So it looks as if we’re headed for a lengthy process of recounting the votes here in Virginia.
At 9:04 this morning, AP was reporting that our Democratic Senate candidate Jim Webb had 49.6 percentof the 2.33 million votes counted here, while GOP incumbent George Allen had 49.3 percent. That was with 99% of the votes counted.
Allen has not conceded yet, and is likely to demand a recount. If he does this, as this ABC News web-page makes clear, he can’t even start the process till November 28– and “we will likely not know the results until mid-December.”
The Dems need to win the Senate races in both Virginia and Montana (another close call, as of now) if they are to win control of the whole Senate…
But– we’ve already won control of the House!!!.
This is due, obviously, to a number of factors… Including the mounting surge of disgust with Bush’s war in Iraq. (Which knocked out of office even that very decent man Sen. Lincoln Chafee of Rhode Island, I see. That, purely because of his formal GOP party affiliation– though Chafee has been an important voice of conscience against the war and even against the president on many issues… )
Another factor is, I think, the great discipline and political smarts of Nancy Pelosi, the person now destined to be the first woman Speaker of the House of Representatives!
Well done, Ms. Pelosi!
What can we expect from this political upheaval? The main thing, I would say, would be some serious efforts by at least one house of Congress to start to hold the Bush administration accountable for some of its many, many misdeeds in Iraq and elsewhere.
That will include– finally– authoritative hearings to look into many past policies and misdemeanours including contracting scandals in Iraq, the CIA’s use of secret prisons and torture, etc etc…
Hallelujah!
What we can’t expect, obviously, is much radical change in this administration’s policy going forward– though with a Democratic House of Representatives now looking over their shoulders the Bushites are going to have to be a lot more collegial and a lot less secretive and manipulative in what they do.
Will the Dems bring forward their own Iraq policy? This could be a trap for them, getting too closely engaged in a national policy there that is already, clearly, failing. But they will need to get engaged to some degree, and should figure out their own terms for doing so.
Back here, in mid-September (when I first started allowing myself to hope that the Dems might win control of at least one house of Congress) I started thinking about the substance of what the Democrats might and should push for, if they won one or both Houses. At that point, I was already impressed with some of what Jim Webb had been saying about the war. I still am, and strongly, strongly hope he makes it through the upcoming recount.
I also wrote:
- I welcome a lot of what Webb says. But I still think we need better, more forthright, and more visionary leaders in this country: people who are prepared to stand up openly and recognize that the US needs to have good relations with a strong and respected UN, and needs, too, to find a way to negotiate the differences it still has outstanding with Iran.
Whatever happened to the old idea in diplomacy that if you have a concern about the policies of another power, then you find a way to discuss them? Since when did this idea take root that, if you disagree strongly with any other party, then you should totally quarantine and seek to exclude them from the discourse?
So I guess for me, these are two key touchstones of the way the US political discourse on international issues needs to change: (1) we need to reinstate the UN as a vital political player, and a body with which the US seeks to work closely on the international scene, and (2) we need to reinstate the idea that if you have concerns with another government (or nongovernmental party) then it is nearly always better to try to discuss those concerns directly, rather than to stigmatize and quarantine that other.
I still think that.
I also warn everyone that a Democratic-controlled house or houses of Congress is likely to have almost exactly the same, completely Israelo-centric policy on Israel-Palestine issues as the Bush administration has pursued up until now. On this issue and on many others– including Iraq– we in the peace movement are going to have to keep up the pressure on our friends in the Democratic Party.
From Daily Kos: State of the Nation
http://www.dailykos.com/
MT-Sen, VA-Sen: Allen and Burns don’t believe in recounts
by kos
Wed Nov 08, 2006 at 09:11:27 AM PST
Both Allen and Burns will have the right to call for a recount, it seems. Yet given their prior public comments on recounts, we should expect them to pass.
Burns press release, 11/28/2000:
On November 28, 2000, when the Florida election results were certified, Conrad Burns said Gore “appears more and more like a man who wants to win at any cost.” Burns added, “It is time, as some have said, for Vice President Gore to stop being a litigant and start being a Patriot. The good of our nation is greater than any one man, and it is time for Mr. Gore to end these challenges and bow out gracefully.”
More Burns in the 11/30/2000 Great Falls Tribune:
At the end of November 2000, Conrad Burns said he would like to see an end to Gore’s legal efforts in Florida. Burns said, “Mr. Gore should step aside and let the Bush team begin its orderly transition to the presidency.”
And Allen on the Today show 11/8/2000:
The morning after Election Day 2000, when Florida was counting absentee ballots, George Allen said, “we’ll need to move America forward as soon
as those votes are cast.”
I’m sure these former Senators will stand by their words, and not develop a double standard now. Right?
The objection to Gore’s conduct was not that he was requesting recounts according to existing rules, but that he was asking friendly courts to re-write the rules to favor him.
The historical importance of this election is the final repudiation of the Republican Revolution of 1994 and all that it came to mean. The significance of this for Americans goes beyond the war in Iraq or foreign policy in general. It is nothing less than the salvation of our Republic from a near-death experience. The dreams of Newt Gingrich, Tom Delay and crew of creating a permanent Republican majority turned into an ever darker vision of rule by a “majority of the majority” and ultimately a “unitary executive,” bringing this country closer to totalitarianism than at any time in its history. I for one was truly afraid that things had gone too far, that the election would be rigged, and the voice of the people silenced. It didn’t happen. David Brooks, the conservative NYT columnist, wondered why he was “wierdly happy” about the election results. It’s because the country just dodged a big bullet, and we should all be glad about that.
سقط صدام وجرف معه بوش الى حفرته. محا كل من الرجلين الآخر وحطم تماثيله. لا يمكن بالطبع اجراء مقارنة بين بوش وصدام، لكن ما خلفه غزو العراق من ضحايا وانهيار وانقسامات في ثلاث سنوات يكاد يوازي ما «ابتدعته» يدا الديكتاتور طوال ثلاثة عقود. حوكم صدام وحكم بالاعدام، وقد يعدم. لكن هل سيحاكم بوش على جريمته؟
http://www.daralhayat.com/opinion/11-2006/Item-20061108-c8f8ba56-c0a8-10ed-01a4-77dfa5b558ee/story.html
John C.,
Some radio commentators call this election of the Wining of The Enemy of Freedom!!! Imagine their allusions
“I also warn everyone that a Democratic-controlled house or houses of Congress is likely to have almost exactly the same, completely Israelo-centric policy on Israel-Palestine issues as the Bush administration has pursued up until now.”
Which is a good thing. Our support for Israel is bipartisan, as it should be.
“On this issue and on many others– including Iraq– we in the peace movement are going to have to keep up the pressure on our friends in the Democratic Party.”
I don’t consider the “Palestine-Uber-Alles” crowd to be the “peace movement.” But I guess it’s all subjective.
Rahm Emanuel, the Congressman from Illinois and Democratic party operative, was very instrumental in handpicking the new candidates who ran for the House. Emanuel’s father was a member of the Irgun. He himself spent the First Gulf War volunteering in the IOF, and his Hollywood brother called for a public shunning of Mel Gibson after the actor’s remarks. It’s obvious that the apartheid jewish state can continue their murderous path across Lebanon, Gaza and the West Bank to the accompanyment of the US Congress chant of “Israel has a right to defend itself”.
On the other hand, Israelinsider published an article entitled “Israel: Divorce America, Marry Russia”. Russia is a perfect partner for the apartheid state. Both are xenophobic to the extreme, both have deported and continue to deport populations that do not meet their definition of purity, Israel has provided a haven for many ex-Communists who are being charged with crimes against humanity in Eastern Europe, and who Israel refuses to extradite. Israel’s Lieberman is calling for the apartheid state to model its policies against the Palestinians on the Russian model in Chechnya. The list can go on. In sum, they are both still very much Stalinist states. They deserve each other.
“…a Democratic-controlled house or houses of Congress is likely to have almost exactly the same, completely Israelo-centric policy on Israel-Palestine issues as the Bush administration has pursued up until now.”
“Which is a good thing.”
Huh? Am I missing something? Why is that a good thing?
For an Israeli, perhaps. And it’s a big perhaps, because even that’s highly debateable. But for an American? How could any American in his or her right mind possibly think that a “completely Israelo-centric policy on Israel-Palestine issues” is “a good thing”?
Let’s see. Anyone for a spot of cost-benefit analysis? Cost: what is it, about 15 million dollars a day? Cost: 2800 and counting dead American soldiers; 22,000 and counting maimed – many of them horribly so – American soldiers.* Cost: fancy footwork that sees some of our most advanced military technology being onpassed – quite illegally – to China. Cost: beng spied on by some of our “fellow Americans”. Cost: the USS Liberty. Cost: a latter day McCarthyism poisoning our polity in a bid to make sure that light doesn’t get shed on the screwing we’re getting. Cost: the big one – and God help us all if they manage to bring it off: the “war of civilisations.”
And what do get in return? Well you can start with the incandescent hatred of 200 billion muslims. And for good measure there’s the fear bordering on loathing and indeed the contempt – or if they’re generous the pity – of most of the rest of the world.
What “a good thing”. What a deal.
*In Philip Zelikow’s words (you can connect the dots yourself): “The unstated threat. And here I criticise the [Bush] administration a little, because the argument that they make over and over again is that this is about a threat to the United States. And then everybody says: ‘Show me an imminent threat from Iraq to America. Show me, why would Iraq attack America or use nuclear weapons against us?’ So I’ll tell you what I think the real threat is, and actually has been since 1990. It’s the threat against Israel. And this is the threat that dare not speak its name, because the Europeans don’t care deeply about that threat, I will tell you frankly. And the American government doesn’t want to lean too hard on it rhetorically, because it’s not a popular sell.”
We need an objective policy to Israel and to Palestine. Joshua, your own posts have pretty much added up only to Israel Before Everything. I don’t think you’ve ever criticized any Israeli act on this board even once. That includes Israeli acts that have led to massive loss of noncombatent life. The deaths in Qana and Beit Hamoun show that Israel’s current style of conducting warfare is dangerously misguided. Israel should declare a unilateral ceasefire, and deploy troops only on the Israel Proper side of the border to defend Israel against any rocket attacks. We need demands on Israel to change its policies to be heard from the people whose commitment to Israel’s right to exist can’t be questioned.
Belicose posts from either Joshua’s side or kassandra’s side are equally unhelpful. I hope kassandra is not equating Gibson’s drunken slurs with needed criticisms of Israeli policy such as M&W’s critique of AIPAC. And what’s with this obsession with Russia? The Jews were one of those ethnicities historically persecuted by Russia. I don’t expect Jewish people fleeing Russia for Israel to be sympathetic to Russia.
I don’t like Zelikow’s quote. After 1991, Saddam was effectively neutered. His Iraqi government could no longer be a threat to anyone, including Israel. The current war in Iraq was motivated by personal motivations of oil industry connected officials and people with a PNAC agenda for restructuring the Mideast whether Arabs liked it or not. I don’t believe the reason behind the invasion of Iraq was any real threat to Israel; the war would’ve been justified if that had been the case.
Getting back on topic, Allen has just conceded. So the cliffhanger is now over. Congratulations, Mr. Webb. 🙂
But “restructuring” it to what end? These things don’t happen in a vaccum. They’re not free floating. It’s not restructuring for the sake of restructuring.
What needs to be looked at is what’s “folded in” – what “informs” – that sort of geo-political claptrap.
Perle and Co.’s “securing the realm” wet dream gets us a bit closer, I daresay. Fantasies about “magicking” – out of the barrel of a gun, no less – Arab recognition for Israel and friendly (to Israel) Arab governments (that will, what? – help out with the expropriation of the rest of the Palestinians’ land and, part and parcel of all that, the “resettlement” – the ‘oh yes, by all means, go ahead and “cleanse” the land and let us help you out with that by inviting you to send us your “huddled masses” of Palestinians, every last one of them – if only, eh?), and pipelines sluicing the stuff into Haifa from southern Iraq, etc. etc.
It’s winners and losers. Context. Resources. Land. Desires.
“…a Democratic-controlled house or houses of Congress is likely to have almost exactly the same, completely Israelo-centric policy on Israel-Palestine issues as the Bush administration has pursued up until now.”
“Which is a good thing.”
only a good thing if you think continuing to fight and hurt and kill are a good thing….
Susan,
only a good thing if you think continuing to fight and hurt and kill are a good thing
This the only skill they demonstrated for 70 years in their History in the region…
So Inkan believes that Israel should deploy its troops only on their side of the border. Just where is that border? Israel is a self-described country that has never defined its borders. It certainly has never honored those borders set by the UN when it was founded. It certainly does not recognize the 1967 green line, that the international community recognizes. Israel has never defined its borders for the very simple reason that it wants ALL of Palestine.
That more than 20% of the newly minted jews in Israel are of ex-Soviet origin and duly schooled in Soviet xenophobia is beyond dispute. I suggest you take the time to read some of Minister Lieberman’s statements and those of his party, which is made up in large part of ex-Soviets. Perfect Stalinism. That this creature is a member of Israel’s Cabinet is appalling.
And its always cheering to see the sanctimoniousness expressed towards Mel Gibson’s minor remarks. Too bad the same level of sanctimountiousness cannot be expressed towards the zionist enterprise that continues to murder children and shoot women in the back. Or even against the statements of Cabinet Minister Lieberman.
kassandra, I said Israel Proper. The government hasn’t recognized the 1967 borders yet. It’s high time then that it does, with the insistence of the world. At least it will be a startoff point in negotiations, though I see those borders as the smallest size the State of Palestine can be in any reasonable negotiations.
What makes you think that 20% of the Israeli populace is “duly schooled in Soviet xenophobia”? Is that the percentage that voted for minister Lieberman? Just because they’re from the ex USSR they have to be Soviet ideologues? ( You’re not one of those skinheads who think communism is a Jewish plot, are you? ) All you’ve proven is that Lieberman is a bad person, and I agree with that. We then must support a strong political movement to make Olmert and Lieberman as ousted as a republican congressman.
Why even bring up Gibson’s comments if they’re minor?
Corrigan, to the end of securing mideast oil to prop up the Western economy. Any concerns about protecting Israel were either fraudulent ( They’re just using Israel as a fake justification ) or misguided ( Iraq was not a real threat to Israel anymore ).
Nobody in freedom’s land is calling a spade a spade better these days than that former Reagan Assistant Secretary of the Treasury, Paul Craig Roberts. For example:
Indeed, the prime cause of Muslim terrorism is the US interference in the internal affairs of Muslim countries and America’s one-sided stance in favor of Israel in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. When Jimmy Carter was president, his even-handed approach made the US respected throughout the Muslim world. 9/11, if it was actually an act of Muslim terrorism, was the direct consequence of US one-sided meddling in Middle Eastern affairs.
And, part and parcel of the above:
The Israelis have isolated themselves with their genocidal policies against the Palestinians. Intelligent Israelis are already sending their children out of the country. Israeli peace groups have thrown up their hands in the face of the persistent intransigence of the Israeli government and the disregard of common sense. It remains to be seen if the Israelis can learn to care about anyone but their own kind. Israel can save itself if its political leaders will stop pushing Palestinians off of their own land by destroying their homes and orchards and murdering their children, thus turning more Palestinians into refugees. It would be easy for the economically talented Israelis to pull the Palestinians into prosperity, thereby ending the conflict. Are Israelis capable of the humane leadership required to create a place for themselves in the Middle East or are they forever wed to Mao’s dictum that “power comes out of the barrel of a gun”?
Israel is a self-described country that has never defined its borders
Don’t worry kassandra, Israeli borders its there in the minds of Israelis, it was in the Knesset the map wall before the Madrid peace talk, its there in the early Israeli leader projects of BIG ISLAEL, lets imagine where are Israel borders will be?
Inkan,
I think a lot about Paul Wolfowitz. About his conversations with his sister, who lives in Israel, I believe. What must those two have said – what ideas must have raced through their minds – after any/all of the suicide bombings in Israeli? Israeli kids blown up. Innocent adults blown up. Did they talk about – they must have – everybody in Israel must have talked about it – Saddam’s giving 25,000 dollars to the family of every suicide bomber? Well, I know how I would feel about that, were I Paul Wolfowitz. I know what I would have thought. Namely, I’m in a position to do something about that. And I’m going to do it.
The difference is, that I, Corrigan, would have jumped out of that speeding car. Would have recused – if that’s the word – myself. Would have recognised that there was far too much personal involvement in my take on the “regime change” question. And that accordingly I wasn’t fit to be involved in/influencing a state matter of that magnitude. The personal can’t come into it. It’s got to be what’s right – what’s best – for the nation. And if the personal is coloring your take…well, you damn well better keep out of it. I don’t think Wolfowitz was able to. He crossed the line. And for that matter I think the rest of them did as well. They persuaded themselves that what on the face of it – taking out an Arab strong man of a powerful and rich Arab nation – an Arab strong man who was an inveterate opponent of Israel – was best for Israel was also best for America. Congruence. Always congrence. America’s interests and Israel’s interests being one and the same. Convince yourself of that – and it takes some doing because it flies in the face of common sense, history, cost/benefit analysis, you name it – and then you can have your cake and eat it too.
It’s clever clever. The way Feith is manifestly “clever”. Or Perle. Or…well, pick a card, any card. Manifestly “clever” and at the same time profoundly, unutterably abysmally stupid.
And because these conjurerers – these glib fools with their fiendishly and tragically complicated 1930s mittel European wiring – no chance, ever, of deadening the demon always drumming in their ears – because these glib fools were in a position to, as they thought, “shape the future” (as one of them, Michael Ledeen, said to me in an email earlier this year) – millions of Iraqis are now in one of the innermost circles of hell. And the tens of thousands of Americans who have been directly touched – can that be the word? – by this evil debacle are in one of the circles not so far out from the Iraqis’. Lives blighted forever. And as for the rest of us – and indeed the other peoples in the Middle East – Jew and non-Jew – well, how many ticks closer to the midnight of Armageddon has the minute hand been pushed?
Taking out an Arab strong man of a powerful and rich Arab nation – an Arab strong man who was an inveterate opponent of Israel – was best for Israel was also best for America. Congruence.
Corrigan, he was the strong man in the region at a time.
During The Gulf war 1991 there were a lot of talk inside Iraq I was their at that time serving my military duty, most of Iraqis infrastructures and services like power stations around Iraq, the power transport network which was the best in ME as it was designed as a ring which means that any frailer in any power station any where in Iraq not effecting that area as the network will supply that are from other working stations. Also the highways networks damaged, 116 bridges destroyed and more damage caused by US bombardments.
The talk was Tikrite the city of that strong man have power to the last day of that war!
Then in 2003 invasion we saw Iraqis in south Basra Dewaniayah and other cities fights for one week which caused the delay of US military to push toward Baghdad as they expected and convinced by Chalabi that the south will through flowers on the US solders…which never happened.
Back to Tikrit the early footage of US entering Tikrit showed the beast Iraqi Tanks (T72) were in their places never been moved from the military camps also there are no fight against the Americans, most surprisingly Falujah and Al-Anbar provinces they surrender to US without any fights the military commander met the US official and agreed on put down and get thing sorted out.
Then we found the Kurds the Shiites did not any mascaras to Tikrit city which is widely accused that supporting the regime and they got the most benefits and care from the strong man.
More surprisingly while Al-Anbar and Falujah suffered massive massacres by Americans, Kurds and Bader Barricades, Tikrit saved by Americans!! And surprisingly Tikrit the first and only city US handed over back to their citizens in 2004 till now.
All these incident rise eyebrows what’s the strong man was? And why this very special care he got with his birth city questions need answers…..
That the defense of Israel was a major reason for the Iraq war is beyond dispute. One may start with the well-publicized “Project for a New American Century” and go on from there.
Only a supporter of the racist and colonialist regime in Israel would refer to Israel’s Cabinet Minister Lieberman as a “bad person”. Again, only one of the things that this “bad person” has proposed is that Israel pattern its policy towards the Palestinians based on Russia’s policies towards the Chechens. To Inkan who has no idea what that means, I suggest some readily-available reading. Start with Anna Politkovskaya.
Rahm Emanuel’s brother’s response to Mel Gibsons remarks was an excellent example of the mainstream jewish response. This prominent Hollywood agent openly calls for the shunning of an actor based on a few drunken remarks. Has this prominent jewish Hollywood agent ever called for the shunning of Israel, or maybe even Cabinet Minister Lieberman, based on their murderous racist and colonialist remarks? Of course not! The subtext is that it is quite all right to shoot women in the back but heaven forbid that a jew should ever be exposed to some insulting remarks.
I did spend a month in Palestine this spring. I have seen just how prominent the ex-Soviets are in the border police and in the colonies. As a result of my visit, I have come to view Israel as something alike to a Crusader kingdom, completely foreign and anachronistic to the region. And none of the Crusader kingdoms lasted even a hundred years.