It is Done.

“Friends, Romans, countrymen lend me your ears.  I come to bury Caesar, not to praise him.  The evil that men do lives on after them; the good is oft interred with their bones; so let it be with Caesar.”  (Marc Anthony’s soliloquy in Shakespeare’s play Julius Caesar, Act III, Scene II).

What little attention I paid to the news this week showed their need to make the late John McCain’s funeral a stage for the ongoing political drama that is our politics these days.  This was undoubtedly fueled by the desires of the McCain family who seem to be seeking to inherit his seat in the Senate, as well as the insider political opposition to the President. This is not a new phenomenon, it can probably trace its roots back to the Pharaohs of Egypt but certainly was used as a dramatic device by Shakespeare.

A few thoughts on this whole affair.

First, there ought to be a law that prevents a governor from appointing the spouse of a politician as the replacement.  There won’t be, and it is really a matter for each state to decide.  But, all it does is further the separation between the politicians who believe there is a divine right for them to be in charge and the subjects who have little say in the true decisions.

I wonder what kind of funeral attendance Senator McCain would have had if the affair had been a private one, closed to the television media?

Bill and Hillary had a busy weekend as they shuttled between ceremonies in Detroit and Washington.  There will undoubtedly be a bunch of memes that come from either his dozing or rapt attention, depending on who was speaking/singing.

The average age of the political luminaries of both parties seems to be getting on up there, yet there seems to be little chance of dramatic change in the near future.

Finally, it seems pretty hysterical that the Democrats are pushing to rename the Senate office building (the Sam Rayburn building) and the Republicans are saying not so fast.

“O judgement thou art fled to brutish beasts, and men have lost their reason.  Bear with me; my heart is in the coffin there with Caesar, and I must pause till it come back to me.”