A man writes a book. About a culture of deception. And those enshrined in that culture wonder how that man, Scott McClellan, could go from . . .

“. . . a loyal and trusted staff member to an embittered person who makes biting accusations.”

Yesterday, in McClellan’s rather limp Mr. Smith Goes to Washington moment on Capitol Hill, the New York Times writes,

…the book, with Mr. McClellan’s lacerating criticism of his former colleagues, has generated a rich discussion about the obligations of political loyalty… The man who once regularly and seemingly by rote defended Mr. Bush in the White House press room was attacked by the committee’s ranking Republican, Representative Lamar Smith of Texas, who grilled Mr. McClellan as ferociously as any reporter had in his three years as press secretary.

I got a good laugh at that part… hahahahahahahahaha… the idea… bwahahahahahahahaha… that reporters had grilled anybody ferociously in… snort snort laughinginginginginging…. in seven plus years. To whom does the New York Times refer?  One can only… chortle giggle gha giggle… wonder.

Let me wipe the tears from my eyes… further, according to the New York Times…

…Committee Democrats, on the other hand, were much gentler, treating Mr. McClellan as if he were an author promoting a book in an interview.

Makes one dizzy doesn’t it? But this is what blew me away…

Rep. Smith said, “Scott McClellan alone will have to wrestle with whether it was worth selling out the president and his friends for a few pieces of silver.”

“What Happened: Inside the Bush White House and Washington’s Culture of Deception” was written by Scott McClellan for money. Huh. Now that is rich. Isn’t it??? Rep. Smith, a money grubbing, power mongering, lying, despicable Washington politician who shills ONLY for the interests of the monied and powerful deplores the greed of Scott McClellan. And double huh.

Liberals need another George McGovern-and perhaps conservatives do too

In the home stretch of the ’72 campaign, [George] McGovern said, “Government has become so vast and impersonal that its interests diverge more and more from the interests of ordinary citizens.”

I was digging around the internet for statistics on liberals, conservatives, and moderates. And ran into a conservative (Bill Kauffman) writing with reverence about the left’s George McGovern. Interesting, I thought.

Especially the part where he talks about McGovern crediting George Wallace’s appeal as a candidate to “a sense of powerlessness in the face of big government, big corporations, and big labor unions.” He asked Wallace for his endorsement, though as he recalls with a smile, “He said, ‘Sena-tah, if I endorsed you I’d lose about half of my following and you’d lose half of yours.'” Well, maybe, guv-nah-but just think of the coalescent possibilities of the remaining halves.

“It is not prejudice to fear for your family’s safety or to resent tax inequities. … It is time to recognize this and to stop labeling people ‘racist’ or ‘militant,’ to stop putting people in different camps, to stop inciting one American against another,” said McGovern, who called the Wallace vote “an angry cry from the guts of ordinary Americans against a system which doesn’t seem to give a damn about what is really bothering people in this country today.”

What hits me in my gut is that last line…

…an angry cry from the guts of ordinary Americans against a system which doesn’t seem to give a damn about what is really bothering people in this country today

i met a stranger today. a shop clerk in the netherlands. a black girl.  when i spoke in english to her, she stopped. and looked at me.

then she asked me if i was an american.

yes, i said.

she shook her head.

will you vote? she asked.

yes. i couldn’t help it. so i added…

and i’ll be voting for Obama

we looked at each other. in one of those moments.

and we high-fived it, laughing out loud.

bam!

she leaned over the counter

he’s, ah… um, half, um, black. and the other part, um, ah, is white.

and, um, ah maybe he can bring peace.

i was thunderstruck. and understood this:::

we have to become important to this black white stranger.

we have to become his obsession.

we have to give ourselves to him.

and expect. demand he do the same.

we have to give him something greater to lose.

than power. or money. or fame.

but whatever holds people like us, people here at DD

whatever holds us to this urgency to protect life

diversity, freedom

whatever it is that makes us care

we have to pass it onto this man who made a speech four years ago

and swept us away

now. it is our turn.

to sweep him away.

with our love for the very least among us.

the homeless. the hungry. the confused.

the apathetic. the aimless. and all creatures.

it’s our job. to capture his heart and loyalty.

and let him know we get it…  we all have to do it better,  if we want a better world.

we can reach him, this Barack Obama. if we want to.

we can bring him with us.

yes. shop girl. we can. have peace. if we want it so.

i really didn’t have time to write much. but i didn’t want anybody else to take this evening either. it is the last writing in the raw i’ll do from the states for a while, so even with a sparse essay, i think i’ll keep it for myself.

actually, it’s after 10pm as i start writing this. so it will be brief.

i’m packed. ready to go. exhausted. i’ll definitely blog from the airport tomorrow. i usually pay to get into the business lounge… for $45, you get fruit, cheese, coffee/tea, cookies, alcohol, tv, internet and a little desk from which you blog, and a comfy, quiet place to zone out for a few hours. premium wine/alcohol will cost you… hey Mu, might be one of the tips for your travel space.

okay. so that’s it.

well, and i’ll explain the title. just a bit.

getting on that plane tomorrow is amazing. there have been difficult times and yet, somehow, ej and i managed to hold onto to each other. over the phone. one-line e-mails. packages filled with small fetish items. a sense of humor. and well, we just get along. whenever i’m with him, by heart rate slows (unless you know…), i become very at ease. i smile a lot. i’m actually funny when i’m relaxed and not thinking about George Bush et al.

i sleep really well when i sleep with him. and when we get up, he has this funny little fresh face, squinty eyes and he’s smiling. maybe he looks a little like a baby bird or something. but it touches my heart. and it inspires me to get up and make coffee and cook breakfast.

we hold hands. we like the way each other smells. we think it’s funny when strangers fall down or break something in a store (but we don’t really want anybody to be really hurt). we love to go to museums. or find secret gardens. we like to wander in cities and towns. oh. and we both love madly medieval cathedrals and churches.

he likes to cook. i like to eat. he likes to complain. i like to sit, cross-legged, and listen and laugh at him and how he, in a very animated fashion, counts off each absurdity with his fingers.

i tell him everything has a shelf life. if we’re lucky, we’ll just die together, around 99 years old, in a plane crash or car accident. because i always see us together, old and beautiful. and i just know i’ll love him even more then… the two of us always walking, looking at the world together, my hand in the pocket of his old jacket.

this is one of those moments. when love wins.

Just had to react to this.

Another book. Another inside look at the Bush administration. Another portrait of the organized crime ring running the White House and the country. This time the story, What Happened: Inside the Bush White House and Washington’s Culture of Deception, appears to have been written by former White House Press Secretary Scott McClellan.

I use the word appears in attributing authorship to McClellan because, in fact, McClellan may have been hijacked. By aliens. The left. Or, even worse, the fucking facts may have contaminated his version of the truth.

From George W. Bush via current White House Press Secretary Dana Perino…

“He [Bush] is puzzled, and he doesn’t recognize this as the Scott McClellan that he hired and confided in and worked with for so many years.”  

part I

i’m moving to The Netherlands on May 30 and won’t be around as much… due to a six hour time difference and settling into my new life.

next Thursday will likely be my last writing in the raw for a while. however, I intend to keep posting the Friday Pony Parties at 6ish… well, i will resume posting the ponies. i’ve been a bit distracted and out of any reasonable routine these last weeks.

so. nine months or thereabouts. absorbed in, with, about Docudharma. i have to tell you, i was shocked when buhdy asked me to join Docudharma as a contributing editor. i’m still not sure what prompted the invitation… but it has been the very best place for me over these many months. and it feels like i’ve known so many of you for years now… i love how the energy of friendship has surpassed time and space and 3d to find its way to me.

it has been thrilling to be immersed in your talents, encouraged by your brave hearts, sheltered by your kindness, and kept alive laughing by some of the wittiest, funniest people i’ve had the pleasure to know and love. And I am mostly kept sane absorbing the simple and honorable commitment of so many to do right by this living planet of ours.

i just thought you guys should know. how important you are. to me.