A few thoughts on politics and headlines of the day

May 15th, 2008 | Politics, Writing

On John McCain promising to pull troops from Iraq by 2013 if elected:

Wow, does this guy ever not have his finger on the pulse of what the American people want. Here’s a clue: nobody’s out there pumping their fist going “Yes! Withdrawal in five years!” Five years, of course, being just long enough that a newly-elected president wouldn’t really have to deal with the issue during the first term allowing him to dangle it as the carrot to cadge a second term out of one weak promise. McCain’s going to have to do way better than this if he doesn’t want to be the Republican equivalent of Walter Mondale in November.

On the California State Supreme Court legalizing same-sex marriage:

I’d probably have an easier time with people who oppose gay marriage if they didn’t all say such stupid things. Not a one has ever made a reasonable argument which wasn’t based in some religious dogma. They always couch it in “pro-family” and “a child needs a mother and a father” rhetoric but it’s obvious they haven’t even thought through the ramifications of their statements. Someday very soon these people are going to look as foolish as people who opposed mixed-race marriages in the 1940s and their children will be embarrassed and ashamed of their parents’ ignorant, backwards notions.

Hillary Clinton:

Please just stop. No one believes even for a minute your campaign is about helping the American people, it’s all about you. The egotism emanates in thick waves. Even if you somehow do manage to pull off the nomination with the help of backroom cronies or whatever, it would only contribute to Americans’ deepening cynicism about the entire electoral process and the (quite prevalent) notion that the whole thing is rigged. Just stop. You’re only 60, you can try again later.