The American Debate: So much to give thanks for this year

With the holiday weekend on the wane, we have much to be thankful for. I know I do. I'm tempted to just list the obvious - Citizens Bank Park (jewel of the Mid-Atlantic), Keith Richards (doing great for a guy who looks as if he died in 1978), TiVo, bike lanes, life itself, stuff like that - but the realm here is politics. So here are my Top 10 recipients, for whom I give thanks:

Karl Rove. When George W. Bush's swami dissed Christine O'Donnell in September - telling Fox News that he "wasn't impressed with her as a candidate" because "there are a lot of nutty things she has been saying that don't add up" - he basically signaled Delaware Republicans that it would be unwise to send her to the Senate and make their state the laughingstock of the nation. The voters figured that out anyway, but kudos to Karl for his candid public service.

Charlie Rangel. In my business, it always helps to have a true-life character who can put a human face on congressional corruption. The New York Democrat was found guilty, by his House peers, on 12 corruption counts - yet still, he cedes nothing. He's wrangling to avoid the recommended verdict of censure; meanwhile, sartorially splendid as always, he insists that the press is to blame for all his woes (the nonpayment of taxes, the failure to disclose millions in income). It's that old Nixonian excuse. And it worked so well for Nixon.

The Republican voters of Nevada. I'm thankful for the entertainment. In the Senate primary, they decided not to nominate the establishment candidate (Sue Lowden), who twice proposed bartering chickens for health care, instead choosing a tea-party candidate (Sharron Angle) who believed that Muslim "sharia law" was predominant in the town of Frankford, Texas. Which was fascinating, because Frankford officially ceased to exist in 1975. Harry Reid, duly reelected, owes Angle an entire holiday bird.

Our culture of forgiveness. Or tolerance. Or indifference. How else can we explain the phenomenon of a new prime-time CNN show being cohosted by a guy who crashed his political career after he spent $100,000 on hookers? As Jay Leno quipped, if Eliot Spitzer had been a plumber and got caught with a hooker, he'd have his wife's SUV tire tracks on his skull. But Spitzer is too big to fail, which means that F. Scott Fitzgerald was wrong when he famously said there are no second acts in American lives.

Barbara Bush. Bless her reliably flinty heart. Her deftly phrased verdict last week on Sarah Palin: "I sat next to her once. Thought she was beautiful. And she's very happy in Alaska, and I hope she'll stay there." (Runner-up in this category is Lisa Murkowski, the Alaska Republican senator. Her verdict earlier this month on Palin: "I just do not think that she has those leadership qualities, that intellectual curiosity that allows for building good and great policies. You know, she was my governor for two years. And I don't think that she enjoyed governing.")

Our culture of tolerance. Or forgiveness. Or numbness. Did you notice that two Senate candidates, Republican Mark Kirk in Illinois and Democrat Dick Blumenthal in Connecticut, won despite being outed for repeatedly dissembling about their military service? Kirk falsely implied that he had served in Operation Iraqi Freedom; Blumenthal falsely suggested he had served in Vietnam. On this holiday weekend, Kirk should be thankful that his opponent had a track record as a shady banker; Blumenthal should be thankful that his opponent was a wrestling mogul widely known for a video in which she kicked a man in the crotch.

Heath Shuler. Never heard of him, right? I'm thankful that at least one House Democrat had the presence of mind to challenge Nancy Pelosi for the post of 2011 minority leader. Pelosi led House Democrats to disastrous electoral defeat in 2010; by what rational logic should she have kept her job? Well, she did. Shuler, a Southern moderate, lost in the Democratic caucus (the mostly liberal survivors circled the wagons), but it was a fight worth having. Even if Pelosi, like Spitzer, was apparently too big to fail.

The GM bailout. Everyone went ballistic, almost two years ago, when the government committed nearly $50 billion to General Motors. Well, guess what? GM has reported its third successive profitable quarter, and it's back on the stock market with bright prospects for recouping the taxpayers' money. Economist Mark Zandi, who advised John McCain in 2008, says: "This is a very significant win for policymakers. They did absolutely the right thing." But will the '09 Republican doomsayers - such as GOP Chairman Michael Steele, who said the GM rescue effort was "further proof that President Obama's economic experiments are wrong for America" - have the decency to admit error?

The federal civilian courts. I'm thankful for their successful prosecutions of terrorism suspects. Yeah, Ahmed Ghailani, accused in the 1998 embassy bombings in Africa, was convicted on just one count this month (and acquitted of 280 others), but he'll still get at least 20 years. The failed Times Square bomber pleaded guilty this year in a civilian court and was jailed for life. A failed New York City subway bomber did the same, and he was jailed for life. All told, more than 400 terrorism suspects have been tried and convicted in civilian courts since 9/11; the Bush team, by its own count, got 319 convictions (and a 90 percent conviction rate). I'm thankful and proud that our civilian system of justice is so strong. How come the Republican right, which wants military tribunals, doesn't feel the same?

Charlie Crist. The lame-duck governor of Florida, a onetime moderate Republican who ran and lost his Senate race as an independent, is stepping down soon - but not before making a courageous decision. He wants to pardon Jim Morrison, the Doors singer who was convicted in Florida 41 years ago for dropping his pants at a concert. The thing is, Morrison since 1971 has been a resident of Pere Lachaise Cemetery in Paris. But no matter. We should always be thankful for a decisive politician who shows he can get things done. So go for it, Charlie, because the hour is late. As the Doors idol used to croon, "The time to hesitate is through / No time to wallow in the mire."