THIS MODERN WORLD

Let’s remember this section from Bob Woodward’s book State of Denial:

[Andrew] Card kept pushing, at one point raising the possibility of change at the Pentagon with Vice President Cheney.

No, Cheney said, he was predisposed to recommend that the president keep Rumsfeld right where he was. Card was not surprised.

In private conversations with Bush, Cheney said Rumsfeld’s departure, no matter how it might be spun, would be seen only as an expression of doubt and hesitation on the war. It would give the war critics great heart and momentum, he confided to an aide, and soon they would be after him and then the president. He virtually insisted that Rumsfeld stay.

The American Taliban were dealt a setback last night, with the defeat of a strict abortion ban in one of the most conservative parts of the country.

SIOUX FALLS, South Dakota (Reuters) — South Dakota voters overturned on Tuesday a state abortion ban that supporters had championed as the best chance to challenge a 33-year-old U.S. Supreme Court decision legalizing the procedure.

“This means that there has been a rebellion against social, right-wing wedge politics that have been dominating this country,” said Sarah Stoesz, chief of Planned Parenthood’s operations in the Dakotas and Minnesota, key backers of the campaign to kill the measure.

“It is a very important victory for people who are open-minded and progressive in this country.” (View ballot initiatives results)

Supporters of the abortion ban declined to comment.

With 81 percent of vote counted early Wednesday, those voting to overturn the law had an advantage of 55 percent to 45 percent, and CNN projected a victory for opponents of the measure.

Signed by Gov. Mike Rounds on March 6, the South Dakota law would have banned abortions at all stages of pregnancy, including cases of rape and incest, and offered no exception if a mother is in poor health. The law would have allowed a doctor to perform an abortion if a woman is dying but requires the doctor to try to save the life of the fetus as well as the woman.

A couple of days ago, I mentioned the apparent suicide of Adrienne Shelly, who I knew slightly during the early nineties. As you may have heard, the story turns out to be even more terrible and tragic:

He told detectives that he had hit her in the face and had thought she was dead. So, the police said, he wrapped a sheet around her neck and hanged her from a shower curtain rod, figuring that the police would think suicide. But he was wrong on both counts.

It was the hanging that killed Adrienne Shelly, a Manhattan actress and a mother, the authorities said yesterday. And it was the ruse of a fake suicide that ultimately led detectives to the man charged with killing her.

Such was the courtroom revelation at the arraignment of Diego Pillco, 19, an illegal immigrant from Ecuador who is charged with second-degree murder in the death of Ms. Shelly, 40, last week. The case has given pause to even the most experienced police investigators, who call it one of the most macabre killings in memory.

Deepest condolences to her family. What a stupid, awful waste.

Lamont’s momentum vanished after the primary. Apparently the big guns from DC came in with some helpful advice, which was probably something like, “don’t emphasize the war so much, focus on the positive!” Of course, the entire election turned out to be about the war.

If the Democratic establishment had thrown some muscle behind Lamont, it would probably have made a difference, but mostly the big names were notable for their absence. John Edwards came to the state once that I know of, and Hillary Clinton and others indicated lukewarm support for their party’s nominee, but mostly the party tried to stay out of this one — all the while reassuring Joe behind the scenes that he would certainly keep his seniority if elected as an independent, not wanting to alienate the man, for heaven’s sake. Well, news flash: Joe was alienated the second he was challenged. He owes his re-election a much to Sean Hannity as he does to Democratic establishment timidity, and don’t imagine for one second that that’s not going to come back to bite Democrats in the ass.

To be honest, though, the other problem was the candidate himself. With all due respect to everyone who professed genuine enthusiasm for his candidacy, Lamont just wasn’t that compelling. He seemed sincere enough, and liberal enough in a cautious, moderate kind of way — which made him a raving leftist compared to Lieberman — but there was always something awkward about him as a candidate, like watching the clumsy guy at the party try to dance with the pretty girl. You’re kind of rooting him on, but you’re kind of cringing at the same time. Still, it’s not as if the dance floor was full of challengers with the willingness and the financial resources to take on Joe Lieberman. Sometimes you go to an election with the candidate you’ve got, to paraphrase Donald Rumsfeld.

Too soon this morning to know if the Democrats have eked out a razor-thin margin in the Senate, but if they have, it is dependent upon Sean Hannity’s best friend, Joe Lieberman. Which means the Republicans are still one vote up in everything pertaining to the war, torture, eavesdropping, etc.

Still: the Ct. race aside, the narrative of this election overall will be that Democrats won decisively, in an undeniable repudiation of the Iraq war and the Bush agenda in general. It’s a shame that it took six years of chaos and death to get to this point, but sometimes you take what you can get.