Tidbits and Cat Treats, 2.0

By Baxter

We cats go on sensory overload every time we check the headlines these days. There's way too much going on, but we'll try to share a few quick observations.

We think it's so special that Politico posts RNC press releases without editing them. That, at least, was our reaction to the fantastic (i.e., "existing in the imagination") story about how the latest Senate retirements could be good for the GOP. Like most of today's so-called journalists, Politico has very little institutional memory. What, no discussion of the Republicans' inability over the last several elections to recruit top-tier candidates? Heck, they've even forgotten that Jeb Bush isn't running in Florida.

We agree with Max Baucus that Timothy Geithner is going to get confirmed as Treasury Secretary. The nation's problems are too big, and there's no time to lose. But, financial crisis or no financial crisis, we can't help thinking that — as a guy — Geithner's getting off a little more easily on the whole housekeeper question than, say, Zoe Baird or Kimba Wood did.

Good thing President-elect Obama has the most famous pair of pecs in the world, because Ricardo ("The Wrath of Khan") Montalban died today. The torch has indeed been passed — in more ways than we thought.

And finally, Gene Robinson. Ahh, Gene Robinson. Some of our good friends on the left are fussing that inviting the openly gay bishop to pray at the opening Inaugural event on Sunday is insufficient payback for Rick Warren's invocation at the swearing-in itself. Fair 'nuff. We agree that Rick Warren has no place on that Inaugural podium on Tuesday. But think of it this way. President-elect Obama has already put Warren in a bit of a box with the original invitation — because Warren's presence could be seen by his followers, most of whom supported McCain, as an endorsement of Obama. But wait, there's more. Now, Warren will be part of a national celebration that will be kicked off by a homosexual. We cats wonder how the folks at Saddleback feel about that.

P.S. "Saddleback" still sounds awfully gay to us.