The Game of Politics

I must admit that politics is a crafty beast. I mean so much goes on in politics that unless you’re paying attention, you’ll never even notice the subtle nuances. Case in point, the tail end of last week.

For over 2 years, a special prosecutor has been investigating the case pertaining to the leaking of a covert CIA operative’s name. For anyone that’s been paying attention to the story, there are at least a few things that seem obvious (though I can’t be 100% sure of my conclusions until I hear them from the prosecutor). Clearly Robert Novak, the columnist that published the operative’s name (Valerie Plame-Wilson), must be working with the investigators; otherwise he would’ve had to spill the beans before the Grand Jury like “Time” magazine reporter Michael Cooper, or go to jail for not giving up his source, like "NY Times" columnist Judith Miller. Furthermore, I suspect that the prosecutor has known for a long time who originally leaked the name since all three of these parties have now cooperated, and since Novak has been cooperating since the beginning.

But all that is beside my point, and will play itself out in the weeks ahead (and will probably end up with VP Dick Cheney’s former Chief of Staff, Lewis “scooter” Libby, making a plea bargain to save his former boss and the White House some political grief…just my opinion, but we’ll see).

But in the game of politics, the rules work like this:
If your political party is in power, bad press for your party is released on a Friday. The reason why is because by Friday, the weekend has come and people tend not to pay as much attention to the news (there’s partying to be done, sleep to be caught up on, family to spend time with, etc.). What’s more is that over the weekend, people tend to forget the bad news that came out on Friday, and sometimes things happen over the weekend that will trump any Friday afternoon bad news.

So it came as no surprise to me that the special prosecutor in the CIA leak investigation, Patrick Fitzgerald, handed down his indictment of Libby on Friday and not earlier in the week. I wholeheartedly believe that Libby could’ve been indicted by Fitzgerald at least by Wednesday, if not weeks ago. But in politics, timing is a large part of the equation, and sometimes it is everything.

Make no mistake about it…

…it is no coincidence that President Bush’s Supreme Court Nominee Harriet Miers withdrew her nomination on Thursday, the day before Fitzgerald’s indictment announcement. It was a pre-emptive strike, if you will. That news was so big (even though we all knew that she wasn’t going to make it through the nomination process weeks ago) that it severely diminished the heavily anticipated CIA leak indictments.

I had been telling people for weeks that I thought Miers was going to withdraw her nomination. But when I saw the timing of her announcement, I was like, those guys are so crafty.

And you know what else, I am certain that the White House spent the weekend heavily engulfed in determining who the next Supreme Court Nominee is going to be.

Why???

Because the news of a nomination (ASAP) will close the sandwich of diversion around the corruption that has taken place in the White House. So, I am fully expecting an announcement Monday afternoon, by the President, declaring his latest Supreme Court nominee. By Wednesday for sure, and if it takes longer than that, I’ll be shocked.

One thing I have to say about this White House we’re currently under is that they really know how to play the game of politics. And no matter how one frames the arguments for or against them, they always win.

-Maelstrom

The Sidebar
October is Breast Cancer awareness month, and I’d be heavily remiss if I didn’t address it at all.

Breast Cancer is the most diagnosed Cancer for women each year by far (nearly 80,000 will be diagnosed this year). And indeed, about 1500 men are diagnosed with the disease each year. A sad but true statistic is that 1 in 9 women will be diagnosed with the disease in their lifetime with the risks increasing with age. Also, it is highly likely that you will know, firsthand, someone with Breast Cancer in your lifetime. A reality that I suspect is true since I see so many people wearing pink ribbons during the month. Because for the most part people don’t become aware until they’re personally affected, and that’s often when people begin to do things like wear ribbons.

I have had the pleasure of meeting one of the rare men who is a Breast Cancer survivor. He is a writer whose story is very inspirational.

Sadly, I also knew a very close family friend that suffered from the disease and eventually succumbed. She was my babysitter for many years, and her sons are my friends. It was through her that I first learned what a mastectomy is. Unfortunately, by the time she got hers, the Cancer had already spread to her lungs.

There’s so much that one can’t understand about the psychology of the disease. And certainly, men can’t identify with what it means to have a mastectomy as a woman. And unless you’ve witnessed the incredible declining health status of someone suffering with the disease, the devastation may not compute. I remember that my babysitter would take 30 minutes to walk up one stair (just one) once the disease had taken full hold of her. It’s overwhelming to say the least.

Gladly, the numbers of Breast Cancer deaths have been on the decline since 1990. Some attribute this to mammograms; others think it’s because of the drugs used. No matter the reason, it’s a great reality. Indeed a couple weeks back, a drug (Herceptin) designed to specifically fight Breast Cancer was announced, and it has shown great promise in fighting the disease.

Hopefully everyone has heeded the advice of doctors and performs self-examinations on their breasts (and yes fellas, believe it or not, that includes you too…yeah, you’ve got breasts). Hopefully if something looks or feels wrong no one hesitates to see their doctor about it. An action that simple can save your life; all it takes is your astuteness.

Certainly we have a long way to go in the fight against Breast Cancer (and all Cancers for that matter), but I’m glad to see that progress is being made. Most importantly I’m glad to see something that we see very little of in this nation these days…

…Awareness!

Long live the Pink Ribbons!