Thursday’s political round-up

March 15, 2007

Today’s installment of campaign-related news items that wouldn’t generate a post of their own, but may be of interest to political observers:

* Both Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama yesterday offered tepid — but not full-throated — criticism of Gen. Pace’s attack on gays, prompting some criticism from the Human Rights Campaign. As a result, both campaigns issued statements criticizing Pace’s comments more directly.

* We may yet be able to kick around George “Macaca” Allen. The former senator is reportedly going to host a private dinner in Northern Virginia in the next couple of days, in order to discuss whether to run for the Senate again, should incumbent Sen. John Warner (R-Va.) retire.

* Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger (R) will sign a measure today officially moving California’s presidential primary from June to February 5. As CNN noted, “At least 15 states have either moved or are attempting to move their presidential primary or caucuses to this date, sometimes called “Super-Duper Tuesday,” making the first Tuesday in February the second biggest day of voting in 2008 after only the general election in November.”

* John Edwards’ presidential campaign headquarters had to be evacuated yesterday when a staffer opened an envelope containing a white powder. “We received a letter this afternoon at our Chapel Hill headquarters which was opened by a member of our staff and contained a white powder,” Deputy Campaign Manager Jonathan Prince said in a statement. “The health and safety of our staff and volunteers is obviously our paramount concern, so we contacted the authorities. The authorities have asked us to evacuate while they run tests on the substance, and we have done so.” The campaign offices re-opened today.

* And DNC Chairman Howard Dean apparently misses the campaign trail, and hasn’t ruled out a future presidential race. Asked if he’d run again, Dean told The Politico, “I have no idea. I hope we are going to elect a Democratic president, and I won’t have to think about it until 2016. In which case, I will be a lot older than I am now.” (Dean would be 68 in 2016, four years younger John McCain in 2008.) Asked if he missed running, Dean added, “Oh, of course. Are you kidding? Who wouldn’t miss it?”

Gen. Peter Pace, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said he should not have publicly expressed his personal view that homosexual acts were immoral and akin to adultery, a position that he said was a factor in his opposition to gay men and lesbians serving openly in the military

The big problem with the religious/biblical view of “morality” is that it lumps everything together into one category that is a sin “in the eyes of God” regardless of what is involved. Homosexualty, love between 2 people, but of the wrong gender, is therefore the same as adultery, which is breaking of vows and fraudulent breaking of a contract by which individuals get to enjoy certain benefits from society that are denied others, or the same as pedophilia or preying on young children. But our society and legal system is designed to treat each individual and each action on its own merits, and to be convicted of a crime, separate defined and specific elements of each action must be met. None of this judgemental guilt by association, especially when that association consists solely in the eyes of another.
Pace’s comments were clearly out of bounds and unfit for a leader in our society.

  • I really don’t think snarky comments about people’s religious beliefs are appropriate in discussions of what are essentially political or policy issues…but damn!…These people make it so tempting.

  • Hillary’s new Iraq plan has all the clarity, simplicity and political appeal of her old health insurance plan.Her New York Times Interview: Questioning Bush’s tactics but not the premises of his policy, the plan triangulates by half steps and half measures to perpetuate the morass we find ourselves in. It seems destined to fail. Like her ill-fated health insurance proposal of 1993, it offers bewildering complexity when bold initiatives are called for. If, by some miracle, the plan survives the Democratic primaries, it would most likely destroy any administration that tried to implement it. The American people want out of Iraq, and this doesn’t do it.

    Before Hillary and the other Democrats totally take over ownership of this war, they need to realize that the real issue facing the American public is no longer just Iraq. The real issue is whether we should get out of the business of empire before we expend even more treasure, both human and financial, destroy our democracy, and bankrupt our nation.

  • Packing all those big primaries together early in the ‘contest’, in effect makes the process a sudden death, one shot and you’re out system. It’s bad enough just having 2 parties. We are, de facto, going back to smoke-filled room days. Our ‘democracy’ gets more illusory all the time.

  • Dale
    I guess religions don’t have a category for victimless sins.

    Homosexuality is not a victimless crime, according to Bible. It hurts God, and is an offense against God, and His Nature. Sorta the difference between civil and criminal cases.

  • George Allen’s throwing a dinner? What’s the menu … roasted head of deer stuffed in a mailbox, a side of macaca, and for desert, guests will have to don their white asbestos hoods for the ever popular flambe of cross. I’m sure all the right people will attend.

  • Homosexuality is not a victimless crime, according to Bible. It hurts God, and is an offense against God

    Sorry – God is not a party in the American criminal justice system.

    As a matter of fact, as you are probably aware, the American judicial system is a direct descendent of the British judicial system. The British system *did* have a place for God and religious matters in its courts. The British system (and some of the colonies in the colonial period) had 3 different courts – law and equity (which involved the civil and criminal stuff that we are familiar with in the courts today) and ecclesiastical – which was a court, with all attendant powers, and which concerned itself with relgious matters, in which God, or things that “hurt God” or were “an offense against God” were considered proper issues for the court.

    Now, look at the US Constitution – Specifically Article 3, Section 2 where they discuss the Judiciary:

    “The judicial power shall extend to all cases, in law and equity”

    You see, the Founders, of this “Christian Nation” deliberately left ecclesiastical courts and religious matters out of the judicial system. It wasn’t an oversight – it was deliberate. There is no religous basis for “crimes” in the US judicial system. God is not a party in any court in the US. Nobody gives a $#%*@ what “hurts God” when it comes to what is a crime or not.

    Maybe instead of reading the bible so much you should read a little more about your own country.

  • thanks, ethel-to-tilly. neither my boyfriend nor i feel like we’re victims. and ramki’s comments are patently offensive. my actions are never, and should never, be dictated by anyone else’s religious beliefs.

  • I, oh, never…wait..>

    Ramki. Not everyone believes in the words of the Bible. Of those that do, not all follow exactly all words (as if this could be at all possible without major mental contortions.)

    However – if my homosexuality hurts God, then s(h)e must not be all-powerful. But NO – if all powerful…how can I hurt…. Oh mind hurts

    I quietly move away from the keyboard…

  • to be fair, I think I may have been a little harsh to Ramki in that he was responding to Dale’s comment about the nature of “sin” – and whether there can be a “victimless sin” which is a religious issue. As you can tell, it’s a subject that presses my buttons, but I offer an apology to Ramki if his comment was solely along the theological/relgious nature of what is sin, as opposed to what is justiceable and a “crime” in the US. I can see where I may have completely taken his response out of the context in which it was intended and in the spirit of civilized discussion I do regret my heated response.

    • Comments are closed.