What the hell's not to love?

So, I seem to have developed some minor, but mysterious, illness, whose symptoms include incessant peeing, and purple lips (though the last one may, in fairness, be Pixie Stick-related). I'm also quite tired and run down. It's possible that my body and soul are merely reacting against the six yards of mulch sitting in the driveway, all of it plainly begging to be wheelbarrow-ed somewhere-or-other, but I'm actually enjoying being outside right now, so that doesn't seem likely. As I recognize that my nature is to come up with fanciful and over-elaborate explanations for mundane occurrences, I suppose I'll just assume that I'm sick in the most mundane fashion possible. Please send cookies.

I'm also reading Frankenstein. Ever read Frankenstein? Generally, it's credited as the first science-fiction novel. It's also, as far as I'm concerned, the first and possibly most emo novel. Authored by--surprise, surprise--a nineteen year old girl. It's clever and fabulously well written, but, my god, the drama! The heartbreak! Not the best choice for a summer novel. I enjoy the rationalism of Victorian novels, but that pre-Victorian gothic romance style always tends to lose me at some point. I keep waiting for some character to run in and scream: "Get. Over. Yourselves!" Never happens, everyone dies, the end. Also doesn't help that the cover of my low-cost edition makes it look like the story of a plucky kid with down's syndrome, making his way in the world and teaching me to be the best "me" I can be. Along the way, he finds love with an overdressed blonde. Or, possibly, wrings her neck and feels just a bit bad about it. What the hell's not to love?

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Here's what's going on today:

¶ The Bush White House is busy finding synonyms for "loser" in describing long-time Bush aide and three-year press secretary Scott McClellan, whose new book "What Happened: Inside the Bush White House and Washington's Culture of Deception," is topping the charts even though it hasn't actually been released yet. McClellan joins a long list of Bush insiders who took the cash while it was good, and then wrote books when the cash was better. There's a bit of an "I told you so" joy that comes whenever one of these books is released, since they all seem to be saying with inside credibility the things that have been pretty obvious from the outside for years--but there's not a lot of honor in it, is there? It's great that people like McClellan are having second thoughts, but there was a time when all of this could have made a real difference. Like, it's great that Colin Powell feels so very awful about lying to the United Nations and lending credibility to a nonexistent case for war, but, as they say, if you were sorry you wouldn'ta done it. Still, as each former confidante writes their scathing memoirs, it's fun to watch the White House come up with new reasons why they're not in any way credible. Apparently the line on Scott McClellan is that he's terribly bitter over something-or-other, and the book was probably ghost-written anyway. Or possibly, he was possessed. Yeah, that's it. Try that.

"As I worked closely with President Bush, I would come to believe that sometimes he convinces himself to believe what suits his needs at the moment. It is not unlike a witness in court who does not want to implicate himself in wrongdoing, but is also concerned about perjuring himself. So he says, 'I do not recall.' The witness knows no one can get into his head and prove it is not true, so this seems like a much safer course than actually lying. Bush, similarly, has a way of falling back on the hazy memory defense to protect himself from potential political embarrassment. Bush rationalizes it as being acceptable because he is not stating unequivocally anything that could be proven false. If something later is uncovered to show what he knew, then he can deny lying in his own mind."

Here's CNN's Jessica Yellin, former White House correspondent for ABC News, concurring with Scott McClellan on the media's deferential role when dealing with the administration prior to the war:

"The press corps was under enormous pressure from corporate executives, frankly, to make sure that this was a war presented in way that was consistent with the patriotic fever in the nation and the president’s high approval ratings. And my own experience at the White House was that the higher the president’s approval ratings, the more pressure I had from news executives…to put on positive stories about the president." Video, including Anderson Cooper's shocked (shocked!) reaction here.

¶ New York is getting a bit gay-friendlier, preparing to recognize gay marriages performed in other states. To which I say: I'll do it when somebody makes it look like fun.

Comments

[hannah]

hmmm....sounds like you're pregnant!

[Rosserford]

You know, my innate hypochondria doesn't extend quite that far, but I wouldn't be all that surprised. I've been craving stuff lately that's just nuts. I mauled a huge thing of macaroni salad from the cafeteria at work the other day. Mayonaisse normally makes me ill, so that's just not normal.

[bilhouse]

Um... mayonnaise usually makes you sick, you ate some, and now you feel sick. Weird.

[Rosserford]

Oh, so this is my fault now, is it? Stop hatin'.