..and NOT remove key Democrats from key positions around the country...and hopefully find a friend to the environment to be Sec of Interior for a fucking change...

would be my guess.

who gives the President a list of who he can choose for Sec. of State?

Seems to me.

Brown got beaten by a neophite (ie Warren). We have plenty of people who can run for that seat. We could double down on the woman angle by going with either Nikki Tsongas or Vicky Kennedy. We could go with Deval Patrick. Heck what about Robert Reich.

It would please me so very much if Robert Reich would accept the position.

Is my memory correct wasn't Professor Reich (Univ of California @ Berkeley) once considered for an appointment to the Supreme Court?

My ears always perk up when he is a guest on MSNBC.

national office must have resided in the state for 2 years before running.

He ran for governor not that long ago and I thought he went back to Harvard. In any case, if he isn't then the other two still work.

and she was strongly qualified UNTIL the release of her connections to the XL pipeline. That conflict of interest was to much. To possibly approve the pipeline when so financially involved in it? I wouldnt give the seat to Kerry either, I wouldnt give the right wing what they want... find someone else. Wes Clark, anyone.

I would be happy with Bill Richardson, as well.

I don't mean defending her against the demands that she resign her position as UN Ambassador: they were happy to do that back in the fall when the accusations about Benghazi started flying. But I don't recall anyone getting out there and saying that she should be nominated for Secretary of State. Maybe I just wasn't listening. (If you're going to offer some evidence to the contrary, I want a quote from after the elections, not back in late September or October; and defenses that deal specifically with support for her to become Secretary of State.)

To me, this is the Senate closing ranks around their own. It's sort of like professional wrestling. The opponents may look like bitter enemies, but they're really pals behind the scenes.

I have the niggling suspicion that our President took Ms. Rice aside and encouraged her to withdraw. Given all the battles he's having to wage with the Cons, this is one hill he was willing to concede. JMHO.

What bothers me is that we let republicans control the discussion time and time again. It's disgusting.

The always focus on the perceived weakness of the enemy. I tend to look through the spin. It was clear to me that they were attacking President Obama through Ms. Rice. She was just a conduit to manifest their Outrage™. It speaks well for our President that this was the first time they have had grounds to attack his foreign policies. (Killing Bin Laden was a mistake. Really?) It doesn't surprise me that they dictated the narrative. Outrage™ sells ads.

right after he gets blamed by the left.

No GOP hawk wants a SoS with a noninterventionist worldview.

McCain didn't do this alone. He had plenty of help. Unfortunately, some of it came from DU.

This is a discussion board. People have opinions. Nobody here enabled anybody--McCain or otherwise.

Of course, I assume you'd be much happier if we'd all just shut up and toe the official party line.

Bake

I think you're placing a little too much emphasis on this one fight.

Yes, we want to keep Kerry's Senate seat, but as others have pointed out, he's not the only possible person for the job. Nor is it required that Rice be the nominee just because McCain is gargling with his shaving cream about it. There are other people who can do the job.

This is one fight, and it's not lost, it's just shifted. This takes away McCain's current chew toy, and will make it all the more obvious when they start up again with whoever does get the nod. And in case you were too caught up in the face-off with McCain to notice, Rice bowing out avoids a Democratic internal conflict over a different issue. You don't think that has some value all by itself?

And you know what? Even if it's Kerry, we'll deal with it and we'll do everything we can to hold on to the Senate seat. There have been bigger fights and there will be bigger fights. This one skirmish is not The End Of All Things.

Lighten up and take a few deep breaths rather than calling for a circular firing squad.

this is no great loss, and in fact it's a good thing.

If Senator Kerry gives up his Senate seat, we would be rewarding McCain and the GOP for bad behavior. I like Senator Kerry but I do not want to risk losing a key senate seat right now. Scott Brown is beatable but why run the risk.

election. I spent a lot of time leading up to the 2012 election talking to people to convince them to vote for democrats. I have repeatedly posted to my state does not need a special election, many people here are tired of constant politics, we have had some hard fights of late. I get called names by people who don't live in the state and have no fucking idea of the politics of my state. If I do decide to sit out, I will make a difference, that is more than the loud mouths on the Left on DU can say. I will emotionally regret my decision if a special election does not go well. But financially and any other measure, the election makes no difference to me, other than my political view and the country that I want to see being set back, I am not a member of the groups that a more republican Senate will damage immediately and long term.

John McCain is a senile old man. The Left choosing to focus on a small stock ownership by a person who has several tens of millions of wealth and is the richest person in the Obama administration and the way that the Left carried out that attack is inexcusable. The Left owns what happens now.