SD Secy of State already scheming to replace Tim Johnson

[kay1864]

From CNN:

Although the issue of incapacitation is not spelled out in state law, South Dakota Secretary of State Chris Nelson said he believes there would be "precedent at the federal level."

Yes, he's a Repuke. And my guess is he got an phone call last night from KKKarl.

How about "It's premature to speculate, and our thoughts and prayers are with Senator Johnson and his family", Chris? But nooooo.... "we think there is precedent at the federal level to declare him incapacitated, and replace him with one of our own as soon as possible."

Sheesh.

[northzax]

1. it's his job to do this

figure out how best to have the people of the state of South Dakota represented in the Senate. nothing nefarious about it.

[kay1864]

5. I was referring to his insensitive timing

He doesn't need to engage in this speculation unless (and it's a big unless) Sen. Johnson is physically unable to do his job.

And not until.

[Ganja Ninja]

11. They might at least wait until the Senate reconvenes in ...

January. The guy is just barely out of surgery. The anesthetic hasn't even worn off.

[IDemo]

23. They removed his atheism?

:hi:

[Ganja Ninja]

26. OOPS!

Guess I kinda rushed the spell check.

[Norquist Nemesis]

6. His job to lie about it?

Ooops! I mean 'mis-lead' people.

There's a law for SD that it has to be a special election for the replacement. They may very well get one of 'their team' elected, but they can't just appoint them.

[Deep13]

7. I thought that was the voters' job.

:shrug:

[northzax]

15. it is not the voter's job

to determine if someone is medically incapacitated during their term. THe voters' job is to elect people, like secretaries of state, to make these sorts of determinations for them.

[Deep13]

16. Is there a law allowing him to do that?

And is it his job to take what the voters' wanted and do the exact opposite?

[northzax]

22. worth noting, I think

that the Secretary of State did not cause Senator Johnson's medical problems. So he didn't take anything away from the voters, whatever god you believe in did. and seems to have given him back, which is nice.

But hypothetically (and remember, the SoS simply said that there is Federal Precedent for an incapacitation removal, which would, of course, lead to a general election within 80-90 days of the vacancy, not an appointment, the rest of the post is a comment by the OP) laws simply refer to 'vacancy' which, in most cases, is from death or resignation. of couse, someone who is alive, but incapacitated, cannot resign. So, without a method to remove them, they stay in place, drawing a Federal salary and taking up half of the state's senate representation, without being able to represent anyone (can't vote, after all) until the next general election.

[atreides1]

12. You're kidding, right?

Since when have the Republicans been interested in what's best for the people they represent.

[niyad]

33. you might take note of the fact that, barring DEATH OR RESIGNATION by sen. johnson, there is NO

vacancy, and that asshole SOS in SD has NOTHING to do. PERIOD.

[Atman]

2. replace him with "one of our own?" WTF? Are they Pod People?

What the fuck, Mr. Nelson...aren't you an AMERICAN like the rest of us?

.

[Cha]

24. That was the part that

shows what an imbecile he is. "One of our own"..like a fucking bushbot?

[Norquist Nemesis]

3. It's time for Nelson to either get a clue or stop lying

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=364&topic_id=2916239&mesg_id=2916279

[dysfunctional press]

4. precedent...

would be the case of the REPUBLICAN senator from SD that didn't step down when incapacitated in the 60's...

or even strom thurmond, at the federal level

[kay1864]

8. Yeah, but he was a member of the GOP!

So it's different, doncha see?

[Deep13]

10. bingo

What would be funny in a twisted way is if thay somehow forced Johnson out, Johnson recovered from his medical problem and then won the next Senate election.

[montanacowboy]

17. CNN said he was out for two years...

and Joe Biden out for seven months.....

[Radio_Lady]

9. Sickening. I can't believe it. I predict there will be a huge uprising among the populace.

This is just too big.

Two stolen elections and now in 2006 it might be inadvertently by Tim Johnson's brain that does us in after the successful mid-term elections. What are the odds on that?

[burythehatchet]

28. Nah...I think Survivor is getting too good

[Deep13]

13. "I'm not dead."

John Cleese: Here's one.
Eric Idle: That'll be ninepence.
Terry Gilliam: I'm not dead.
I: What?
C: Nothing. There's your ninepence.
G: I'm not dead.
I: 'Ere, he says he's not dead.
C: Yes he is.
G: I'm not.
I: He isn't.
C: Well, he will be soon, he's very ill.
G: I'm getting better.
C: No you're not, you'll be stone dead in a moment.
I: Well, I can't take him like that. It's against regulations.
G: I don't want to go on the cart.
C: Oh, don't be such a baby.
I: I can't take him.
G: I feel fine.
C: Oh, do me a favor.
I: I can't.
C: Well, can you hang around for a couple of minutes? He won't be long.
I: I promised I'd be at the Robinsons'. They've lost nine today.
C: Well, when's your next round?
I: Thursday.
G: I think I'll go for a walk.
C: You're not fooling anyone, you know. Isn't there anything you could do?
G: I feel happy. I feel happy.
(the Dead Collector glances up and down the street furtively, then silences the Body with his a whack of his club)
C: Ah, thank you very much.
I: Not at all. See you on Thursday.
C: Right.

[Lex]

14. Thank you

for that.

Seems the Senator's surgery went quite well.

The Repubs need to settle down.

[DakotaDemocrat]

18. Calm down.

Chris Nelson is not that bad. My experience with him is that he's fair and definitely as a grasp on the implications. To me, "one of our own" means a South Dakotan.

He was darn good at being unbiased throughout all the ballot measures this past year, from the abortion, anti-rights and all the other stuff we had on there. He and office went above and beyond trying to look and inform the public in an informative, neutral way.

If there's any problem in action, it would be in the timing. This is Sen. Johnson's decision (re: incapacity). This state had Karl Mundt for how many years?

[Rainscents]

19. Harry Reid said...

Johnson was HAPPY to see him!!!! Obviously, he knows what is going on around him and alert! GOP need to STFU!

[JustABozoOnThisBus]

21. Another conspiracy thread

while the moderators aren't looking?

cool!

Has anyone tested the good senator for radiation? I hear we buy nuclear (and newcular) material from Russia, they got the good stuff.

[shance]

20. There should be an investigation and full blood panel done on Tim Johnson.

Too many of our leaders killed/harmed by Neocons and Republicans.

It also intimidates others, which of course those who engage in harming our leaders know. It creates cautious leadership where they scare our leaders into passing laws they wouldn't ordinarily pass like the police state evoking laws we now have on our books.

[Peace Patriot]

25. "...one of our own..."???!!! I'm still reacting to that. Outraged, mind-boggled,

open-mouthed. As I have been for about 6 years. I'm beginning to think David Ickes is not so far wrong. Invasion of the Body Snatchers. These people are NOT HUMAN. They all think alike. They all vote alike. Like they emerged from "pods" with lots of goo attaching to them. Have the global corporate predators who are running all this been creating more than FrankenSeeds, in their diabolical laboratories? Have they been created POLITICIANS? With brains all cloned from Orrin Hatch? (He's not called "hatch" for nothing!).

This is damned creepy. "...one of our own..." I checked the OP. Then I checked it again. Yup, quotation marks. He actually said that. But no link. Gotta link, Kay1864?

They seem to think "pods" Delay and Hastert are still in charge--who would think nothing of stuffing an ailing Democrat into the oven, and replacing him with "one of our own." Or Arnold Schwarzenegger, who, after ELECTED Democratic Secretary of State Kevin Shelley was "swifted-boated" out of office in California--for suing Diebold and demanding to see their source code--appointed a REPUBLICAN and Diebold shill, Bruce McPherson to that office. (Of course, he had the eager cooperation of the Democratic leadership in the state legislature--2 to 1, and 3 to 2 Dem majorities--whom, one can only presume, were bought and paid for. What would our federal Dems do if they tried this shit over Johnson's Senate seat? Hard to predict. I mean, we know what we would WANT them to do--but would they?).

But I have to renege on the "not human" remark--much as Bushites resemble fungi. We've got to realize that they ARE human, that this herd mentality is human, just like Bush's psycho slaughter of tens of thousands of innocent Iraqis, and Cheney's insatiable greed, are human. We might like to evolve past these traits--and I do think that's where we're going--but meanwhile we are cursed in the universe for continuing to produce human beings whose deep flaws make us unfit to join the Federation. We have a couple of generations to go, I think--if we make it that far. (50 years to the death of the planet--that's what the World Wildlife Fund says (--and they take corporate money--imagine what they would say if they didn't.).)

(Just saw "inconvenient Truth." My God, what have we done?! WHAT. HAVE. WE. DONE. ??!!)

[kay1864]

27. Geez people...

Do you REALLY think a state official commenting to CNN, and who might soon be under the microscope as much as Katherine Harris in 2000, would use the phrase "replace him with one of our own as soon as possible"?

Yes, Chris Nelson said he believes there would be "precedent at the federal level." (that's the part in the quote box from CNN)

The rest of it is my post (that's the part NOT in the quote box from CNN).

Yes, I thought about adding a sarcasm smiley, but I thought everyone would understand hyperbole.

Either way, Chris Nelson is a bit too eager here in deciding on being Sen. Johnson's replaced. And such "precedent" is up for a judge to decide, not him.

[Peace Patriot]

29. Thanks for clarifying, Kay1864. And, yes, I REALLY think a "state official

commenting to CNN, and who might be under the microscope as much as Katherine Harris in 2000" would use the phrase "replace him with one of our own as soon as possible." I have heard so many outrageous and unbelievable things out of Republicans' mouths these last six years that nothing would surprise me.

I have heard them justify torture. I have seen them vote for torture and for suspension of habeas corpus (one of the main items at issue in the American Revolution). I have seen them call Democrats racists for opposing Condi Rice as Sec of State. I have seen them squish tens of the thousands of black voters, on the one hand, and assert Republican gains among black voters, on the other. I have seen them describe slaughtering a hundred thousand innocent people as bringing them liberty. I have seen them call Max Cleland a friend of Osama bin Laden. I have seen them call electronic voting owned and controlled by Bushite corporations the "Help America Vote Act." I have seen them paint the white roses red, like the Red Queen in "Alice in Wonderland." I have seen them say "War = peace," as in Orwell's "1984." I have seen Donald Rumsfeld state that "Freedom = the freedom to loot." I have heard falseness, lies, deceptions, distortions and hypocrisies such as I have never heard in my lifetime, and I lived through the Vietnam War. I have seen such egregious assertions of unaccountable power--from presidential "signing statements," to Halliburton's no-bid contracts, to the non-budgeted military budget, to indefinite detention, to pervasive domestic spying, as to boggle the mind. And I have seen such naked assertions of political fascism--by Jeb Bush, and George, by Dick Cheney, by Tom Delay, by Kenneth Blackwell, by Katherine Harris, by Dennis Hastert, by Alberto Gonzales, by John Ashcroft, by Donald Rumsfeld, by Karl Rove, and others, and by a gang of their rotweillers in the corporate news monopolies--as to make my country unrecognizable.

Is it any surprise that I and others expect the worst?

[Peace Patriot]

30. Advice: So I guess you'd better use the "sarcasm" button when mocking...

...Republicans. (They're so bad they can't even be mocked.)

[RiverStone]

31. Is he referring to Chimp?

"we think there is precedent at the federal level to declare him incapacitated, and replace him..."

This is referring to BushCo right?

[Supersedeas]

32. How do this filthy Repigs look in the mirror much less have the self-respect to

meet family members at Holiday gatherings.

[Hosnon]

34. What does he mean by "precedent at the federal level"?

Is he making the distinction between what would happen in the case of a S.D. State Senator as opposed to a S.D. U.S. Senator?

Or is he saying there is some sort of precedential value attached to the way in which other states deal with this issue (regarding U.S. Senators)?

First of all, no "precedent" is created by other states' actions for any other state. Second, if this magical "precedent" did exist, the explicit law of the state of S.D. would trump (as this "precedent" would surely be extremely weak).

I don't quite understand what he means here...other than: "There is only one way we can get what we want and that is to rely upon the least persuasive argument."

Edit: Clarity.