Reshma's Afghanistan Remark And The Wise Guys/Gals At FireDogLake

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New York Daily News Endorses Reshma Saujani, Who Thinks “Afghanistan Attacked Us” By Jane Hamsher, FireDogLake

The insinuation here is that Reshma Saujani is a green horn, especially on foreign policy, and does that not make the New York Daily News an ignorant little newspaper to have endorsed Reshma Saujani in the hottest primary in America?

First thing first, the New York Daily News is not some ignorant little newspaper. It is the most widely circulated newspaper in New York City. Or maybe the FireDogLake people are based out of Utah, and they don't know that little fact.

As for Afghanistan. Osama Bin Laden - or maybe the FireDogLake people think it was Saddam - masterminded and funded the most vicious attack on US territory since Pearl Harbor. Not even Pearl Harbor itself compares to 9/11. No attack on US soil compares to 9/11. 9/11 was the first attack of its kind on US territory.

The Al Qaeda did it. Osama Bin Laden was and is the chief of that organization. He was living in Afghanistan and might still be. At the time he was living under the direct protection of Mullah Omar, who was and is the head of the Taliban, and is also on the run. Osama Bin Laden played a key role in bringing the Taliban to power in Afghanistan. Osama Bin Laden and Mullah Omar were blood relatives in 2001. The Taliban was and is a regional organization. The Al Qaeda was and is global. The Al Qaeda continues to actively plot against the US. If they have not succeeded on a second attack, it has not been for lack of trying.

After 9/11 happened, the US asked Mullah Omar, the head of state of Afghanistan at the time - today it is Hamid Karzai - to hand over Osama Bin Laden. If he refused, that would be tantamount to a declaration of war. Mullah Omar refused. He claimed he had no knowledge of the 9/11 plot and that the US needed to submit proof that Osama Bin Laden had something to do with it in the first place. Maybe the blog FireDogLake is interested in that parsing of words, but my candidate is not.

It was Afghanistan, it was not Iraq. That was the whole Obama 08 plank, that the US needed to stay focused on Afghanistan and the Afghan-Pak border, that to go into Iraq was to take eyes off the Al Qaeda that never stopped plotting against the US in the first place.

That is why President Obama has increased military presence in Afghanistan but has pulled out of Iraq.

Are you still going to tell me Afghanistan did not attack the US? If the people in power at the time in Afghanistan had nothing to do with it before or after 9/11, they would have handed over Bin Laden. Instead they ran away with him and are perhaps hiding together as we speak. Why?

In The News

Russell Simmons Backs Maloney Foe New York Daily News (blog) (AllVoices.com)
Rep. Carolyn Maloney, Reshma Saujani and Me Clyde Fitch Report (blog)
The Main Street-Wall Street Battle: When Will It End? Wall Street Journal (blog)
Hip-Hop Mogul Russell Simmons For Reshma Saujani In NY-14 Primary Brawl By Celeste Katz
Rep. Carolyn Maloney, Reshma Saujani have raised more than $4.1M in East Side race for House seat New York Daily News
Economy tops issues in Maloney race YourNabe.com
Scoopy's Notebook The Villager
Incumbents Have Edge In Most Races Western Queens Gazette
Custom Shirts, GPS Dating and Hyperlocal News at the NY Tech Meetup NY Convergence (blog)
Congressional hopeful Reshma Saujani: 'I might not vote' on Election Day if I lose primary New York Daily News
An Insider Running as an Outsider New York Times (blog)
The New York Observer's Primary Choices New York Observer
Murkowski Not Done Yet, Political Mudslinging on Twitter and More in Capital Eye Opener: September 8 Center for Responsive Politics
New York Daily News Endorses Reshma Saujani, Who Thinks “Afghanistan Attacked Us” By Jane Hamsher, FireDogLake
Saujani Harshly Criticizes Maloney in Radio Debate | The Lo-Down NY
Maloney, Saujani Spar in Radio Debate | OurTownNY
Links to Wall St. Become Liability in Primary Races - NYTimes.com By DealBook
Maloney, Saujani Spar in Radio Debate By Our Town
Reshma Saujani Calls Carolyn Maloney a Liar During Radio Debate DNAinfo
The Big Debate: Rep. Carolyn Maloney Vs. Reshma Saujani - Liveblog New York Daily News (blog)
Before Debate, Maloney, Saujani Get Dueling Endorsements | OurTownNY
Good Morning! | The Lo-Down : News from the Lower East Side By ed, The Lo Down NY
The Big Debate: Rep. Carolyn Maloney Vs. Reshma Saujani – Liveblog By admin, Colocation Hosting Pricing
Reshma Saujani: "Afghanistan Attacked Us" Video
RESHMA SAUJANI: YOU GO GIRL! Janet Hanson · 85Broads.com
New York Daily News Endorses Reshma Saujani, Who Thinks "Afghanistan Attacked Us"
Battle For NY-14: Maloney, Saujani Each Get Big Endorsements Gothamist
For Indian-American pols, the “What are you?” test | Gauhar.com By sarmad
YouTube - Reshma Saujani on Israel
Reshma Saujani Vs. Carolyn Maloney On Debating... Again - New York
Daily News Endorses Reshma Saujani, Francisco Moya, Lynn Nunes New York Daily News (blog)
Daily News Endorses Saujani | The Lo-Down : News from the Lower East Side
DN For Saujani To Bring 'New Blood' To NY Delegation By Liz Benjamin, Capital Tonight
Mayor Graham's View: DN For Saujani To Bring 'New Blood' To NY Delegation By Jeff Graham
THE N.Y. TIMES ENDORSEMENT EDITION: AGAINST RANGEL, FOR LAZIO AND MALONEY.. Florida Latin Connection
Daily News Endorses Reshma Saujani, Francisco Moya, Lynn Nunes Cars, Trucks, Motorcycles
Daily News Endorses Reshma Saujani, Francisco Moya, Lynn Nunes

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Okay, So Maloney Has Been A Democrat, And A Woman

Image via WikipediaCarolyn Maloney has been a Democrat. She has consistently voted the party line. But to say Maloney is a Democrat in the context of the September 14 primary is to insinuate Reshma Saujani is perhaps not a Democrat. That would be a lie. To point out that Maloney has voted the party line is to imply that perhaps Reshma has not been, or will not be a loyal Democrat. That amounts to slander.

No, Maloney did not wave a magic wand and turn a Republican district into a Democratic district. She did not benefit from her extraordinary political skills or rousing oratory in 1992, she benefited from redistricting that added big chunks of Democratic territory to District 14, namely Astoria and Roosevelt Island. So the suggestion that if Maloney is not on the ballot in November then somehow the dams will burst and the seat will go to some guy called Brumberg, that is, well, Baloney. Reshma is going to have an easy victory in November.

The biggest things people say about Maloney is that she has consistently voted the party line. They do that because there are no bigger things to say about Maloney. She has no national stature. She is a City Council woman who ended up in Congress by happenstance. She won because of redistricting and she has kept the seat by not allowing for any primary opponents. Her 18 years of reign have been a sham. The dirty guys on her payroll have kicked off all of her primary opponents over the decades. They tried the same with Reshma Saujani, but they found they instead have a fight on their hands. Because Reshma Saujani is a fighter.

To vote the party line on health care reform, and then to try and take credit for health care reform in a Democratic primary is dishonest. You can say that in November, but not in September. Reshma Saujani is a Democrat who is already dreaming in terms of Health Care Reform 2.0.

Maloney voted the party line on Wall Street reform. Reshma has been for Wall Street reform since day one. Her father lost a big chunk of his 401K to the mess that made the Maloney family 20 million dollars. Now tell me, who is Wall Street's candidate? Maloney showed up with the sheriff after the looting was over. The curious thing is that she was part of the looting. She watered down regulations in 1999. When people talk about the hypocrisy in Washington DC, they are talking about Maloney. You loot the people and then you show up on stage claiming you are their savior. But the people are smart. They are going to connect the dots on September 14, and they are going to blame Maloney for the Great Recession.

Things get much worse on gender. It is like saying because Al Sharpton is a bonafide civil rights leader - which he is - and so you should not vote for Barack Obama for president. They are both black, but they are apples and oranges. Carolyn Maloney and Reshma Saujani are both women but they are apples and oranges.

They say Maloney Baloney passed anti rape legislation. That really gets under my shirt because that is like suggesting if Reshma Saujani ends up in Congress, she is going to pass pro rape legislation, or something. Rape is a heinous crime, and anti rape law enforcement has to be funded to the teeth, and I am glad the US Congress took some steps in the 2000s. But why not the 1990s? Why not the 1980s? Why did Maloney wait a full decade and a half before she worked on anti rape legislation? That is the real question.

This mediocre, reliable, token woman Democrat reminds me of Charlie Rangel. Charlie Rangel is that black dude that white folks choose to be nice to. Charlie, I am going to show up for your birthday party, I just want you to keep saying race is no longer an issue, or at least not between us.

Men on Capitol Hill have been hoodwinking Carolyn Maloney. They say, Carolyn, so here's 10 million dollars for anti rape legislation, now please make this gender thing go away please, enough.

Charlie Rangel is not my idea of progress on race. Carolyn Maloney is not my idea of progress on gender. The women on the East Side need to wake up. They live in a city whose local news is national news, global news. The choice they will make on September 14 will reverberate around the country, around the world. This is not just about the East Side.

Maloney is an abject failure on all counts. But I don't really blame her. I suspect she was born mediocre. She did her stint. Now say bye bye Maloney Baloney.

Bill Clinton has also managed to put a few tens of billions into the Global South. That is like Maloney putting tens of millions into anti rape legislation. There are three billion needy people in the Global South. 20 billion from Bill Clinton and 40 billion from Bill Gates are drops in the ocean. I want Reshma to figure out a way to pump a trillion dollars in Wall Street for-profit money into global microfinance. Now that would not be a drop, but a full bucket.

Carolyn Maloney needs to retire already.

Baloney Maloney will tell you she has authored 70 bills in Congress. What she will not tell you is only three of those have actually passed, one was to do with renaming some post office. So if you one day find yourself at a Carolyn Maloney Post Office, now you know how that happened.

Liar, liar, pants on fire.

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Hillary Means More To Reshma Than Barack Means To Me

I don't really know how to explain this, but I am going to try.

All my slights, my hurts, all the topsy turvies along my career path - some days I feel like I have not even started on one yet - all of them can be encapsulated in 500 years of world history. Beyond 500 years I draw a blank. When you go back more than 500 years, I come across stories of all sorts of glorious kings in my part of the world, some of whom were supposedly great, but they were still kings, the arrangement still was feudal. But you hang on to the threads regardless. They are dead and gone.

But for women that span has got to be 10,000 years, at least 10,000 years.

At some level I was really torn in 2007 and 2008. I wished I did not have to choose between the idea of the first black president and the first woman president, I wished I did not have to choose between the two super duper candidates. But I did throw in my lot with Barack, and I did do the best I could for him. The one solace was that perhaps this was the future. Women and black men could compete for the top most jobs and there was not much angst among the masses. This will perhaps feel normal down the line as well, I thought. I took solace in that thought.

Here were two out and out outstanding individuals. And they were both running for president. A more powerful political office has never been designed ever. This was a big deal.

I have worked hard to talk in terms of The New Woman for September 14. I have done it because I concluded early on that that was what was going to be the biggest reason for victory. The techies and brownies will pad the victory margins, but it is the women on the East Side who will have to wake up to give Reshma her much deserved victory on September 14.

And victory it shall be. I smell it. It's near. It's about to happen.

September 14 Will Birth The New Woman
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Carolyn Maloney: The Al Sharpton Of Gender Relations
Maloney Wrote A Book Saying Her Best Is Not Good Enough

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