Entries by Brian Gaither

I gotta blog this. I gotta blog this. I gotta seriously, seriously blog this.

John McCain, in his first act of dementia, has chosen a former beauty queen to be his running mate.

Now, lest I seem completely indifferent to this woman's executive experience, let me say that I feel she is eminently qualified to govern one of the few places in the U.S. less populous than her own state, including ND (pop. 640K), VT (pop. 621K), DC (pop. 590K) or WY. (pop. 522K) Likewise, she would be a capable mayor of one of the following U.S. Cities: Baltimore (637K) ranks 20th, Charlotte (pop. 672K) ranks 19th, Memphis (pop. 674K) ranks 18th, or Fort Worth (pop. 681K) ranks 17th.

Hypothetically speaking, since a brisk 3 a.m. run to the toilet could render President McCain a rather stately corpse I wonder how much more or less comfortable I would be with the mayor of Indianapolis negotiating the removal of troops from Iraq. Since Governor Palin's resume also includes multiple terms as a mayor (Wasilla AK) prior to becoming governor I'm sure she will do as well as the mayor of Indianapolis. However, it is worth noting that being the mayor of Wasilla (pop. 9,800) requires winning the support of as many people as it might take to get elected to the Student Assembly of Cornell University.

Admittedly, my Party's talking points have some validity. It is the quality, not necessarily the quantity, of her experience which matters. But it must be mentioned that for the fiscal year 2006-2007 the budget of the State of Alaska was $6.7 billion. By comparison, one would have to go all the way to Number 362 on the list of Fortune 1000 Companies to find an organization with the same level of revenue. So--hypothetically speaking--should President McCain have a brain aneurism while fulminating over legislation passed by Senator Reid and Speaker Pelosi, it's good to know that Sarah Palin will have experience with budgets larger than those of Bed, Bath & Beyond or Whole Foods.

I also concede that as governor she does make some life-and-death decisions as head of the Alaska Army National Guard. Wikipedia tells me there are 70 armories and 1850 guardsmen in the state. That means in the event of a call-up Gov. Palin would have authority over as many lives as the junior and senior classes of West Point. Certainly then she is at least half as qualified as the Commandant of the USMA.

So while I trust that John McCain fully believes Gov. Palin to be qualified to assume the Presidency should he be unable to complete his term of office, I think the decision proves his judgment to be suspect.

I am a lifelong Republican. I support my Party. I think Gov. Palin would make an interesting candidate to see in a primary battle someday. However, since she was obviously chosen to bring novelty to the ticket I think that John McCain no longer appears to take this election seriously. As more and more people contemplate this, they will recognize that he himself is not the better candidate for President and will elect Barck Obama.

Congratulations Senator McCain. As you so delight in doing, your maverick actions have once again betrayed the interests of your party. We will not only lose this election, but we may have to spend as many as eight years suffering the effects of your misguided choice.

The Reverend Jeremiah Wright has caused a political problem for Barack Obama that is surprisingly not centered on race, radical religiosity, or strident anti-Americanism. Nor is the problem their 20-year relationship or the possibility that Senator Obama secretly harbors the same politics as his pastor.

A preacher's profession is defined by words. Through his sermons he argues a specific morality, advocating a better life for his congregants through the precepts he promotes . His words, being the only tools of his trade, truly matter.

Politicians, like preachers, are defined by what they say. They reach for the right language to make moral and civic precepts acceptable to their audiences. Using words, they reason, promise and persuade. Failing to win support for their positions by those means alone, they cajole, intimidate, and threaten. If they are really good they need only inspire and uplift.

Having made the point that words matter in politics, Senator Obama cannot now tell us that what he says is of consequence while what his preacher says is not. When the man is the message and the message is the man, there is no difference between the preacher and the politician.

That is the problem Reverend Wright poses for Senator Obama.

The funniest thing came through my radio the other day. It shouldn't have been funny; every President since Truman has done it, and I should have expected it. Nonetheless I laughed indeed when I heard mention of the "George W. Bush Presidential Library."

Immediately I had a vision of Derek Zoolander and his Center for Kids Who Can't Read Good. Given all the materials that the GWB people will call "classified files which must be hidden to preserve the people of this good nation and to keep them safe from the evildoers," I wondered what small sample of memoribilia and documentation will researchers and guests find in the Bush Presidential Library.

Below are a scant few of the small number of items I expect to be on display or otherwise available to the public.

Captain America, published by Marvel Comics, issues 1-current (bet that Steve Rogers would've found Osama by now)
Flight Suit and Banner with "Mission Accomplished."
Handwritten Letter from GWB to Mike Brown, Dir. of FEMA, dated August 3, 2005. "My Dearest Brownie,..."
The Texas Chainsaw used to massacre Crawford brush.

While it is this man's personal prerogative to establish the library, I wonder how much about the Bush Presidency we will learn that we don't already know. Given that the administration has hidden and deleted as much as possible during his tenure in the Oval Office, we probably already know as much as we ever will. What we do know is probably not worth enshrining and re-visiting. I suspect the whole thing will amount to little more than a sanitized retrospective of a legacy unworthy of commemoration.

I recognize that as a Republican I am supposed to fawn over the man, this great "Compassionate Conservative." However, I am one of those pesky--but true--Conservatives who cannot stand the way GWB expanded the scope and size of the federal government, waged an unnecessary foreign war at great cost in blood and treasure, and willfully circumvented Constitutional limits meant to constrain the elected agents of a tyranny of the majority.

At least I can laugh at the irony.