Biting the Little Apple and Ending up in Sin City

We have a couple of reports from MLW correspondents around the country. But first some fun facts from this week's election.

Number of women now in the House of Representatives: 70
Number of women now in the Senate: 16
Percent of women voters: 51
Percent of women who voted Democrat: 55

To paraphrase, Emily's List, when women vote, we all win.

The Little Apple Report
Let's head over to the Little Apple where Micaela Johnson and classmates were refused entry to the Landon Lecture series where deposed Secretary of Defense, Donald Rumsfeld spoke to a very small crowd. Despite some difficulties with entry, Micaela was undeterred - she went back to her room and watched on KSU TV. She reports that Mr. Rumsfeld was low-key, didn't say much of anything, and when asked what advice he would give to a college student, he answered, "Study history."

Hello pot -kettle here.

After the sparsely-attended lecture, Mr. Rumsfeld, sporting his usual non-reality based perspective of events, insisted his speech was putting the Little Apple on the map.

Perhaps, you'll also put Germany on the map when its top prosecutor file charges against you for war crimes for your alleged role in abuses committed at LIEraq's Abu Ghraib prison and at the U.S. detention facility at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

Tom Bednar, wins our Landon Lecture Series trivia question by identifying Senator Robert Kennedy, D-New York, as the speaker in March, 1968. Sen. Kennedy, not the architect of a failed war based on lies, didn't find it necessary to disparage the Little Apple after his speech.

More Revisionist History
I am always annoyed when W is compared to HW, his father. Somehow, 41 has become this revered saint of diplomacy and progressive foreign policy. From the Wimp Factor to Mission Accomplished - seems to me the apple didn't fall too far from the tree.

As King Spook, HW served during the reign of America's most famous war criminal, Henry Kissinger. Mr. Kissinger's latest war advice to to W and Dick-I-had-other-priorities-Cheney was, "Victory over the insurgency is the only meaningful exit strategy."

Kinda like our victory in Vietnam over the North Vietnamese insurgency.

HW gets all kinds of props for the victorious Gulf War: a war we were fighting on behalf of a country, Kuwait, in which women were not allowed to vote, against a country to whose dictator, Sadam Hussein, we had supplied arms. Just like LIEraq, the justification for the Gulf War changed over the course of the build-up to invasion. From freedom fighting to stopping Saddam's potential invasion of Saudi Arabia (now there's a country with a spotless human rights record) to the original, weapons of mass destruction.

How quickly we forget.

James Baker, Secretary of State under HW, gets all sorts of platitudes for being King Diplomat. As former senior counsel to the Carlyle Group, Mr. Baker certainly has an interesting background as does his former employer.

Nothing unseemly, of course, just a lot of old, white men from the Reagan, Bush 41, and Bush 43 administrations (including King Spook HW) making a whole lot of money off war. And per usual, a scant few of them or their spawn have ever actually fought in a war.

Imagine if Hillary Clinton had these same business associations. Ken Starr would whip out that same checkbook that allowed $70 million dollars for the Whitewater investigation. Compare that to the $12 million allocated to investigate the worst attack in U.S. history, September 11.

And what was the verdict in Whitewater? Anyone, anyone, anyone? Bueller?

Final Stop: Sin City
Now let's head over to Sin City where our MLW correspondent, Paul Bednar, had a political sighting. As he looked up from his game of craps at the Mirage (so did you win, dude?) he recognized the guy at the table next to him as none other than, Ray Nagin, Republican-turned-Democrat and former Bush supporter, Mayor of NOLA.

Ray got his share of blame for Katrina - some of it deserved. Ray didn't do himself any favors in Spike Lee's When the Levees Broke when he recounts taking his time showering on Air Force One before he meets W. As Paulie said, "Dude should've met W and the national media just as he was -let everyone see and smell Katrina up close."


On the other hand, his radio interview sounded the alarm in a way that no politician ever has. Between this and Anderson Cooper's emotional report, everyone finally understood how bad it was and that it couldn't be ignored any longer. And finally, it was General Honore, that "John Wayne dude" to the temporary rescue.

Fact check: John Wayne, like so many of Republicans, never served a single day in the Armed Forces, even though he was a part of the Greatest Generation (a term I can't stand - used to romanticize war - but that's another post.)

Hallelujah!

BREAKING NEWS!

AP is reporting that Jim Webb-D has won Virginia. Hallelujah -one more time.

Democrats take the Senate. Yes! Yes! Yes!

I brought muffins to work to celebrate the election results. In New York, it was a slam-dunk. I am especially excited about Eliot Spitzer. I met him last spring at the 86th Street subway entrance. Very slight and almost shy but he kicked some serious white-collar ass as AG. I'm guessing the the timidity is about approaching crabby NYers at rush hour when they are hurrying to hurl themselves into a crowded metal tube lurching at 30 miles a hour, facing morning breath, thumping Ipods, and holy-rolling preachers on the number 4 Downtown.

I think Eliot is all about fighting the man. I can dig it.


Saddam and Rumsfeld: Smackdown For Two
How can anyone resist a political two-fer in one week? Need I say more?

Yes indeed as I was reminded of the replacement's history and another amazing political two-fer. Reminder is courtesy of Wonkette.

Meet Robert M. Gates, Iran-Contra Crook and Bush 41 CIA Chief
How twisted is this country? An Iran-Contra crook and ex-CIA chief is immediately greeted as a sane, grown-up yet “fresh” replacement for the delusional old Donald Rumsfeld. Even more fun, Gates’ nemesis Daniel Ortega was elected president of Nicaragua on Monday. You may remember Ortega as the Sandinista leader who fought off the Contras in a long bloody “civil war” in large part engineered by...wait for it...Oliver North, William Casey and deputy CIA director Robert M. Gates, among others. North, a convicted felon and official fall guy for Iran-Contra, was in Nicaragua last week campaigning against Ortega.

Plus ça change, plus c’est la même chose....

News from the Little Apple
Our MLW field correspondent, Micaela Johnson, reports that over 1,000 seats are still available for Rummy's speech tomorrow night at KSU as part of the Landon Lecture Series.

A $25 iPod card to the first person to note in Comments who spoke in the Landon Lecture Series in March, 1968.

In The Meantime: Let's Party Like It's 1992!
Who else feels like it's November 1992 all over again? I remember coming home from my stint as an Election Judge at a polling place on Roanaoke Parkway (the basement of an apartment building?) and having a million messages on my voicemail, "Bill takes Texas!" "Bill just won Missouri!" "Bill is cleaning house!"

I remember heading to The Hurricane with Tina Ritko to celebrate and listen to a girl band from Baltimore, called Disappear Fear. And it felt just like that - like all the fear and hatred and injustice had disappeared. For a short while anyway. About 24 hours in fact until suddenly the most important issue facing our nation was "Don't Ask, Don't Tell."

But tonight - let's keep it positive and celebrate the good stuff. Cause it's really good stuff. Some of the list below is courtesy of Worth Reading with a few MLW inclusions for my peeps in the heartland.

I heart the heartland!

Missouri: Show Me Liberal
Senator Claire McCaskill, D-Missouri
Amendment to Support Stem Cell Research: Passed

Kansas: From Red to Blue
Representative Nancy Boyda, D-Kansas
Representative Dennis Moore, D-Kansas (incumbent)
Governor Kathleen Sebelius-D (incumbent)
Attorney General Paul Morrison-D

Salute to the Pioneers of 2006!
First woman to serve as Speaker of the House: Representative Nancy Pelosi, D-California
First Muslim elected to U.S. Congress: Keith Ellison-D
First Democratic Socialist elected to U.S. Congress: Bernie Sanders
First Jewish Governor of New York: Eliot Spitzer, D
First African-American Governor of Massachusetts: Deval Patrick, D

First openly gay person ever elected to any office in their state
Representative Patricia Todd, Alabama State House-D
Representative Kathy Webb, Arkansas State House-D

The first openly gay person ever elected to their state legislatures
Al McAffrey, Oklahoma-D
Matt McCoy, Iowa-D

First openly gay State Senators in their states
Senator Jolie Justus, Missouri-D
Senator Ed Murray, Washington -D

First State Supreme Court with two openly gay justices
Ohio - Judge Virginia Linder join Judge Rives Kistler

Keep the Faith
Representative Harold Ford, Tennessee-D: Your time has not yet come - it will!

Profiles in Courage
Senator Lincoln Chafee, Rhode Island -R

One of 15 Senators and the only Republican who voted against the war in Iraq, Chafee was ousted yesterday despite 62% approval ratings from voter exit polls. Chafee is pro-choice, supportive of rights for gays and lesbians, opposed to the death penalty, and favors environmental protection. If only all Repulicans were like Mr. Chafee.

Fear and Politics

Someone wise once told me that negativity is the manifestation of fear. I think that aptly describes every single action and statement in the entire life of Karl Rove and his merry band of D-staters. (D is for Denial). Poor Karl - don't they have an Employee Assistance Program at the White House?

Story One
This week we saw an Orwellian attempt (aren't they all) to make John Kerry appear to be against the troops. As I wrote to Senator Kerry, the truth is "You aren't running for office and you can't win in 2008, but everyone ignored the subtext of what your gaffe was really saying - we don't send our college graduates to war. It's not a question of intelligence, it's a question of poverty. "

I don't see any military recruiters hanging out on East 90th Street by Dalton but they are crawling like cockroaches all over Spanish Harlem and the South Bronx.

Story Two
I received an e-mail today with a blurb of a negative story about Barack Obama - derisively referred to as Obamania - and a "shady land deal with a criminally indicted Democratic fundraiser." Along with those outdated Geneva Conventions, the D-staters have also thrown "innocent until proven guilty" out the window.

Amazing the fear a two-year senator is provoking in the ranks of the veteran politicians! If someone has no potential, you don't bother mentioning their name. If you know they can lead a revolution, you start to find ways - via that good old liberal press (in this case, The Chicago Tribune) - to smear their name. Call it your basic WMD - but it's personal - a WMPD.

Created by Mr. Atwater. Perfected by Mr. Rove.

I googled the story and it apears Obama completed a real estate transaction with a criminally indicted individual (was it Jack Abramoff ? guess again!) who was a Democrative fundraiser. Apparently buying real estate from a thief means you are a thief.

So what do we call it when we buy gas every week?

There seems to be no evidence of any illegal or even unethical actions by Barack. But trust me, my friends, this is only the beginning. I fully expect they will try to retro-arrest Obama for his admission of smoking pot and using cocaine. Oh wait, then they'd have to arrest W, too. Oh wait again, he lives in a state of denial about his cocaine use.

The real news this week:
October in Iraq brought the death of 100 U.S. soldiers and over 2,000 Iraqis.
Rest in Peace.

Saddam Hussein is sentenced to death for crimes against humanity. Although I am adamantly opposed to the death penalty, it's criminal he wasn't brought to trial for all of his other human rights abuses before he killed all those Kurds. But he was too busy doing deals with the U.S. government.

Does transacting business with a genocidal dictator make you a genocidal dictator?

A Word from Generation Y
A shout-out to Michael Bednar for provding this Pink link to the best political song since Tracy Chapman's ode to Ronald Reagan in "Talkin' 'Bout a Revolution" or maybe Neil Young's ode to Richard Nixon, "Ohio." I'll let you be the judge.

Look for MLW correspondent blogging from Micaela Johnson this week when Donald-genocidal-dictator-handshaker-Rumsfeld makes an appearance in the Little Apple.

Don't forget to Rock the Vote!