Code Pink Protester Interrupts Kerry Confirmation: VIDEO

As Senator John Kerry sat before his peers today to begin confirmation hearings for his Secretary of State nomination, a Code Pink activist stood up to protest drone and other targeted killings in the Middle East. You can watch the Talking Points Memo video, via Joe.My.God, AFTER THE JUMP.

Before that, though, take note that Kerry was asked about former Sen. Chuck Hagel's Defense Secretary nomination, a nomination marred by controversy over comments about gay people and Israel, and that Kerry said he thinks Hagel is a "strong patriotic former senator."

[GOP Sen. Bob] Corker asked Kerry whether Hagel's past involvement with Global Zero, an international group promoting the elimination of nuclear weapons, would be appropriate at the Defense Department.

"I think he is a strong patriotic former senator, and he will be a strong secretary of defense," Kerry responded. "And I think some of the things that have been -- some of the efforts to color Senator Hagel's approach on some of these things don't do justice."

"I don't think Hagel's going to sit there and going to go over to the Defense Department and a proponent [of Global Zero]," Kerry added.

Watch the protest video AFTER THE JUMP.

Barney Frank Wants to Return to Washington as Senator: VIDEO

Barney Frank isn't finished, Politico reports:

Barney Frank, one day out of Congress, said on Friday that he has asked Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick to send him back as an interim senator when Sen. John Kerry becomes secretary of state.

“A month ago, or a few weeks ago, I said I wasn’t interested,” Frank said on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe.” “It was kind of like you’re about to graduate, and they said: ‘You gotta go to summer school.’ But [the fiscal cliff deal] now means that February, March and April are going to be among the most important months in American financial history.”

He added, “I’ve told the governor I would now like, frankly, to do that [serve as interim senator].”

Franks says he won't run for Kerry's seat in a summer special election.

Yesterday, he appeared on MSNBC on his final day as a Congressman, and talked about the 112th Congress, the worst ever.

Watch, AFTER THE JUMP...

John Kerry to be Named as Secretary of State Nominee Today

The widely expected nomination of Senator John Kerry for Secretary of State is happening this afternoon, the NYT reports:

President Obama plans to nominate Senator John Kerry of Massachusetts as secretary of state, a senior administration official said, succeeding Hillary Rodham Clinton and putting in place the first member of his second-term national security team...

...The decision by Mr. Obama, expected to be announced early Friday afternoon, comes at a time when Mrs. Clinton has been recovering from a concussion suffered earlier this month. Mrs. Clinton, who has long said she would leave the post after Mr. Obama’s first term, is not expected to attend the announcement.

Ben Affleck Responds to Rumors He'll Run for the Senate: VIDEO

His words say 'no' but his chuckle says 'yeah, I'm totally thinking about it.'

Watch (from an interview to air this Sunday), AFTER THE JUMP...

Obama To Nominate Sen. John Kerry As Hillary Clinton's Replacement

With Susan Rice out of the running to replace Hillary Clinton as Secretary of State when Clinton stepped down, all eyes turned to John Kerry, the Democratic Senator whom many assumed was high on President Obama's shortlist.

Well, turns out those people were right: it was reported late last night that the commander-in-chief plans on nominating Kerry, currently chairman of the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations and an advocate of equality.

Republicans have already indicated that Kerry would breeze through the nomination, one of the reasons UN Ambassador Rice stepped aside. They prefer Kerry not only for his foreign policy acumen, which Rice also has, but for the fact that his ascension to Secretary of State would get him out of the Senate, potentially freeing up some space for the GOP, though not for a little while.

CNN lays out how a power transfer would unfold:

If nominated by the president and confirmed by his colleagues in the Senate, Kerry would leave Congress, and Deval Patrick, Massachusetts' Democratic governor, would appoint a replacement.

By state law, a special general election is required to take place 145 to 160 days after a vacancy occurs. So if Kerry were nominated, confirmed, and then stepped down on January 21 (Inauguration Day), the election would take place between June 14 and June 29, with primary elections being held six weeks earlier.

Whoever wins the special election would serve the final year and a half of Kerry's term and would then be able to run again for a full six-year term in office in the 2014 midterm elections.

The formal announcement should be coming early this week.

Sarah Palin Forgets She's Famous: VIDEO

Here's a fantastically awkward bit of brand-burnishing from Sarah Palin, delivered while she was being interviewed on FOX Business Network Thursday evening, shortly after John Kerry mentioned her during his speech at the DNC:

I think he diminished himself by even mentioning my name. How does he even know my name? I mean, aren't these guys supposed to be these bigwig elites who don't waste their time on the little people like me? Me representing the average American?

Sen. Kerry mentioned Palin's name while tossing a zinger at Mitt Romney -- something about how Sarah Palin once said she could see Russia from her house, while it seems like Mitt Romney's only ever seen Russia in Rocky IV. Fox Business Network host Neil Cavuto gave Palin a minute to respond to the joke, and then mercifully stepped in to formulate a response on her behalf -- something to the effect that it's a shame how Democrats are still taking Palin's Russia comments out of context, while complaining about their own words being similarly misused. Watch AFTER THE JUMP ...