Hagee, California Wild Fires and Gay Marriage

 

I was in the gym watching CNN and saw a new headlines with video about 3 large fires in California.  The news sprawl then reported the news that the California Supreme Court just declared gay marriage to be constitutional in the State of California.

And then I saw John Hagee’s name sprawling about some different topic, and I wondered…

When will Pastor Hagee blame today’s California wild fires on the california Supreme Court’s decision today legalizing gay marriage? 

and 

How will John McCain prevaricate when asked if he condemns Hagee’s latest comment?

The Golfer-in-Chief Mischips Another Shot

Of all the things President Bush could have sacrificed as a symbolic act that these were not ordinary times, that the country needed to rally around the troops, their families, itself, all he came up with is golf. 

Last evening, Keith Olbermann went to town on this revelation and his compelling special comment about the president’s golf sacrifice, is worthy of praise.

Olbermann Blasts Bush\’s Golfing Remark

But let me come at it from a slightly different angle. During the last five years, political observers have documented the abundance of gross incompetence, negligence, high crimes and misdemeanors and other impeachable offenses since the US first invaded Iraq.  Obviously the president should have been brought to justice a long time ago. He should have been impeached, convicted and should now be sitting before a war crimes tribunal (hopefully, the latter will still occur). 

But here’s the thing,  given this context, I suggest that rather than giving up golf, the president should have given up something of greater symbolic import– like the presidency.  I say this because Bush was as incompetent at golf as he was at the presidency.  All he plays is speed golf and he is lousy at that. Speed golf is a version of golf that defeats the purpose of this sport being about concentration, focus and other mental and mind-body faculties. Unlike speed chess which heightens these faculties, speed golf is golf for people with ADHS (not meant as a cut against ADHD).

As badgolfer.com says

George W. Bush doesn’t just play golf either. He plays bad golf, the only kind you can really respect. W. learned speed golf from his father, and it’s the only way he prefers to play. Pity the French diplomats who want a traditional golf meeting with our President. They better get those chicken legs moving. Bush hits a shot and goes, speeding off to follow his ball and quickly hit it again. Thinking? Who needs thinking!

As Olbermann observed, golf is so trivial a sacrifice as to be sublimely idiotic.  Clearly, the president should have resigned the office of the presidency as his atonement for what he had done: to the troops, their families, Americans everywhere, and the entire world.  

Only that act would have convinced me he was serious about atoning for the war.

 

 

Edwards Endorsement Perfectly Timed

I was more than a bit surprised that the John Edwards endorsement of barack Obama is getting the above the fold attention it is receiving this morning.  Quite frankly as Edwards himself suggested last week, I thought the endorsement would be treated as irrelevant.  I think It shows a number of things:

1) Edwards is still a player, as his 7% or so in WV also suggests.

2) Edwards was the real populist in the race, as opposed to Clinton’s more recent and cynical and exploitive approach.  The endorsement won’t hurt with the white working class WV demographic that folks seem concerned about

3) Edwards new anti-poverty initiative announced on Tuesday now might well stand some chance of cutting thru some of the policy and bureaucratic thicket inside the beltway.  As part of an Obama Presidency, this initiative could bring about  21st century version of LBJ’s War on Poverty.

4) As for timing, couldn’t be shrewder political move than timing the endorsement speech to coincide with start of the nightly news cycle. Beautiful. cudos to Obama team. Shows that Obama’s team as smart as some suggest.

5) Replaced Clinton 40 point win as news headline.  This is telling for the following reason: the msm could have decided otherwise. Obviously, they have made the decision that the Hillary candidacy is finally old news. Time to move on.

I was an Edwards supporter and am really pleased to see how he and Obama moved down the chess board on this one.

Nice going!