Today's Daily Schadenfreude

Huggy Bear.

Sarah Palin:

"Now tomorrow, I hope, I pray, I believe that I'll be able to wake up as Vice President-elect, and be able to get to work in a transition mode with the President elect, John McCain," Palin said. "So we have a very optimistic, very confident view of what's going to happen today."

Elizabeth Dole:

Exit polls showed [Democratic challenger Kay] Hagan did well among blacks, women and young voters; Dole did better among older voters, The Associated Press said.

"I was not happy with her," said Janice Henderson, 67, of Raleigh. "I don't think we got our money's worth out of her."

[...]

Last week, the race took another nasty turn. Dole ran an ad that accused Hagan of taking "godless money" at a fundraiser and linking Hagan to an atheist group called the Godless Americans. The ad ended with a picture of Hagan and a woman's voice saying, "There is no God."

Hagan responded with a lawsuit and her own ad, declaring, "I believe in God."

"I think some of the last advertising by Sen. Dole really hurt her," said Dole supporter Tony Hunt of Raeford. "It changed some undecided voters."

"The nail in the coffin was the Godless Americans thing," said Andre Wilson, 23, of Durham, who supported Hagan.

Dick "Dick" Cheney, who as a bonus gets to preside over the Senate when they certify the Electoral College's votes and declare Barack Obama the winner of the presidential election.

Shirley Nagel of Grosse Pointe Farms, Mich.

Tom Feeney and Ric Keller, soon-to-be former Republican congressmen from central Florida.

Allen West, who suddenly finds himself free to be paranoid again.

Did I mention Sarah Palin?

Gina Sauber of Loxahatchee, Fla.:

Sauber said she cried tears of joy when George W. Bush was elected in 2000, so it was fitting, she said, to stand near the central elections office on Tuesday to campaign for McCain.

"I love McCain," she said. "I can't see why people would vote for Obama."

Bill Bennett, who looked positively dyspeptic on MSNBC last night.

For that matter, all of the right-wing sycophants, gasbags, and fluffers on cable teevee -- especially that fossil Pat Buchanan, who last night lamented the end of the "Conservative Revolution."

Indeed, to all the True Believers in the hate-filled rhetoric of the Right ... to those who stuck with Drunky McStagger until it was too late, then picked up the mantle of the disingenuous charlatan who literally embraced him and his ideals ... to the doubters and the racists and the PUMAs and the liars and, yes, even certain convicted felons: today's Blast Off! Daily Schadenfreude is for you!

A woman's place is in the Senate

SEATED (l-r): Claire McCaskill (D-Mo.), Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.), Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-Tex.), Olympia Snowe (R-Me.) STANDING (l-r): Blanche Lincoln (D-Ark.), Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska), Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.), Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.), Mary Landrieu (D-La.), Debbie Stabenow (D-Mich.), Susan Collins (R-Me.), Barbara Mikulski (D-Md.), Elizabeth Dole (R-N.C.), Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.), Patty Murray (D-Wash.)

I just received an e-mail from the office of Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-Mo.), featuring a photo (right) of the sixteen women members of the U.S. Senate -- a record.

The senators appeared en masse on ABC's Good Morning America today in an interview with Diane Sawyer. The graphic: "The Women of the Senate: Next stop, the White House?" Transcript of the online excerpt follows -- obviously edited portions are designated by "jump cut" (full interview requires subscription, and I'm not giving ABC/Disney any money, needless to say).

To begin, it figures that Sawyer would open the interview by asking about the presidential candidacy of ... Barack Obama?!?

SAWYER: First thing, Senator Barack Obama. February the 10th, it's going to be "go" or "no go." [Camera on Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-N.Y.)] First reactions?

SEN. MARIA CANTWELL (D-Wash.): Well, he's a talented individual. We're so glad to have him in our caucus, and he's a voice, I think, that is bringing a lot of fresh ideas. We obviously are going to have some very talented people, including the person that's right next to me [Sen. Clinton]. We're so glad, because, you know, when we have a woman who might be in the White House, who could ascend to really bringing female leadership to a whole new level, that's exciting. And Barack is carrying a torch as well, for breaking the glass ceiling.

It's a long way, uh, till the first primary, but, um, I think we're very proud -- we're certainly very proud of what Senator Clinton has done and achieved in the United States Senate.

SAWYER: Senator Clinton, you're nodding ... anything else you want to say about Senator Obama?

SEN. CLINTON: I -- I would -- I would agree with what Maria said. [Laughter]

SEN. AMY KLOBUCHAR (D-Minn.): Consensus-building! It's consensus-building!

SAWYER: Do you believe that if there were more women presidents in the world, there would be less war? How sure of you [sic] that there would be less war? Do you think actually the world would be --

SEN. CANTWELL: Well, I think, Diane, I think that women are agents of change. And while we're only 16% of the United States Senate, we are trying to make change. So it doesn't mean that you're going to predict the outcome, but it does mean you will hear about collaboration, you will hear about cooperation, and you will hear about a format that I think brings people together. I think that's --

SEN. MARY LANDRIEU (D-La.): Let me say this: I'm not certain that we would have less wars [sic], but I am certain that there would be more collaboration [jump cut] so while we can't prevent war, we can maybe extend the peace longer, maybe we can bring it more readily. We don't ever claim that we could empower[?], end war, but I do think that women bring a different perspective on just how much is enough when it comes to bloodshed and expenditure of funds for weapons.

SEN. CLINTON: You know, Diane, I just got back from Iraq and Afghanistan, and both places, in addition to meeting with, um, our military leaders and, uh, the governmental officials from both countries, I met with groups of women, and women who are now in positions of responsibility in both governments [jump cut] just begged for help from American women, particularly those of us in government, to give them some resources and support. [jump cut]

So I don't think that you can, uh, foresee or foreordain any particular outcome, but I do think what we're all saying is that there is, at least in our experience, more of an openness to process, to bring people together to the table, that collaboration and collegiality. And that in and of itself can cause positive, uh, results -- not that, you know, it's going to end all wars or something as hopeful and aspirational as that.

So I -- I do think there are some differences we could build on.

SEN. DIANNE FEINSTEIN (D-Calif.): I think women look at power differently, too. I think men have a very, uh, I was going to say sort of upscale view of power, that it's got to really emanate from the top. And most women have gotten wherever we've gotten because of hard work, doing your apprenticeship, earning your spurs, working your way up. Um, it's a very different thing. So you tend to be, uh, much more inclusive.

SEN. SUSAN COLLINS (R-Me.): But I don't want to leave the impression that a woman president wouldn't do what is necessary to defend this country. If Elizabeth Dole had been successful and had been president, I'm sure that she would have reacted very strongly and effectively to the attacks on our country on 9/11.

SEN. McCASKILL: I want to point out, this is a tough, tough group of women. Don't cross these women! [Laughter] If you -- if you want to mess with America, if you want to do something that harms our country... I think that at the same time we talk about how we are good at finding common ground and we care very much about collegiality ... I don't want this interview to end with anyone being mistaken that, whether it be Hillary Clinton or we -- any of these women, if the time comes and any of us have [sic] to make a tough decision that has to do with -- with war or defending our country, every woman in this room is ready to do that, 'cause believe me, if she got here, she's tough.

Of course, it's impressive that we as a country are making such strides towards gender equality in Congress. But what just kills me about this interview is the way Sawyer handled it ... how insulting to Sen. Clinton (whom I do not support for president, truth be told), and really all of the women present, to open the session by asking about Obama. Then, to try to goad Sen. Clinton into commenting about Obama ... it might have been soft-pedalled a bit, but it basically is "gotcha" journalism with a feminine touch. Either way, it ain't pretty.

Now, it does make me wonder ... perhaps we would have been better off with Elizabeth Dole as president instead of Drunky McStagger. Hmmm ...

UPDATE (1:28 pm EST 1/18/07): Apologies for the photo caption running into the blockquote box. I don't know how to fix that without making it worse. Please forgive my HTML ignorance ...

UPDATE (11:01 pm EST 1/18/07): I see from my home PC that the caption only runs into the blockquote box if your browser (because of your monitor) has a narrower display. On my laptop, the caption bleeds into the box, but on this computer, it doesn't. Just didn't want you wondering why I saw things differently than you ... if I did.

The SCLM two-step

So, let me get this straight: a 59-year-old Democratic senator from a state with a Republican governor has major surgery, and the media mavens are falling all over themselves to discuss how it will affect control of the Senate, etc., etc.

Meanwhile, on the same day, a 70-year-old Republican senator from a state with a Democratic governor has major surgery, and ... crickets.

Look, I know Sen. Johnson's condition, AVM, or arteriovenous malformation, is probably more serious than Sen. Dole's hip replacement surgery. But, optimistically, there's no reason why Sen. Johnson's recovery should take appreciably longer than Sen. Dole's. At the very least, it's irresponsible journalism to assume the worst.

It's common to take several days for someone to wake up after AVM surgery, said Dr. Sean Grady, neurosurgery chairman at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania. Someone who is awake and alert and talking in the first day or two typically has a shorter recovery — in the range of 4 to 8 weeks, he said. If it takes longer to wake up, it in turn takes more months to recover.

Point is, right now, we just don't know, any more than we know if Sen. Dole might have some post-operative complications from her hip replacement.

In the final analysis, it's just another chapter in the sad, sordid decline of American media - now more right-wing than ever.

UPDATE (4:52 pm 12/14/06): There's also the issue of Sen. Craig Thomas (R-Wyo.), who was diagnosed last month with leukemia. Wyoming's governor is a Democrat. Have we heard much about that? Nope.