I believe the key theme today on the Sunday Talk shows will be that, stop me if you have heard this, despite the fact that a "Socialist" won the election, and despite the fact that the "Socialist" party will hold massive majorities in the House and the Senate, America is a Center Right nation. Smell the contempt for democracy from America's Media elites.

This is an Open Thread.

By Big Tent Democrat, speaking for me only

The New York Times reports that public defenders in seven states are refusing to accept new cases or have filed lawsuits due to overburdened case loads which prevent them from providing effective assistance of counsel.

Public defenders are notoriously overworked, and their turnover is high and their pay low. But now, in the most open revolt by public defenders in memory, many of the government-appointed lawyers say that state budget cuts and rising caseloads have pushed them to the breaking point.

The caseload in Miami-Dade, Florida:

Over the last three years, the average number of felony cases handled by each lawyer in a year has climbed to close to 500, from 367, officials said, and caseloads for lawyers assigned to misdemeanor cases have risen to 2,225, from 1,380.

More...

For the McCain staffers finger-pointing at Palin, for Palin who is now playing the victim and for writers who think criticizing Palin is sexist, this one's for you.

McCain-Palin was a gigantic miscalculation by McCain and a disaster from the get-go. McCain, Palin and their staffers have no one to blame but themselves.

This is an open thread.

Andrew Travers in the Aspen Daily News writes about speculation (see Newsweek, for example) that Barack Obama will name Penny Pritzker as Commerce Secretary. Pritzkger was the national financial chair of the Obama campaign. The Pritzker (and Crown family) ties to Aspen go back decades.

Pritzker’s wide-ranging business and civic achievements include starting Classic Residences by Hyatt, a successful luxury retirement development, working to improve public schools and serving as CEO of Pritzker Realty Group. Earlier this year, Forbes ranked her among the 500 wealthiest people in the world.

An 8 year old boy in Arizona allegedly shot and killed his father and another man yesterday. Police want him charged as an adult.

As if an 8 year old has the mental capacity to understand the act of murder? It hasn't stopped Arizona prosecutors before:

Earlier this year in Arizona, prosecutors in Cochise County filed first-degree murder charges against a 12-year-old boy accused of killing his mother.

In the 8 year old's case, there are indications he may have been abused. Others say no reports are on records. Then, there's the interrogation of the boy. [More...]

Update: Michael Garcia, U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York, is also leaving early. He's going to Kirkland and Ellis.

Attorney General Michael Mukasey yesterday announced the resignation of Thomas Barnett, Assistant Attorney General in charge of the Anti-Trust Division.

Barnett was confirmed by the Senate as Assistant Attorney General of the Antitrust Division on Feb. 10, 2006. He became acting Assistant Attorney General on June 25, 2005, and previously served as Deputy Assistant Attorney General since April 18, 2004.

I suspect many of Bush's political appointees had their resumes out before the election. It's not like the handwriting wasn't on the wall.

In addition to an Attorney General, Obama will appoint 93 United States Attorneys, one for each district. These jobs are political plums. They don't always (or even mostly) go to trial lawyers. U.S. Attorneys rarely try cases themselves (Patrick Fitzgerald is one exception who comes to mind), they run the office and implement the agenda of the new Attorney General and the Administration. [More...]

Ana Marie Cox has an extensive interview in the Daily Beast with Steve Schmidt, the chief strategist of John McCain's campaign.

When he knew McCain would lose? September 29.

On the future of the Republican party:'

“The party in the Northeast is all but extinct; the party on the West Coast is all but extinct...there has to be a message and a vision that is compelling to people in order for them to come back and to give consideration to the Republican Party again.”

Lots of good quotes here -- on leaks, on Palin and more.

Alabama Rep. Artur Davis, whose name has been floated for months as a possible Obama Attorney General pick, says he's not interested. He'd rather run for Governor of Alabama.

Fine by me, as I wrote here back in May.

I am going to be off line for the rest of the day. Some parting shots. Atrios writes:

Tom Friedman was much an Iraq war critic as I have been a Barack Obama critic . . .

This is true and was true of the entire Left blogs for the past year. They should not all be surprised now when they discover Obama actually agrees with me, not them, on issues like free trade, Clintonomics, the war on terror, etc. Obama was never with them. They chose to ignore that for the past year. I must admit I find their discomfiture funny as all hell. Relatedly, Kevin Drum writes:

To a large (though not complete) extent, the blogosphere doesn't really oppose the MSM anymore, it is the MSM — and vice versa. This was probably inevitable, but it's still kind of a shame. Surely this means that there's now a market for yet another new medium, this time dedicated to criticizing the blogosphere?

I am trying to find out Kevin. Gators travel to Nashville tonight to face Vandy in their drive for the SEC and college football national chanpionships. Go Gators!

This is an Open Thread.

By Big Tent Democrat, speaking for me only

I was exchanging e-mails with Ed Whelan the other day (yes NRO's Ed Whelan) and I told him him that I would certainly defend the GOP Senate caucus' right to filibuster judges even though I would likely disagree with their criteria for doing so. Ed responded that he would criticize such GOP tactics. I'll do my part here. Via Steve Benen, GOP Senator Jon Kyl says:

Jon Kyl, the second-ranking Republican in the U.S. Senate, warned president-elect Barack Obama that he would filibuster U.S. Supreme Court appointments if those nominees were too liberal. . . . Kyl said if Obama goes with empathetic judges who do not base their decisions on the rule of law and legal precedents but instead the factors in each case, he would try to block those picks via filibuster.

That is absolutely the right of the GOP minority. This is their exercise of the Constitutional advise and consent role. While I disagree with their views on judges, they are Senators and have the right, even the duty, to exercise their Constitutional powers. Now what I want to know is what the Gang of 14 has to say aout this? And I expect to hear no objections to the Nuclear Option, (excuse me, I mean the I mean Constitutional Option from any Republicans now. I certainly will object to it. They can not without exposing their base hypocrisy.

By Big Tent Democrat, speaking for me only

It is said that John Kerry wants to be Secretary of State. What do you think about that?

This is an Open Thread.

Via Corrente:

Senate Finance Chairman Max Baucus, who has a history of going his own way on major policy matters, Friday announced plans to unveil his own “specific goals and policy options for comprehensive health care reform in 2009” next week — without waiting for the detailed proposals of President-elect Barack Obama .

If you know anything about Max Baucus, you know this is bad news. Ironically, the proponents of health care reform and President-Elect Obama may need Senator Hillary Clinton to get into it with Baucus. She probably is the one person with enough credibility and political muscle to knock Baucus around on this. You think the blogs would welcome that? I doubt they care.

By Big Tent Democrat, speaking for me only