The Book: What Happened: Inside the Bush White House and Washington's Culture of Deception by Scott McClellan

We read so you don't have to but you'll want to

The critics fuss about the lack of “new stuff,” but for political junkies like me it’s loaded.

He has lots of detail and background on scenes, like what the White House was doing exactly where and when Katrina struck, the setup and disagreement over The Famous Silhouette Shot of George Bush from the plane overlooking New Orleans.

Like what went on behind the scenes on September 11, 2001.

I've always heard it's a sign of good writing when you can write like you speak. You can hear Scott McClellan's voice echo every single word. He speaks from the heart, thoroughly disillusioned and honest.

He was floored by the discovery Karl Rove had lied to him, and so did Bush resulting in McClellan's realization that McClellan had misrepresented truth to the media.

As much as I loathe him, George Bush does come off as more of a person with perhaps a smidgen of feelings for those he has caused to die and wound. He visits Walter Reed sometimes, and is upset by the mayhem and destruction he encounters, surprisingly.

He is still hardhearted George, unable to accept or hear any opinion which may be different from his which led to his downfall. He is driven to establish democracy in the Middle East. (Why? In his simplistic way, did he think he was playing little boys games, that it would be easy to crash and burn a land, kill residents, set up a new way to govern and think citizens would like you? Why is his way "the best way"? Who appointed George Bush, God? But I digress.)

Like the Emperor With No Clothes, Bush has his circle filled with "yes people" who came to believe in the mission and never questioned it. (Or if they did, they kept mum.) (Hello, President-Elect Obama: Reminder!)

McClellan faults the "perpetual campaign" begun by Clinton aides for creating the monster Washington has become: Always spinning. Always vying for the goal for the team at the cost of cohesive victory. The selling of the Iraq War is described. Colin Powell was the only one of the leadership team who tried to slow down the attack on Iraq. (Only 4,207 American soldiers now dead, 30,832 wounded "officially," more than 100,000 "unofficially," and 1,288,426 Iraqis have died as a result of Bush's invasion, but this is not in the book.)

As it dozes with the bailouts, the press fell asleep at the wheel before the Iraq War began, accepting in a baby spoon whatever the Bush administration fed it, McClellan says.

On pages 157-158 he sings the praises of the "liberal media" (or what's left of it), that it works for the common good of the minority, seeking to represent it unlike the centrist, conservatives presidents and congresses who, beginning more or less with Gerald Ford, have presided with their pro-business and narrow minded methods and legislation.

Karl Rove is portrayed as the Machiavellian monster that we abhor and admire. Cheney is his secretive self, sometimes "off message." Only all good things said about Andy Card.

A highly recommended book. Where is Scott McClellan now? I know he makes a mother proud.

Barack and Michelle Write a "Thank You"

Astonishing.

That the president-elect's team, which thinks of everything, also thought of this.

That only hours after the election total was final in the wee hours of November 4, 2008 that the president-elect's team texted me and thousands, no millions, of others saying "we" did it!

"We!"

Now yesterday comes this without even a solicitation for cash!

Dear Ms.----,

...America is a place where anything...is possible.

Ours was never the likeliest campaign for the presidency...Our campaign was not hatched in the halls of Washington -- it was built by working men and women, students and retirees...

It grew from the millions of American who volunteered,and organized...

(The best part:)

Patricia, this is your victory....The road ahead will be long. Our climb will be steep. And we will be asking you to join in the work of remaking this nation...What began 21 months ago in the depth of winter must not end on a night in autumn.

Patricia, this is our moment....our time -- to put our people back to work and open doors of opportunity...to reclaim the American Dream...we will respond (to negativism)with that timeless creed that sums up the spirit of a people: Yes We Can.

...please accept our deepest thanks. We will never forget you.

Sincerely,

Barack Obama Michelle Obama

Now we are locked up rock solid for yes we did, yes we are, yes we can.

Do You Hear What I Hear?

Said the little people to the big whigs on the hill,
"Do you hear what I hear?
Ringing through the air, big whigs on the hill,
Do you hear what I hear?
A change, a change high above the trees
With a bank as big as the sea,
With a bank as big as the sea.”

Said the right wing to the little man,
"Do you see what I see?
Way up in the sky, little man
Do you see what I see?
The planes, the planes heading to DC
With the jets carrying GM in our sight,
The banks take the cash with their might.”

Said the little people to the mighty king,
"Do you know what I know?
In your palace warm, mighty king,
Do you know what I know?
The cash, the cash going to fatty cats
And there's none left for us, mighty king,
There is none left for us, mighty king.”

Said the voters to the mighty king,
"Do you see what I see?
A child, a child shivers in the cold
Let us bring Freddie silver and gold,
Let us bring Fannie silver and gold,
Let us bring the Bear silver and gold,
Let us bring AIG silver and gold,
Let us bring Citi silver and gold."
And leave the child to chill in the cold.

Said Obama to the people everywhere,
"Listen to what I say!
Pray for peace, people everywhere,
Listen to what I say!
My change, my change coming in the night
I will pray for peace and swing right,
I will pray for peace and swing right.”

Overheard at a Party of Democratic Activists

Where: Tysons Corner, Northern Virginia

When: Saturday night

How many: 50

What: Support for Terry McAuliffe in his race for Virginia governor: nada,
zero, nothing

Other candidates: Brian Moran, most favored, and Creigh Deeds

80% of the Deaths: "Noncombat Related"

Eighty percent (that's right: 80%) of the deaths of our soldiers in Iraq listed in Wednesday's Washington Post (p. A14) were caused by "noncombat related" reasons.

Why?
How?
Accidents?
Illness?
Heart attacks?
Suicides?
Are soldiers shooting soldiers in "friendly fire"?
Are guns going off inside tents?
Food poisoning?
More of the poisonous showers we heard about last winter?

We should be outraged!

In June, 2007 when I inquired about these "noncombat related" deaths from Mary Hadar, the Post's editor of "Faces of the Fallen" which, sadly, run too often, she wrote me that the Defense Department frequently spends six months investigating "noncombat related" deaths, and reasons for them are seldom supplied quickly. The Post tracks them in local newspapers to try and determine why and how soldiers die.

Who tracks these "noncombat related" deaths cumulatively and the causes? Anyone? Does anyone care? Hello! Hello! Anyone there?

Certainly it seems that some of the causes of "noncombat related" deaths would help to prevent others. Does the Defense Department try to cover them up to spare embarrassment? Dereliction of duty?

We taxpayers and families demand to know. We are footing the bill not only in dollars but, more importantly, in lives, past and present.

Names of the soldiers listed November 12, 2008 in the Post who died for "noncombat related" reasons are:

Pfc. Bradley S. Coleman, 24, Martinsville, Virginia

Sgt. Scott J. Metcalf, 36, Framingham, Massachusetts

Spec. Adam M. Wenger, 27, Waterford, Michigan

Pfc. Theron V. Hobbs, 22, Albany, Georgia

and Staff Sgt. Timothy H. Walker, 38, Franklin, Tennessee was killed November 8 in Baghdad.

For what did they die?

Dear Judy Feder

I hope you won't give up. I hope you'll try again. I hope you run against the impermanent Frank Wolfe. You’ve got the spunk, the dynamo, the personality, the smarts to do it. We need you as our representative! Don’t give up! We are proud of you.

Here are some suggestions to put to work in two years:

When you came to the Sierra Club meeting in McLean on October 2 and your aide passed around a “sign up” sheet, no one ever contacted me about coming in to help you. Was the McLean office location announced?

When I visited your campaign office in McLean one Sunday to canvass for you, the staff told me all the walk sheets were gone. How can that be? With so many homes to visit, why were there none? No one asked for my name or contact information.

I took off for the Obama field office on Kennedy Drive to pick up walk sheets and wound up canvassing not only for Obama and Mark Warner, but for Jim Moran who did not need my help.

The week before the election I came by your office on two nights to do whatever I could to help, and no one asked me to sign a sheet or for contact information. The second night someone did ask my name. I assembled walk packets on both nights.

If my contact information was not sought, was it sought from other volunteers?

We all know the incredible organization Barack Obama’s team practiced. Lessons to be learned!

Within 30 minutes on November 2, I received three telephone calls from Barack’s Falls Church office following up my promise to drop lit on Monday night and to work at the polls on Tuesday. These were in addition to all the many telephone calls I received throughout the campaign from Falls Church asking me to help, to call, to canvass, to come to meetings, to blog, to vote, to cook, to whatever! Just come and do it, they implored. In the early stages someone called me weekly, then the calls became more frequent. They were never irritating, just friendly reminders to a political activist who welcomed the calls, that I agreed to help and when could I get there?

We know follow-up and organization are critical and that money talks!

I hope you accept these recommendations in the spirit in which they are sent for I want you to win, and I know you can do it! We need you in D.C.

Sincerely,
Patriciadc

Joy in the World: Mark Warner's Election Night Party

There’s a party going on!

If I closed my eyes I was sure I was at a University of Tennessee football game (back when the school had a team) for the screams and cheers were just as loud and deafening. How happy not to be in Tennessee!

At the McLean Hilton, anywhere from several hundred (the Washington Post) to about 1,000 (my count) to 3,000 to 4,000 (an exuberant reporter who shed his “media” badge to jump in and clap and shriek with the rest of us) attended Mark's party to watch, scream, and cheer (most of) the projections which flashed across huge television screens, one to the left of us (CNN), one to the right of us (MSNBC).

Meanwhile: the media sat glumly behind us on its platform.

Shouts of joy drowned the ballroom when MSNBC projected a state for Obama, then, moments later ear-splitting screams when CNN called the same state for Obama (and vice-versa). Boos erupted when Tennessee was called for McCain, and later, when Sarah Palin's face was screened during John McCain's concession speech.

Off and on the stage: the “senior” senator from Virginia, James Webb; the governor, Tim Kaine; the winner and host of the magnificent buffet, Mark Warner; newly-elected congressman, Gerry Connolly.

Moments after Warner, Webb, and Kaine paraded on the dais for the first time for Senator-Elect Warner's victory speech, here they came again with their families for Gov. Kaine's announcement of a special telephone call just received.

The floor moved, the walls quivered, the lights twinkled and his pearly whites glistened when Tim Kaine exclaimed: AP was calling Virginia for Barack Obama!

The jubilant mass raised fists, shouted, cried, danced, and Gov. Kaine said Virginia’s electoral votes had delivered the presidency to Obama, but it was not Virginia.

An Arab American woman came up to me and sorrowfully asked where I, an Anglo-Saxon, had gotten my "Arab Americans for Obama" sticker which I wore proudly on my dress. I peeled it off and gave it to her who later wore it plastered to her cheek.

I passed Fairfax County Supervisor John Foust who smiled broadly: "It's a great day to be an American." He paused: "It's a great day to be a Democrat!"

To my pal in Blacksburg worried on Monday about the outcome, I said: "Don't you worry, Ann! We 'Communists' in the Great State of Northern Virginia will deliver for Barack Obama!" And we did...with sincere and everlasting joy.




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Pollwatching in Northern Virginia

Voting went off without a hitch today at my precinct at Tysons Corner where I was a pollwatcher for the Democrats.

When I reported “for duty” at 5:30 a.m., about 100 persons whom I could see in the dark to count, stood waiting for the polls to open at 6 a.m.

By the time I left at 2 p.m. some provisional ballots had been cast, but no serious, not even mild, problems had occurred, other than one of the touch screen machines breaking down twice which was restored to duty shortly thereafter by whom or what? I do not know.

(What happened? How do they know those votes are saved? In pollwatcher school, we were instructed to cast paper ballots when possible, but most people, not realizing I think, the paper trail left by paper ballots, wanted to stand in the longer line for the machines.)

One woman who missed the voter registration deadline of October 6 and had only registered to vote last week, showed up “hoping,” and even she voted by provisional ballot. That she could even submit a vote was an indication of the progressive attitude of voting officials who generally approved every questionable voter.

Two other representatives of the Democratic Party joined me “inside”: an attorney who stayed all day and another pollwatcher. We had three people outside. Throughout the day the Good Providence Democrats brought us doughnuts, coffee, bananas, and paper bag lunches they had made.

In addition to monitoring the voting process, our chief duty was to record the names of voters on the Democratic list whose names were picked up by runners at 9:30 a.m. and at 2 p.m. for submission to the data bank so that the party and volunteers could contact non-voters to urge them to get to the polls before closing at 7 p.m.

No McCain representatives came to pollwatch and from the window, I could see only one McCain supporter outside who didn’t stay long, maybe because those high heels were too high. She was dressed like Cindy McCain, in leather coat and dark hose. She violated the 40’ rule by leaving her “McCain/Palin” stickers on her red coat when she entered the building twice, but no one reported her. If it had not been for the elderly woman wearing a diamond donkey on her chest whom no one criticized at my book, I would have reported Cindy McCain’s violation at Tysons.

Then there was the man who returned for his “I voted today” sticker so he could go to Starbucks, he said, and get a free cup of coffee. This was the same man carrying a Salvatore Ferragamo purse in a bag which he was returning to the store, he said, for his “significant other” who wanted a bigger Ferragamo emblem to show off. “You see what you women make us do,” he laughed. No wonder he needed free coffee!

In the early morning voters told us they waited one hour and 15 minutes to vote, but by lunchtime, lines had vanished.

Without question the most thrilling part of the day was witnessing “Alex,” whom I registered to vote, show up to cast his ballot and seeing my neighbor, a naturalized citizen from China who works for a federal agency and feared for her job security if anyone found out she supported Barack Obama, vote for the first time.

Now it’s time to get ready for the big Mark Warner party down the street. It’s a good thing it’s nearby so I can crawl home.

Happy days are almost here again!