I saw a couple of stories today that caught my jaundiced eye. First of all, did you watch Kerry's acceptance speech last night? If you didn't, you're in good company. The president didn't either.
Was he bravely tackling some world crisis? Was he busy finding the missing WMD's? Was he clearing brush at his Crawford ranch? Um, no. He was sleeping.
According to this article from Reuters, White House spokesman Scott McClellan said Bush did not see the speech. "He went to sleep last night. That was a late speech," McClellan told reporters, but he said Bush had "read some of the coverage." Oh, well, at least he read some of the coverage, which is apparently more than he did for some of the intelligence reports that came across his desk before 9/11.
One of the common criticisms of President Bush is that he isn't intellectually curious. I've always found that kind of unfair; there are plenty of things I'm not curious about either. For instance, I'm not interested in how air conditioning works. As long as it works, I'm cool (ha!). Likewise, I'm not especially curious about Al-Qaeda's motivations; I just want our government to kill them before they kill any more of us.
On the other hand, there are some things a person just ought to be interested in. For example, if the guy who wants to replace you is giving the most important speech of his life about why you should be fired, it seems like you would want to pay attention.
If you were on trial, and your defense attorney fell asleep during the district attorney's opening argument, would you be concerned? I know I would.
I imagine that this may just be a political pissing contest. What I mean is that it may not be true; his handlers may be trying to convey the image of a president so relaxed and confident about his policies and election chances that he sleeps like a baby. Maybe he really did watch it, or at least Tivo'd it for later. But if he didn't, if he really did sleep through it, then this crosses the line from incurious to inexcusably fucking lazy.
The other article comes from ZDnet about a Florida couple who made the mistake of talking on their cellphone during a movie. St. Petersburg police records detail the weekend encounter of one officer with Warronica Harris and Terrell "K.C." Tolson. The couple was preparing to enjoy a screening of "Catwoman" at the Baywalk Plaza cinema in St. Pete but had some phone business to finish while the opening credits were rolling.
Officers asked the couple to cease the conversation...Harris' precise reply, according to police, was to tell the officer she planned to "hit the cracker in his head." Tolson made a similar pledge targeting another part of the officer's anatomy, according to the report.
"Suspects got hostile and were pepper sprayed," the report continues, noting that the couple were taken into custody and charged with disorderly conduct. "The arrest served the purpose for the night," the report cryptically concludes.
You can read the police report here. I'm sorry, I know that the police probably overreacted, but that is freaking hilarious. Anyway, anyone paying good money to see Catwoman needed to be maced at the ticket booth:
"Two tickets for Catwoman, please. AAAAUGH! MY EYES! MY EYES!"
