The Atlantic - Latest Comments in The Power Of Appointment

Re: The Power Of Appointment

RL — Fri, 29 May 2009 21:21:14 -0000

Bringing us back to where TNC started yesterday... the post "Especially Blacks and Latinos" made the point that completely non-equivalent things are discussed as though they are equivalent. As a controlling mechanism.

And the rhetoric gets even worse today - talk of menstruation, more blather of racism, lack of intelligence, affirmative action, bullying. Sandra Day O'Connor did not go through this.

Meanwhile, the MSM publishes stories about a post-racial society.

Re: The Power Of Appointment

Acromion — Fri, 29 May 2009 13:47:46 -0000

OK well I don't know that much about Cali. I suppose we all have stereotypes.

One stereotype that people hold about the midwest is that we are culturally irrelevant. Politics, news, and publishing flows from the big east coast cities. Entertainment comes from sunny California. When people think of the midwest, they think "flyover," like we have nothing to offer besides corn, cows, cheese, and cars.

Re: The Power Of Appointment

Exmun — Fri, 29 May 2009 13:26:50 -0000

I think Dennis Green, former coach of the AZ Cardinals had it right (re: the conservative morons that seem to be hijacking their party) "They are who we thought they were."

And if I might add ... "who we thought them to be." Their ignorance is nothing more complicated than that.

Re: The Power Of Appointment

RL — Fri, 29 May 2009 12:23:18 -0000

Machiavelli wrote that the two primary attributes of the good prince are prudence and the strength to use force when necessary. If that's what is meant by machiavellian (often misinterpreted these days), then yes. And thank you very much to gods who grant us a prudent president.

Back in the philosophy graduate school day, I was American personalist rather than pragmatist. But as wife would attest, I've asked for a president who would solve problems (and not create them) for several decades. We have a helluva lot of pragma to do.

Machiavellian pragmatist. Feels just right to me.

Re: The Power Of Appointment

strangelet — Fri, 29 May 2009 10:51:04 -0000

Obama is not a liberal.

He is a machiavellian pragmatist.

All sapient well-read humans know who George Bush was.

I see their knavery :

this is to make an ass of me ;

to fright me, if they could.

But I will not stir from this place, do what they can :

I will walk up and down here, and I will sing,

that they shall hear I am not afraid.

Re: The Power Of Appointment

rb — Fri, 29 May 2009 10:44:52 -0000

I like that. But I love Denny Green :)

Re: The Power Of Appointment

RL — Fri, 29 May 2009 10:40:15 -0000

The Diaz decision recognizes who the Pope is. I disagree with much of the conservatism of Pope Benedict. But he, like Diaz, is a scholar. Sending another scholar to represent our interests is ideal. You cannot win an argument with the Pope; Catholicism is not a democracy. But you can attempt to win him over with scholarly debate.

Add the politics of the growing Hispanic vote and you have brilliance.

There have been many such decisions (Hillary Clinton at State, Rahm Emanuel, keeping Robert Gates at Defense, Ray LaHood, Eric Holder, Eric Shinseki, Christina Romer etc etc). You can argue with individual choices. Overall, we don't credit them as quickly or as often as we should because we are all witness to the inept presidential decision-making of the last 20 years. We've been dulled by mediocrity. We expect stupidity.

Republican leaders are stunned. Like us, they do not seem to know how to react to intelligence and thoughtfulness. This is what it feels like to be witness to a political paradigm shift.

Re: The Power Of Appointment

Tel — Fri, 29 May 2009 10:39:39 -0000

You're not the only one there, sporc - Tolkien himself went back and forth on the subject. In one of his later letters, Tolkien did say that there must have been orc women, but he'd been retooling his orc origin story for decades at that point.

Re: The Power Of Appointment

Fighting Words — Fri, 29 May 2009 10:09:12 -0000

@Acromion,

Don't want to spend too much time on this issue because it is not the main topic of this thread, but...

Like I said before, California is just not, and has never been, as liberal as people think it is (and the sun doesn't always shine - try working in San Francisco). Yes, we have San Francisco and "Hollyweird," but we also have some of the reddest areas of the country (Central Valley, Orange County, etc.). Second, even those areas like the Bay Area and Los Angeles have a sizable Republican minority. And even the Democrats are not 100% behind gay marriage.

As for Berkeley itself. Like, I said before, it is liberal, but we do have Republicans. I don't know if the same holds true today, but when I went to Cal, the largest club on campus was Berkeley College Republicans (in fact, we supposedly had the largest college Republican club in the nation). Another thing is that a sizable number of people who live in Berkeley come from somewhere else, and that "somewhere else" probably was more politically diverse. Finally, I live in South Berkeley - near Oakland, which is very racially diverse, and is predominantly Democrat, but not everyone there is pro-gay marriage.

Re: The Power Of Appointment

strangelet — Fri, 29 May 2009 10:08:19 -0000

No....Maya Angelou

When someone shows you who they are, believe them.....the first time.

Re: The Power Of Appointment

rb — Fri, 29 May 2009 09:51:19 -0000

Come to think of it, Green's Rule also applies: They are who we thought they were!

Re: The Power Of Appointment

strangelet — Fri, 29 May 2009 09:49:42 -0000

It is a chess match....but sadly for the soon-to-be-extinct-as the-Whigs-GOP it is a chess match between a ranked grandmaster and the chessplayer equivalent of Sarah Palin.

Obama stresses inclusiveness...the GOP is now the Noble Yeoman Conservatives club, "pointy-headed intellectuals" (ie, anyone with a college degree), scientists, brown people, black people, ghey people, young people, need not apply.

This, for example, is a stone brilliant move.

Checkmate!

Re: The Power Of Appointment

rb — Fri, 29 May 2009 09:49:05 -0000

Parcells' Rule always, always applies: you are what your record says you are.

It follows that, in light of the GOP's record, none of this should be terribly surprising.

Re: The Power Of Appointment

Bruce — Fri, 29 May 2009 09:45:34 -0000

taste in what? Food? have u seen him? i don't think he has a taste in food...

Re: The Power Of Appointment

sporcupine — Fri, 29 May 2009 09:32:53 -0000

Excellent. I've been trying so hard to ignore the guy that I missed the absolute basics.

Re: The Power Of Appointment

sporcupine — Fri, 29 May 2009 09:30:12 -0000

You want us to think about actual governing? Man, you just ruined my day with your reality fixation. (And you're right, of course.)

Re: The Power Of Appointment

sporcupine — Fri, 29 May 2009 09:25:16 -0000

Guilty chuckle.

I'm actually pissed at Tolkien about orcs because they were genuinely unhuman and genuinely without a mother who would grieve their death. It made a good story, but it was a terrible model for real war.

Plus, it's a terrible model for putting the country back together: we can't do it if we say and really believe most conservatives are that different from "us."

And yet the temptation to yet another joke is almost irresistable. Having enemies to mock is fun. Fun, but bad for the soul and the shire.

Must stop it.

Ted Olson ≠ Orc

John Cornyn ≠ Orc

John McCain ≠ Orc

Charlie Christ ≠ Orc

Steve Schmidt ≠ Orc

I'm trying. I'm trying. Really.

Re: The Power Of Appointment

BreakerBaker — Fri, 29 May 2009 08:37:03 -0000

I think it's important to note that no ballot initiative favoring gay marriage has passed. Nor, do I think, has a single ballot initiative rebuking gay marriage failed (though I could easily be wrong about that one).

I'm not making an argument about gay marriage (which I support). I'm just saying that it's kind of apples and oranges to compare Prop 8 with a Connecticut Supreme Court decision. I mean, the California Supreme Court came to the same decision as they did in Connecticut a year ago. Once the people of a state (any state) begin to vote in favor of gay marriage, then you can make the Prop 8 comparison. Until then, you're talking about two very different things.

Re: The Power Of Appointment

Bruce — Fri, 29 May 2009 08:33:46 -0000

It's kind of hard to feel sorry for these folks (gingrich, tancredo...)...i mean the League of Enemployed White Men is growing, but the only thing they've done is to make it hard to root for them. Who would want to see tancredos crusty face on cnn again? there's a reason he was voted out of office...not even his own district is interested..so why should the rest of the world be? Btw....the KKK analogy? I mean WOW...that's a hard sale...i mean a REALLY hard sale. Yes, this:

The National Council of La Raza (NCLR) – the largest national Hispanic civil rights and advocacy organization in the United States – works to improve opportunities for Hispanic Americans.

is equal to the KKK...what an ass...i mean really, what a complete dumbfuck.

Re: The Power Of Appointment

CK — Fri, 29 May 2009 07:52:12 -0000

Totally safe, since he's no longer in office.

Re: The Power Of Appointment

Sime — Fri, 29 May 2009 03:21:17 -0000

Btw: I don't know what the beef was that your nemesis was referring to, but here is an online-dictionary Austrian to German:

http://www.oesterreichisch.net/woerterbuch-A-oesterreichisch.html

It's not an official languague but to say "I don't speak Austrian" is not nonsensical and I think most Austrians would even find it charming.

Re: The Power Of Appointment

Acromion — Fri, 29 May 2009 02:30:56 -0000

Hey sorry Fighting Words, I think Zacksback is right.

Berkley? Libertarian Leaning? What kind of Republicans are you hanging around with?

I live in Michigan. Here Democrats are mostly union and Republicans are the rich white dudes.

I'm sorry Fighting Words - when you say Berkley is liberal I believe you. When you say it is diverse I laugh. I've been there. Liberal does not equal diverse.

Its hard not to be liberal when the sun is shining all the time, you have the country's biggest economy, and all the movies and TV shows flow from your general vicinity.

Diversity is when you are a white gay dude from Detroit and you have to deal with the black homophobic dude from Flint who is a hard core country music fan.

Re: The Power Of Appointment

Acromion — Fri, 29 May 2009 02:17:06 -0000

Hey sorry zacksback... I didn't read your whole post - I pretty much repeated you

Re: The Power Of Appointment

Acromion — Fri, 29 May 2009 01:55:43 -0000

Tel, Jingo, zacksback, all yall.

Some great observations - and I really thought I was the only one. You guys really hit the nail on the head.

To illustrate perfectly what you are talking about - pop quiz... who has gay marriage?

A. California - home of the "elite" San Fransico, HRC gays, Hollywood liberals, vegans, pot smoking hippies

B. Iowa - flyover state that grows corn

The answer, of course, is B!

Why, I don't know. I'm just a midwesterner.

Re: The Power Of Appointment

Fighting Words — Fri, 29 May 2009 01:07:17 -0000

Cheney = Sauron

Rumsfeld = Saruman

Wolfowitz = Wormtongue

Ashcroft = One of the Nazgul