Day: October 13, 2009

Florida Rep. Robert Wexler to Resign

Trish

wexler-book

Wexler plans to meet with reporters Wednesday morning in Boca Raton to detail his next move. A Democratic source with knowledge of Wexler’s plans said the seven-term congressman is likely to take a public policy job that deals with the Middle East. The job does not involve working for the Obama administration and does not involve lobbying.

Although Palm Beach County, which makes up a lot of Wexler’s district, is fairly safely Democrat, it’s a bad time to be down one fire-breathing liberal in Congress. His leadership will be missed, as until Rep. Alan Grayson came along with his “Don’t get sick and if you get sick, die quickly” summation of Republican health care reform, Wexler was one of the straightest-talking elected officials Florida had. Inside his state, he is credited as the man, along with Sen. Bill Nelson (D), who gave Florida back its paper ballots, as well as shredding former Attorney General Alberto Gonzales in questioning before the House Judiciary Committee.

United States Now World’s Most Admired Country

Buck Banks

In a survey of citizens of 20 major developed countries, the United States was chosen as the most admired nation in the world in the 2009 Anholt-GfK Roper Nation Brands Index. The U.S. came in at number seven in 2008, behind Germany, France, United Kingdom, Canada, Japan and Italy.

It’s because of Obama, of course — and this poll was completed before he got the Nobel. After that, we’re probably the most admired nation in the solar system.

From the GfK Roper press release announcement:

“What’s really remarkable is that in all my years studying national reputation, I have never seen any country experience such a dramatic change in its standing as we see for the United States in 2009,” explains Simon Anholt, NBI founder. “Despite recent economic turmoil, the U.S. actually gained significant ground. The results suggest that the new U.S. administration has been well received abroad and the American electorate’s decision to vote in President Obama has given the United States the status of the world’s most admired country.”

In response to the announcement, Republican Sen. Jim Demint of South Carolina told the Lake Secession, S.C., Argus-Penny Saver, “That just proves the Republican Party’s position on health care reform is the right one,” he said “If we can win the admiration of the world without implementing a public insurance option, and with 49 million uninsured or under-insured Americans in the population, we don’t need health care reform. We’ve already won the popularity contest!”

Editor’s note: We have been unable to establish the provenance of that last quote, but we liked it, so we ran it anyway.

Verbatim

Buck Banks

I am not the leader of the Republican Party. Don’t want to be the leader of the Republican Party. It’s silly for them to keep talking about how I’m the leader of anything, it’s just creating more curiosity about me. It’s 21 years, more popular than ever. Lord, thank you for my enemies.

— Bloviator Rush Limbaugh, quoted by CNN.