Political Blog—May 2009

May 1—Souter and Specter

So Souter's retiring from the Supreme Court, and Arlen Specter is now a Democrat. The former is not necessarily a big deal since he was fairly liberal; the latter is not necessarily a big deal since Arlen Specter only switched parties to get reelected and was dumb enough to admit it. Nevertheless, I have to admit a grudging fondness for Snarlin' Arlen Specter.

Obama has until the first Monday in October to appoint a new justice to the Supreme Court. Already the GOP is opposing the nonexistent nominee for being too activist, not impartial or dispassionate enough, etc. Somebody even used the word "lawless." Brilliant. Obama has only said that he wants someone with a "sharp and independent mind," which I think probably means someone like himself. He wants someone who can understand everyday people's lives and how the Court's decisions will affect them, so he will probably pick someone from a less-than-privileged background.

May 3—Today on Meet the Press . . .

Today on Meet the Press they discussed the swine flu. I didn't pay that much attention to it since as near as I can tell, it's mostly hysteria.

Then Arlen Specter said he wants more diversity on the Supreme Court, which may be true but may also have been making nice with the Democrats. Then he admitted his shameless ambition in switching parties but also said the Republicans had moved too far to the right, which, while true, was exactly why he couldn't get reelected as a Republican.

. . . Hm. I guess I either didn't take such great notes, or else nothing noteworthy happened.

May 4—I remember that one guy I ended up really not liking was a big fan of Ron Paul. "Curiously," both of them couldn't stop talking to breathe.

Rachel Maddow interviewed Ron Paul tonight. I started off listening somewhat attentively but ended up writing "WOULD YOU SHUT THE FUCK UP!" in my notes as he babbled for two minutes straight near the end. But before that, he talked about how his supporters were miffed at the GOP's tea parties, and I noticed that he kept using "their" when discussing the GOP. In his own words, he would never have been noticed as a third party candidate in the last election, but he did stand a chance running with the GOP (and then promptly backed off upon losing). Guess what, Ron Paul, no one noticed you anyway.

That did remind me, though, of how the other day my dad and I were driving around someplace and this crazy asshole driver in a pickup truck was swerving all over the place almost causing accidents. He was staring into my dad's Jeep (instead of at the road ahead) as he passed us, giving us a clear view of his Ron Paul sticker. My dad and I silently stared at it for a second, and then he said, "Figures."

May 6—Yeah, the little guy named Dick Cheney.

Dick Cheney says he's trying to protect "the little guy" in the torture fiasco. As above, yes—the little guy named Dick Cheney. He's only interested in protecting the CIA operatives and so on; he hasn't said anything yet about the military.

Also, the GOP's idea for a "listening tour" (probably the best thing they could do with the way they've distanced their followers) got shot down by Cantor, saying that they would be talking to people and teaching them and so on and so forth. So there wouldn't be any listening involved. Sounds like political reeducation to me.

May 7—So much for 2012.

Sarah Palin's popularity is plummeting since she's ignoring the needs of her constituents in favor of her own political agenda. There's also the tabloid drama surrounding her daughter, not to mention her clamoring about offshore drilling when Alaska has the highest energy expenses in the country. May as well forget about 2012, 2016, or any future at all, Governor.

Rachel Maddow interviewed Lieutenant Dan Choi about the "Don't ask, don't tell" travesty that would not be legal anywhere else in the country. He (in case you didn't hear this story) was kicked out of the army after saying he was gay. Brilliant, just fucking brilliant. Kick out the Arab interpreters we so desperately need, but keep in the guys who claim Obama's not a U.S. citizen. No wonder they're having trouble recruiting.

May 10—Why are we there, again?

Today on Meet the Press, Zardari (the Pakistani president and widower of Bhenazir Bhutto) talked about the Taliban as possibly a greater threat to that country than India. He said it was a different context because Pakistan had been fighting a war of its existence prior to September 11th. Regarding the war in Iraq, he said everyone got together and created a monster without first thinking of a cure for it. He was relatively unsympathetic to the United States, pointing out that the U.S. has supported dictators of the past. He also observed that the U.S. has given less money to Pakistan than it has to AIG. When asked if he or the military ruled Pakistan, Zardari insisted he did, though that seems a matter of contention.

Later, Karzai (the Afghan president) voiced similarly unsympathetic opinions of the United States, stating that our forces there were too little, too late. Unfortunately, I'm inclined to agree, especially when he complained of civilian casualties and said we needed higher moral standards in order to win.

All in all, the whole episode exemplified the futility of our presence in the Middle East. It reminded me strongly of the scene in Full Metal Jacket where the marines complained of the Vietnamese not wanting us there and being ungrateful. God, I wish this were over.