John McCain, Ed Sanders, and Bipartisanship

On Friday, I got to go see one of my favorite political leaders from all time, and maybe my favorite of this new century. Thats right, the truly awesome US Senator John McCain. And other than the fact that it was in Oxford at Ole Miss & the fact I had to listen to that fool Robert Kyahatt, it was a truly great experience.

Especially since me and my friend little Ed went up together. Which I might add, we had one of the most confusing 2 car motorcade u can have. Me with all my Democrat stickers followin Ed with his republican stickers includin the likes of Senator George Allan. Which i was sort of hopin we got lost. B/c then i could blame ed for poor leadership (as dems blame bush) but not offer a plan for how to get back on track as Democrats are known to do. B/c the blame game is so much more fun. But hey, me and ed know this bipartisanship thing. And its the way to go.

But some of McCain's speech and most of the Q&A dealt with the war in iraq which is an important issue but there are so many more important issues affecting Mississippi that should have been talked about. like education and medicare and transportation and spending policy and the budget. but most of the talk centered on the war. and mccain defended bush's position on the war and having no timeline. which i happen to agree with. i supported the war in iraq from the beginning, not b/c of WMD as the president claimed, but b/c of human rights violations and our participation in the UN Declaration of Human Rights, established shortly after WWII. and to give the President credit, he did say when we went to war in Iraq, that it would likely last 5 years and we've only been there 3 i believe so he still got time, just most people forget the 5 year thing b/c we militarily took over the country so quick which was gonna be easy. Organizing the country into a safe, self-supporting democracy was always gonna be what was the difficult task. Now, the problem with the war and reestablishing of Iraq is that mistakes were made. Most namely in establishing a more global coalition of allies. That's where the President made his biggest mistake. Pushing the war on the basis of WMD's and a Preventive attack against Iraq on the basis they would attack us. Most of the world's nations did not buy it (namely France, Russia, China, & Germany) and hence our predicament. If he had pushed for the war on the basis of human rights (which would be less popular here but more popular on the world scale), we would have had more help. Instead, Bush went with popularity here in the US (namely WMD's) and has left us labeled as hegemonic occupiers, not compassionate americans. Hence, the higher cost and the more prominent backlash.

But still, bipartisanship is where the future of America lies. A democratic slandering of the war does the country, the soldiers, and the iraqi people nothing. At the same time, the failure of the Republicans to not admit mistakes and the President to stick to his "i'm always right" highground is also doing us no good.

Both parties lack real leadership. At some point, it might occur. But until then, a bipartisan led 3rd party may be where the future is at.

Supreme Court Nominations

Below are my opinions about the recent Supreme Court nomination of Alito and the life of the court.

The guidelines in Bush's message when nominating a justice for the Supreme Court are foolish at best and simply at the life of politics. Not Equal Opportunity and Justice for All. Bush appointed Miers who had little or no experience at so she would be fresh. Then she gets yanked in favor of Alito who has loads of experience but a much more questionable record on the bench. Bush tried to pass Miers but the extreme right wing of the Republican Party derailed that nomination because Miers was not detrimental enough to the decisions of Justice O’Connor. In other words, she did not pass the Republican Litmus test. By withdrawing her nomination because she was not right wing enough, Bush let down the American people more so than when he appointed her, even though she lacked the qualifications. And while Republicans are complaining that every Justice deserves the right to vote, Miers was dismissed by her own before the Senate got to vote.

What we need on the bench is a nominee who is ready to protect all Americans rights. We went to war in Iraq, although a small part, to defend the human rights of Iraqi citizens. We honor and pay tribute to the life of Rosa Parks and Dr. King for moving America forward in the eyes of the Constitution. And while our Constitution is one of the greatest documents in history, it is only so because the men and women who interpret it have grown. It used to support “Separate but Equal” and “the three-fifths clause” but it does no more. Yet, by selling the Constitution to the right wing of America for political capital in the body of Alito, we will have disgraced the past and endangered the future. What America needs is a Justice like O’Connor who stood so firmly and courageously on the perch of justice. Alito is not that person. Give America better Mr. President. For once, give us better than we gave you.

The Release of It All

I have had a rather pleasant day today. In fact, I have enjoyed it. Here is the list.

1. 7:20 am = Starkville High School Young Democrats with special guest speaker Alderman Sumner Davis of my ward (ward 1). And he gave a good, interactive speech that allowed the students to feel involved. Very educational also. And the interest of the High School Democrats is great to see. 16 of them there at 7:20 in the mornin. Meanwhile, college students complain about class at 8 when they are out by 11.
2. then i had breakfast afterwords at City Bagel for the first time. That suasage, egg, and cheese bagel was great. and talked politics among other things with someone more laid back so that was cool too.
3. class = got out of stats (10:00) early (thank goodness, i was about to cry with boredom) and finance (1:00) was cancelled (thank you, thank you).
4. 12:00 = mba association met so pizza, pizza. and we are havin an mba end of semester, honor the grads party on the cliff and an ole miss - msu tailgate.
5. took a nap
6. i finally straightened my backyard so that was cool. now just the garage left and my room of course.
7. And county humane society is at 7 tonight. yep yep.
8. And I been talkin with my really awesome friend all day in and out.

So yes, today has been good. And on another note, I feel freer today. I don't know why. I just do. Well actually I do know why but that might not be proper to put on a blog.

To all a good night (maybe). And of course Vote Donkey, Vote Donkey, Vote Donkey.