Terror suspect Najibullah Zazi was indicted by a federal grand jury in New York on a count of conspiracy to use weapons of mass destruction. Bob Orr and CBS News National Security Analyst Juan Zarate discuss the ongoing investigation.
Fox's O'Reilly Supports a 'Public Option' in Health Care Reform
"I want, not for personally for me, but for working Americans, to have a option, that if they don't like their health insurance, if it's too expensive, they can't afford it, if the government can cobble together a cheaper insurance...
Paul Kirk 'superb steward:' Kennedy seat
by Mark Silva
The governor of Massachusetts today named Paul Kirk Jr., a former Democratic National Committee chairman and close friend and former aide of the late Sen. Edward M. Kennedy, to serve as a temporary replacement for the deceased senator until a special election for the seat is held in January.
Kirk's appointment will restore a crucial 60th vote for the Senate's Democratic leadership as the party presses for the health-care legislation that the White House is demanding.
Kennedy, who succumbed to brain cancer last month, had asked state officials to appoint a successor swiftly, arguing that the state cannot afford the vacancy at a critical time.
His passing also had denied the Senate's Democrats a filibuster-proof 60-vote bloc, which the party had only recently obtained with the long-disputed election of Sen. Al Franken of Minnesota. Two other senators, independents Joe Lieberman of Connecticut and Bernie Sanders of Vermont, meet with the majority party's caucus.
State law calls for a special election to fill a Senate vacancy, and that will be held in January. But the state Legislature this week passed a bill permitting the governor, Democrat Deval Patrick, to appoint an interim successor until the election is held.
"This appointment is a profound honor, and I accept it with sincere humility,'' Kirk said, thanking the state's legislature for fulfilling the former senator's dying wish in enabling the governor to appoint an interim senator, adding: "I shall not be a candidate in the special election for the United States Senate.''
President Barack Obama, pressing Congress for action on a sweeping health-care overhaul, praised Kirk's appointment.
"I am pleased that Massachusetts will have its full representation in the United States Senate in the coming months, as important issues such as health care, financial reform and energy will be debated,'' Obama said in a statement issued by the Whtie House. "Paul Kirk is a distinguished leader, whose long collaboration with Senator Kennedy makes him an excellent, interim choice to carry on his work until the voters make their choice in January.''
Republicans quickly denounced the move as a Democratic "power play'' to ram the president's health-care bill through Congress.
"The Democrats' power play in Massachusetts has nothing to do with principle, and everything to do with politics,'' said Rob Jesmer, executive eirector of the National Republican Senatorial Committee. "With their unpopular government-run health care bill on the brink of failure, Democrats in Washington desperately need another vote in the U.S. Senate, and it is clear that this administration will stop at nothIng to ram through the Congress.''
Kirk, 71, is a Boston attorney and was a close friend of the former senator. He and his wife, Gail, live on Cape Cod, and Kirk was among the few who visited Kennedy often at his Hyannis Port home before his death after nearly 47 years in the Senate.
"During our years together, I was personally privileged to have had Sen. Kennedy's friendship, his trust and his confidence,'' Kirk said. "I hope to retain the talented, hardworking and most effective staff of Sen. Kennedy's office.''
Kirk, a graduate of Harvard College and Harvard Law School, served on Kennedy's Senate staff from 1969-77. He ran the DNC in the run-up to former Massachusetts Gov. Michael Dukakis' unsuccessful campaign for president in 1988.
Kirk also co-founded the Commission on Presidential Debates, which sponsors the series of presidential and vice presidential debates every four years. And he serves as chairman of the John F. Kennedy Library Foundation.
.Kennedy's sons, Edward Kennedy Jr. and Rep. Patrick Kennedy (D-R.I.) both lobbied for Kirk's appointment in phone calls to the governor, according to the Associated Press. Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.), and Kennedy's widow, Vicki Kennedy attended the morning announcement at the state capitol.
"We are blessed in Massachusetts to have an enduring surplus of political and civic talent,'' Kerry said. "This was no easy call, but I'll you, I believe the choice the governor has made is completely in keeping with the change of the law that the legislature undertook.... Including Sen. Kennedy.,
"This is a caretaker appointment, a gentle and difficult transition,'' Kerry said, calling Kirk "a superb steward.''
Kirk never has served in political office, and will be seated for only a short time. The state will hold a special election to fill the seat in January. The Democratic field includes state Attorney General Martha Coakley and Rep. Michael Capuano (D-Mass.)
.Kirk has been involved in fundraising for a Senate institute to be created in Kennedy's name. Organizers have faced criticism for accepting donations from the health care industry. Kirk also has been a board member for Hartford Financial Services, known as "The Hartford,'' which sells life and property insurance.
His home state's Democratic leaders have given Gov. Patrick an authority that they had denied a former Republican governor.
State lawmakers had revoked the governor's power to fill Senate vacancies by appointment in 2004, fearing that then- Gov. Mitt Romney might appoint a fellow Republican should Kerry, the Democratic nominee for president that year, was successful. The legislature set a five-month period for special elections instead.
On Aug. 20, five days before he died, Kennedy had sent the governor and state legislative leaders a letter urging a revision of the law. Patrick called Kennedy's request "reasonable,'' in light of the health-care legislation and other important bills in the Senate.
"Congress is debating our future, right now,'' Patrick said today citing the health care legislation, energy legislation and other issues under debate in the Senate. "The issues... are simply too important... for us to be one voice short.''
Kirk "was a close and loyal adviser and confidante of Sen. Kennedy,'' Patrick said. "He is a distinguished lawyer, volunteer and citizen.... In the next few weeks he will carry on the work of Sen. Kennedy.... mindful of his values.''
Michael Moore's New Target: 'Capitalism' Itself
Michael Moore is famous for skewering the excesses of American industry — and in his latest film, he goes looking (mostly on Wall Street) for the source of the trouble. Critic Kenneth Turan says that while Capitalism certainly has spirit, the pop-culture polemicist may have taken on more than he could chew.
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