• Oprah Winfrey is talking her show on the road to D.C. during the Inauguration. Let the speculation begin about which members of the new Administration will be appearing. [Access Hollywood]
• Congress is going to pass a law to reduce the salary of the Secretary of State to block Republican efforts to keep Hillary Clinton from serving on Constitutional grounds. So much for pay equity in an Obama Administration. [Talking Points Memo]
• Al Franken says he's pulled ahead of Norm Coleman in the Minnesota Senate race. [Politico]

• Bill Richardson didn't win any points with Barack Obama when he showed up at the presser announcing his appointment sans beard. [Washington Post, CNN]
• But could the Commerce Department just be a stepping stone on Bill Richardson's path to his beloved State Department? [Washington Independent]
• Barack Obama told all the ambassadors appointed by Bush to be out by January 20th.There's no word whether the ambassadors to India or Pakistan might be staying on. [Washington Post]
• By the way, the Mumbai terrorists were high as shit on coke and LSD the entire time they were killing people. [Boing Boing]
• Possibly also high as shit was Karl Rove, who told a roomful of New Yorkers that George Bush is totally not the worst President in modern history. [Washington Times]
• Eliot Spitzer will begin penning a finance-and-government column for Slate. It won't talk about financing high-end sex with prostitution while being in government. [New York Observer via Attackerman]
• The anti Prop 8 folks get every actor you've ever seen to act in a musical. [Funny Or Die]

• The race for who will ultimately lose to New York Governor David Paterson's desire to appoint state Attorney General Andrew "Shucking And Jiving Is Not A Racist Phrase" Cuomo to Hillary Clinton's Senate seat is on! Bill Clinton, Nita Lowey and Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. are out, Caroline Kennedy might be in. [CNN, The Hill, New York Times, The New Republic]
• Senator Lisa Murkowski told Governor Sarah Palin not to even think about the 2010 primary, but plans to kick her designer-clad ass if she does. [Politico]
• Governor Bill McGrabbyhand Richardson will be your next Secretary of Commerce. [Washington Post]

• Los Angeles mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, imitating Clinton, Kennedy and Lowey, swears that he asked to not be considered by Obama for a Cabinet position.[LA Times]
• Al Franken might really be closing the gap in his never-ending race for Minnesota's Senate seat. [The Hill]
• A judge in Texas has thrown out the crazytown indictments against Dick Cheney and Alberto Gonzales, as if that were unexpected. [Huffington Post]
• The Canadian government is in turmoil because of the financial crisis, so the Prime Minister is going to try to get the Governor General to suspend Parliament while he cuts some commercials and this sounds all way more complicated than it probably needs to be. Hooray for the separation of powers. [Reuters]
• Still wondering why the financial crisis happened? Moe Tkacik digs out this little tidbit from the biography of former Treasury Secretary Paul O'Neill, when he tried to sell 19 financial sector CEOs on the Sarbanes-Oxley requirements that they sign off on their own financial statements: "I would resign rather than be expected to know everything that's going on in my company. It's just not tenable," said an unnamed financial-services CEO. "That's what I have a board for, that 's what I have a chief financial officer for. I simply can't be held responsible for what all of those people do." Well, I guess that explains it. [Slate]

• Now that it's been a full year of shitty economic news, we are officially in a recession and have been for a year. Aren't you glad to know? [MSNBC]
• The market is not glad to know, and it slid almost 700 points after learning the obvious. [NY Times]
• In other obvious news, Condoleezza Rice doesn't plan to give much advice to Hillary Clinton. What advice she does give, we're guessing Clinton doesn't plan on following. [MSNBC]
• Bill Clinton is pretty happy about Hillary's nomination, though. [Real Clear Politics]

• White people at CNN just don't know 'bout Susan Rice, our soon-to-be Ambassador to the UN. [Think Progress]
• Joe Biden gave his first post-election speech today, so people wouldn't forget that he's about to be VP. [Politico]
• Palin talked, too, at a rally for Saxby Chambliss, so people wouldn't forget that she wanted to be VP before she wanted to be President. [Politico]
• Saxby Chambliss pervily grabbed himself some incestuous tween side-boob in a new commercial. [Indecision 2008]
• The Department of Homeland Security is more fucked up than watching Saxby Chambliss feel his tween granddaughter's breast. [Boston Globe]
• LGBT rights organization Impact-Florida plans to protest Governor Charlie Crist's (fey, if not gay) marriage this weekend, because protesting breeder weddings is a good plan to get more voters on your side. [The Sun Coast News]
• The cherub-faced Chairman of the FCC, Kevin Martin, wants to force the winner of a new wireless auction to set aside a portion of its win for free, porn-free wifi. Apparently, Republicans are all into not regulating the market until it comes to porn, when they get are regulatory up in there. [Silicon Alley Insider]
• Former Clintonista Phil Singer thinks Chris Matthews should get off the air if he's going to start campaigning for Arlen Specter's Senate seat. [Politico]
• Tina Brown thinks Rachel Maddow should get the coveted Meet The Press chair, among other, non-boring people. [Daily Beast]
• With Hillary Clinton's imminent resignation from her Senate seat, two names keep popping up: New York Attorney General Andrew "Shucking And Jiving Is Not A Racist Term, I Swear" Cuomo and Bill Clinton. And you thought nothing could get you to vote for Bill again. [The Hill, CNN]

Between the P.U.M.A.s and La Palin, one would think that if this election season had taught the women's movement anything, it would have been that having a government that pushes for and fairly represents the interests of women is not necessarily related to having women in the government — let alone in proportion to their percentage of the population. Unfortunately, one would be wrong. And Hillary Clinton's primary loss still continues to smart for some women, despite her elevation to the highest cabinet position and to the line of Presidential succession today. As seen in a new story on Reuters:

"Secretary of State has become the women's spot — a safe expected place for women to be. In the ideal world, we'd see woman as Treasury secretary and throughout these ranks (of government)," [Carol Jenkins, president of the Women's Media Center] said.

So the Secretary of State — our face to the world at large, and the first Cabinet member in the Presidential line of succession — is now a soft position? Get a grip! If by virtue of the fact that two of its last three incumbents were women it's now a "girly" position, then we're all contributing to the ghettoization of jobs by making them supposedly too easy for a man to do. Gross.

Stacy Mason, the executive director of WomenCount, is similarly unenthused about the Year of the Woman.

The record number of women in Congress in the new session that opens in January still reflects small net gains in the November elections — one in the U.S. Senate and three in the House of Representatives. As of now, women will number 17 in the 100-member Senate and 74 in the 435-member House. One Ohio race was so close it has not yet been decided.

"It's a really really dismal number ... the U.S. still ranks 83rd in terms of the number of women in elected office," said Mason.

It is not a great number, but, as has been noted before, the number of women who hold political office in a country is hardly the way to judge their equality, positions in society or opportunities. Furthermore, many of us would probably agree that we'd rather elect 100 Joe Bidens or Barack Obamas than 100 Sarah Palins to Congress — let alone Marilyn Musgraves or Liddy Doles. Both of those women lost re-election to other women, which resulted in no net increase in the number of women in Congress but significantly improved the representation of progressive women's issues.

So, while we're more than happy to see more women running for and elected to office, let's all take a deep breath and recognize that if the women's movement is supposed to be one for rights and equality, electing women to office cannot be the be-all, end-all measure of success. Then let's take a deeper breath and think about the fact that of the first 2 people in line for succession to the Presidency, two of them are women. Yes, there are gains to be made — necessary gains, even — but insulting the position of Secretary of State, bemoaning the loss of women without consideration given to their politics and generally insisting on unattainable goals before being able to crack a smile about the achievements of other women aren't going to get us there.

Women See Clinton Job As Triumph, Disappointment [Reuters]

Related: United States Presidential Line Of Succession [Wikipedia]

Earlier: As Far As I'm Concerned, Former Ms. Editor Elaine Lafferty Can Go F-ck Herself
Sarah Palin: When Choosing A Woman Might Not Be Choosing For Women
Do Women Want Equality Of Outcomes Or Opportunities?

MEGAN: Welcome to another grey, rainy D.C. morning. This did not help me drag my ass out of bed.

LATOYA: Yeah, the bed was strangely warm this morning. Ah well — I'll throw on some T.I. and that will get me started. In the meantime, have you been watching what's going on in Mumbai?

MEGAN: Yeah, what a terrible long weekend.

LATOYA: Understatement. The coverage was horrifying. Not just from a fucking asshole terrorist standpoint. But also from a "how do we cover things that go down in other nations" standpoint? I got emails all weekend from readers (of Racialicious) about the way this attack has been treated.

MEGAN: Well, "how do we cover things that do down in another nation on a holiday weekend" standpoint, I think.

LATOYA: No, this is a bit different. Did you watch any of the TV coverage? Lots of shots of the blood on the floor. Bleeding people being dragged to safety. While normally, if we are covering something that happens in the west, we only shoot the building, and shots of people and their families.

MEGAN: I hardly ever watch TV coverage of anything, honestly, and particularly not network coverage.

LATOYA: Maybe a destroyed item, like a bombed car.

MEGAN: Actually, I have a huge problem with not showing injured people.

LATOYA: We show more respect to the human casualties. Why do you have a problem with it?

MEGAN: Because I think that when we minimize the effects of violence, we minimize it's impact. I criticized the media a lot in the wake of the Bhutto assassination for sanitizing the violence. I don't agree that we shouldn't show white people, but I think we should show all of it. What turned people against Vietnam? Seeing the truth of violence.

LATOYA: Perhaps. And yet... we wrote about this before. Tami contributed a piece called "The Brown and the Dead" which focused on the discrepancy of coverage given.

MEGAN: Violence shouldn't be some pretty, sanitized ballet of bullets in the movie, or some cold, bluish corpse with a well-designed fake wound on CSI. That's just porn, practically. Show it. Make people recoil in horror.

LATOYA: She writes:

According to the Huffington Post, a CNN spokesperson, defending the news outlet’s work in Burma, said “the enormity of the story” merited showing corpses. What are the chances that CNN will show the broken bodies of the 22 people killed in twisters that plowed across the central United States this weekend, y’know so we get “the enormity of the story?” We did not need to see graphic footage of victims to understand the enormity of Oklahoma City or 9/11. I do remember seeing some footage of the dead in Katrina–not as graphic as the Myanmar coverage–but we all know those folks weren’t American anyway, they were “refugees.” (Tongue firmly in cheek, here.)

Now, I am normally for releasing the less sanitized version of historical events. It's one of those reasons people don't know what the fuck a lynching actually was. It's been sanitized. But the glaring discrepancy is odd, to say the least.

MEGAN: I think we did need to see the broken bodies on 9/11. Did you watch the French documentary they aired on CBS a year later? It was the first news coverage to deal honestly with the people throwing themselves out of the windows. No, I agree, I think people should be forced to confront the reality of what violence does to people. I just don't think the way to reduce the discrepancy between showing it abroad and here is best served by reducing the honesty of our coverage abroad.

LATOYA: Maybe. But as it stands currently, news outlets alter their footage as a sign of respect to the deceased — a courtesy that they do not extend to all the victims.

MEGAN: But, for the record, the media sanitized the shit out of the bombing in Pakistan.

LATOYA: For Bhutto, right?

MEGAN: I would put quotes around "respect." I don't think the only way to be respectful of someones death is to pump their body full of chemicals and plaster it with makeup and set it in a coffin.

LATOYA: Not surprising. She was a friend of the West — did you miss the retrospectives?

MEGAN: Gosh, I must have stopped paying attention in between looking at photos of the other people her assassins killed and writing about how the media was sanitizing it for our collective right to not have to look at dead people. Though, to point out, blood on the floor and bleeding, but still live, victims are generally considered fair game, as news coverage of 9/11 and Oklahoma City and, if I recall correctly, the Olympic bombing showed.

LATOYA: There's looking and there's gawking, Megan.

MEGAN: I'm not disagreeing with the thesis, but I want it all. I want people to see what we really do to one another. I want to de-mystify, and de-romanticize violence. Let people gawk! Make them look! This is what I think was so effective about war coverage in Vietnam — it was the violence wrought upon us and by us that made people think, wow, maybe war isn't a good thing. Maybe Communism isn't the worst thing in the world, maybe this is.

LATOYA: Perhaps. There's some "not encouraging serial killers" logic for that that I remember from Forensics class, but I'd rather head back into the land of the living.

MEGAN: Yeah, if we're going to talk foreign stuff, we should probably mention that Hillary's nomination goes live at 10:40 this morning. And although the New York Daily News is reporting she turned down the chair of the Appropriations Committee for it, there is no way on God's green earth that she was offered the Chair of the committee. She was probably offered a chair on the committee, that I can see, but she's not going to get hosed because of seniority issues on the HELP Committee and then get chair of Approps.

LATOYA: True, true. To be honest, I'm still kind of wondering what drew her to that post.

MEGAN: Maybe it's true that when the President asks you can't turn it down? Although, I sort of assume it's about the feeling that she could make a real difference in the world there, as opposed to waiting another 15 years for people to die in the Senate to get the opportunity.

LATOYA: But there are a lot of positions where one can make a difference. Why Secretary of State?

MEGAN: And possibly a sense that, given its history, by the time she has enough seniority to make a difference, the balance of power might have swung back to Republicans. It's a mindset most partisan politicians don't have. They always think they'll be in power forever (see: the 20 House Republican retirements this cycle).

LATOYA: Hmm...

MEGAN: Well, Secretary of State was what was offered. It's high up in the line of succession. It's got the most autonomy of any of the agencies, and the most ability to set policy. It's the only agency that requires approval of its actions, rather than legislation to push an agenda in the first place.

LATOYA: I also wonder what she and Condi will talk about in the debriefing.

MEGAN: Plus, if you look at the things she talked about in terms of her pre-Senate political achievements, what did she always mention? Her speech to the UN women's conference in China. She's really obviously (and rightly) proud of that. I think that's sort of telling.

LATOYA: Hmm — this will be an interesting cabinet to watch, to say the least.

MEGAN: Totally. Condi might have gotten Glamour's Woman of the Year award this year for her work at State on women's issues, but I have a feeling that Hillary might trump those achievements.

LATOYA: I can see the headlines now: "Hillary vs. Taliban — It's Personal, bitches!"

MEGAN: Oh, God. Well, if we want to talk inflammatory headlines, want to talk about how black women, pissed that they aren't married, helped pass Prop 8 in California?

Marriage can be a sore subject for black women in general. According to 2007 Census Bureau data, black women are the least likely of all women to be married and the most likely to be divorced. Women who can’t find a man to marry might not be thrilled about the idea of men marrying each other.

LATOYA: Hahahahahaha. I was just going to mention that. Yup, we are all just a bunch of lonely haters.

MEGAN: As an unmarried woman, although not black, I just want to say: I don't want to marry a gay man, thanks.

LATOYA: Teh gayz took all teh menz, so we took our revenge at the ballot box.

MEGAN: What, your mom didn't tell you to get a man you need to have a penis? Even a fake one? My mom got me one for my Sweet Sixteen so I could get me a husband.

LATOYA: Though, I must admit — after all the prop 8 madness, I was more amused than angered at his conclusions.

First, comparing the struggles of legalizing interracial marriage with those to legalize gay marriage is a bad idea. Many black women do not seem to be big fans of interracial marriage either. They’re the least likely of all groups to intermarry, and many don’t look kindly on the black men who intermarry at nearly three times the rate that they do, according to a 2005 study of black intermarriage rates in the Wisconsin Law Review. Wrong reference. Don’t even go there.

Don't even go there? Did homeboy add a two snap in the circle on the end of that?

MEGAN: I believe he did, along with the head roll.

LATOYA: Guuuuuuuuurl....

MEGAN: Also, I love how the subtext of that is "black women are racist" in addition to homophobic.

LATOYA: I told you we're just a bunch of hating harpies. Weren't you watching those two specials on blackness? Now, I can only remember the What About Our Daughters' site take on the two shows. They retitled them "Black Women, it sucks to be you" and "Black women, it doesn't suck to be you, it just feels like it." I'm personally hating the race based hand wringing over this one.

MEGAN: Well, if they had been titled that, viewership probably would have been higher.

LATOYA: Ha — true! But back to prop 8 — I just love how people were so quick to fall back on stereotypes to justify an end. It becomes one of those moments when you hear shit like "black women are against homosexual marriage" and I have to ask "and which black women are you talking to?"

MEGAN: What, black women aren't a monolithic entity?

LATOYA: Oh right, I forgot. There's just a whole lot of us "exceptions" who are counted separately. Bullshit.

MEGAN: You are not allowed to be different people for difference reasons! It's too complex!

LATOYA: The worst part of all this is that legitimate tactics, organizing, and information sharing is getting obscured by all the sensationalist shit. Like this little tidbit:

More specifically, blacks overwhelmingly say that homosexuality isn’t morally acceptable. So many black men hide their sexual orientations and engage in risky behavior. This has resulted in large part in black women’s becoming the fastest-growing group of people with H.I.V. In a 2003 study of H.I.V.-infected people, 34 percent of infected black men said they had sex with both men and women, while only 6 percent of infected black women thought their partners were bisexual. Tragic. (In contrast, only 13 percent of the white men in the study said they had sex with both men and women, while 14 percent of the white women said that they knew their partners were bisexual.)

MEGAN: White bisexual men lie about it, too. Not that I know this from personal experience or anything.

LATOYA: Now, an argument could be made that homosexuality is less accepted in minority communities for various reasons — the specter of masculinity, religious affinity, etc.

MEGAN: The specter of being a multiple-minority.

LATOYA: That too. And if that is the case, we need to be supporting the people within our own communities who deal with these issues and help them to spread their message. Because that's where these battles are ultimately fought — person to person.

MEGAN: I think everyone knows that the LGBT community's outreach — particularly on Prop 8 — to the African-American community was lacking in general.

LATOYA: That it was. They also didn't humanize their cause.

MEGAN: Where was Jesse Jackson? Where were the televised confabs?

LATOYA: I remember seeing ads featuring a straight couple to drive home the point about gay marriage.

MEGAN: The homophobes' ads were really well done and devastating.

LATOYA: They couldn't get Wanda Sykes? I loved Wanda's message. I didn't see any of the protect marriage stuff, but I did see Wanda's speech, which was awesome.

MEGAN: Totally. I mean, if you're targeting the message, target it. I'd bet Whoopi would have done one, too. Get every black icon to do one.

LATOYA: I do hear the "why do gays have to flaunt their lifestyle" b.s. And Wanda was like "hell, I was just living my life. Then this shit happened."

MEGAN: Because they're having anal in the streets now? Bitch, please. They're not "flaunting their lifestyle" any more than any other couples who hold hands and shit.

LATOYA: I know. How dare you act like heteros with your damn hand holding and affection?

MEGAN: Why must you make me think of your penis! By holding hands with another man, all I can think about is your strong, throbbing cock penetrating his quivering asshole! You pervert! Stop holding hands!

LATOYA: Wasn't that Mary J. Blige who said homophobia was the dumbest shit ever?

MEGAN: It's only dumb if you are confident in your own sexuality.

LATOYA: I remember reading an interview where she was like "What difference does it make to you what another man is doing? It's like you're unsure of yourself — and if you're unsure about that, you're unsure about a lot of things in your life." Well, I guess it's like we were talking about before, with sanitizing history. Rights are hard won.

MEGAN: If you don't see it, it doesn't exist?

LATOYA: And there are always going to be idiots on the wrong side of history.

MEGAN: Of every color.

LATOYA: Word.

New York, November 29. Image via Filmmagic.

MEGAN: So, welcome to Crappy Hour, where lacking coffee is only one of many things wrong with every morning.

REBECCA: Well, I have to confess that over the past year, I've always taken the title of this feature as a reference to the general crapitude of the news discussed. I now understand that it is a reference to the actual hour at which the conversation takes place. It is indeed crappy. But I am awake! I have coffee! And a question.

MEGAN: By all means! I promise an answer. I won't promise that it will be good.

REBECCA: When someone becomes president, do his friends really stop calling him by his first name? I have wondered this many times, actually. Mostly while watching Aaron Sorkin movies. I wonder it now because we are living in an Aaron Sorkin movie.

MEGAN: It also worked like that for Michael Douglas in An American President. But Sorkin — and particularly Mary Louise Parker — was who I thought of when I saw the executive director of EMILY's list was joining the Obama Administration as communications director.

REBECCA: I'm really glad you brought this up. This makes me so happy. Count me among the happily surprised. I am a huge fan of EMILY's List, and I think this appointment is remarkable. To go into EMILY's List, an organization that by dint of its stated project supported HRC in the primaries — and busted its hump to get its constituents on board with Obama from the second Clinton conceded — is a real show of respect, and a tribute to his recognition of their impact on the political process, on Obama's part.

MEGAN: Also, as Executive Director, she's doing way more of the day-to-day work of the organization than Ellen Malcolm, and yet you have to be really, really into it to know her name. Which fits with No Drama Obama.

REBECCA: But then of course, I'm also one of the few, the proud, the thrilled...about Hillary.

MEGAN: Who, it is said, is willing to give up her lifetime Senate seat because she's "disenchanted" with the institution.

REBECCA: Regarding Clinton's "disenchantment.:" Sigh. Being happy about Hillary is always such a fraught position. I am amused, however, to already see the articles burbling with speculation about the nature of her relationship with Obama

MEGAN: Let alone her potential future relationship with him.

REBECCA: Well, the stuff about their relationship cracks me up in part because there is always — with regard to any Clinton — such a massive degree of projection into the particulars of a personal dynamic. The L.A. Times story, a heavy breathing, even without sexual intent or implication "Mr. Obama, who was in the first steps of what would become a strategic courtship, called afterward to thank her."

MEGAN: Maybe that's what it all is, it's just sexual fan fic. Maybe people aren't worry about Hillary crushing their balls, that's just mad they can't possess her sexually. All those Republicans and their repressed sexual fantasies.

REBECCA: Back when there were big heated arguments about whether he should pick her for veep, I used to think that it would be the right choice precisely because they are the Brangelinaniston of the political world. People cannot get enough of who called whom, who dissed whom, who had a secret conversation behind whose back, and who plotted to get rid of Bill!

MEGAN: It was really uncool of Obama to pretend that he wanted her as VP while snuggling up to Joe Biden.

REBECCA: The Pres-SecState that launched a thousand US Weeklies! Or a thousand touchy-feeling lurid relationship speculation pieces in the Times, and that gives life an energy to ye olde favorite Dem past-time, Clinton-hating! It's like a mitzvah for the Clinton critics! Something to kvetch about for....an indeterminate number of years! Yay!

MEGAN: But Rebecca! She's totally going to, like, start another war! She's not a flaming liberal! She is married to Bill!! We voted for chaaaaaange. (By the way, how come I haven't seen a piece in a major paper about Obama's supporters not being over the primaries yet? Hmm?)

REBECCA: Megan, no one wants to be over the primaries!

MEGAN: It was an exciting time, it's true.

REBECCA: The primaries were the most fun anyone in Democratic politics has had in a thousand years! This is why keeping Clinton in the picture is so crucial. Obama's great and mythic and No Drama and good and ethical and just and plain spoken and all.

MEGAN: He will dick you over, though. Just ask Susan Rice.

REBECCA: Or JOHN KERRY. Man, he must be pissed. But you know, Luke Skywalker would have been totally boring without his almost-rival partner in crime, Han Solo, who was flawed and possibly corrupt and motivated in part by personal gain but also really wanted thebest for the rebel alliance.

MEGAN: And at the end of the day, did you really want to hang out with Luke? Even his own sister preferred Han's company.

REBECCA: Um, BINGO! You want the character who's going to keep things interesting! And, on a serious note, could really shake things up by making some Obamaland hires at State, starting with Sam Power. I have no evidence that this is going to happen; it is simply my personal fantasy. But wouldn't that be interesting? But back to The Greatest Story Ever Told, can we talk for a minute about Andrew Sullivan?

MEGAN: I dunno, if she's getting her own staff picks, I'm guessing Sam Power will stay ensconced at Harvard.

REBECCA: Yeah, I know. I'm just looking for the plot twists. But did you see Sullivan?

MEGAN: Man, what is Sully's problem?

REBECCA: Writing about the benefits of Clinton working the Middle East, he writes, "And, of course, we all long to see Clinton in a veil." That was definitely my favorite part.

MEGAN: I liked "Her Imperial Highness of Appalachia."

REBECCA: Yeah I liked that too. He is so confused. I think a week ago, he was calling her the "permanent menace." He loves her! He hates her! He loves her! He hates her! His sister! His Daughter! His sister! His daughter!

MEGAN: Also, the part where Sully's all like, send her abroad so Bill can fuck around again was very classy.

REBECCA: He's a classy guy.

MEGAN: I mean, if there could be more sexual innuendos and double entendres in that piece, I'm not sure how.

REBECCA: No, it is a fine piece of campaign literature. Remember, she's the"good cop" to Obama's "bad cop."

MEGAN: Obama will be able to "show his dominance."

REBECCA: It's all part of Sully's elaborate fantasy world, where Hillary Clinton appears to him in a veil and punishes his transgressions.

MEGAN: I guess it's cheaper than advertising for it on Craigslist.

REBECCA: Suddenly, my Hillary-hiring-Sam-Power fantasy seems a touch bureaucratic.

MEGAN: So, you want to talk Geithner for a second? Speaking of fantasies.

REBECCA: You're pleased with the Geithner pick, I'm gathering...

MEGAN: Well, he is a hipster wonk that says "fuck" a lot. What's not to like? He's not Sheila Bair, it's true, but he's definitely not Larry Summers, and he's better looking to boot.

REBECCA: Better looking than Sheila Bair? Never! But ys, the Summers bullet dodged. I do think it should be noted that this piece begins "Mr Geithner looks a lot younger than his 47 years ..."

MEGAN: Which, after becoming Treasury Secretary, he probably won't continue to do so for very long. But it'll be sexy while it lasts.

REBECCA: Well, to be fair, the parenthetical immediately following says, "(though not as young as he did before the crisis began)" But today we are hearing how Larry fits in. I'm curious, myself.

MEGAN: Behind every great Treasury Secretary is a former one, grumbling and fingering his shiv? Wait, I'm sorry. No one should be forced to imagine Larry Summers fingering anything.

REBECCA: I was just going to object to your choice of words. And then take a long long cleansing swig of coffee.

MEGAN: I think I might need the whole pot.

REBECCA: Seriously, do you have any feeling about what we're going to hear about Summers' role today?

MEGAN: Blah, blah, blah, advisory role, yadda, yadda, great to have him as part of the team.

REBECCA: So let me ask you — do you think it's blah blah advisory role and not Treasury in part because of the women comments? I am genuinely curious on this point.

MEGAN: For my part, I think it was pretty clear that they were floating the fuck out of his name in the media to see if they could get away with it.

REBECCA: Yes, I thought so too. And it was such an explosive thing to float. Because that issue was so muddy, and Summers supporters are still so riled over the big deal those damn dames made. It was just a potential piece of dynamite, and I was surprised anyone at No Drama camp even dared to handle it at all. So I am interested to see how it gets tamped out and turned into a sweet smelling Connecticut Candle. I think that metaphor was way too labored.

MEGAN: I think it was the Obama camp testing what their mandate was on their left, and now they have an idea. Plus, if you're going to piss people off, you do it over Clinton and not Summers. People dislike Clinton for all kinds of reasons — include sexism — which can be marginalized or combated but most people just dislike Larry Summers for one.

REBECCA: Well, I move to end on a happy note, by sending former Washingtonienne sex blogger Jessica Cutler all our best wishes in her upcoming nuptials.

MEGAN: I'm glad she's found someone to spank her and fuck her up the ass but only after she's had a couple to drink, and most certainly with love. Who knew you had to move to New York for that?

REBECCA: An impressive recall of the Washingtonienne oeuvre! Though I think that Elliot Spitzer found that sometimes you have to leave New York to get all that.

• The word is, again, that Hillary Clinton has been offered and will accept the Secretary of State job. It might not happen until after Thanksgiving, officially, though, because Obama announced he's rolling out the economic team first on Monday. [NY Times]
• Some people are a little concerned about who else she might bring to Foggy Bottom, though. [Washington Independent]
• On that economic team roll-out Monday, the top dog appears to be Timothy Geithner, the current president of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, who it's said will be our next Treasury Secretary. [The Hill]
• He might well be sharing the stage with Bill Richardson, who everyone is saying will be the next Commerce Secretary. Interesting note: if he is, he'll be the second Latino in a row to hold the position, like Clinton would be the second woman in a row at State. [CNN]

• What will presumably get announced when the Clinton nomination is official is the identity of Obama's national security adviser — who, speculation holds, will be Marine Gen. James L. Jones (Ret.). [Huffington Post]
• By the way, get your Hillary campaign memorabilia now — she's still selling office equipment from her campaign to pay her debts. Taking the Secretary of State gig might mean she'll never pay off those vendors, as she would be prohibited from raising money for the debt by law. [Politico]
• Some Obama volunteer is making his own personal stimulus package by trying to sell, on eBay, a binder and speech he or she pilfered from a pre-election rally. Classy. [LA Times]
• A bunch of elementary school kids at the Ludlow Elementary School on Long Island petitioned for — and received — a more permanent campaign keepsake: they've renamed their school Barack Obama Elementary School. [ABC News]
• If you're not a fan of Big Brother, stay the fuck away from the inauguration. [Associated Press]
• And, onto policy issues, there's now yet a third competing Democratic health care reform package — in addition to the pre-emptive health care legislative strike by Finance Committee Chair Max Baucus and the package that Ted Kennedy, chair of the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, has promised, Oregon Senator Ron Wyden has one, too. No wonder even Hillary Clinton couldn't get anything done 15 years ago. [The Hill]
• Upstart Congressman Henry Waxman, when he wrests the gavel of the Energy and Commerce Committee from Auto Industry Michigan Congressman John Dingell, is expected to push for Obama's energy and environmental reform plans. [LA Times]
• But a repeal of the military's Don't Ask, Don't Tell policy will likely wait until later in the 2009 — or even 2010 — while Obama and his staff soothe the Pentagon's fears that other dudes will be checking out their junk in the barracks, as though that hasn't gone on the entire time anyway. [Washington Times]
• The crazy, goat-herding, rooster-owning prosecutor who, from his trailer parked outside the courthouse, engineered an indictment of Dick Cheney and Alberto Gonzales showed up for court today and acted, predictably, completely crazy. Because he's crazy. [Brattleboro Reformer]
• Speaking of, Fred Thompson is engineering his return to acting, but no one is really sure how well he's going to fit into the Gossip Girl cast. [Huffington Post]

ANA MARIE: Ready when you are.

MEGAN: I am personally ready to go back to bed, pull my covers over my head and stay there for several hours, but I'm happy to write this first.

ANA MARIE: Yeah I'm in the same mood. But what's on your mind?

MEGAN: You mean, other than the fact that hardly anyone still cares about politics enough to read about it?

The most pronounced declines were in traffic at popular news Web sites, which saw a steady increase for months. The tide crested as Americans went to the polls; MSNBC.com, which has been the most popular news site for several months, had 25.1 million unique visitors during the week of the election (it also reported 471 million page views on Election Day — a record for the site). Since then, millions of visitors have gone elsewhere, according to Nielsen Online.ANA MARIE: Well, when we have something to talk about besides Hillary Clinton, they may come back. It's interesting that the broadcast nets haven't seen the same downturn, for instance — and I wonder how, say, TPM or Redstate are doing. I mean, there is a lack of NEWS — unless you count frenzied speculation as "news" — so this could just be good judgment on the part of viewers.

MEGAN: Well, I know how I'm doing in terms of traffic, and it comes down to "Where my bitches at?" But, really, are the latest polls and Electoral College speculations news either? Sarah Palin's manhandling of the English language? Tucker Bounds' endless enthusiasm for getting his ass handed to him on national TV?

ANA MARIE: Well that was a story with a definitive ending. Twists and turns and some fake outs, but there was going to be an end, and people wanted to see how it'd turn out. The Obama story is just getting started. We don't have a sense of who the characters are (where is the damn fucking PUPPY?), who the villains are, what the great struggles will be...

MEGAN: Whether the puppy is house trained...

ANA MARIE: WHAT PAPER WILL IT POOP ON????? THAT, my friend, is the way we solve business model for the MSM. What paper will have the honor of being the First Puppy's training pad.

MEGAN: What is an environmentally responsible way to clean up dog shit on the White House lawn... and will the girls have to do it?

ANA MARIE: I sort of hope the girls have to do it. It's good practice for dating (I.e., discovering cute things can make horrible messes).

MEGAN: Wow, and suddenly I have a reason to blame my sister's allergies for the whole of my adult life. Okay, so, the other thing is I guess there's a good reason Obama will be giving up his Blackberry and it's not even just to avoid the Freedom Of Information Act — or it's not going to be now.

ANA MARIE: I wonder if you can really call it "hacking" if they were employees who likely just snooped where they shouldn't have. I mean, that sort of elevates "being a dick" to something that sounds technologically sophisticated. I am offended on the part of hackers.

MEGAN: True that, it wasn't really "hacking" as much as it was using their privileges for unauthorized purposes. The Paris Hilton Sidekick hackers are totally offended.

ANA MARIE: It's also true that by that logic, no one in the White House or, really, anywhere in government should have a cell phone. Unauthorized searches, they're not just for the Bush Administration anymore! This is what happens when you gives telcoms immunity! They get cocky!

MEGAN: Yes, and half of the Ohio government too, it seems, since they were all furiously digging into Joe The Motherfucking Plumber, and not in a sexytime way.

ANA MARIE: That's the thing about having a job with access to sensitive information — at some point, you probably are going to be in a position where your curiosity gets the better of you. I actually don't know if I have a problem with employees LOOKING UP that info. Because how do you restrict people who normally have a reason to be looking up random people's dirty secrets? The issue here might have been, you know, telling the media.

MEGAN: Yes, that part. I mean, I have a problem if someone at my cell phone provider goes, ooh, look, she wrote something online I didn't like, let's go learn about her life! But I have less of a problem if someone wants to dig through my state records and find an unpaid parking ticket. I have a bigger problem if they then tell people about it. I mean, this was the State Department scandal last year — and it turns out that it was actually easy to restrict access, it's just nobody did so.

ANA MARIE: That's probably as good a segue as any to my favorite aspect of the Clinton SecState pick-or-no-pick: How much of it is simply fucking with other possible appointees? Al Kamen examines the "whither Richardson" part of it here. But of course the real loser in a Hillary as SecState situation is Kerry. He is a loser generally.

MEGAN: Well, Obama's team is confirming they're serious, finally. I don't think it's fucking with Richardson, Kerry, Hagel or Nunn, I think it's just going, um, Kerry, no, Hagel, no, Nunn, definitely not, and Richardson should have thought about his political career instead of his dick for a while now.

ANA MARIE: I do no believe a word I read on Politico, but apparently the WSJ has similar confirmation.

MEGAN: I don't necessarily believe a word I read anywhere, but it seems like if it wasn't serious than, like Pritzker, they would have cut it off at the knees more than a week ago.

ANA MARIE: I think this is a more complicated situation than Pritzker. Also, Obama has nothing to lose here, if the situation is that he wants to offer it to her. The only bad play is if it turns out he was never serious. Then he looks like a dick. But weeks of speculation, followed by an offer? She turns him down=she will be more powerful in the Senate and gets to be her own woman. He looks magnamious. She accepts=he looks wise, she probably does an okay job AND she's off the radar for 2012.

MEGAN: And a huge dick at that, and I just don't think that Axelrod or Gibbs would have been letting this go on if it wasn't serious consideration. I love, by the way, that every time I hear a story about liberals being upset about this, she's called "pro-war." Like, guys, really? Hillary Clinton is really not particularly hawkish and you're making yourselves look stupid.

ANA MARIE: Well, she was very much pro the particular war that was fucking us up for awhile.

MEGAN: She was very pro-Afghanistan, but who other than Barbara Lee wasn't in September 2001? Anyway, we should probably also talk about Mukasey collapsing, even though he's reportedly okay. Mukasey should be careful when giving speeches defending all the extra-legal shit this Administration has done, it takes a man with steel balls, an icy heart and a strong stomach to lie like Gonzales did for so long.

ANA MARIE: Which is why Dick Cheney will probably live forever.

MEGAN: Dick Cheney will only live as long as he has a fresh supply of innocent blood on which to feast. Speaking of, did you see Palin and the turkeys?

ANA MARIE: Ugh. I haven't eaten yet so I supposed if I look at all I should look now but ...

MEGAN: I am not squeamish about my omnivory, but if you get squicked, don't watch,

ANA MARIE: But I don't doubt that lady likes blood.

MEGAN: Basically, two turkeys get slaughtered and are bled out behind her as she talks — surprisingly well — about issues facing Alaska.

ANA MARIE: Well, she's not bad when she's on subjects that she knows something about. It's just that there are surprisingly few of those.

MEGAN: I think, strictly speaking, her lack of preparation speaks well for whomever are the candidates in 2012 (or, at least the one who has to pick a VP) to not play this stupid game of chicken to try to one-up the other side. If he had picked her in, like, June, then I think she wouldn't have been so terrible.

ANA MARIE: "How the Palin nomination would not have been so terrible" could be a very long book. A sad one, ultimately, and probably not one anyone would read. Speaking of which: I wonder what this downturn in interest in politics means for the kajillion Obama books that will be coming out!

MEGAN: I think once most Americans have their commemorative coins and plates, that will be about it.

ANA MARIE: Did Richard Wolffe let Obama beat him in basketball for nothing? "I sucked up to Obama for a year and a half and all I got was this lousy book contract."

MEGAN: Well, he might just want to wait until the Administration fucks something up and then do it as a tell-all of hubris and overconfidence or something.

ANA MARIE: Smart.

• Democrats have officially told the American auto industry to give them a plan for how they are going to us the $25 billion they want from the U.S. government or they're never going to get it. So the auto makers are getting back on their multimillion dollar corporate jets and will spend the next few weeks huddling with their expensive lobbyists to figure out how to not look like assholes the next time. [Huffington Post]
• Penny Pritzker is definitely not in the running to be Secretary of Commerce, probably because she couldn't have her cake and regulate it, too. [Washington Post]
• Anita Dunn will also not be joining the Administration, but it's far less clear as to why, except for the part where she plans to go back to political consulting. [Washington Post]
• And Obama's people are a little steamed at the Clinton team for leaking like a sieve, since they were apparently not paying attention for the entirety of the Clinton Administration and Hillary Clinton's campaign. [NY Daily News]

• Obama's state director in Iowa, Jackie Norris, is going to be Michelle Obama's Chief of Staff. [Washington Post]
• And Henry Waxman successfully stole Michigan Congressman John Dingell's gavel today and will be the new Chairman of the House Energy And Commerce Committee. The automakers cried in their single malt scotches in their limos on the way to the airports to take their private jets back to their luxurious mansions. [CNN]
• John Zogby, who was perfectly happy to take Nate Silver baiter John Ziegler's money for a crap poll showing Obama's voters were supposedly ill-informed, won't take any more of Ziegler's money to prove whether McCain voters were or were not. Amazing that, after yesterday, Ziegler found someone to look like more of a dipshit than him. [Politico]
• The prosecutor in Texas who got Cheney indicted this week didn't show up for court today. Maybe he went duck hunting? [UPI]
• Rahm Emanuel says that Obama is, like, totally happy to listen to the Republicans' ideas of how to solve the financial crisis and his head didn't even explode in pent-up rage. Hot. [Politico]

MEGAN: Are you sufficiently caffeinated? I am having a Diet Coke jones, but there is nary a bottle in the proximity.

ANA MARIE: Oh, there's Jim Webb the big pumpkin head!

MEGAN: I wonder what he fills it with...

ANA MARIE: Which is to say, not really. But I do like Mr. Pumpkin head. Filled with pumpkin.

MEGAN: I could do with some pumpkin bread.

ANA MARIE: Mike Barnicle is telling Jim Webb that "you know more than anyone about class warfare... you've written about it." And, it's true, Webb knows a lot about class warfare: HE IS FOR IT. He's pretty much for any kind of warfare.

MEGAN: Yeah, I was sort of starting to think to myself, "Jim Webb is an economist?" but then Barnicle kept being all shout-y and I got distracted. He is really pissed at Senators who voted for the AIG bailouts to save those guys' salaries who are now shitting on union pay/benefit packages.

ANA MARIE: We could just turn Crappy Hour into Meta Morning Joe. I know that's my fault but I'm not sure if I'm really sorry.

MEGAN: It's okay; who doesn't love Morning Joe except for Mika's hair? Free Mika's hair!

ANA MARIE: Her hair does compete with her attempts to be somewhat serious.

MEGAN: Although, thankfully, she has apparently given up the Palin-do today. Small favors.

ANA MARIE: Oh god, Mika is "driving the ship" Mon-Wed. I might have to convene some kind of A Very Special Crappy Hour.

MEGAN: Wait, so, Jane Krakowski is coming on next? Was that a pattern on the top of her shirt, or was that cut outs? Do I need to be on nip slip alert?

ANA MARIE: You, my dear, are ALWAYS on nip slip alert. And thank god someone is.

MEGAN: Okay, during the commercial, we have to discuss Obama tapping Janet Napolitano at DHS. Do we think they'll have to convene an exorcism to expel The Wraith in January?

ANA MARIE: It's a chance for Bobby Jindal to come onto the national stage with some pizazz!

MEGAN: That would be awesome, actually. But on Napolitano: kind of crazy that right now 2 of the 3 hard core security gigs will seemingly go to women.

ANA MARIE: What if they all start getting their periods at the same time!!??!?! NUCLEAR WAR!

MEGAN: Bomb, bomb, bomb, bomb bomb Iran!

ANA MARIE: I think at this point we are contractually obligated to mention the CHENEY HAS BEEN INDICTED. Have you read about this? Has it been Drudged?

MEGAN: Yes, apparently, this headline-seeking prosecutor in Texas decided that holding stock in a company whose employees do bad things makes us all liable for the actions of said employees.

ANA MARIE: Here's the weird thing: "Cheney, Gonzales and the others will not be arrested, and do not need to appear in person at the arraignment, Presiding Judge Manuel Banales said."

MEGAN: Because the judge needs an arraignment to throw out the case?

ANA MARIE: I guess that's not actually weird but good, given that it sounds fucking insane. God that must be a fun jury.

MEGAN: Yeah, I mean, I wonder what they were smoking and whether it's only available in Texas.

ANA MARIE: I think the prosecutor is not JUST headline-seeking btw. There is deep crazy at work here:

After Guerra's office was raided as part of the investigation early last year, he camped outside the courthouse in a borrowed camper with a horse, three goats and a rooster. He threatened to dismiss hundreds of cases because he believed local law enforcement had aided the investigation against him.

But, hey, the netroots must be happy! Someone LISTENED!

MEGAN: Well, I believe that local law enforcement had aided the investigation against him, since that's the job of law enforcement. I'm just concerned about the 3 goats and a rooster.

ANA MARIE: The horse? That's fine. It is Texas.

MEGAN: Yeah, I'm not worried about the horse. But this guy sounds like a goat-sacrificer. Plus who has only a rooster?

ANA MARIE: Someone who is frightened of both alarm clocks and eggs.

MEGAN: But eggs are delicious! Wow, I'm getting the significant impression that I probably should have had more than a salad for dinner last night.

ANA MARIE: I should have had dinner! And lunch. And probably breakfast. Been trying to lose my "campaign fifteen" but sort of lazy about it — instead of eating smart, been not eating. Off topic: I LOVE Pat Buchanan on TV. He's always, like, PEERING at the camera. As if suspicious of the technology. Like he knows it wasn't MADE IN AMERICA.

MEGAN: Well, there's no rest for no wicked, and no breakfast for us until we finish this, but after that there will be bacon in my future, mostly because I only have one egg in the fridge. So, Penny Pritzker at Commerce? It's even wilder that of all the Cabinet slots that have leaked, you've got Clinton, Napolitano, Pritzker and Holder. Are the only grey-haired white guys going to actually be in the White House? No offense, Rahm.

ANA MARIE: Well, there's Valerie Jarrett. And Susan Rice will turn up somewhere, no? I would love it if Samantha "She's a monster" Power also showed up. But if they're serious about Clinton I'm guessing not.

MEGAN: Susan Rice appears to be on-track for a sub-cabinet slot. Jarrett's going to the White House. And Sam Powers is apparently still at Harvard, though I would have picked her for an undersecretary gig at State but you're right, if Clinton goes to State, she's not gonna.

ANA MARIE: MSNBC says Sebelius being vetted for Energy Secretary or Labor! CHICKS EVERYWHERE.

MEGAN: Kathleen, run from Labor! Labor's a dead-end gig!

ANA MARIE: Yeah, put Richardson in Energy.

MEGAN: And Chuck Todd is saying that there are few Hispanic names, but he apparently didn't read the WaPo story on HUD Secretaries in which Antonio Villaraigosa and Miami mayor Manuel Diaz came up.

ANA MARIE: Or, you know, Richardson for Interior, since apparently that is the Land of Grabbyhands.

MEGAN: That's how they determine contracts there sometimes! And Richardson at Interior would be interesting, since it has seemingly gone to Western types for quite a while.

ANA MARIE: This is the most interest anyone has shown in posts like HUD in a long time. It's just because they haven't gotten a puppy yet. Once the puppies come in, we'll be able to truly ignore the news.

MEGAN: Well, probably the only reason anyone's interested in HUD right now is that whole mortgage crisis thing, but my money's on Villaraigosa, Telemundo mistress be damned.

ANA MARIE: Oh, you and your logic and pragmatism.

MEGAN: Fine. Yes, I think once there are pictures of the girls romping on the lawn with the puppy, there will be no other news. The Washington Post will eliminate all other print coverage and just print pictures so there is an epidemic of hearts exploding from cuteness. And then we'll get another baby panda if the economy gets worse, just because.

ANA MARIE: Look, that's the only way newspapers can survive, right? The puppy equivalent of all those Memorial Obama Editions. And, fuck, if you give me another panda baby, you can have my house! I will just need an internet connection and the panda cam. And booze. And coffee. I should probably keep the house. In a just world I like to think we get panda babies and homes. Isn't that basically what Obama promised?

MEGAN: Well, and rainbows and unicorns, right? But baby pandas are cuter.

According to the study, 61 percent of women think the media is biased against women and that it treated Hillary Clinton and Sarah Palin unfairly. More than half of the women polled think Clinton was treated unfairly in the media and 70 percent thought Palin got shafted. One reason? Older women pointed to the focus on the female candidates' appearances:

Women over 50 said Palin was asked questions and subjected to unfair comments by a remarkable 2/1. They are more likely to recall stories being written about Palin’s hair and clothes than Obama’s healthcare plans.

Despite the large volume of stories about the appearance of the candidates, 70% of women think those topics are not fair game for discussion.

Which is all well and good and I don't disagree that people should read more about policy issues, but my experience this cycle is a lot more of our readers clicked through and commented on stories about Wardrobe-gate than any of my posts on serious policy issues like health reform — and I'll bet, if you asked another, more "mainstream" media outlet, the story was the same. Newspapers, magazines and blogs are money-making enterprises, and they make money selling readers stories. So unless these women spent more time trying to read about health care reform — and I believe they didn't — and were stymied by the wall-to-wall Wardrobe-gate coverage, it's not really fair to blame the media for giving them what they obviously wanted to read.

Worse yet, according to the Daily Beast poll, the same women decrying the sexist media coverage not only won't call themselves feminists, they would be horrified if their daughters did so:

Voters reject the term and the category of being a “feminist,” with only 20% of women willing to use that word about themselves. Nor do they want their daughters to become feminists—only 17% of voters said they would welcome their daughters using that label.

In the least surprising results, men thought everything was fairer than women did, with two-thirds of men claiming they treated women equally at home compared to half of women thinking they were treated equal to the men in their lives behind closed doors. And although they recognize — to a degree — that women have it harder at work and in politics than men, there's nary a Bradley effect in sight when asked about a woman President:

But 4 in 10 men freely admit sexist attitudes towards a female president. 39% of men say that a male is “naturally more suited” to carrying out the duties of the office. Almost equal numbers doubted that a women would be strong enough to carry out the job of Commander in Chief.

That means that nearly half of the men surveyed, despite all their bullshitting about how women don't have it that bad, don't think that men and women are actually equal in their leadership capabilities. Sexism, I guess, isn't a problem as long as we don't expect to be treated like we're as good as men — and as long as we don't have to call ourselves "feminists" to boot.

The Barrier That Didn’t Fall [The Daily Beast]

Earlier: McCain (Palin) On Women's Issues: When It's Not Sparse, It's Not Good
Standing Up For Equality Can Have Its Downsides
McCain And Contraception
Another Week, Another Unsuccessful Tactic From McCain-Palin (This Time, It's Abortion)
Marriage Equality? Money Talks, And Politicians Ought To
HIV Proven To Be Older Than John McCain (And His Bad AIDS Policies)
Equal Pay? Women Of Color Get The Short End Of The Stick
Pay Equity For Women In The U.S., U.K. Remains Elusive Despite "Education And Training"
A Uterus Costs 50% More In McCain's Health Insurance Market

MEGAN: It's morning again, and I'm finally awake enough to realize that I put my shirt on backwards when I went to bed last night... and I wasn't even intoxicated.

ANA MARIE: You put a shirt on to go to bed? lerjkewjr! Sorry that was my kind of clearing my throat. Typing- wise.

MEGAN: Otherwise my boobs get all wonky. Plus, I prefer my place kind of chilly and I haven't swapped in my winter bedclothes.

ANA MARIE: Ah, a nightshirt. I was somehow thinking you wore, like, a tux.

MEGAN: That would be kind of awesome, but I feel like the shirt studs would leave marks.

ANA MARIE: Should we talk about the news?

MEGAN: Anyway, so Tina Brown was just on Morning Joe looking kind of fabulous and speaking all British-y.

ANA MARIE: Yes, she sounds smart pretty much all the time. (Hi, Boss!)

MEGAN: Did you watch Arianna guest on Maddow last night?

ANA MARIE: I did. From the studio! Because I was on fake Countdown with fake Keith. I think maybe she and Cindy McCain have the same vocal coach.

MEGAN: A bit somnolent, right? The accent makes me want to get, like, cocoa. By a fire.

ANA MARIE: With that accent, I don't need cocoa. Mika just said "team of rivals" on Morning Joe. DRINK!

MEGAN: Damn it, the tequila is just out of reach! Tina Brown, though, sort of makes me want to learn to like whiskey, and I mean that as a compliment.

ANA MARIE: Hey, I have a question: WHY is Hillary considered a legitimate SecState nominee? Does she have some foreign policy experience I don't know about? I asked this of an MSNBC employee yesterday and she said, "Well, her husband..." and I was like, "If someone tried to give me a job because of my HUSBAND's resume, I would be embarrassed." I guess I might even make up some kind of story about Bosnian sniper fire! I mean, there's an argument that the President's job is big enough that foreign policy experience is just a PART of what you'd need to have. (Clearly, this was the American people's judgment.) But SecState? There's no other part of the job! Having worked on health care policy is kind of not relevant!

MEGAN: Well, but, frankly, what foreign policy (as opposed to defense) experience did Colin Powell have? Hell, what foreign policy experience do most of our ambassadors have? Clinton's nomination is, I think, a great deal about her international star power/prestige, etc. I think it's also about her supposed managerial ability, which, having tried to work with her Senate office and watched her campaign, I frankly question.

ANA MARIE: Then why not nominate Miley Cyrus? She is very popular and has not lied about being under sniper fire.

MEGAN: But it's no longer a nomination, didn't you hear? Only the story is probably completely false since no one else has been able to confirm it. Like, for real, people, The Guardian is the best source on this? I go back to: Hagel, Kerry, Grabbyhands, Nunn. And then you get Hillary Clinton.

ANA MARIE: Maybe this whole thing is a sideshow to make Kerry seem like a noble choice. Oh, and another thing? There are cabinet positions that Hillary would be qualified for: HHS, maybe even Defense (given her well-regarded service on the Armed Services Committee). But this whoopdedoo has probably scotched those. It's probably ruined her chances at State. To the extent it was ever real. I mean, seriously: Is this what the Obama administration is going to be like? Endless high octane pundit debates about things that won't happen?

MEGAN: I think the problem is that there isn't real news to talk about! It's the gossip season. Plus, at the point at which Chris Hitchens is drunkenly inveighing against you on TV, I'm sort of more pro-the idea, frankly. Plus, it would be nearly full employment for me.

ANA MARIE: Oh, and I love Christopher. I would be honored to be the subject of his inebriated inveighings. He should auction that shit off.

MEGAN: MEGAN: But does he need the money? Also, can we just mention, the music that is playing on Morning Joe: "North American Scum."

ANA MARIE: They have pretty good taste in music. There's a very disappointing relationship between taste in bumper music and shows themselves. Proof: You know who has GREAT bumper music? Laura Ingraham. I see that the New York Times is selling copies of its Nov 5 edition for $15. The print media industry is saved! We will borrow the Franklin Mint business model and print WEEKS-OLD NEWS!

MEGAN: And you know that the New York Times will totally make bank on that. I do not understand the people that collect that sort of stuff, but, then, I have moved around a lot in my life.

ANA MARIE: You have a life, maybe?

MEGAN: No, that's not true at all. I'm just too lazy to haul shit.

ANA MARIE: We're going to be LIVING THROUGH the Obama administration. That sort of is my idea of keepsake. That, and the policies he'll enact. Who told the entire MSNBC hosting staff they could go on vacation this week?

MEGAN: What in particular are you keen to see him do? After listening to Mika inveigh against the auto bailout, I now know what she really, really doesn't want.

ANA MARIE: My wishlist for his honeymoon period? Election reform — while it's fresh on everyone's minds — to include making election day a national holiday and some kind of reform to registration so that fake registrations don't slow down legit new voters. Statehood for DC (with the Utah congressional addition off set). Exec orders on torture and Gitmo. Card check.

MEGAN: Oh, see, I sort of hate card check. But I'm on board with the rest of it.

ANA MARIE: AND GET THE PUPPY ALREADY! Why? Oh, and gays in the military! More gays! He could executive order that shit.

MEGAN: Yes, an end to don't ask, don't tell! That would be awesome. On card check, I don't like the elimination of secret balloting. I don't know how that helps. But, then, my parents are required to belong to unions that have variously screwed over our family over the years, so I'm not exactly like "Woo, unions."

ANA MARIE: You've been listening to right wing radio or something. The American workplace is not a pure and formal democracy, and employers have never had much respect for the secret ballot when it came to unions in the past. Not that unions are all good either.

MEGAN: Yeah, well, how does card check help is my point? It fixes the management sins of 40 years ago? But, yeah, I remember when my dads union decided to flex their muscles for no sake other than flexing their muscles against management and my family went without health insurance for a while. Their families didn't, of course, since they were not covered by the same health insurance as us since they weren't actual employees of the organization. And we never got it back retroactive, either. But, hey, they showed management! Something. Yeah, I hold grudges.

ANA MARIE: Speaking of pointless flexing of muscles: I think Lieberman will not get much more than a wrist slap.

MEGAN: Ooh, I'm sure he's so scared at the loss of his subcommittee chairmanship. I can't believe that Jon Tester is defending him on MSNBC right now. How is fucking Tester scared of Jowls McGee?

ANA MARIE: Nice moment though: Jon Tester just started to say "Joe was wro— DIFFERENT on the war." I think we can say "wrong" now.

MEGAN: I think we could have said "wrong" then, That's on my list of stuff I'm looking forward to seeing change in an Obama Administration. I also want a full-on, prisoner-less, compromise-minimized 1984-style tax reform.

ANA MARIE: I don't think Tester or anyone is scared of Jowly Joe. I think this is an attempt to extend the "no drama" policy to the Hill. An attempt that will ultimately be unsuccessful but I admire the effort.

MEGAN: The point of the legislative branch is fucking "drama," so I just wonder when they forgot it.

ANA MARIE: And, yes, I think there will be drama to spare. No thanks to sleepwalkers like Mark Warner, but I have faith in, you know, McCain.

MEGAN: Well, and let's not forget Max Baucus is running around with his own health care reform bill when Kennedy is promising his next year.

ANA MARIE: There you go. DRAMA! COMPETING HEALTH CARE BILL! I think we have the solution to reviving Heroes!

MEGAN: Well, and this is why everyone is focusing on speculating about the Cabinet and Hillary Clinton: everything else is just Nerd Drama. Like, woo David Frum is leaving the National Review?

ANA MARIE: So does that mean we can we talk about the new Star Trek movie?

MEGAN: I am so worried it will suck. For my dad's sake, of course.

ANA MARIE: Oh, and Frum is leaving to start some new "solo web project," by which he means, of course: porn.

MEGAN: But PORN WITH OTHER PEOPLE!! PORN WITH OTHER PEOPLE!! Please don't make me cry.

ANA MARIE: Hey, he's the one talking "solo."

MEGAN: And now my brain needs another bleaching, as, inevitably, I imagine David Frum jerking off on a web cam. This is why I wasn't reading his NRO columns, to avoid that mental picture!

ANA MARIE: I am clearly not the person you should be talking to first thing in the morning. I'm sorry. Tomorrow's mental images will be based on the Shiba puppy cam.

MEGAN: Yay puppies! Honestly, my preference in the morning is to grumpily drink my coffee while mentally cursing the supposed need to arise before 10:00 regardless. So, it's not you, it's me.

ANA MARIE: Well as long as I have someone to watch Morning Joe with I'm good.

• Barack Obama and John McCain met this afternoon in which they talked about combating government waste and bitter partisanship and took some pretty, pretty pictures for us peons. [Washington Post]
• Vetting Bill Clinton's sketchy dealings in Central Asia and the donor list for his library might well cost Hillary Clinton her SecState job and prove that Obama was right to have been demanding those get released during the primaries. [Politico]
• But Obama is firmly against torture and keeping Guantanamo Bay open, so that's good at least. [Washington Independent]

• Senator Diane Feinstein (D-California) introduced legislation today to make it illegal to sell the free Inauguration tickets (punishable by a $100,000 fine and up to a year in prison) or to forge them. Yipes. Get them legal or watch it on TV, ladies. [CNN]
• Connecticut Senator Joe "Benedict Arnold" Lieberman is now expected to keep his chairmanship but lose his subcommittee chairmanship as his "punishment" for betraying the Democratic party. I guess we know about how hard Harry Reid intends to push back on, like, anything now that he's solidified power. [Huffington Post]
• With that news, former Senator John "The Inseminator" Edwards has decided to stage his own comeback. [Daily Beast]
• Alabama Senator Richard Shelby — who's been the GOP's point person on negging the auto bailout — scolded South Carolina GOP Senator Jim DeMint — who's been gunning for more power in the party — for saying the Republican losses this year were the fault of John McCain's betrayal of the (social) conservative brand of the GOP. Abortion and gay marriage, that's all the GOP should be against, totally. [CNN]
• By the way, New Gingrich says that we are all a part of a "a gay and secular fascism in this country that wants to impose its will on the rest of us, is prepared to use violence, to use harassment. I think it is prepared to use the government if it can get control of it." Yeah, fuck us for being all like "separation of church and state" and trying to take advantage of "equal protection under the law" and exercising our First Amendment rights to assemble and petition the government and shit. What fascists we all are. [Media Matters]

While Clinton's oft-proclaimed "bitchiness" was certainly not a positive development, Fortini argues that "It was far more destructive, we would learn, for a woman to be labeled a fool." However, Fortini's premise made me wonder if, as Barack Obama defied the negative stereotypes applied to African Americans, a woman would have to defy all negative stereotypes of powerful females to get elected. Or, to put it another way: if Sarah Palin had been brilliant, we would have been in a lot of trouble.

"Here was a woman who—even if you didn’t agree with her politics—seemed to have achieved what so many of us were struggling for: an enviable balance between career and family," Fortini says. And indeed, Sarah Palin is poised and pretty and appropriately "female" in a way that is not threatening — nothing like Hillary Clinton. She defies the stereotype that women who seek power are ball breakers. However, Palin also defies notions of prissiness and weakness with her searing, borderline-cruel rhetoric and her much-touted moose killing.

Thank goodness for those of us who like our abortions legal, Palin's "blithe ignorance extended from foreign policy to the symbolic value of her candidacy. By stepping into the spotlight unprepared, Palin reinforced some of the most damaging and sexist ideas of all: that women are undisciplined in their thinking; that we are distracted by domestic concerns or frivolous pursuits like shopping; that we are not smart enough, or not serious enough, for the important jobs," Fortini explains.

However, I'm not convinced that Palin's inadequacy has set women back. Fortini quotes a study that said 69% percent of people think men and women are equally able to lead, and then follows up by noting that 60% of people thought Palin wasn't qualified to be President. To think that one woman has dismantled all the progress other women have made gives her too much credit. But, like all non-white, non-Christian males running for office, at first one must transcend stereotypes to become electable. As many have said before, if Barack Obama had been divorced, or Michelle had been a pill-popper like Cindy McCain, or if a teenage Malia Obama had turned up pregnant out of wedlock, you can be sure he would not have made it anywhere near the Oval Office. For a woman to get to break that ol' glass ceiling, she's going to have to do the same.

The 'Bitch' And The 'Ditz' [NYM]

• Officials are confirming that Hillary Clinton met with Barack Obama in Chicago to talk about a potential Cabinet slot. Two "senior Democratic officials" confirmed to the Huffington Post that Clinton was offered Secretary of State and asked for time to consider it, but she didn't admit to anything at a press conference in Albany. [NY Times, Huffington Post]
• Barack Obama and John McCain are going to meet this weekend to talk about how they might be able to work together on something once Obama is President. It was arranged by Senator Lindsay Graham, McCain's Number One Fanboy. [Washington Post]
• Vermont Senator Pat Leahy became the one who broke the seal, announcing today that he's not going to support Connecticut Senator Joe "Turncoat" Lieberman's efforts to hold onto his committee chairmanship in the Democratic-controlled Senate since Lieberman isn't a Democrat, campaigned against the incoming Democratic President and endorsed a Republican. Glad someone has more of a spine than Harry Reid. [