After Daschle

47 million Americans! As my grandma used to say: Wowell! I was one of them for about 7 years in my 20s, and again for my year-long idyll in Oregon. Now, in Japan, my wife and I are both covered for a total of about 83$/mo. per today's x-change rate. Of course, the J are considering printing fiat money for public distribution--so I'll enjoy the low rates while they last. I think another gov't idea is divvying up the nation's acorns, so we can use them to barter for goods.

So this is you thinking inside the box, K_Teezie?

Hey, as long as the next person they pick has a clean tax record and no STDs, I'm cool.

Re: Jack Lew -- If he is picked, please use the headline "Foggy Bottom Breakdown." Thank you.

"Men with banjos who know how to use them!"
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KT--your comment schtick is beginning to sound AMC-esque. I'm not complaining, but are you sipping the sherry (or sharing a doob with Joe)?

@Friar Tuck - I SAW Steve Martin on his original "Get Small" tour when I was in Jr. High. Pantspeeingly funny.

Who's Jack Lew?

All right, I've heard worse ideas. The NYT article didn't give me a good sense of his expertise, though.

The article's a good start for someone wanting to understand what skills are needed for the WH job, and I am all for a better-informed public. Too bad you had to stay in the bubble-box, though. How about a Clifton-Lew combination? (yeah, I'm sweet on Clifton; it's that geeky neurosurgeon/policy wonk vibe.)

KT, your out-of-box experience is a demonstration that the more you make people think, the more pissed off they get at you.
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And speaking of Steve Martin, I used to work with a guy who quit journalism and wrote for Steve Martin. Which is as close to fame as I ever got. That and Nolan Ryan was in my mother's Cub Scout pack.

I *like* KT's "schtick." And I like that she can write a sober, serious article that lays out the boring probability that HHS will be some governor that nobody really cares about, and then turn around and posts to the blog that it should be Newt Gingrich and a bean counter to be named later with an option on Michael Phelps should he beat the rap and garner 250 responses.

davemc321: That almost makes you famous.

Got to spend a few minutes talking to Lyle Lovett, Larry King, Tom Snyder, Carlos Santana, shared a urinal with Eddie Money all at various NAB conventions. Also got to meet Eddie Murphy at a stay on the top floor of a Tallahassee hotel while recruiting for a drug store chain. However I am still a worthless smuck, so being close to fame doesn't rub off. One remains in their rightful, pathetic place no matter who they meet.

Knew a girl in the 70's who used to be a rock groupie, met a lot of stars, didn't help her either. I think all she got was some STDs. Fame's over-rated, unless you are the one who is famous.

5 or 6 posts about Daschle, meanwhile an SEC whistleblower just blew the whistle big time regarding Madoff, and an SEC attorney subsequently stonewalls and claims executive privilege. Basically the SEC colluded w/ Madoff to rob 10s of billions of dollars....and it doesn't even get a mention on the teevee until the snorgilists* Olbermann and Maddow's shows. Heckava job media! Good thing Madoff didn't get his d!ck sucked by a fat intern or he'd really be in trouble.
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*Snorgilism: the act of acquiring, analyzing and conveying important information about the events and issues of the day to the public in a way that informs them in a factual way.

Cincinnatus:

But will anyone at the SEC actually get prosecuted? The whole stock market is really just a big sham. Way too much manipulation, way too much insider information, and they've managed to not only take the average citizen to the cleaner through their 401K plans, but even some of their fellow rich sharks. When the sharks start devouring their own isn't that on the the seven signs of the apocolypse?

My husband went to high school with W, but don't hold it against him. He was there on scholarship, so they traveled in different circles.
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I once went to a pool party at Durward Kirby's house and Norman Rockwell used to nod hello to me as I walked to my waitressing job in Stockbidge, Mass. I washed Dana Andrew's bloody shirts every day when I was the costumer at a summer theater. Oh, and I guess the best one was partying with Andre Gregory during two different productions of "Alice in Wonderland".

Correction, Isn't that one of the seven signs of the apocolypse?

Wish my fingers worked>.....

newfloridian, I don't know if anyone at the SEC will get prosecuted. Probably they won't, in large part because Tumulty and the rest of the MSM won't touch it. This story has all the angles to get the slathering proles howling at the moon, but for some reason they won't touch it. Same thing w/ the SEC conspiring w/ IndyMac. Oh, if an old lady gets her purse snatched on a sidewalk in Peoria, CNN will have cameras there, and probably some law in the old gal's name gets passed by Congress in a week. Madoff they ignore. I have to think a lot of it is due to race and class...I can't really think of another reason.

A question for KT or anyone in the D.C. area:
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Were all the congressional Democrats swept away by the Rapture? Or is there a reason I see nothing but Republicans on every single cable and network news program?
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They had eight years of free rein in terms of dictating this country's economic direction, and even though they failed miserably at that *and* were rejected by voters in two straight elections *and* represent a tiny minority in both houses ... the media is lapping up their every word like their old answers are suddenly right.
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And meanwhile, not a Democrat to be seen. Thanks, liberal media!

What about Patch Adams 4 HHS. He has clown suits--that's a + ...

Karen Tumulty is not a media critic.