Wednesday, October 5, 2005

GIVING PHILOSOPHY A BAD NAME ———- by Steve Nadis

I was lying on my back yesterday, working–no I’m not a male prostitute, unless you happen to consider freelance writing prostitution, as some do–when the radio show I was listening to, “On Point” (what promised to be an interesting discussion about Hillary Clinton) suddenly switched to that rare occurrence, a press conference with George W. Bush.

Were it not for my back injury, which makes getting up from the prone position slow and painful, I would have turned the radio off immediately. Instead I was forced to hear the president repeat himself endlessly about how his latest Supreme Court nominee, Harriet Miers, is a good person and a “bright” one to boot (how’s that for qualifications?) who shares his “judicial philosophy.” Many questions, of course, spring to mind, with one, perhaps, more salient than the others: Since when does a pledge “not to legislate from the bench” constitute a “judicial philosphy”? That might be a talking point, a slogan, or, more likely, notes in bold print from a teleprompter, but a philosophy it is not. Unless the hallowed field of philosophy–the old stomping ground of Plato and Aristotle, before George Bush staked a claim to it–is in even worse straits than I ever imagined.

Posted by Snake at 16:09:04
Comments

6 Responses to “GIVING PHILOSOPHY A BAD NAME ———- by Steve Nadis”

  1. DrMax says:
    October 5, 2005 at 10:14 pm

    Didn’t you mean lying on your stomach Snake?

    (Say, I’m going off line for a few weeks. Just wanted to remind you so you didn’t think I was giving you the high hat by refusing to comment. I’ll be back at the end of the month with more brilliant insights. Try not to miss me too much.)

  2. J. Star says:
    October 6, 2005 at 1:48 am

    I bet you were cursing you back…that’s my idea of hell, lying listening to George Bush and being unable to move..ugh!

  3. Snake says:
    October 6, 2005 at 2:48 am

    Hello J. Thanks for the note. You’re right–it felt like hell for as long as Bush talked. But fortunately he stopped and I was back to reality, albeit a painful one.

  4. Snake says:
    October 6, 2005 at 2:52 am

    Good bye, Doc. I’m going to miss you an awful lot. At times it feels as if you’re my only reader. (I’m not sure I believe those bogus statistics that suggest otherwise.) You’ll probably miss this during your travels, so let me say it now: You stand a good chance of winning a prize of some sort (to be determined) in the famous Blogging Bumper Stick Sweepstakes. That ought to make the jet lag go easier. Bon voyage!

  5. OldRoses says:
    October 10, 2005 at 4:44 am

    "Not to legislate from the bench" was W’s entry on the Blogging Bumper Sticker Sweepstakes.

  6. Snake says:
    October 10, 2005 at 12:20 pm

    Thank you Roses. It’s too late for W to win this one, but if he turns in an entry early enough next time, he just might get something next time.

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