Thanks For The Mazal Tov

Let's review:

* The only reason Harman has seniority on HIC is because Dick Gephardt ignored protocol and granted it to her after she'd left the house to unsuccessfully run for governor in California.

* According to Democratic caucus rules, Harman's seniority is supposed to end after the current Congress expires anyway.

* Pelosi already elevated Harman's status once before (angering the Congressional Black Caucus). Giving the HIC chair to Hastings is a politically astute nod to the CBC.

* Harman's very public lobbying for the job--via the less than estimable Joe Klein, as well as by donors leaning on Pelosi--is at best unseemly, and the kind of stunt that is the last thing that will impress Pelosi.

* Harman's occasional willingness to give the Bush Administration a pass on security issues; her proximity to, among others, Wolfowitz; her occasional tiffs with her fellow Democrats on HIC; and her vote to allow spooks to impound public library records don't convince anyone that she should be chair.

For all I know, Pelosi may indeed have an "ugly and personal vendetta" against Harman. But denying Harman the HIC chair is hardly evidence of same. It's also well within Pelosi's prerogative, and a refreshing sign that she unsentimentally plays for keeps, a trait the Democrats will need if they expect to build upon the gains they made Tuesday.

"Let's hope that the Democrats don't make it so."

The terrorists won a resounding victory on Tuesday. They deliberate targeted our soldiers in Iraq to help the Democrats. Does anyone remember how we abandoned our allies to the Communists in Viet Nam. Well, the terrorists do! They are adhering to the same play book.

The New Republic has done much to damage our country. Marty Peretz should be ashamed of himself. He posts halfway sensible things on his own personal blog while the majority of the staff whores itself out to the "anti-war" agenda. TNR pretends to advance a defense agenda similar to that of FDR and Harry Truman. The cold reality is that it is only slightly to the right of the Daily Kos.

And could we please see the end of these ridiculous TNR editorials on behalf of the victims of Darfur? Democrats and isolationist Republicans are not going to do anything about this tragedy. All realistic hope ended three days ago.

I found the following on the Powerline blog:

"The terror group also welcomed the U.S. Republican electoral defeat that led to the departure of Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld and vowed to continue its fight until the White House is blown up.

In the tape, al-Muhajir praised the outcome of Tuesday's elections in which Democrats swept to power in the House and the Senate, in large part due to U.S. voter dissatisfaction over the handling of the war in Iraq.

"The American people have put their feet on the right path by ... realizing their president's betrayal in supporting Israel," the terror leader said. "So they voted for something reasonable in the last elections." He did not explain his logic."

http://tinyurl.com/y84gh2

I would strongly recommend reading the whole piece.

Democrats need to send a loud and clear reply to the well-wishers from al Qaeda and Iran:

BITE ME!

You give Marty Peretz way too much power. I symapthize with your anger at the far left dems and their failure to realize the full consequence of positions that seem to be fashioned after colloquial advantage in the face of such high stakes. But to blame Mr. Peretz with having shaped and abetted such strategy is too much.

It seems to me that Mr. Peretz in the honorable tradition of a faith in the proposition that the truth shall set you free.....eventually..... is providing a forum for just that. I'm not going to submit his name for sainthood. But.... I find no grounds for indictment on this score.

I wonder what Marty Peretz makes of the most recent email solicitation to TNR online subscribers. It's a sophomoric gloat, glorying in the subpoenas that will rain on the White House and -- according to a synopsis of a piece by Peter Beinart -- suggesting that the Dems create as much gridlock as possible in order to create an issue to run against in '08.
This kind of unseriousness is really dismaying. At a moment when I look to the magazine for a larger perspective, all I see is shallow Machievellian glee. Is this a marketing campaign? A scheme to flatter readers by making them feel that they're on the inside of things?
I hope thomsondavid is right that Marty Peretz's attitude is an honorable hands-off one. Otherwise I can't reconcile his intellectual probity -- which I really admire -- with the views of the magazine.

America disagrees. You are a minority in your opinion. Your position got buried by history on Tuesday. Before that, it was actually dangerous, because people such as yourself had so much power. Now, its either hysterically funny, or slightly pitiful, depending on which way someone looks at it. That being said, I look forward to lots of entertainment from your posts in the future. Please don't let us down!

I meant to say that I hope Boxofrox was right about Peretz's postion.

why you cowardly little weasel. This, this is the best that you can do after all your mindless prognostications. You, sir, are a cowardly, miserable, ungracious rodent and if we even meet face to face, I will more than gladly tell it to you face to face and then we can see if you have any courage, balls or integrity. My name is Ken Gallegos, I live in CA and you can look me up you miserable rat bastard.

do not believe thomsondavid is worthy of anything but contempt. First the guy makes all these posts about how the Foley scandal was a cabal by the Democrats, insisting that the truth of said cabal would come to light within a week, that it would end up being worse for democrats than for the republicans, then he churns out post after post about how the election would end up being another 2004 for the democrats, all the while associating the democratic party with the enemy, al-qaeda, which is a pretty serious accusation, on par with comparisons of Bush to Adolph Hitler. And of course, after this last election, when he is ONCE AGAIN dead wrong, he continues to pour forth this hateful garbage as if nothing happened.
he is of course free to do so, however I repeat that I don't believe he is worthy of anything but contempt. that is all.

i guess he's just very good at touching certain nerves. whew. ok im calmed down now. However, I myself am in my 20's! are you knocking people in their 20s??? its ok, i do not take offence. Adios!

about thomsondavid is he was crowned Court Jester for his laughable prediction that not only would Republicans hold both houses, the Republicans would also pick up two Senate Seats. Herlitzur1 was crowned King of the Prognosticators for correctly calling plus six senate seats, and plus 30 house seats for the Dems.

Also, in 1945, when Roosevelt died, Hitler and some of his staff celebrated bizarrely believing that with Truman coming in the United States would pull out of the war. The delusional can not be reasoned with, and the only proper response we can give Al Qaeda's "victory" celebration is cold steel and hot cannon.

I went for a walk with the wife and upon reflecting upon my better angels, I must admit you are right, friend John.

Fascinating thing for me to understand is that I may be light years, socially, intellectually and economically, from whence I came but scratch a nerve and the East LA street brawler comes roaring back. I must watch that. Thanks for the good advice.

"My name is Ken Gallegos, I live in CA and you can look me up you miserable rat bastard."

So what? My name is David Thomson---and this is my personal cell phone number 832-875-5576. Please feel free to call anytime you so desire. In the meantime, I want you to contact Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi and demand they get upset that an Al Quaeda leader describes Democrats as "reasonable" and "The American people have put their feet on the right path by ... realizing their president's betrayal in supporting Israel..."

you know, I might actually consider doing that if I had any hope that a live phone conversation would be any different than a post conversation with you. My guess is that speaking with you via cell would be just as edifying as reading your posts. But, next time I get to Texas, I might look you up.

You might also consider that your predictions turned out to be wrong and your posts nothing more than the buzzings of a particularly bothersome gnat. It would certainly do you wonders to admit that you were wrong with some small measure of humility and then I and others like me, might start to take you seriously.

I would hope that America doesnt decide which politicians to elect based on which party al-qaeda publicly endorses..I think we're capable of rising above that kind of thinking.

of rising above his nonsense. I can't imagine paying the slightest bit of attention to what Al Queda says, Bush and the boys have clearly made of all their dreams come true: inept warriors who got their asses kicked on the public stage and helped recruit more people to their causes every day. Tweaking the wingers much actually be alot of fun for them. They are incapable of not taking the bait and continuing to blow it.

thomsondavid really is a very sad person. Cookie, I wouldn't waste any more finger tappings looking for signs of life or humility from him, we all learned a long time ago how futile that is, cowardice oozes from his every uttering. I pity him. He's afraid he'll wake up tomorrow with Osama Bin Laden under his bed, nukes ready and he's lost his talismans, someone whould send him a Cheney doll to sleep with at night to calm his fears. I can hear his teeth chattering in every post.

He does do us all a favor however by reminding us that there are a great many people out there who think like he does and nothing will budge them from their mental guck.

I'm relieved these people have lost power (they think just lke their boy thomsondavid), but we should never fool ourselves into thinking they are capable of evolving in ANY way, it's just not possible. the goal for us is to marginalize, marginalize, marginalize. That's what the American people just did. The winger robots won't go away but they will thankfully have to bleat from the sidelines for a very long time. Ignore them.

Wise, wise counsel. You know, after I let my demons get the better of me and I threatened to twist his chicken neck off his shoulders, I felt bad. I felt like a bully. I felt remorse, some sadness that I said those things and shame for letting the old hair trigger, street brawler be exposed to so many people that I like here at the Plank.

But thomson is beyond these pales. And I know that you're right.

Based upon the furies of the right wing radio and FOXGOP talk shows, he is somewhat representative of a sizable section of the electorate - the 30% or so who still, to this moment, approve of the Hapless Decider- and as Vito Corleone said, keep you friends close but your enemies closer.

Thanks for the wise advice. I appreciate it.

which I appreciate, your courage and wit are always forefront - and appreciated. Just totally wasted on someone who should really be pitied. Foley a Democratic plot? I mean - yeesh. We're talking lobotomy material here. Keep up the courage part though, we always need more of that.

Ok, maybe thomsondavid's stuff is way out of this planet's orbit, but I don't recall his going ad hominem against others here, like Cookie et al. are towards him. I mean, it's not like he's the anti-Christ or Christopher Hitchens.

I agree.

And while I disagree with most of what thompsondavid posts, I suspect that his comment about Darfur is, unfortunately, spot on.

"And could we please see the end of these ridiculous TNR editorials on behalf of the victims of Darfur? Democrats and isolationist Republicans are not going to do anything about this tragedy. All realistic hope ended three days ago."

I don't think this is correct. It is the job of journals such as this one to call attention to these kinds of crises, and if we weren't in the Iraqi imbroglio, we could be using a fraction of the human life, money and energy that we're pouring down the drain there to put a stop to it as well a send a message that we will not put up with genocide. Realistic hope? Since when was there realistic hope that Bush was going to do something about Darfur?

Perhaps I let my emotions get ahold of me in some of my posts here, but being called a coward because I don't support boneheaded and dishonest tactics of the president of our country, whose fate I care very much about, touches certain nerves that result in me hurling abuse on the perpetrator. That's just the way I am, I suppose.

I support thomsondavid's right to free speech, I do not wish him ill, but I also have the right to let him know what I think of him and his opinions, whether he's being piled onto or not.

In a Herculean attempt to avoid exercising my reptilian brain, I think that the Plank is a loosely coupled community, where everyone weighed in with their opinions and predictions and in a gentlemen's/woman's assumption, when the votes were in, we would take stock not only of the vote but of our prognostications. And with thomson's, his input was so definite, so contrary to the grain, so confident and assured of the outcome that when the blue tide washed it all away, many of us, myself included, expected to read some kind of comment laced with humility and a shard of graciousness. When nothing came for days and when it did, it was so juvenile and ranting that it just does not breed any respect from anyone.

Sure, everyone has free speech but if you want to be part of a community of posters, then there are some self evident "norms" that all should at least try to adhere to.

This is where someone like thomson fails to measure up. Thus, he is relegated to the margins. Deservedly so, in my opinion.

That certainly says something about his character. I think we're the dupes though for paying so much attention to him! Alright I'm calling this one a night. Ciao!

me too. take care...

Not the type of behavior I usually expect from Talkback on this thread.

Khameini's blather is clearly aimed not at us or at expressing his real feelings about the Dem win (which, at the moment, we don't know), but at doing rah-rah propagandizing for his own side and for the very large number of Iranian citizens who are seriously doubtful about the wisdom of the Mullahs' regime: "See how wrong you all were to doubt the wisdom of our confrontational policy -- we're making the Yanks run away in terror!" The dead giveaway that his statement is deliberate BS is his reference to the election supposedly showing that the US has realized the stupidity of "supporting Israel" -- since, regardless of what else the Dems do on military policy, they will support abandoning Israel on about the same day bin Laden holds a bar mitzvah for his youngest son.

I apologize for taking easy bait and ranting, it's beneath this forum. I have the same response that bouche does for the same reasons, but there is nothing stopping me from ignoring this person. He represents something toxic to me that I've been too polite about for six years, but the opposite response hasn't been very edifying for me (except for Cookie making me laugh). Lesson learned. Again, I apolgize.