I know it’s a low bar, but I’m pretty happy Buttigieg isn’t a Nazi, a Goldman Sachs CEO or a military contractor. But I don’t think Buttigieg will be especially bad. In Canada cabinet is all elected officials, so mostly none of them know anything. My key question is how sure they are that they already know everything vs. how willing they are to learn from the civil service.
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I guess, but when it comes to this new administration, I’m already (and yet so soon) tired of saying, “Well, it could be worse.”
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Who knew the answer to the question “where were you radicalized” could be “Calvin &Hobbes”? 
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Reality bites. Biden owes political favors and appeasements. Appointments are the rewards. IIRC Reagan, Shrub, and Dubya set the record for imprisoned minions. Joe’s are more likely to avoid prison. Probably.
Remember, nice folks don’t usually gain high governmental positions. Kakistocracy is “rule by the worst.” What is the term for “rule by assholes who aren’t quite as bad as the alternatives”?
That would be “Democratic Administration”.
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I think I was in a bad mood yesterday (I still am today, but that’s not the point). I really agree with you that it’s a shame that political appointments are so much about rewarding loyalty, paying back favours, and targeting perceived constituencies. It would be nice if somehow people who’d be really good could be put in place (instead of me applauding the appointment of people I don’t think will be actively bad).
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This is a good quick article about Pete for DOT chair, fwiw. I don’t think he’s a great choice but I do agree that the chair needs to be able to talk to congress and listen to experts, more than know how to build a light rail system or something.
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Sounds like malarkey.
Tough shit, Congress Critters. It’s not a position that requires confirmation.
Suck it fuckers!
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I’ll bet those close advisors are the kind of Third Way sweet summer children who think that Congressional Republicans will deal with the administration in good faith. We need staffers like O’Malley Dillon to counterbalance that tendency.
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Yeah, that’s why I didn’t think Buttigieg was so bad. The worst possible pick would be someone who has enough experience to think they know what they are doing when they don’t. (Obviously people are capable of doing that without experience as well)
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Done properly, the cabinet folks should be seen as administrators, not executors, of policy. The actual folks with the knowledge to execute policy should be the career civil servants. Of course, Il Douche got rid of most of those, so this may be a different situation. There are enough unpredictable, unprecedented issues for the next admin that I am not even certain what standards they should meet other than basic competence and not-Trumpist.
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This should be good, no?
I am confused at the statement bout “narrowing the slim majority in the house.” NM has a Democratic governor, so shouldn’t be an issue, correct?
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Yeah, what I understood is that it’ll be a potential problem for some time – a few months? The congresspeeps that Biden’s plucking don’t get instantly replaced.
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Hah just came here to post this. This is absolutely good news. It seems like UT will need to have a special election to refill the seat, so it’ll reduce the D majority in the house till that gets done. I have no idea how long that will take.
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I saw somewhere that Deb Haaland is a 35th-generation New Mexican. Not that I doubt her ancestors have been there that long, but I got to wondering how her ancestry could be traced back that far. Anyone here know?
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It’s unlikely it was a genealogical family tree.
“ Historians believe the ancestors of the pueblo have occupied the Laguna homelands since at least A.D. 1300.”
700 years - 20 years per generation 
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