Personal About Politics: Politics in Books, Politics in the City, and Sex in the City.

The year has been replete with political books, with significant offerings made recently. In just the last few weeks former White House press secretary Scott McClellan, Virginia Senator Jim Webb, and former California prosecutor Vincent Bugliosi have all published books.

Scott McClellan, former WH press secretary for Bush, has been the hot ticket on all the political talk shows this last week. In his book, "What Happened: Inside The Bush White House and Washington's Culture of Deception," McClellan lambastes the Bush Administration including Cheney, Rove and Rice. His accusations are all the more poignant since McClellan had been a loyal and close friend of the president going back to his Texas gubernatorial days. However, now that the book is out, it's not likely he will be invited to the Crawford Ranch anytime soon.

In fact, it's apparently much harsher than anyone, including the WH expected. Actually, any truth coming out of the Bush WH is unexpected.  

Here are a few of the oft-repeated talking points from the book.

•    Bush relied on propaganda to sell the war. "the president deliberately oversold and misrepresented intelligence on Saddam Hussein's links to international terrorism and his pursuit of weapons of mass destruction in what amounted to a "propaganda campaign."

•    Presidential political advisor Karl Rove and former vice presidential chief of staff I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby lied to McClellan about their roles in the Valerie Plame affair, leading him -- in turn -- to lie to the media. They (Rove & Libby) apparently met in the West Wing to get their stories straight while they were being investigated. (isn't that illegal?)

•    Vice President Dick Cheney "always seemed to get his way" and "simply could not contain his deep seated certitude, even arrogance, to the detriment of the president."

I wasn't in the WH and even I figured that out. I bet if you looked up the word "arrogance" in the dictionary it would give Dick Cheney as an example.

•    About Condi Rice he wrote: Over time, however, I was struck by how deft she is at protecting her reputation. No matter what went wrong, she was somehow able to keep her hands clean, even when the problems related to matters under her direct purview.

As far as I could tell from internal meetings and discussions, Condi invariably fell in line with Bush's thinking."

The WH of course was shocked by the revelations in the book and the best defense they could come up with was, "This is not the Scott we knew."

Of course not. He's not spewing out lies he's been fed. He's telling the truth. Now that's a revelation.

Virginia Senator Jim Webb's latest book, "A Time to Fight: Reclaiming a Fair and Just America" was on bookshelves May 19. A one time Republican and former Navy Secretary under Ronald Regan, he is now a Democrat. In his book he states, "I've worked in government, first in the late 1970s when I was the youngest full committee counsel in the Congress, then in the 1980s as a Defense Department official, and now as a senator."  

In other words, he's got Washington creds.

A review of the book on RaisingKane.com and pointed out these phrases:
 
*"Today, our workers are at the mercy of cutthroat executives who are vastly overpaid."

 *"But what if there came a time when the country was divided so deeply along class lines that the very notions that we have come to accept as premises for our society were in jeopardy?"

*" American business community's lack of a sense of stewardship toward American workers is tearing apart the fabric of America as we have always defined her."

*"No aristocracy in history has decided to give up any portion of its power willingly."
Webb had this to say about the administration: "The Bush Administration has been characterized by an adoration of the military option on the one hand and a lack of adroit diplomacy on the other.  In the international arena, its policies toward adversaries, real and potential, has bordered on adolescent behavior, but with grave, adult-world consequences."

Guess he won't be getting an invitation from Crawford Ranch either.

Perhaps the most eye-popping book that came out on May 27th, is "The Prosecution of George W. Bush for Murder" by Vincent Bugliosi who successfully prosecuted Charles Manson and six others for murder in the early 1970s.
 
If Vincent Bugliosi were prosecuting George W. Bush for the murder of the more than 4,000 American soldiers who have died in Iraq, he would seek the death penalty.

"If I were the prosecutor, there is no question I would seek the death penalty," Bugliosi told Corporate Crime Reporter in an interview.

At the center of Bugliosi's indictment of Bush is an October 7, 2002 speech to the nation in which Bush claims that Saddam Hussein was a great danger to this nation either by attacking us with his weapons of mass destruction, or giving these weapons to some terrorist group.

"And he said – the attack could happen on any given day – meaning the threat was imminent," Bugliosi says.

"The only problem for George Bush – and if he were prosecuted, there is no way he could get around this – is that on October 1, 2002, six days earlier, the CIA sent George Bush its 2002 National Intelligence Estimate, a classified top secret report. Page eight clearly and unequivocally says that Saddam Hussein was not an imminent threat to the security of this country. In fact, the report says that Hussein would only use whatever weapons of mass destruction he had against us if he feared that America was about to attack him." (Corporate Crime Reporter & prosecutionofbush.com.)

Bugliosi said he is sending a copy of his book to all fifty state Attorneys General, offering his assistance in prosecuting Bush for homicide.

He probably won't be attending a Texas BBQ anytime soon.

There was a particularly disturbing piece in the Sunday New York Times. The very rich, those with a net worth of $5 million to $1 billion, are being affected by the recession. Yes, it's true. There seems to be great angst in the Upper East Side.

Nancy Chemtob, a divorce lawyer in Manhattan says her clients are worried about how the economic downturn will affect their marriages. One client confessed that his net worth had decreased to $8 million from more than $20 million and he thinks that his wife will leave him.

"What's love got to do with it?" (Tina Turner)

But it's not just about the loss of income. There are the snubs. Friends and business associates could avoid them as they pass their lunchtime tables at Barney's or the Four Seasons. And what if their kids don't get invited to the right birthday party? It's all just too abhorrent!

So, how does one cope when you only have a few million to scrape by on? Some are selling diamonds friends don't know they have. Others have stretched their $350 haircuts and $150 highlights to last eight weeks instead of just six.

Justin Sullivan, managing director of Regent Jet, which leases private airplanes said clients are cutting back by about 25%. He said about one client, "A year ago, he would have only flown Gulfstreams. Now it's moving to the point where he's flying Beech jets and Learjets."

Oh, the shame of it all. I know that right about now you are wondering how you can help. A bake sale, or a car wash? Perhaps a charity Texas BBQ?

                
And speaking of rich women in New York City, what's with the mayhem over the "Sex in the City" movie? Come on folks, could there be anything more vapid than watching four, skinny well-dressed women drinking and talking about sex? Besides, the men they covet are rapidly losing their net worth (see story above).

Well, ok. My friend and neighbor Mary Lynn and I sit around and talk about sex. But we aren't that well dressed and we drink coffee or cheap wine. It's not even close to being the same. Our discussions are valid, not vapid.

How about a movie called "Politicians and Sex in the City"? There certainly is plenty of material. An entire movie could probably be made about former NY Governor Eliot Spitzer and his sexcapades.

Better yet, "Senior Sex in the City". Now that's a movie I'd go see! (for you ML)


Cheri Cabot, Politics Correspondent
Cheri's column, "Personal About Politics," published every week, will reflect on how the life of a 58 year-old, middle class woman is affected by politics, policy and the current state of the nation - a look at the personal aspects of politics. The articles will be posted to Politics.gather.com as part of Gather Essentials.

Cheri is a freelance writer, living in Southern California.  She has two grown children, one in Iowa and one at Columbia University, and is the proud grandmother of two. Cheri is also a purveyor of    fine coffee, warm chatter and dry wit.

  You can find all of Cheri's columns on Personal About Politics at www.ccabot.gather.com.