el corazon

Music: Melotron: Cliché

Here I am on the day of closing on my new town home, in the final days of moving, the house filled with boxes and millions of corners to stub a toe on (I think I've banged all ten at this point), and the Entertain-o-sphere EXPLODES with the kind of social drama I live for (that is, when I'm not moving, entertaining lovers or guests, under a writing deadline, scrambling for money to pay the bills, recovering from a hurricane, and so on): Pamela Anderson and Tommy and are getting married for a third time; while filming the remake of All the King's Men Jude Law slept with his nanny, got caught by his kid, and issued a public apology to his families and fiancé yesterday; a sex tape of Colin Farrell has surfaced, which, if the sex partner and former Playboy Playmate succeeds in releasing it, the bad boy says will ruin his reputation (seriously! leads you to wonder what they're doing on that sex tape; it must involve rodents); and Cameron Diaz has topless photos (careful clicking this link; it's not work safe) circulating the Internet. Diaz was recently quoted defending her boobs, saying that they "look good" (I agree). So here's this juicy movie/rock star buffet of bad, stupid, and hawt behavior and then comes along something just as scandalous: Bush nominates quasi closeted ultra-conservative, John Roberts.

Of course, we Leftist types hoped for a female judge, and not because of her biological sex, but because, as a woman, she would have been subjected to the same kinds of structural discrimination most women experience, and therefore would more likely have a sensibility that defended civil rights and liberties. Here is a man with no real paper trail, but who predictably went on record as saying in a state sponsored brief that Roe should be overturned. He also ruled in favor of military tribunals at the Guantanamo gulag. Nevertheless, reporters and pundits are saying his positions are hard to call, and, it would seem, the few defenders of the Left in congress are somewhat mystified as to how this dude is going to turn out.

Given the president's remarks last night at the formal statement of nomination, we shouldn't have much difficulty discerning the president's hunch about this man, which can be reduced to a single turn of phrase:

In my meetings with Judge Roberts, I have been deeply impressed. He's a man of extraordinary accomplishment and ability. He has a good heart. He has the qualities Americans expect in a judge: experience, wisdom, fairness, and civility. He has profound respect for the rule of law and for the liberties guaranteed to every citizen. He will strictly apply the Constitution and laws, not legislate from the bench.

This choice paragraph from an otherwise defensive speech is designed to answer the question, "why should this guy be the next supreme court justice?" The answer is: (1) the president is personally, deeply impressed; (2) his accomplishments at 50 are extra-ordinary; (3) "He has a good heart"; (4) he has qualities and qualifications of a supreme court justice, including respect for the law; (5) he will not participate in judicial activism. Which one of these reasons is not like the others?

"He has a good heart"

Since the beginning of his presidency, a number of popular magazines have devoted space to decoding the carefully crafted rhetoric of Michael Gerson and other Bush speechwriters, revealing its double voice. As a kid brought up in Christian evangelicalism, I recognize this language fairly easily. "Heart" is a word that is code for the condition of one's soul, not merely one's conscience. When one is "born again," she is to "let Jesus into your heart," meaning that one is to surrender to the saving, phallic power of the Almighty (yes, it's all quite sexual). And the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary are figures for saving grace among Catholics too. In other words, when Bush/the speechwriters added the sentence, "he has a good heart," they were speaking in code to evangelical Christians and certain Catholics: this man is down with Jesus and is assuredly "pro-life." Why the pundits, reporters, and politicians are blind to the not-so-secret meaning of this reference to the heart, after six years of theological warmongering, is a mystery. Then again, speaking of the heart, Pamela and Tommy are getting married FOR THE THIRD TIME! I suppose that when it comes to matters of the heart, almost everyone is blinded by big dicks.