;or <em>did <\/em>we?<\/p>\n<p>By the way, is Snappy Dresser still considered a protected class?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Oops. Richardson is out. WASHINGTON \u2014 Gov. Bill Richardson of New Mexico, President-elect Barack Obama\u2019s choice for commerce secretary, withdrew from consideration for that job on Sunday, saying a pending investigation into whether his administration gave lucrative contracts to a political donor would have \u201cforced an untenable delay\u201d in his confirmation. &#8230;and said his administration [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":228,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[20,64],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3927","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-democrats","category-president-obama"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.shotinthedark.info\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3927","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.shotinthedark.info\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.shotinthedark.info\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.shotinthedark.info\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/228"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.shotinthedark.info\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3927"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/www.shotinthedark.info\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3927\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.shotinthedark.info\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3927"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.shotinthedark.info\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3927"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.shotinthedark.info\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3927"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}