SoYouThinkYOUCanBePresident

The Convention ran so long that the NYT had no story this morning.  And so what.  They have a story tomorrow.  On the east coast it ran so late Joe didn’t get to speak in primetime.  So what, every new agency will run it again and again, and pencil press will right about it, whenever.  Last night while I was watching, I missed not being there.  But the line we’re going with now is “Iris you had a really good run, so step aside.” I will certainly do that but it surprised me that no one wanted to talk to the first and only woman to direct security at a National Political Convention.   That was close to a whine, but hey! I taped the convention so I could watch it at my discretion, which was from 10 to the end.  I love all the hoopla. Beyond the hoopla everyone seemed excited and invested.  Its hard to imagine that Trump will find a way to rain on the parade, but we all know he will.  Who cares When something goes awry, at an enormous e...

 Around this time of year, the circus came to Madison square garden. In 1980 the democratic convention was supposed to follow the circus into the Garden. Like one circus following the next.  Bill Dixon called me to report that they had hired convention staff except for the Director of Security. He proceeded to tell me that although they needed one woman in a senior role, the White House was pretty sure I wouldn’t or couldn’t be that person. I put on my Sadie hat and said, “of course I can, I have let’s of experience.”  Off to New York City to reinvent myself and begin another adventure.  There was a terrific appartment available on Park Ave, available with one bedroom and a sunken living room. It was close to the Garden but in a better neighborhood, so I signed a 6 month lease.   Off I went to NYC. Having no idea what was in store for me.  There were two important lessons I learned immediately. One was that you could have anything delivered to your hom...

One of my dearest friends, Angela, calls us the 4th quarter queens. Sounds good to me. Sure, I loved the politics but I also love the figuring out the government. You remember that Luther Hicks taught me everything I needed to know about the personnel system of the State Department/USIA. In addition to many other tricks, when someone told me I couldn’t do something, I could reply “yes I can and this is how you do it. Did I mention in part 3 that I built my office at International Visitors from 35 people to 90 people with foreign service officers who were over complement. Its too complicated. In my new and what I thought was temporary position as Chief of Staff at what was now USIA. It was not temporary so after three years I told the Director that I wanted the job of Chairman of Educational and Cultural Affairs, which was a Senate confirmed position. At the same time I met Kay Koplovitiz who founded USA and Syfy Television Networks and she asked me if I would like to work with her ...

There are so many ways to go after Trump. But where do you start?   We created the chicken statements and the ducks. Oh and then there were the Pinocchio’s, witches and the Harry Truman Truth Squad. How do you go after this moron running for President. And Vance who grew up as a Christian with one name, Married as a Hindu with another name and, I assume changed into a Christian again with who knows what name. Now that’s fodder for any trouble makers who wanted to fod. Watch our Donald Ducking Video    But wait. There is breaking news, the Americans held hostage in Russia will be released. Today, tonight, they are on their way home. The blob I was going to write was about choices. Maybe all my choices weren’t the best but what was lacking was follow through. For example, I was in USIA the cultural are of the state department. The officers who were taken by Iranian students were Cultural Affairs officers. It was horrible. We had meetings everyday with the political people a...

Hold Your Breath... The Republicans are ready to destroy our new nominee for President and it will be ugly at best. Although the Republicans think they know how to attack women, they have no clue. Right now their attacks are silly and childish but they will probably change and their name-calling will be vile and despicable. None of us should be surprised. So how should the Harris campaign proceed?  So far they have done all the right things. They have called and met with the right Congressional people. The donors are showing up. People who were confused or didn’t want Biden, are opening their purses and ready to support the new Female candidate.  One of the things that bothered me about the Biden campaign was the lack of a consistent, easy-to-understand message. “WE WON'T GO BACK!” It is pretty good. It certainly says what this campaign is about. It’s about the future not the past.  Yesterday I was talking to a dear friend who was the Lt Governor of Wisconsin at some poi...

So You Think You Can Be President, Who Doesn’t? Since this is the first blog on my new site, people have suggested that I write about my vision of my new book, "So You Think You Can be President, Who Doesn’t." Unlike our first book, my writing partner and friend Clay Greager, who passed away last October, wouldn’t like that. He would say, hey girl, move on! Truth is it isn’t easy without Clay. This book is a bit different; still political humor, but times have changed so much that there is a whole lot more.material. But Clay is in my head and with that.... Welcome to my new blog. It will be filled with great stories as well as commentary on the state of politics today. In 1963, while still in high school, a friend of mine asked a few of us if we would like to go to West Point as dates for some of the Cadets who were having a formal dance. Always being up for an adventure, I said, of course. There were four of us who agreed to do this. It was a Friday afternoon and the ga...

Key West is a place that can only be explained by the people who live there. It is sometimes a state of mind filled with junk stores, good food and lots of colorful people. It is all those things, but so much more, you could write a book about it. Which brings me to another book, which I wrote with Clay Greager, one of those colorful people. When I met Clay he owned a t-shirt shop on one of main streets in Key West. It was called “Last Flight Out" and there was lots of Vietnam and airplane stuff in the window. There was no way I could stay outside, so I went in. There were people milling around and I noticed that the owner was telling interesting and insightful stories. There were no chairs, so I sat down in the corner where I listened to Clay’s stories, and took some political calls - probably from candidates or their staff people. What I didn’t realize was that Clay was listening to my call at the same time I was listening to his stories. When all the customers were gone he turn...