Thursday, May 14, 2009

Why on Earth would you defend Jack Murtha?

I realize he's Nancy Pelosi's BFF and that he played a big role in the public's turnaround, but really? Really? Look, there's every reason to think that Murtha's corrupt, and he's exactly the sort of corrupt porker that Democrats should be making an example of by not protecting him. I doubt they'd lose much by dumping the dude. One wonders if this isn't Pelosi playing defense by trying to keep her biggest friends in powerful places, but it only adds to the stink already on her from the revelation that she might well have known about waterboarding all along. (Though I tend to believe the rumors are correct, I am not passing judgment at this time.)

I tend to like Pelosi and I think she's been a good leader for the Democrats, very underrated in fact. But I think she's already a compromised figure, and she's getting more compromised by the day. At this point she should be trying to minimize the cloud of suspicion around her, not maximize it. Something tells me that, unless she has a brilliant plan to get out of these messes, she won't be gaveling in the 112th Congress.

The Man, The Myth, The Bio

East Bay, California, United States
Problem: I have lots of opinions on politics and culture that I need to vent. If I do not do this I will wind up muttering to myself, and that's only like one or two steps away from being a hobo. Solution: I write two blogs. A political blog that has some evident sympathies (pro-Obama, mostly liberal though I dissent on some issues, like guns and trade) and a culture blog that does, well, cultural essays in a more long-form manner. My particular thing is taking overrated things (movies, mostly, but other things too) down a peg and putting underrated things up a peg. I'm sort of the court of last resort, and I tend to focus on more obscure cultural phenomena.