POP & POLITICS

Is the election of 2004 over or not?

First he won, then he won the recount.  Then the Democratics raised enough money to get a hand recount.  Then King County found 700 ballots.  Then she won the recount.  It's a classic "he said" "she said"

Who is the governor of Washington State?  In a potentially exciting turn of events, Republican Dino Rossi has asked for a re-vote. 

The vote would have to be approved by the Democratic state legislature, and no surprise, the Democrats have rejected this idea.  Rossi's only legal leverage is his right to contest the election in court.  He would also seem to occupy the high ground.  Three recounts, two winners, 700 votes discovered after the election in the most Democratic stronghold in the state.  Why not just let the voters decide?

Discriminating against the discriminating

The Arizona Republic reports about an ongoing lawsuit at Arizona State University.  The Christian Legal Society wants recognition, but only wants to admit Christians.  Yes, they must turn away the throng of gays and non-Christians who want to join.  For it's part, ASU makes an interesting argument:

Nancy Tribbensee, ASU's associate vice president for legal affairs, said the school stands by state policy. "We have non-discrimination policies at the Arizona Board of Regents level that apply to all three (state) universities, and those policies prohibit discrimination on the basis of a number of categories, including religion and sexual orientation," she said.

So prohibiting Christian students from forming a group for other Christian students, and allowing that group to adhere to their sincerely held beliefs is somehow not religious discrimination? 

In Widmar v. Vincent, the University of Missouri denied access to a Christian student group that sought to use it's facilities.  The Supreme Court held that this was unconstitutional viewpoint discrimination.  In Rosenberger v. Virginia, a generally available pool of student fees that went to print newsletters for student groups had to be available to a Christian group as well (even though that newsletter was unabashadly Christian).  As the Christian Legal Society seeks a room to meet in and a share of student activity fees, I'd rather have their case than ASU's, legally as well as morally. 

He must have really been upset

Michael Moore was so depressed after the presidential election, he stayed inside his house for three days. 

We all know how much he hates President Bush, but it must've been some disappointment to get him to abandon his vigorous daily exercise regimen. 

Vacationgate

The Washington Post is piling on over vacationgate. 

The Bush administration more than doubled its financial commitment yesterday to provide relief to nations suffering from the Indian Ocean tsunami, amid complaints that the vacationing President Bush has been insensitive to a humanitarian catastrophe of epic proportions.

Let's just assume that vacations mean the same thing to the president as they do to everyone else.  Jimmy Carter took by far the least number of vacation days (79).  Can't Bush just be more like Carter?  That guy was awesome. 

Seriously, the press has no grasp on what a vacation is for the president.  Eisenhower, facing similar criticism, talked about all of the bills he had read, signed and vetoed, all of the meetings he went to, all of the briefings he had, and everything else he had done on his "vacation." When a president is somewhere other than his desk in the West Wing (clearly, the press definition of "vacation") he is working a harder day than most people ever have in their lives.  If being outside of the bubble is what the president wants, let's let him have it without complaint.  If sitting at your desk in the Oval is what America sorely needs, the man from Georgia would be Abraham Lincoln. 

Maybe Kerry has some extras

The Sun-Times reports that inauguration tickets, doled out by members of Congress, are impossible to get if you're from a red state. 

Each senator, regardless of party, gets 400 tickets to distribute. House members get about 200 apiece. To meet the demand, Republican lawmakers are asking Democrats for their leftovers, since not that many Democrats plan to make the trip.

Republican Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) already has more than 1,000 requests -- some for more than 50 tickets apiece. And it's not just in Texas.

''We have requests for over 500 tickets,'' said Sarah Moore, spokeswoman for Rep. Chris Shays (R-Conn.).

For example, Sen. John Kerry of Massachusetts -- the Democratic challenger Bush defeated -- had only about 220 requests for tickets last week.

The death penalty in Virginia

The 2005 race for governor of Virginia is well underway.  Republican state Attorney General Jerry Kilgore will take on Lieutenant Governor Tim Kaine.  Mark Warner, a Democrat (and 2008 presidential candidate), is term limited (Virginia is the only state in the country to limit their governor's to one term, a holdover from colonial mistrust of the executive). 

It looks like the death penalty will play a big role in the next election.  Per the Washington Post:

Lem Tuggle and Richard Lee Whitley are long dead, executed by Virginia years ago. But Attorney General Jerry W. Kilgore, the likely Republican nominee for governor, is planning to resurrect them next year as symbols of his rival's opposition to the death penalty.

Tuggle raped, sodomized and shot a woman while on parole after killing a 17-year-old girl. Whitley cut the throat of his Fairfax County neighbor and then brutally sexually assaulted her.

The death row lawyer for both men was a young Timothy M. Kaine, now the state's Democratic lieutenant governor and his party's likely nominee next year to succeed Gov. Mark R. Warner (D).

Kilgore's campaign is betting that Kaine's background as a defense attorney and strong feelings about the Washington-area snipers and other cases will make the death penalty a compelling issue in a way that it hasn't been for years. This month, Kilgore proposed the Death Penalty Enhancement Act, which would expand the number of crimes eligible for the punishment.

Kaine, for his part, attributes his opposition to his sincerely held religious beliefs.  This was also the case for Alex Sanders, the Democratic nominee for the Senate in South Carolina (in 2002). 

Some conservative judicial nominees, whose beliefs are often informed by their religion, are being blocked in the Senate.  This is the case of Judge Pryor in the 11th Circuit, whose pro life philosophy is a result of his Roman Catholicism.

When they pledge to uphold the law despite their personal beliefs, they are not taken at their word and Republicans have cried foul, rightly so.  Why isn't it good enough for a Democrat who promises to enforce the death penalty, even though his religion forbids it?

A victory for accountants

The Washington Post reports, the tax code overhaul has been shelved for another day, possibly next year. 

Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas!  To commemorate the holiday, here is some seasonal cheer from Ann Coulter:

To The People Of Islam:
Just think: If we'd invaded your countries, killed your leaders and converted you to Christianity YOU'D ALL BE OPENING CHRISTMAS PRESENTS RIGHT ABOUT NOW!
Merry Christmas

Naming legislation

Orin Kerr at the Volokh Conspiracy has a great post about the names of Congressional bills. 

He starts with some examples:

(1) State and Local Law Enforcement Discipline, Accountability, and Due Process Act of 2003
(2) Preservation of Federalism in Banking Act
(3) UNITE Act
(4) Law Enforcement Officers Safety Act
(5) JTTF Enhancement Act
(6) Federal Law Enforcement Pay and Benefits Parity Act
(7) End Racial Profiling Act
(8) Handgun Licensing Act
(9) Officer Dale Claxton Bulletproof Police Protective Equipment Act
(10) Equity in Law Enforcement Act

  If politicians felt forced to vote in favor of bills because of their names, then most bills would just have to become law. After all, how can you be against discipline, accountability, and due process? How can you be against safety? How can you be against uniting? How can you be in favor of inequity in law enforcement?

Tune up the Straight Talk Express

The Washington Post reviews the Senator's increasing distance from President Bush. 

John McCain is back. 

Just two weeks after the election, he renewed his opposition to Bush's policy on global warming and urged action against greenhouse gases. He went to Europe and promoted a harder line against Russian President Vladimir Putin than the administration has voiced, and he returned home to take a harder line against steroid use in baseball than the administration had done.

Still, McCain's advisers have been meeting privately to discuss a theoretical run in 2008, and they say his political action committee, Straight Talk America, will soon be restarted. Last month, he gave a speech in New Hampshire, the first primary state. And some believe it is just a matter of time until McCain's campaign bus, the Straight Talk Express, returns.

"The bus is not yet out of the garage, but it is likely being tuned up," said Marshall Wittmann, who served as McCain's spokesman until last month, when he joined the Democratic Leadership Council.

It's far from clear that McCain has disarmed his opponents on the Republican right. The conservative National Review editorialized on Thursday that McCain was playing "Gotcha games" with his criticism of Rumsfeld and said "Republican-primary voters would do well to take early note."

This article highlights the biggest challenge facing the senator.  Part of John McCain's appeal is his independence, and his lack of orthodoxy on some issues.  His biggest opposition comes from conservatives, rank and file Republicans, and evangelical voters.  How does he reach out and placate (if not convert) his opposition while maintaining his attractiveness to moderates and independents?  One thing is clear; if he can balance on this tight rope, he can walk it right into the White House.