Bill's Notes

Keith Olbermann went insane on MSNBC Tuesday night. A paranoiac rant worthy of a John Bircher, who the Left is starting to sound more and more like to me.

Good thing I only watched a few seconds here and there. Olbermann was shaking in his rage and insanity.

The sad thing, there are people who probably think he was justified. Just goes to show what contempt and hatred can do to a soul. It's not good to hate anyone that much.

Links:
Iowa Voice
Rick Moran
Ed Morrissey
AntiVBrigade (contains link to video).

You can also find the transcript here.

(NOTE: Re-written)

I should note that I was initially in favor of giving Bill Clinton a pass on the whole Monica Lewinsky scandal. Later, I reversed my position, but I soon reversed myself again, and came to believe that yes, Bill Clinton should've been given a pass, just as I initially thought (and all during impeachment — my reassessment was a couple of years later).

In fact, I'm usually in favor of giving people passes and the benefit of the doubt in certain circumstances. Grace is more important than law, and to me, a pardon can be a good thing, particularly when situations are highly partisan and most likely to be motivated by political score-settling.

The pardon/commutation in largely terms is what's known as a deux ex machina — someone just friggin intervenes and that's that. It's not the most elegant solution, but sometimes, it's necessary. I was in favor of the pardon of Nixon, too. Read Moliere's Tartuffe for a good example.

So yeah, Scooter Libby should get a pass on prison, too.

I understand the charges are serious — sorta. There are two sides to every story, but what I saw was just-another-game-of-political-gotcha. I usually ignore such things, as I ignored all the Clinton scandals, because it's usually just entertainment for those who like to be perpetually outraged.

Sometimes, things get out of hand. Watergate was a little out of hand, but there's still context, and now we know that Mark Felt of the FBI sunk the Nixon presidency not so much out of idealism as revenge. If Nixon had picked Felt for FBI director, Watergate wouldn't have happened, IMHO.

It's difficult outside the beltway to get a sense of the real issues at stake — that is, the bureaucratic and political infighting that goes on in DC. Without meeting the people, it's hard to know really who they really are. All I can tell you is things are not what they seem, are rarely what they seem, unless they are ... that is to say, we out here in flyover country have a hard time determining what's going on.

Now I met Joe Wilson a couple of times as a PCV in Gabon and knew him to be someone with an unjustified confidence in his own opinion and a mammoth ego. I've also met many folks from the diplomatic corps, and they tend to have a similar sense of entitlement and similarly elephantine egos.

I could care less that Valerie Plame was outed — (by the way, it was Richard Armitage, not Scooter Libby, who outed Plame — that gets lost in the discussion). Dems simply used this to apply political pressure on the GOP/Bush through the justice system. Just like the GOP did to Clinton (which pissed me off). And just like the Dems did to Bush I and Reagan, and Nixon.

FWIW.

* Don't comment and tell me that Plame was on a critical assignment in the War on Terror. Unless you know the entire CIA strategy for her mission, and her role in it, and the redundant systems, and all that — which you don't, because you can't, don't bother. What comes out of DC is usually politically motivated factoids, devoid of context, that people use to club each other with. Plus, as I said before, Armitage outed Plame — so this isn't about that. This is about Libby's lack of candor during a grand jury investigation. Very similar to Clinton's. And since I thought Clinton should've gotten a pass, I'm not inconsistent when I say Libby should have gotten a partial pass here.

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. --That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, --That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness.
--Thomas Jefferson

Predictable outrage over Bush's commutation of Scooter Libby's sentence. Had I seen similar outrage over the pardon of Marc Rich, or the FALN terrorists, I might actually pay attention. But every president pardons his own guys at the end of the term. It's normal.

Meanwhile, the left continues to scream bloody murder. I'm sorry about that. Do 20 pushups. Have a cold drink. Put on a long, slow song. Enjoy your Fourth of July weekend. Life's too short to screw up your blood pressure over the actions of people you don't really know.

Truth is, there will always be something to be upset about if you read the news all the time.

For who would bear the whips and scorns of time,
The oppressor's wrong, the proud man's contumely,
The pangs of despised love, the law's delay,
The insolence of office and the spurns
That patient merit of the unworthy takes,
... who would fardels [that is burdens] bear,
To grunt and sweat under a weary life,
But that the dread of something after death,
That undiscover'd country from whose bourne
No traveller returns ...

Bill Shakespeare, Hamlet

James Capozzola of the Rittenhouse Review, one of the earliest lefty blogs, died tragically after a series of medical misfortunes.

My own story with him: Many years ago I objected to the politics on one of his entries (he was defending White House Correspondent Helen Thomas, who few people realize is barely literate), and wrote him a note to that effect.

We had a disagreement, but he responded politely, and I never forgot his fundamental decency and his civility. Later,when he had to move to Old City because of financial problems, I sent him my best wishes. He thanked me. I got the sense he was a man who was sensitive in the best sense of the term, and he was a man who sent his thank-you notes. Definitely one of the good guys. RIP, James.

A lot of blogs have been talking about medical-care costs. I have to admit I'm totally at sea. I don't know why costs have gone up, don't understand, really, the causes of the problem. I'm also concerned about the politicization of the debate, which makes it difficult to get the facts.

People have talked about the French or Canadian or British system, and I'm open to any solutions. But there can't be a solution unless we understand what our problems are.

Totally confused, I am.