Pickering to resign from Congress

Grandma's Attic — Thu, 16 Aug 2007 21:13:44 GMT

Gee, don't forget Ray LaHood (R-IL) is 'retiring' as well. Abandon Ship! Abandon Ship! It's going down....

Pickering to resign from Congress

nuanced — Thu, 16 Aug 2007 21:29:20 GMT

Left Behind -- starting to look George Bush will be the last to go.

Somebody explain how all of the former Republican congresspeople will be good for lobbying Democrats?

Pickering to resign from Congress

Lynn C in D.C. — Thu, 16 Aug 2007 21:46:22 GMT

I say it's like rats leaving a sinking ship, only I don't want to offend the rats. Remember these are the buutchers that brought us "Stay the Course" and "Cut & Run" The folks who covered for Foley the pedophile and Vitters the whoremonger. Now they're off to K street to collect their blood money.

Pickering to resign from Congress

Robert Catalano, Salem, OR — Thu, 16 Aug 2007 21:47:47 GMT

Usually the last person to leave someplace turns the lights out. In this White House the first person who comes with the next Administration will be turning them on for the first time in eight years.

Pickering to resign from Congress

H P Boston — Thu, 16 Aug 2007 21:56:08 GMT

They are burying the dead. New faces to run for the repukes with no ties to shrub and present company.

Pickering to resign from Congress

John Doe, The Peanut Gallery — Thu, 16 Aug 2007 22:10:01 GMT

This is another indicator of the GOP's prospects in 2008. So far we the names that have either announced retirement or on "retirement watch" lists that I have seen are Pryce (OH), Hastert (IL), LaHood (IL), Saxton (NJ), Young (AK), Pickering (MI), Renzi (AZ), Lewis (CA), Doolittle (CA), Young (FL), McHugh (NY), Regula (OH), Cubin (WY), and Jo Ann Davis (VA). To be fair not all of those names have comitted to retiring. But their fundraising efforts as well as their lack of organizing for reelection in most cases signals that most of those folks won't be in the 2008 race. That means the RNC and the RCCC are going to have to not only recruit top tier candidates for those seats (which is proving not so easy for the GOP these days) but also come up with a fairly large sum of cash to make those open seat elections competitive (also not so easy for the GOP these days).

Give the Democratic bench and the money advantages being established by the DCCC the outlook gets bleaker and bleaker for the GOP. And the traditional announcement month for retirements (September) hasn't even arrived yet.

Pickering to resign from Congress

Class Warrior, D.C. — Thu, 16 Aug 2007 22:39:52 GMT

Another one bites the dust...and another's gone, and another one's gone...
They know Iraq's gonna kill em in the elections in the Fall, so they're jumping ship to make lotsa dough; Muslims look forward to seventy-two virgins, Christians want to see Jesus, and Republicans want to be in a lobbying firm on K St.

Pickering to resign from Congress

Bo Revere, Meadville, Miss. — Thu, 16 Aug 2007 23:08:10 GMT

Sorry to disappoint the DailyKos crowd, but another Republican will win this seat.

Pickering to resign from Congress

nuanced — Thu, 16 Aug 2007 23:19:01 GMT

Maybe the RNC could try filling some of those seats with conservatives instead of neocons; maybe even moderates. I think it is time to hire a PR firm to re-brand the franchise and start advertising the New Republican Party.

Pickering to resign from Congress

Lee Holmes — Thu, 16 Aug 2007 23:29:17 GMT

Class Warrior: If so,you will find that the Republicans are going to find a very crowded K St.,which is not peopled by the lobbyists you think they are. Lets have a look. [Courtesy of the non-partisan Center For Responsive Politics at www.opensecrets.org and liberal journalist John Alterman,formerly of this network].

Mike McCurry [Clinton administration]
Mark Penn [Hillary Clinton campaign manager]
Bill Andersen[DLC]
Mike Berman[Clinton administration]
Joe Lockhart[Clinton Press Secretary]
Carter Eskew[Gore Campaign Manager]
Howard Wolfson[Hillary Clinton Senate campaign manager]
Jack Quinn[DNC]
Anthony Podesta[Clinton administration]
Jody Powell[Carter administration]
Joel Johnson[Clinton administration]
Leslie Dach[Clinton administration]
Phil Goldberg[Gore Campaign]

All of the above are still or have been lobbyists for ENRON,ATT,Sachs &Goldman,OCCIDENTAL OIL,Merck,In short:

Big Business
Big Oil
Big Drugs
Big Energy
Big Money

Think Hillary is still a good bet for a ''change''?

And one other thing. McCurry,as a telecommunications lobbyist,is going to attempt,with a new Democrat president /Congress, to ram through Internet usage surcharges for every e-mail you send or every minute you are on line. Happy Surfing.

Pickering to resign from Congress

Dimples Monterey California — Thu, 16 Aug 2007 23:57:37 GMT

Let them all go but the one the nation should have impeached is you know who b. He is dumb enough and so full of self, he doesn't have the brains to do so. I never voted for him and felt we were the laugh of the world when re-elected.

Pickering to resign from Congress

Mark Y; Westlake Village, CA — Thu, 16 Aug 2007 23:58:10 GMT

what a surprise...going to work for a lobbying firm!

Pickering to resign from Congress

F StLouis — Fri, 17 Aug 2007 01:04:14 GMT

Dropping like flies, and I'll bet there are more to come. Lying, rotten, stinken repubs.

Pickering to resign from Congress

John Doe, Madison, MS — Fri, 17 Aug 2007 01:04:39 GMT

the thing is, chip's going to be re-elected no matter what happens in Iraq or Washington - he's from a solid republican district in Mississippi.

The guy's got a job for life in the House & is heir-apparent to Lott when he retires - something else has GOT to be up here.

Pickering to resign from Congress

mikeeg,abdn,wa — Fri, 17 Aug 2007 01:39:41 GMT

Another sign the dems will own the whitehouse and congress for the next 20-30 years.

Pickering to resign from Congress

Jeff, Mississippi — Fri, 17 Aug 2007 01:42:04 GMT

Chip Pickering has been a wonderful addition to the GOP Congressional Delegation of Mississippi. He will be sorely missed by both his constituents and Republicans across the state. I wish him well in the private sector and I look forward to being involved for his future campaign for U.S. Senator.

Pickering to resign from Congress

Whatever, D.C. — Fri, 17 Aug 2007 04:25:28 GMT

Pickering is in a safe seat and easily would be re-elected...this is about earning money and nothing else. Lobbyists are lobbyist the republican-democrate label means little in D.C.

Pickering to resign from Congress

Steve Vandervort — Fri, 17 Aug 2007 06:11:53 GMT

It's just no fun anymore for the Reepubs. There was a time when a Reepub congressman could say or do some really stupid thing and it would just be ignored by the press. Now that have to act like civil human beings and it's just too much darn stress.

No wonder they're packin' it in. The dang "Free for all of stupidity" is over.

God Bless

Pickering to resign from Congress

Olivia — Fri, 17 Aug 2007 12:40:56 GMT

Regarding Mississippi--HuffPo has an excellent article on how some of Gov. Barbour's family members' businesses have been profiting from Katrina recovery in that state.

Pickering to resign from Congress

Hard Right — Fri, 17 Aug 2007 12:58:14 GMT

Democrats just don't get it. When the Democrats lost Congress in the '90's, not too many, not more then usual anyway, Democrats retired. The old "war-horses" never seem to quit. People like Kennedy and Byrd in the Senate, just can't bring themselves to leave. Sure, the Republicans have their fossils, like Strom Thurmond, who when they get too old, tend to forget they need to hang it up. Republicans clean house every decade or so - out with the old and in with the new - that is how they keep fresh and have fresh ideas. That is why the Democrats stay stagnant. Even Gingrich knew when it was his time to leave. The only way the Democrats seem to leave is when they get voted out of office.

Pickering to resign from Congress

Amazed, Atlanta GA — Fri, 17 Aug 2007 12:59:16 GMT

Another one bites the dust.....

Pickering to resign from Congress

Union Baby, Tennessee — Fri, 17 Aug 2007 13:43:08 GMT

Don't let the back door hit you where the Good Lord split you! Happy to see you go, sure hope your replacement has more sense than you did whether it is a republican or democrat.

Pickering to resign from Congress

JeanneGA — Fri, 17 Aug 2007 14:05:20 GMT

Lee Holmes your wasting your breath.Hillary will win.

Pickering to resign from Congress

bb — Fri, 17 Aug 2007 15:13:00 GMT

Hard right, all hot air and desperate as hell.

Pickering to resign from Congress

Jane Q Public — Fri, 17 Aug 2007 16:39:00 GMT

Hey, Jeff.

This "constituent" (McComb) won't miss Pickering, not one bit.

Pickering to resign from Congress

MK,MO — Fri, 17 Aug 2007 17:01:13 GMT

JeanneGA / wasting his breath is he, so are a hell of a bunch of other people then, hillary ain't going to buy her way into the white-house, why don't you copy lee holmes post over too hillary's web site, the truth is going to destroy hillary, as it should she is and always has been part of the problem in washington, we need change not more of the same

Pickering to resign from Congress

M. Boley — Fri, 17 Aug 2007 18:20:34 GMT

Screw the rats... who cares if they are 'offended'!

Pickering to resign from Congress

Warren Bonesteel — Fri, 17 Aug 2007 18:29:42 GMT

Several Democrat Congresscritters are also leaving Congress. Shall we use attribution bias and read something into that, as well?

Although individuals reasons may vary, this phenom is nothing unusual in any session of Congress.

...and members from both parties quite often end upon K Street or working for the companies that K Street represents.

With Congressional approval ratings at an all time low, we may see more than the usual amount of turnover during this election cycle.

All that can be said with any certainty at this point is that change is in the air.

Pickering to resign from Congress

Ollie frenchburg ky — Fri, 17 Aug 2007 19:44:30 GMT

Ollie is signing off for the week. All of you have a good safe week end. Talk to you Monday. All of you good Dems, especially you Susan, Miami, keep up the good work. All of you Repubs, please study up and get a little smarter. Okay?

Pickering to resign from Congress

Welcomed as liberators — Fri, 17 Aug 2007 19:57:41 GMT

"Sorry to disappoint the DailyKos crowd, but another Republican will win this seat. " You BushCo associates are very big on predictions - and never right.