More Meter for you--because we care. (And because long-form commentary is out for the night. Sorry.)
Surging: 0.5. So help me, George W. Bush has to get himself a clue. More troops? And if the BBC is right, the theme of the announcement (due next weekish) will be "sacrifice." This, when the toll passed 3,000 just this week. Let us hope this is just a check-swing.
Matthew Rothschild: 1. This guy has no off-switch. He ought to find one.
"Sorry, but I refuse to let my tear ducts open over the death of Gerald Ford.
"There’s something profoundly undemocratic and vaguely medieval about the almost mandatory salutes that we, the people, are supposed to offer when a former President dies. The niceties of custom all too often reinforce the habits of blind obedience to the unworthy wielders of power.
"Say no ill of the dead, we are told. Hogwash...."
And then he goes into why the pardon was unnecessary--which is fine, I guess. But it could wait. There is an excoriation of his domestic policy. Again: fine, can wait. He then makes a statement that is worth making:
"On foreign policy, Ford was damnable.
"He fronted for Pinochet in Chile, and kept aid flowing to that vicious strongman.
"And on December 6, 1975, Ford and Henry Kissinger flew to Jakarta to meet with dictator Suharto and to give him a green light to invade East Timor. Suharto’s invasion and occupation cost the lives of 200,000 Timorese.
"But never mind. We’re not supposed to remember those things. Just that Jerry Ford was such a nice guy."
It's worth saying. But for Christ's sake--the body is still warm. Could you give it a rest for a week? Better: sit down, write a book, and let the story be told in full, instead of taking a potshot while his family greives.
So he allowed East Timor to happen. Point taken. Oh, and you're a dick.
John Nichols: 9. Now see, Matt? This is how you do it. Give credit where it is due. It's not that hard:
"While presidents are afforded the authority to grant pardons, it is certainly reasonable to disagree with the decision to clear Richard Nixon before Congress and the courts were done with him.
"It is impossible, however, for anyone who cares about the right working of the federal government to disagree with what Ford did next.
"After he pardoned Nixon "for all offenses against the United States which he... has committed or may have committed or taken part in" while his disgraced predecessor occupied the Oval Office, the 38th president voluntarily appeared before a subcommittee of the House Judiciary Committee to testify under oath regarding his decision.
"Contrast Ford's respect for Congress with the belligerent disregard for the institution shown by members of the current administration. Vice President Cheney, Ford's former White House chief of staff, has been particularly foul – not to mention foul-mouthed – in his rejection of congressional oversight."
"Eternal Father" (hymn): 10. You can argue that there is a better hymn to sing at a state funeral. You would be wrong. Chills. (Though the sung Lord's Prayer was not at all bad.)
Massachusetts Legislature: 5. I'm not opposed to letting the people of the Commonwealth have their say on gay marriage, so long as they allow it. I would have preferred it if the Legislature had stopped the move to a referendum. Still, the good guys had a sizable majority--134 to 62. Reason for hope, perhaps.
Little Green Men: 0. So that's why O'Hare is unable to function as a metropolitan airport. But, credit where credit is due--this was funny:
"At least one O'Hare controller, union official Craig Burzych, was amused by it all.
"'To fly 7 million light years to O'Hare and then have to turn around and go home because your gate was occupied is simply unacceptable,' he said."
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