It occasionally happens that I agree with Lindsey Graham, and this is one of those times. He says that if Kim Davis feels she cannot carry out the responsibilities of County Clerk of Rowan County, Kentucky, she should resign. (Personally, I don't mind if she uses up her vacation days while she's in jail — it's the kind of thing vacation days are for.)
Her mother was county clerk for thirty-seven years, and Kim Davis worked under her mother. Her son works in the office now, and probably expects to be elected to his mother's job when she's ready to retire. That's small town politics. It's extremely likely she ran unopposed, or against some token Republican candidate. (Yes, Kim Davis is a Democrat.)
Some states are enacting legislation which would allow public officials to refuse to perform their duties when those duties conflict with their religious convictions. We can be quite certain that such laws will be invalidated by Federal courts, but the process is likely to drag on and on, and get pretty boring before it's over.
Catholic judges can't refuse to issue divorce decrees, and Muslim postal workers can't refuse to deliver copies of Playboy because the centerfold isn't wearing a hijab. As Donald Trump says, this is a nation of laws. I hope Ms. Davis enjoys her moment of celebrity, but the chief significance of this particular instance of conscientious objection is that it is further splitting the Republican party.
Showing posts with label Lindsey Graham. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Lindsey Graham. Show all posts
Sunday, September 6, 2015
Tuesday, May 18, 2010
Compromise
"I just said it was like a cross between a bulldog and chihuahua,
but what I meant is it will have a fantastic hybrid vigor."
Boris Johnson - Mayor of London
Most Americans are paying little or no attention to the recent elections in the UK. I might be among them were it not for the fact that I indulge in a bit of BBC on podcast while out walking off the pounds. What I've enjoyed most about the recent UK excitement is the way the right (Cameron and the Conservatives) have so easily found a route to compromise with the (sort of) left (Clegg and the LibDems.) (Please pardon my parentheses.)
Our own Barack Obama has been attempting to travel a similar course, with many unexpected and, doubtless, heartrending roadblocks thrown up in his way. Somehow, he managed to endorse offshore drilling for oil just in advance of the destruction of the Gulf of Mexico. Somehow, he managed to endorse the SM-3 missile interceptor system just before it was shown to be pretty-much worthless. Honestly, I don't believe the guy is an asshole — but I think he's been getting some pretty bad advice.
The Far Right has taken over the Republican establishment, and the Tea Party dorks are almost a breath of fresh air — kind of like a right-of-center LibDem-ish minority. There is nobody even remotely open to compromise in the GOP except for, perhaps, Lindsey Graham and those two women from Maine. Unlike just about all the other Republicans, they're not unmitigated opportunists — they say what they mean. (I especially admire Lindsey Graham, for his genuine respect for the law.)
Frankly, Mr. President, this might be an ideal time to be a one-term president, so stop trying to compromise and take a firm stand. Dump those Rubin relics, repudiate the remnant Clintonians, and just lose the goddamned election in 2012! The steps the new president will be forced to take — to deal with an ongoing economic crisis — will be so unpopular that his or her party will be pesonae non gratae for many subsequent years.
Take one for the team, and stop trying to be all things to all people. You're not.
but what I meant is it will have a fantastic hybrid vigor."
Boris Johnson - Mayor of London
Most Americans are paying little or no attention to the recent elections in the UK. I might be among them were it not for the fact that I indulge in a bit of BBC on podcast while out walking off the pounds. What I've enjoyed most about the recent UK excitement is the way the right (Cameron and the Conservatives) have so easily found a route to compromise with the (sort of) left (Clegg and the LibDems.) (Please pardon my parentheses.)
Our own Barack Obama has been attempting to travel a similar course, with many unexpected and, doubtless, heartrending roadblocks thrown up in his way. Somehow, he managed to endorse offshore drilling for oil just in advance of the destruction of the Gulf of Mexico. Somehow, he managed to endorse the SM-3 missile interceptor system just before it was shown to be pretty-much worthless. Honestly, I don't believe the guy is an asshole — but I think he's been getting some pretty bad advice.
The Far Right has taken over the Republican establishment, and the Tea Party dorks are almost a breath of fresh air — kind of like a right-of-center LibDem-ish minority. There is nobody even remotely open to compromise in the GOP except for, perhaps, Lindsey Graham and those two women from Maine. Unlike just about all the other Republicans, they're not unmitigated opportunists — they say what they mean. (I especially admire Lindsey Graham, for his genuine respect for the law.)
Frankly, Mr. President, this might be an ideal time to be a one-term president, so stop trying to compromise and take a firm stand. Dump those Rubin relics, repudiate the remnant Clintonians, and just lose the goddamned election in 2012! The steps the new president will be forced to take — to deal with an ongoing economic crisis — will be so unpopular that his or her party will be pesonae non gratae for many subsequent years.
Take one for the team, and stop trying to be all things to all people. You're not.
Thursday, September 4, 2008
Excuse me, but...
...who's running for president? Why was Lindsey Graham's speech rewritten to be an introduction to a Sarah Palin video? Graham genuinely likes McCain, but they made him switch his speech in midstream and talk about Palin. Even Tom Ridge was obliged to make obeisance to the bespectacled beauty queen, not that he was capable of doing much more.
Cindy McCain's delivery was so bad, one suspects it was scheduled before her husband's to make him seem articulate by comparison. Then there was the "Meet John McCain" video, replete with monochrome scenes from the 60s reminding us just how old the guy is -- and who was it who thought Mama McCain referring to her Johnny as a "mama's boy" was somehow endearing?
McCain had his usual problems reading the teleprompter, and his speech was nothing but the usual Republican boilerplate. Not only were there no specifics, there was nothing even resembling a plan -- save for a suggestion that it might be time for a surrogate war with Russia as well as continued war in the Middle East.
Big applause line: "I have that record, and the scars to prove it. Senator Obama does not." Yes, John, you were a hero -- in yet another war we never should have fought -- assuming we are willing to accept the idea that being a hapless victim is the same as being a hero.
You say that after that, "I never was my own man anymore: I was my country's."
Well, you were enough of your own man to leave your crippled wife and marry rich. You let your new wife's rich father put you into politics. Yes, you were a maverick -- "a calf who becomes the property of the first person who brands it."
Prepare to see and hear a lot more of Sarah Palin, America. She's the main hope of the Republican Party.
Cindy McCain's delivery was so bad, one suspects it was scheduled before her husband's to make him seem articulate by comparison. Then there was the "Meet John McCain" video, replete with monochrome scenes from the 60s reminding us just how old the guy is -- and who was it who thought Mama McCain referring to her Johnny as a "mama's boy" was somehow endearing?
McCain had his usual problems reading the teleprompter, and his speech was nothing but the usual Republican boilerplate. Not only were there no specifics, there was nothing even resembling a plan -- save for a suggestion that it might be time for a surrogate war with Russia as well as continued war in the Middle East.
Big applause line: "I have that record, and the scars to prove it. Senator Obama does not." Yes, John, you were a hero -- in yet another war we never should have fought -- assuming we are willing to accept the idea that being a hapless victim is the same as being a hero.
You say that after that, "I never was my own man anymore: I was my country's."
Well, you were enough of your own man to leave your crippled wife and marry rich. You let your new wife's rich father put you into politics. Yes, you were a maverick -- "a calf who becomes the property of the first person who brands it."
Prepare to see and hear a lot more of Sarah Palin, America. She's the main hope of the Republican Party.
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