17 September 2008

In Praise of Confident Incompetence

Dahlia Lithwick, who normally makes a great deal of sense, is advocating that Sarah Palin be a Supreme Court justice.

Sarah has a 6 year degree – a BA in broadcast journalism. Someone who has not even studied law is going to be a good Supreme Court judge? Does this mean that someone with an AA would do well in a lesser position, serving on a State Supreme Court for instance? (Why are we so enamored of inexperience and a lack of education in the arena of politics? How much bumbling incompetence do we need before it begins to lose its charm and appeal to the average American voter? Apparently more than 8 years, he says,to himself.) I guess as long as a person is confident, it really doesn't matter how unprepared they are.

Some days I wonder if I’m the only person in the U.S. who doesn’t know where to find hallucinogenics on short notice.

5 comments:

nunya said...

NO. You're not.

Anonymous said...

You don't really want to get high and join the freak show. It's a lot more fun sitting here on the sidelines laughing at them.

Allen said...

Now I'm wondering if Dahlia kept her tongue firmly planted in her cheek the entire time she was writing.

And I must tell you I'm REALLY buoyed by the idea of a complete rube potentially being qualified for high-level positions. Here it is: I want to be the Ambassador to Ireland. My qualifications? Let's see . . . I lived there for 4 months in '96, I *LOVE* Guinness, not only can I drive on the other side of the road but I can do it in a manual transmission car, I know that you put 'River' in front of whatever river you're talking about in Ireland as in "the River Liffey", life is good because you can legally buy beer and smokes (even though I don't smoke) with your dole money, a "boot" is what we call the car trunk, a "rubber" is an eraser, when you're picking up the dirt from the carpet you're "Hoovering", when you're drunk you're "pissed", and if you're in a pub @2:00 AM when it's closing time as long as you're inside the pub you can keep drinking until 5:00 AM or you pass out, whichever comes first. See? I'm VERY qualified to be ambassador of Ireland. And I think my stress level will be WAY less than Palin's on the Supreme Court.

Ron Davison said...

nunya,
now that was a great birthday present. Thank you.

thomas,
pass the cocoa, I can tell by the expression on this one's face that he's about to say something utterly nonsensical.

Allen,
if I were elected the king of America, I would appoint you Knight over all of Ireland - or ambassador, if you'd prefer. Or you could just be my adviser on all things Irish.

nunya said...

Happy Birthday, and thank you, I loved this post.