Grabbing a few moments of non-billable time here.
- As many have already noted, yesterday's Maureen Dowd column was a particularly toxic brew of Dowd's own psychological pathologies -- really, her daddy issues are just embarrassing -- and the worst of Washington's Green Lantern theory of presidential leadership. I heard a lot of the same crap on Morning Joe, albeit without the Electra Complex shining through. Any discussion of the fate of the background check bill that does not begin wth the grotesque abuse of the filibuster that the Senate Republicans have now made a norm or that focuses in on the structure of the Senate itself, which vastly inflates the power of rural votes, is fundamentally dishonest. Moreover, theories of presidential power that do not examine the electoral dynamics of the states that individual senators represent, i.e. how does Obama, who lost North Dakota by a landslide, threaten Heidi Heitkamp? And to what end? Electing another Republican? The intellectual laziness of Dowd and others is hardly news at this point, but it really does such an amazing disservice to the public. I will not link to her column directly as I don't want to encourage this kind of bullshit.
- Did anyone else listen to the audio of the initial court proceeding in the Tsarnaev case? I found it strangely moving -- to hear the Magistrate Judge conduct the proceedings in total calm, just going by the book as if it were any other case before him. I think that this is the best possible response to this sort of crime -- to not be hysterical or alarmist, but to show the confidence that we should have in our system of justice, which, for whatever its flaws, is still a pretty remarkable thing.
- The reality is, whatever lessons we learn from Boston, there is little if anything that can be done to stop lone wolf acts of terrorism in a free and mobile society. The public, at least, seems to understand this at some level.
- Ah, Max Baucus is retiring. Not really a huge fan, but it makes life even more difficult for the Dems in 2014. At least we have a good likely candidate in Governor Brian Schweitzer.
What's going on with all of you?
