The Condi Rice confirmation hearings have been the entertainment of the day. And shows like Chris Matthews’ Hardball have been more entertaining still, as he basically shows that as all of these Senators are busy making Dr. Rice out to be the glazed donut hole that she is, they’re just as dysfunctional and disconnected from any modicum of common sense.

I soooooo wish I had a transcript of tonight’s Hardball episode. Maybe I’ll get it later and fix this post up with the actual quotes, but in the meantime, here’s the gist from my excellent (if I do say so myself) memory. Yes, it was this bad, and probably even worse if I had the actual words. These people looked like they’d be in over their heads on a visit the local Krispy Kreme.

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(…begin “wish I had a transcript, but here’s the gist I remember” recount…)

Chris Matthews: “So senator, your sources, generals on the ground, are telling you that we only have 4,000 Iraqi solidiers ready to go, ready to replace U.S. soldiers, max. But Condi Rice just testified that there are 120,000 Iraqi soldiers ready to go. That’s quite a gulf.”
Sen. Biden (D) Delaware: “Oh, Chris, we have nowhere near 120,000 soldiers ready to go. These are serious generals sent to Iraq by Washington to get a job done. What reason do they have to lie? They’ve been telling us that this isn’t working. Dr. Rice’s numbers are obviously very wrong.”

(…some back and forth along these same lines, Condi’s 120,000 vs. the real 4,000 or less, and then…)

Chris Matthews: “So, Senator, now that you’ve made your case that Condi’s numbers are basically cooked, are you going to vote to confirm Condi Rice?”
Sen. Biden (D) Delaware, after just having made Condi out to be the biggest liar in history: “Yes, Chris, I am.”

(…then, later, with Senator Hutchinson of Texas…)

Chris Matthews: “Senator, why did we invade Iraq? What did Iraq do to us?”
Sen. Hutchinson (R) Texas: “Chris, nine-one-one happened. The terrorists must be stopped.”
Chris Matthews: “No, Senator, not the terrorists, what did the people of Iraq do to us?”
Sen. Hutchinson (R) Texas: “They, in concert with other terrorist organizations, invaded our country.”
Chris Matthews: “The people of Iraq, Senator?”
Sen. Hutchinson (R) Texas: “They and other terrorist organizations–“
Chris Matthews, cutting her off: “The people of Iraq did this, Senator? The nation of Iraq invaded us?”
Sen. Hutchinson (R) Texas: “Chris, they’re terrorists and they have tentacles all over the world. They must be stopped.”

(…and a bit later, on needing Iraqi security forces to eventually replace U.S. forces if we’re ever to get out of there…)

Chris Matthews: “Senator, what makes you think the Iraqis are going to help us out?”
Sen. Hutchinson (R) Texas: “Because, Chris, with the help of the Iraqi people we can do it.”
Chris Matthews: “But what makes you think the Iraqi’s will help you?”
Sen. Hutchinson (R) Texas: “Because, Chris, with the help of the Iraqis it can be done.”
Chris Matthews: “But why do you think the Iraqi’s going to help us? What evidence do you have? What if they don’t want to help us? How do you know they’ll help us?”
Sen. Hutchinson (R) Texas: “Chris, they’ll help us because when we get their help we can give them elections that, with their help, will be a starting point. Not much, but with their help and cooperationa starting point.”

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…God, I gotta get a transcript of this show, for comedic value. These are our representatives, ladies and gentlemen. They’re the smart ones who are going to save us from Bush and the neocons… right?

I think I have just come up with the basic framework for my dissertaton argument. It’s something I’ve been grappling with for a few months now, and it all just came to me, pouring out through the keyboard. Now I just have to get down to cases… methodology and the nitty gritty and all that sort of thing.

But at least now I know what I’m looking at and can begin to figure out what programs and what people look best to me. Excellent. Good. Cool.

Still no job. Still in personal and financial turmoil. But at least feeling as though I’m marginally productive. Hoopla.

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Note to the people offering internships: I don’t appreciate your making it more difficult for me to sort through internship listings. Basically, yes, I’m interested in an internship, but only a paid internship. I am not wealthy. Offering $100.00 a month for “expenses” in D.C. just to make it into the “paid internships” category does not make me any more likely to take you up on your offer, it just makes the search more difficult for me.

You might as well just offer $0.01 for nine months and call that a “paid” internship. Hell, let’s do away with the category all together so that you don’t have to admit that you’re different from internships that actually support people. Hell, force them to look at you, right?

Maybe it’s time for new categories: “Minimum Living Wage” Internships and “Volunteer” Internships. At least then the categories would be marginally helpful to seekers.

For a couple of weeks now since returning to Santa Barbara, I have applied for anything and everything in sight in SoCal, NoCal, NYC, DC, Norfolk, Portland, SLC, Baltimore, and a dozen other places. But now the 1Q slump has hit; there are virtually no new listings anywhere since last week… not on Craigslist, not on Monster.com, not in the paper… There is nothing to do today that feels productive.

It’s a sort of queasy feeling just sitting here with no activity hoping that something good will land on my head, but guessing that it won’t.

Things are tough right now. Really tough. I mean, I think my chances of landing a teaching position are excellent (I’m supremely confident) but such a position won’t actually kick in until fall of this year. What, exactly, will I do until then? It’s not like I can take another serious job if I’m just going to leave it for another one in a moment. But a non-serious job won’t pay my bills.

It’s not like I can find a job right now anyway, especially in this town.

But I’m broke now. I have bills now. I’m sitting alone in someone else’s house not knowing how I’m going to support myself now… I don’t have the luxury of being able to simply hang around and wait until fall. The crazy thing is, I’m leaving anyway in just a few months. Long before I reach fall, I’ll be alone. This living situation will disappear, and my girlfriend will leave me for months to my own devices, while I have to cope with these problems alone. I’ll have to leave but I’ll have nowhere to go, no way to earn, nothing to do, and no idea how to get by or where to have my mail sent. And in the meantime, I’m determined just to sit here and wait for it, it seems.

Yes, I’m an idiot. The score is in.