Why Lamar Missed The Auto Bailout Vote

By Kleinheider Posted on December 12, 2008 at 8:22 am

While Senator Corker has taken a lead on the issue hastening the collapse of the Big Three bailout, Mike Slater wonders where our senior Senator was when the vote was going down.

Post Politics has your answer. Reached early this morning Alexander spokesman Lee Pitts explained why Senator Alexander was neither an official yea or a nay on yesterday’s vote:

Senator Alexander did not vote because he is home in Tennessee recuperating from surgery to remove a cyst from his back. If he had been present he would have voted no. In a statement the Senator said, “One-third of manufacturing jobs in Tennessee are auto-related, and we are all concerned about the challenges facing the auto industry, but taxpayers must also be protected. Government involvement may have a role in the solution to this problem, but putting a government that can’t run itself in charge of running two big car companies makes no sense to me, and that’s what this bill would have done.”

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Tags: auto bailout, Big Three, Lamar Alexander, surgery  

The Power Of The Terrorist Fist Jab

By Kleinheider Posted on August 4, 2008 at 7:10 am

A fist bump from Barack Obama may have sent Gov. Mike Easley to the hospital:

Easley said that the fist bump with Obama, which drew some national attention, was a little uncomfortable.

“He wanted to go up high with that right arm,” Easley said.

Video from the event shows the two bumping fists, giving a thumbs-up and then raising an arm up high — not easy for someone with an injured shoulder.

“I was smiling,” Easley said, “but I was like, ‘I gotta get this fixed.’ “

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Tags: Barack Obama, dap, Mike Easley, surgery, terrorist fist jab