Thoughts On Various Things

I have made no public comment on a number of topics that, it turns out, are some of the Most Important Things In American Politics. So, here are my thoughts about them. Let me know if I've left out anything else Super Important.

--Carrie Prejean. I'll admit I'm not an expert on the beauty pageant industry -- although I did see "Miss Congeniality" -- but it's always been my understanding that it's on the list of "things many people might enjoy, but that are only viable because of the interest of gay men." (Ranking somewhere below Celebrity Female Impersonator Revues, above salmon-colored Oxfords, and roughly even with figure skating.) So, yeah, they're gonna want to look outraged about a homophobic winner; and yeah, the homophobes will embrace her as a hero; and yeah, Donald Trump will do whatever he thinks will put him in the headlines. So, whatevs, as the kids say. But isn't it a little hypocritical for the Miss California folks to buy her new boobs and then get mad at her for showing them?

 --Wanda Sykes. I thought the Limbaugh material was not very funny, given such an easy target. Offensive? Sure, but mostly because it seemed to just be insults, not humor. But when will the right realize that complaining about perceived Limbaugh slights, only hurts themselves? That anyone mentioning Limbaugh in any public setting, in any context, at any time, is bad for them?

--Judicial empathy. Obama said that "empathy" is an important quality in a Supreme Court Justice. Conservatives have gone crazed over that. Again, do they really want to reinforce the popular notion that conservatives don't give a rats ass about any but themselves? I would suggest that they should consider how their anti-empathy rhetoric looks to other people, but they might not get the snarky cleverness of that remark.

--Elizabeth Edwards. Really? Pitching an "inspirational meditation" on Resilience? I have nothing against her -- as you know, I love everybody -- but I'd prefer she quietly meditate on the advantages of not digging yourself in deeper when things go badly. Also, that she stay out of the headlines except for an occasional story about her setting fire to her husband's belongings.