MSNBC COMEDIAN JOY REID DECLARED ON HER SHOW SUNDAY THAT A PRESIDENTIAL TICKET OF OPRAH WINFREY AND MICHELLE OBAMA COULD NOT WIN BECAUSE OF RACISM.
THESE REPORTERS MANAGED TO REACH REID BY PHONE OUTSIDE A CHINESE BUFFET. SHE INSISTED SHE ONLY HAD A FEW MOMENTS TO SPEAK BECAUSE SHE HAD TO GET INTO THE BUFFET -- 16 DIFFERENT NATIONAL INTELLIGENCE AGENCIES HAD TOLD HER THAT WHOMEVER CHANGED HER BLOG POSTS TO MAKE HER APPEAR HOMOPHOBIC WAS IN THE BUFFET -- NEXT TO THE SPRING ROLLS OR POSSIBLY THE SESAME CHICKEN.
JOY EXPLAINED SHE DID NOT RAISE THE ISSUE OF LACK OF EXPERIENCE AND NEITHER WOMAN EVER HAVING HELD ELECTED OFFICE BECAUSE IT "DOESN'T MATTER. AMERICA WILL NEVER ELECT A PERSON OF COLOR PRESIDENT."
BARACK OBAMA?
"OH SURE," JOY SAID IN AN IRRITATE TONE, "THEY'LL DO IT FOR ONE TERM BUT THAT'S IT."
BUT BARACK OBAMA WAS ELECTED PRESIDENT TWICE.
"ONCE, TWICE, HEY, ARE YOU GOING TO KEEP ME ON THE PHONE ALL NIGHT? I'M HUNGRY! I MEAN, I'VE GOT TO CATCH THE BAD PERSON WHO WAS CHANGING ALL MY ONLINE POSTS!"
FROM THE TCI WIRE:
Still no full Cabinet.
All this time later.
May 12th, Iraq held national elections. Ahead of the elections, there had been big hopes -- these hopes included a large turnout. Ali Jawad (ANADOLU AGENCY) noted, "A total of 24 million Iraqis are eligible to cast their ballots to elect members of parliament, who will in turn elect the Iraqi president and prime minister." RUDAW added, "Around 7,000 candidates have registered to stand in the May 12 poll, with 329 parliamentary seats up for grabs." AFP explained that the nearly 7,000 candidates includes 2014 women. THE SIASAT DAILY added, of the nearly 7,000 candidates, "According to the electoral commission, only 20 percent of the candidates are newcomers." Ali Abdul-Hassan and Sinan Salaheddin (AP) reported, "Iraqi women account for 57 percent of Iraq’s population of over 37 million, according to the U.N. Development Program, and despite government efforts to address gender inequality, the situation for Iraqi women has declined steadily since 2003. According to the UNDP, one in every 10 Iraqi households is headed by a widow. In recent years, Iraqi women suffered further economic, social and political marginalization due to decades of wars, conflict, violence and sanctions."
Six months and counting and no full Cabinet.
And among the posts not filled? Minister of Defense and Minister of Interior.
Hopefully, most grasp the importance of Ministry of Defense. Most countries have some form of a Defense Department.
But Minister of the Interior?
In the US, Ryan Zinke is the Secretary of the Interior and he's responsible for the conservation and management of land and resources. An important job, no question. But that's not Iraq's Ministery of the Interior.
In Iraq, the Minister of the Interior is a security post. It is equal to the Minister of the Defense. The Minister of the Interior is, for example, over the federal police, over securing the borders, etc. Iraq is a country at war. Don't they need a Minister of the Interior? Don't they need a Minister of Defense?
And the election was six months ago. When are they going to get around to naming Vice Presidents?
The election was over six months ago. What's the hold up there?
It's real easy to pretend that this isn't 2010 and it hasn't taken over eight months to form a government. But that's not really honest.
A partial cabinet is not a cabinet. There are 22 slots and only 14 have been filled. That's eight vacancies. Then there are the posts of vice president (Iraq has three) and they're empty.
Why is anyone pretending that this is (a) normal or (b) a functioning government.
As we have repeatedly noted since 2006, no prime minister-designate has ever followed the Constitution. Per the Constitution, Parliament names a President who then names a prime minister-designate. That part's followed. That's all that's followed.
Per the Constitution, after being named prime minister-designate, the prime minister then has 30 days to form a Cabinet. If the Cabinet is formed, the person moves from prime minister-designate to prime minister. If not? The President names someone new prime minister designate. (Due to the wording, a president could probably get away with naming the same person for another 30 days as prime minister-designate.)
That's the only thing you have to do in order to move from prime minister-designate to prime minister: Form a Cabinet. It's important because it demonstrate that you can lead. None of Iraq's past prime ministers -- Nouri al-Maliki twice and Hayder al-Abadi once -- managed to form a Cabinet but were moved from prime minister-designate to prime minister. And they were failures as leaders -- abject failures.
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