Strange bedfellows

I have been generally annoyed by the hubbub over Rev. Jeremiah Wright--I certainly don't support everything he's said, but I do believe that if Barack Obama is to be held responsible for everything the man says (which might be a slight exaggeration), then John McCain should have to answer for the rhetoric of John Hagee, et al.

Coming to Rev. Wright's defense, perhaps surprisingly, is Mike Huckabee:

"[Y]ou can't hold the candidate responsible for everything that people around him may say or do," Huckabee says. "It's interesting to me that there are some people on the left who are having to be very uncomfortable with what ... Wright said, when they all were all over a Jerry Falwell, or anyone on the right who said things that they found very awkward and uncomfortable, years ago. Many times those were statements lifted out of the context of a larger sermon. Sermons, after all, are rarely written word for word by pastors like Rev. Wright, who are delivering them extemporaneously, and caught up in the emotion of the moment. There are things that sometimes get said, that if you put them on paper and looked at them in print, you'd say 'Well, I didn't mean to say it quite like that.'"

Later, he defended Wright's anger, too:

"As easy as it is for those of us who are white to look back and say 'That's a terrible statement!' ... I grew up in a very segregated South. And I think that you have to cut some slack -- and I'm gonna be probably the only conservative in America who's gonna say something like this, but I'm just tellin' you -- we've gotta cut some slack to people who grew up being called names..."

Huckabee gets perilously close to what I like to call the "context fallacy," wherein any embarrassing, inflammatory, offensive, or just plain nasty comment presented as a soundbyte can be dismissed by the speaker as having been "taken out of context," usually with no follow-up explanation (or inquiry) as to the correct context. The speaker often gets a free pass, or at least a reprieve as the news media move on to other scandals or verbal gaffes.

Regardless of context, Rev. Wright has said some pretty wacky stuff, but the question few are asking is this: how much should a parishioner be held directly responsible for the rhetoric of his/her pastor/minister/rabbi/imam/etc.? Partly it depends on the extracurricular activities of the church/temple/mosque/etc. For example, an active member of Westboro Baptist Church could certainly be said to bear some responsibility for what its pastor says and does, comsidering that church's rather single-minded focus, but that is an extreme example. For a church such as Wright's Trinity United Church of Christ, with over 10,000 members (h/t Wikipedia), that is a harder connection to make. I for one am not terribly bothered by Wright's infamous rhetoric--in part, because the broader context (now that I've looked into it a little) seems relatively benign when compared to say, Jerry Falwell or the aforementioned Rev. Hagee; but also because Rev. Wright seems to be expressing anger and frustration (cf. Huckabee, above) alone, not some sort of plan for rearranging the world order (I'm just paranoid enough to suspect Rev. Hagee has that in mind.)

At any rate, I like that Huckabee stepped up for the guy, and I wish everyone would talk about something else.

A friendly reminder

"When the President takes measures incompatible with the expressed or implied will of Congress, his power is at its lowest ebb, for then he can rely only upon his own constitutional powers minus any constitutional powers of Congress over the matter. Courts can sustain exclusive presidential control in such a case only by disabling the Congress from acting upon the subject. Presidential claim to a power at once so conclusive and preclusive must be scrutinized with caution, for what is at stake is the equilibrium established by our constitutional system."

Youngstown Sheet & Tube Co., et al v. Sawyer, 343 U.S. 579, 637-38 (1952, J. Jackson, concurring)

Celebrating the 10th Monicaversary!

Drudge Retort has the news:

On the evening of Saturday January 17, 1998, the internet gossip merchant Matt Drudge posted a story that opened the most sensational scandal season in the history of the American presidency. He reported that Newsweek magazine had killed reporter Michael Isikoff's story about President Clinton's sexual relationship with a former intern. The next day he had her name: Monica Lewinsky.

Ah, sweet memories...times were so much simpler then, right?

Let's all point at Tom and laugh, now

This article is rather short on details, but apparently Tom DeLay was laughed at during his dire warning about a Hillary Clinton presidency during a speech in England.

Not that I'm a huge Hillary Clinton fan, but it's always nice to see ol' Tom knocked down a few pegs.

Hey, hey, Rudy G, you're no firefighter, you're a damn Yankee!

Okay, that was my lame attempt to come up with a protest cheer. This was after reading this bemusing piece on how Rudy G spent about twice as much time in the months after 9/11 attending and travelling to and from Yankees' games instead of at ground zero, somewhat undercutting his claim that he was at ground zero more than almost anyone else. Like we needed any further proof that he's a scrub.

The sins of the father

It seems Bush the Elder, awash in criticism of Bush the Lesser, is sad about the whole affair. I say suck it up and reap what you have sown--I second the thoughts offered by No More Mr. Nice Blog, who clearly had more coffee in his system when he wrote his post.

That did not take long

Call it the ingenuity of American capitalism fueled by the Internet.

Call it a crass, insensitive insult to the departed.

Call it karmic retribution.

Call it a kinda funny, kinda stupid t-shirt.



I'm most likely done with Falwell commentary now.

The Buckley has spoken

Let all heed the words of William F. Buckley.

See, what he did was okay, because he never lied under oath about getting a blowjob...

Dennis Kucinich introduced articles of impeachment against Dick Cheney in the House yesterday. There are three articles, all relating to misleading the American public and government about WMD's in Iraq, an Iraq-Al Qaeda connection, etc. It is extremely important for all Americans to note, however, that Cheney has never lied about getting a blowjob. He's probably never gotten one, period.

I still say we need more sex in the White House (the kind that's possibly illegal in some states) to fix many of the problems we have right now. Where's that porn star who ran for governor? (NSFW!)

I was wrong to meddle with the forces of darkness, and I realize that now...

This is too good to be made up:

Deceased Serbian president Slobodan Milosevic, who died in captivity in Haag last year standing on trial for War Crimes in a UN War Crimes tribunal, still seem to haunt the Serbian nation.

Recently his grave in the eastern Serbian town of Pozarevac was desecrated in a bizarre incident, when Serbian vampire hunters in accordance with old folklore and tradition wanted to make sure the late president remained dead, and drove a three-foot wooden stake into the grave and through his heart.

Those crazy Serbs!