It's not that I think John McCain is a bumbling incompetent.  I mean, he's not exactly deft or dextrous, and he certainly seems to spend more time befuddled than any major candidate in my lifetime.  But I will usually give him credit for being able to assemble a coherent thought or two.  But I'm beginning to wonder.  

Whether he's wowing us with his revisionist history of central Europe (Czechoslovakia?), confusing the difference between Shia and Sunni Muslims, the role of Al Qaeda in Iran, or engaging us with that winning -- and peculiarly-timed -- smile, Sen. McCain hasn't exactly had much luck lately with, uh, luck.  

Out here in the real world, I have a bit of a reputation, I think.  Not that kind, as far as I know.  And, no, that's not an attempt to capitalize on the recently-departed primary meme.  Rather, my reputation is for being ... fussy, I suppose.  A bit serious-minded.  I mean, I'm not a complete stick in the mud.  I don't even know that I'm a stick in the mud at all.  I'm just not bubbly.  I'm not the type of person who regularly guffaws.  I do like a good laugh.  Monty Python, Douglas Adams, Eddie Izzard: sublimely funny.  The ringtone I use for my niece?  Beaker, from the Muppet Show.  "me me ME me me meeeee!"  Not meant to be a commentary on my niece, mind you (uh, as far as I know), though she is 15, so, uh...

This seems almost silly to discuss at this point, since I haven’t exactly hidden my support of Obama for, like, ever. But a very decent person emailed me today to ask me why I support Obama. Not accusingly. This individual simply wanted to know what it was about Obama that appeals to me.

I figured our thousands of kossacks who have more direct experiences with the meaning of this important Monday in May would cover the topic.  I figured that we would see a flood of diaries remembering the dead, celebrating their lives, and calling attention to the suffering of our veterans who come home scarred and broken.  I figured that this Memorial Day would be covered well by our fine diarists, so I could sit it out and read all of the moving tributes.

But then I saw this.  (via metafilter)

Now there's a diary title I never thought I'd use.  I mean, I've written diaries about squirrel conspiracies and baby-making, but ... arugula?

Well, today I saw on Salon.com that John Boehner has laid out his grand strategy for a Republican resurgence in two-double-ought-eight, and it requires that the Republicans tie Democrats to ... arugula.

By November, it will be clear that Obama's appeal is limited to arugula-eating college professors, hard-core liberal Democrats, and the residents of Nancy Pelosi's Congressional District.

[Edit: tweaked the title a bit.]

A good friend of mine became a dad tonight.  His wife did the hard work, of course, but I heard the news from him.  And it's wonderful news.

He's a friend of mine from law school, an all around good guy.  The birth was apparently not an easy one, but all fingers and toes are accounted for, and everyone is recovering.

Oh, and this will be a political diary.

From the Journals of the Chickenhawk:

It was a cool, quiet morning in Atlanta.  An early spring day.  Commuters driving to work, young lawyers sitting in a conference room, a city coming awake.  That's when the squirrel decided to strike.

How many of you, oh dear kossacks, have had some variant of this conversation with people you love, like, respect, or otherwise have positive feelings towards:

Buddy: I could never vote for a Democrat
You: Really?  Why?
Buddy: They're all immoral peacenik hippies who drive Volvos.
You: Ok, let's step back.  What's the most important issue to you?
Buddy: Health care.  I don't have any.
You: Both Democratic candidates have great health care programs.  
Buddy: Yeah, but it's Hillary.  And Obama.  
You: So?  If they've got plans that will make your world better, what's the problem?  
Buddy: Democrats are all immoral peacenik hippies!  Starbucks!  Turtlenecks!
You: sigh

First things first: I promise that the title is the only part of my post yesterday that I'm going to parody.

Second, thanks everyone for the great response.  I was happy with the way the account turned out, but you never know what kind of response you're going to get when you hit the Publish button.  And, wow, y'all made the gamble of putting it all out there on the Internet worth it.  

But that's not what this diary is about.

UPDATE - Thanks for the recs folks!

I haven't had that many "standing around with strangers watching events unfold" moments in my life.  In roughly chronological order, the Challenger explosion, the OJ verdict, 9/11, the Red Sox winning the World Series.  Maybe one or two others scattered through my 33 years.  But not many.  Most events are, I suppose, not big enough, not loud enough, not important enough to make people stop and just watch.  Today was another one of those days.

My niece called me last night to ask me a very interesting question.  "Uncle," she asked, "is nationalism good or bad?"  Turns out her history teacher asked his students to collect statements from friends and family about nationalism.  It was an interesting exercise to be put on the spot to answer the question.  So now, kiddos, it's your turn.

The NY Times (among other places) is running a story about the surprising result of the United States Air Force's rebooted air-refueling tanker competition.  The Air Force announced today that the winner of the competition was Airbus A330, submitted by EADS in partnership with Northrop Grumman.  The contract will be worth at least $40 billion over the next couple of decades and perhaps as much as $100 billion, as the Air Force replaces its enormous but aging fleet of tankers.

[poll added]

This is not a substantive diary.  Far from it.  But it's Saturday night, and I'm sitting on my deck slowly recovering from a bout with the alien bird ebola that's going around.  So I'm going to use up one precious space on the recent diary list -- a list that moves so fast these days that it might serve as a valid testing ground for the old "could an airplane take off from a conveyor belt?" question (which, of course, it could) -- for whatever this diary turns out to be.

Walking around this place recently has been interesting.  Brothers and sisters against brothers and sisters, pie flying this way and that, ad hominems (my high school Latin teacher just felt a sharp pain in her soul) thrown like Thor's own thunder.  And here we are.

Well, well, well... and here I thought I'd finally get around to announcing my preference for one of these candidates before 2/5 surrounded by the sound of clanging pitchforks as each side, Clinton vs. Obama, squared off after the last big debate.  Instead, I saw two leaders on stage, sober, serious, respectful, emphasizing that there may be differences between them, but these differences are not so big compared to the vast gulf separating Democrats from Republicans in 2008. I have a preference, which I'll get to in a moment (if you care), but I want to make one thing clear: barring some extraordinary circumstance, Barack Obama or Hillary Clinton will be on the ballot for the Democrats in November.  And all of us, as Democrats and as Americans, should be proud of that.  But our mission, here in the Orange, has just started, and that's what I'm going to discuss below.

Every time I take a political quiz, I end up rating as a liberal, generally much farther to the left than I consider myself to be.  I don't imagine myself as a firebrand, standing on the corners hurling lamb's blood at the passing SUVs.  I often feel like I am one of those mythical liberal libertarians.  "I don't believe in small government in itself," I find myself saying, "but I do believe that the government should be as small as it can be as long as it can do what it must."  Defining the "must" part is sometimes tricky, but I can't let that get in the way of a good rhetorical skirmish with this week's Neal Boortz follower.  Another retired but recently favorite slogan is that I want my government to be like the Special Forces: small, professional, and extraordinarily capable, rather than large, ponderous, and merely profoundly capable.

This is a rant, plain and simple.  This is a method of coping with difficult news.  This is a personal, emotional diary.  This is a political soap box moment.  But, mostly, it's a rant.  And I hope I don't offend anyone by bringing politics into the discussion, but living and dying is, perhaps, the most political topic anyone can come up with.

Edit: Changed the title to something simpler.

According to an article on salon.com, a group of 12 women will be ordained as Catholic priests on Monday in Pittsburgh.  This ordination will proceed in direct contravention of Church law.