The Day Our MP Socked It To The Harper Valley PTA (otherwise known as The US Senate)

“You have nothing on me, senator, except my name on lists of names from Iraq, many of which have been drawn up after the installation of your puppet government in Baghdad.”

Whoa.

Way to go George Galloway. In his testimony before Senator Norm Coleman's (R-MN) Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs investigation subcommittee, Galloway did more than deny charges that he'd profited from Iraq's oil for food scams. He blew the junior senator from Minnesota out of the water.

Of course, I don't understand why a British MP needs to testify in front of the US Senate. But the Senate can investigate anything it damn well feels like, steroid use in sports, changes in nutrition guidelines, prisoner abuse in Abu Ghraib, Pamela Anderson's breast implants. (OK, maybe not that one, but I'm sure somebody's thought about it).

They shouldn't have tangled with George Galloway.

Ever since we've switched over to British news, we've been following Galloway. He's a pistol all right. Expelled from the Labour party for urging British soldiers not to fight in Iraq, he won re-election to Parliament representing the independent Respect party. How many of U.S. politicians would have the guts to go against the party like that and then go on and win anyway?

He managed to turn every accusation on its head. My favorite is his reply to the accusation that he had "many meetings" with Saddam Hussien.

"I have had two meetings with Saddam Hussein, once in 1994 and once in August of 2002. By no stretch of the English language can that be described as "many meetings" with Saddam Hussein.

"As a matter of fact, I have met Saddam Hussein exactly the same number of times as Donald Rumsfeld met him. The difference is Donald Rumsfeld met him to sell him guns and to give him maps the better to target those guns. I met him to try and bring about an end to sanctions, suffering and war.."

Coleman said afterward that if Galloway lied during his testimony, there would be consquences.

To paraphrase another savvy politician, Bring 'em on.