Katha Pollitt: the antidote to daily dickdom

Katha Pollitt has an amazing column in the Nation that speaks truth to all of the "framing" and "reframing" that the Democrats are now convinced is their golden ticket to the Willy Wonkaesque factory of power & influence that is the White House. Not that I don't think the Democrats need a major rhetorical facelift, but after watching Howard Dean--who used to have a clear and powerful voice and discernable positions on things, but now sounds like he's been psychologically gang raped by a focus group--stay excruciatingly, uninspiringly ON MESSAGE last night on Hardball, I can't agree more when she says:

"Perhaps I'm naïve, but I keep thinking that reframing misses the point, which is to speak clearly from a moral center--precisely not to mince words and change the subject and turn the tables. I keep thinking that people are so disgusted by politics that the field is open for progressives who use plain language and stick to their guns and convey that they are real people, at home in their skin, and not a collection of blow-dried focus-grouped holograms. "

Whole column can be read at:
http://www.thenation.com/doc.mhtml?i=20050711&s=pollitt

And if you liked that, you'll love her 5/26 column:
http://www.thenation.com/doc.mhtml?i=20050613&s=pollitt

New Daily Dick: Sen. Tom Cobun (R-OK)

I'm torn between whether I should nominate Coburn himself or every single Oklahoma resident who helped elect him to the UNITED STATES SENATE in possession of the knowledge that he:

1) once said that blacks are genetically predisposed toward shorter lives
2) supports the death penalty for abortion providers
-and-
3) as a physician, was known for sterilizing his patients without their consent.

but that's like getting mad at George Bush for appointing John Ashcroft, a man who lost a gubernatorial election to a rotting corpse, to the position of U.S. Attorney General.

Higlights from Sen. Coburn's voting record to date:

1. yes to teen endangerment act (makes it illegal for a non-parent or guardian adult to transport a minor across state lines for a legal abortion, convenient since 87% of U.S. counties lack an abortion provider, especially convenient for teens in abusive family situations)
2. yes to banning gay adoptions
3. yes to urgently important constitutional amendment to oppose flag-burning (also supports urgently important constitutional amendment on school prayer)
4. yes on making federal death penalty appeals harder
5. no on banning soft money from campaigns
6. no on needle exchange & medical marijuana in DC

also, unbelievably, since being elected to the Senate, he's used his medical creditials to hold lectures for young congressional staff members and interns on the evils of pre-marital sex.

but the reason he REALLY gets the golden dick today is that last week he introduced the "Parents Right to Know Act of 2005," which would force Title X (federally family planning) funded clinics to notify the parents of any minors seeking contraception at least 5 days before dispensing it. Nice, since Coburn also opposes sex ed (unless of course it's a lecture on the evils of premarital sex as a direct pathway to lifelong moral bankruptcy riddled with sexually transmitted infections), the morning-after pill, abortion, and funding for programs that would support teenage girls who choose to become mothers (or their children, for that matter).

Score one more for the culture of life!

Fafblog

I don't know if anyone reads Fafblog, but it's one of my favorites. And this post is a good example of why. Here it is:

Secret War

Since the leak of the Downing Street memos suggesting that war with Iraq war a foregone conclusion long before the subject entered the realm of American debate, those of weaker will have come to question the wisdom and judgment that lead America to war. If weapons of mass destruction and the UN inspections process were merely the means used to justify a predetermined war, then what was the actual reason for the war in the first place?

There were, of course, perfectly sound and vital reasons for the United States to invade Iraq, motivations which if made manifest would sway even the most ardent of the antiwar left, plans and objectives which justify the tens of thousands of lives lost to the increasingly bloody and seemingly fruitless conflict... and which would be revealed to the public at once if it weren't for national security.

Indeed, just as America's enemies would love to know every American troop movement and battle plan, so would the jihadist foe also like to know why the United States is in Iraq at all. Is it a secret plan to lull the enemy into a false sense of winning? A grand plan to spread freedom in the form of militant Islamism? Is it all a massive fake out, a "look at Iraaaa... whooops, got yer Syria"? Is the entire War On Terror merely a front for a larger, grander, even nobler War On Something Else (War On Tyranny, War On Evil, War On War, War On Stuff)?

Only the Medium Lobster knows, and he refuses to compromise the safety and strategy of spin doctors in the field. Until victory is assured, Americans must trust that the plan is working - and that it exists.