Apparently the White House is considering nominating Senator Ben Nelson, a Democrat from Nebraska, to replace departing Agriculture Secretaey Ann Veneman. This would be the second Democrat in the President’s Cabinet, joining Transportation Secretary Norm Mineta.
I don’t recall how many Republicans were in Clinton’s Cabinet - none in his first term, I think.
I don’t suppose we can draw any inference from this, except, of course, that Bush is evil, and a smirking moron chimp. Right?
Does anyone care who is Sec Of Ag? What does the guy do other than read about corn futures every day? 
Perhaps Bush meant it when he said he would reach out to Democrats. Maybe he wants to follow in the footsteps of FDR, who appointed Republicans to his cabinet.
It’s not too bad as far as strategery goes. It’s sort of looks like a bipartisan gesture, and it could get one more Democrat out of the Senate (since Nebraska has a Republican governor, presumably a Republican would replace Nelson if he takes the job).
Now that Powell’s out, Bush needs someone else to ignore. 
Seriously, gotta go with John Mace here – does anyone care who is Secretary of Agriculture?
Ah, so I see. It’s not a magnanimous gesture, its a ploy to strengthen the Republican advantage in the Senate even further. I take back what I said earlier.
I’m not insulting the guy. This is politics- who does anything for magnanimous reasons?
Clinton appointed William Cohen to be Secretary of Defense and he was a former Republican Senator from Maine.
Right! I had forgotten the second-term Cohen (after Aspin and Perry, both Democrats). Still think the first term was 100 percent single party…
If it’s meant nefariously, the guy can always decline…
Personally, I’d like to see Mr. Bush request that the governor consider appointing a Democrat, in light of the fact that a Democrat is leaving. That may be unrealistic…
Maybe he could appoint outgoing Senator Daschle for something?
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Wow, that’s really cool! My cousin works for Nelson. He’s a Republican, so he’s gotta by pretty excited.
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Sure, why not? He appointed a whole fistful of losing Republican senatorial candidates last time round.
I understand that we need a new Ambassador to Mongolia.
This, as everything else, will be viewed through your own ideological prism.
To those who GWB cannot please at all, this will be viewed as nothing more than an attempt to gain another Senate seat. To address that argument, Nelson is up for reelection in 2006 as a Democrat in a state that Bush won by 33 points.
Bush may be sincerely trying to keep his promise to reach out. But if I were him, I wouldn’t bother. There is a certain segment of the population that will see evil ulterior motives in everything he does and will never give him credit for anything positive.
I’m sorry - I can’t type - I’m laughing too hard.
He won election in 2000 in a state Bush won by 29 points, and he’s a former governor. He’s demonstrated he can win in Nebraska more than once.
I think this is an honest offer, but I hope that Nelson declines.
I see Bush as motivated in part by tokenism. Rove or Hughes or someone has told him he can impress soccer moms by seeming “tolerant” or bi-partisan.
I blame him for appointing Norman Mineta in a similar effort at “bi-partisanship.” Agreed, Sec’y of Transportation is another post that, like Sec. of Ag., is usually meaningless, but in the one period when it actually had meaning, Mineta came out and responded to Sept. 11 by noting that it would be the DOT’s top priority to prevent . . . hijacking? Access to planes by suspect persons? Nah. He made it clear that “racial profiling” was, as far as he could tell, the no. 1 problem facing America in Sept., 2001 (apparently still nursing a grudge over his family’s internment in WWII).
It’s not really that uncommon for a President to have a member of the opposition in his cabinet as sort of a token gesture.
I have heard talk of his nominating Lieberman to head Homeland Security. Again, a Democratic Senator in a state with a Republican Governor. Both of these are just talk at this point, apparently.
Still, I wouldn’t dismiss the benefits of naming sitting Democratic Senators in Republican Governored states as mere partisan hand-wringing. Bush is a guy who won re-election without ever showing a whit of bipartisanship. Why the fuck would he need to start doing any such thing now? Was his extremely divisive partisanship a re-election strategy, and now the real Bush is coming out? Give me a break.
Geez, Lieberman? Why not just tap Zell Miller and be done with it?