Friday, June 27, 2008

Obama Not Shaking the Religious Wasps Nest

Interesting article from Slate magazine:

What is clear is that Barack Obama is pursuing a course radically different from Kerry's—or, for that matter, Al Gore's. (Gore lost the white evangelical vote by a 68-30 margin.) And therein lies a tale about one of the least appreciated but most effective of political techniques: the art not so much of winning over voters as of lessening the intensity of their opposition...

The reassurance strategy, by contrast, takes the opposition as a given and then tries to lower its intensity. To oppose a candidate, after all, isn't the same as actually giving money or pulling the lever for the other guy. White evangelicals in Ohio may well support John McCain by margins of 2-1—but if they're not out on Election Day with car pools and massive door-to-door vote pulling, that's a major victory for Obama.

(to article)

Thursday, June 26, 2008

Uncle Lester the Molester Celebrates

Sometimes I really like what the Supreme Court does. They are appointed for life so they won't be swayed by political leaders or, more importantly, political climates. I want to talk about the climates.

Nowadays, there's a vitriol toward child rapists that used to be saved for cannibals. They are thought of as less than human. And now, some members of Congress want to put a law in effect that allows them to get the death penalty.

The Supreme Court said no. They say the death penalty should be saved for cases involving death.

I'm not sure if I agree with them, but I respect their wisdom and knowledge of the law. I may have been caught up in the death-to-rapist sentiment too. Anyone who would violate a child like that should be punished severely. That child will never be whole again. Rapists essentially kill a part of that kid's life.

But that sentiment has been like a fever spreading through the country as of late. Child rapes have been going on for many years, but it's only lately that they've been headlined on national news. Tv shows hoping to catch child predators have flourished.

This rabid drive to hang all child predators won't last. And I'm not sure if it's a good or bad thing. The Supreme Court thinks the same way. They don't make rulings for temporary shifts in public sentiment. And they definitely don't join witch hunts. Hopefully (I'll have to check the history books on that one). Or if they have in the past, maybe they learned from it.

I like my Supreme Court a bit old and out of touch. You don't want them trendy cause their rulings will last way beyond your little pet project.

By the way, they know much more about the law than most two-bit senators with constituencies to answer to. They've spent their entire adult lives contemplating legal issues, how much have we?