Free at Last, Free at Last!

At long last, the votes have been counted, and it's all over but the shouting.  The debt limit has been raised, burdened by an attachment that purports to address the debt itself.  I must admit that I was wrong. I was betting the voting wouldn't happen until the very last minute Monday night.  They managed to milk the situation until noon on Tuesday, the sadistic bastards! This has come to be par for the course in Washington. And, as soon as the votes are counted, both sides claim victory and smile and make nice and call each other "friends" and assure the American people that all the angst was necessary and just proves the system works, blah, blah, blah. Actually there was only one losing side - the side of the American people. And, the politicians just don't care.

They don't apologize for their ham-handed political theater. Oh, no.  Instead they promise to put us through the same thing in 2013, when the debt ceiling will need to be raised again.  They are counting on the fact that the American voters have short attention spans and even shorter memories.  They may be very surprised, come the next election.  At least, I hope they are.

And, now, we are to have a "Super Committee" to advise us on reducing spending.  Don't we already have one of those? You know, the one President Obama appointed. The one that came back containing Alan Simpson's dream of destroying Social Security?  Oh, that's right.  That committee had only six members. The new one will have twelve, six from the Senate and six from the House.  An equal number of Republicans and Democrats who are doomed to create a Mexican standoff from the first day.  And, there won't be anyone to break the stalemate. Does anybody think this will end well?

Does anybody else wish Hillary would run again? I'd like to see a re-match. How about you?

Stay tuned.

Sabbath Gasbags

I was watching the Sunday morning "news" shows today, just to see how many of those good ole boy pundits would call for Hillary to drop out "for the good of the party". Snrk.

The arrogance of these pundits! Sometimes, it just about takes my breath away. I especially dislike Tim Russert, with his smarmy little sneer. Chris Matthews and Keith Olberman are not much better at hiding their gender bias. There's a reason, you know, why people call Matthews "Caveman Chris." And, Keith Olberman, though he hides it a little better, is another one, even though I wouldn't miss his show if you paid me.

Just because Tim Russert thinks Hillary should quit doesn't make it right. I agree that things are not looking good for our gal. However there are still several primaries to be held and she is correct when she says that her supporters in those states have a right to be able to go to the polls and vote for her. She would be disenfranchising a bunch of voters if she just packed up her doll rags and went home right now. I know how it feels to have MY candidate pull up stakes and get out of the race before I ever had a chance to vote for him (take THAT, Bill Richardson). This became a two-person race much too early in the game for my taste.

The pundits keep saying that the Democratic Party is being damaged by the increasingly divisive rhetoric, and to this I say, "Horse hockey!" As James Carville has said, if they think this is bad, just wait until the Republicans get started. Barack Obama is being pummeled by powder puffs compared to what he's going to have to battle after the conventions are over, and the race heats up between the two parties. Believe me, there will be no lie too big to tell about Obama and no trick too dirty to keep John McCain from using them.

So, let's just keep having fun with the Democratic primaries and let things play out as they will. Nobody seriously believes that Hillary's supporters will flock to the polls to vote for McCain. Her supporters are the long-time, die hard Democratic establishment. They are not going to abandon the party, so we can lay to rest that little theory. In fact, it is more likely that some of Obama's supporters would just stay home if he lost, because they make up the young people and first-time voters who don't have the long history with the party.

On the other hand, if, after the primaries are over, and all the delegates counted, Hillary is still obviously losing, but pushes on for a confrontation in the convention, I'll be calling for her to concede and endorse Barack Obama, just as I would expect him to do the same if their positions were reversed. By then, it will just be sour grapes driving her.

The Many Faces of Hillary

Hillary is beginning to get on my nerves. This late in the race, she seems to be trying on different personas. She reminds me of one of our local quick stops that advertises, "We'll treat you so many ways, you're bound to like one of them."

First, in the last debate, she was Lady Bountiful fawning over Obama almost to the point of being condescending. Everyone said, "Awwwwwwwww, how sweet and gracious she is."

A day later, she is standing on a stage with some unnamed guy behind her whose job is to nod his head sagely, while she scolds, "Shame on you Barack Obama!" Everyone said, "Wow, she's like the schoolmarm who is terribly disappointed in her hapless student."

Then, she's shown waving her arms around and weaving a fantasy about how everybody is going to get together, join hands and sing Kumbaya, and peace will break out over the land, nay, all over the world, and everything will be good. Nobody knows what to say about this performance.

And, there stands Obama, looking like someone who is watching a train wreck in slow motion. And, everybody says, "Oooooooooooo, he's unshakeable, so even-tempered!"

So, I can't wait to see tonight's debate. Wonder which Hillary will appear. I wouldn't be a bit surprised to see her wringing her hands and opining that the media is being unfair to her.

Stay tuned.

Those Damn Democrats

The Democrats don't ever do anything halfway, do they? If there's quicksand anywhere around, they'll find it and jump in. Bless 'em. It's feast or famine.

The media pundits seem surprised when they make much of the fact that women over Sixty are supporting Hillary Clinton. Well, duh. Of course. We women over Sixty are the ones who fought the good fight for women's rights. We have waited all these years for the Democrats to nominate a woman for the Presidency. The closest we have come, up to now, was Geraldine Ferraro, and we stood by and let her sleazy husband's activities shoot down her chance to become Vice-President.

So, now we have another worthy candidate, who also has a sleazy husband, but who has had the strength and determination to deflect all attempts to be tarred with the same brush he was. She has emerged as the strong, determined wife who stuck by her husband and didn't let him bring her down because she had her eye on her own prize - becoming the first female President of the United States.

She's not perfect, but we're philosophical about it. She may be our last chance to see a woman President in our lifetimes.

And, what do our fellow Democrats do? They bring in another candidate who also represents something we have waited a long time for. For all those years, while we fought for the rights of women, we were also fighting for the rights of people of color. We were captivated by Jessie Jackson and watched him light up the room everywhere he spoke. We celebrated the Civil Rights Movement with the same zeal that we gave to the ERA (Equal Rights Amendment).

Now, we have Barack Obama, a black man who has his own way of lighting up a room. A man we would all be proud to vote for. And, he's ahead. And, we would be satisfied with him as the candidate.

If it weren't for Hillary. So, we're pretty much split down the middle. Why, oh why, can't the Democrats do things one at a time? For all these years, we have hoped for a viable female candidate - OR - a viable black male/female candidate. Now that we have both at the same time, what's a good Liberal Democrat to do? We really can't have them both. It's hard to imagine that either of the candidates would accept the Vice-Presidency.

OK. The handwriting seems to be on the old wall. We'll shed a tear for Hillary (and our dreams) and go to the polls and vote enthusiastically for Obama.

And, we'll hope that there will still be time for us to see the first female President. Hmmmmm. I wonder if Caroline Kennedy has any political aspirations.

The Huckster's At It Again

It will be a crying shame when the time comes for Mike Huckabee to hang it up and drop out of the race for the presidency. We'll miss his pious, folksy stand-up act while, at the same time, we, in Arkansas learn even more about his dark, smarmy, greedy side.

Now, we discover, thanks to the Freedom of Information Act, and the diligence of some people at the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, that he had a secret slush fund, er, Special Events fund sustained by private donations to a private bank account set up by the governor's office and administered by his Chief of Staff while he was in office.

Apparently, the Arkansas Department of Finance and Administration also got in on the act by helping to manage it.

Who knows how much money flowed through this "special events" fund or where it wound up, but I think we can guess. Huckabee only disclosed one gift "on behalf of the state". That was his official portrait, which he valued at between $40,000 to $50,000.

It's the tip of the iceberg, folks.

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It's almost time for the South Carolina primary. What a good idea, having it on Saturday, when most people are off work and have the whole day in which to vote.

Alas, I'm moving away from Hillary, even though I'd love to see a woman in the presidency. And, it's all that big ol' bull-in-a-china-shop Bill's fault! If he doesn't tone it down a bit, he's liable to alienate a lot of people. I know it's all political strategy, and heaven knows he's better at it than just about anybody, but I wonder if he realizes what a tightrope he's walking. And I wonder if they have actually written off South Carolina and he's just hanging around, sniping at Obama just for the fun of it.

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What a mess this campaign season has been! First the states battle it out to see which one will be the first to hold a primary, ending with the races starting 'way too early. Who ever heard of candidates running out of funds and having to drop out of the race before Super Tuesday? Good grief!

Dennis Kucinic called it a day, this morning. This leaves only three candidates.

Now, there's a rumor out there that John Edwards is just about ready to drop out, and that just makes me mad. Not because he is my candidate of choice; that would have been Bill Richardson. But, because that leaves us only two choices out of an original field of excellent choices, which is very disappointing. They should all have had more time.

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And, how will you spend your $600? Pay bills? Stash it in your savings account? Give a portion to charity? Of course not! I predict that there will be a steep spike in the sales of HD television sets.

Of course, being a "senior", I don't have to make a decision about that. People on Social Security don't merit a little bonus. In fact, this year, we received the lowest increase that we have had since I joined the ranks of the retired. Lucky me.

Live Free Or Die

So, how about it? Did a bunch of women change their minds and vote for Hillary out of sympathy? It hasn't been my experience that women are particularly sympathetic toward other women.

I think we can call the New Hampshire primary a tie, actually. Someone said that all those students that Obama expected to flock to the polls were still on break, and hadn't come back to school, yet.

Edwards didn't get as many votes this time as he did last time in New Hampshire. I don't know how much longer he'll hang on, but anything could happen at this point.

I don't want to see Richardson get out of the race just yet. They should all stay in until after Super Tuesday, at least. Getting out after only a couple or three primaries is premature, it seems to me.

On the other hand, after Super Tuesday, there could still be a six or eight way tie among Republicans. For once, they are going to be kind of fun to watch. Of course, if Bloomberg jumps into the fray as an Independent, the Republicans will probably implode. Won't that be fun?

Oh, I just love politics!

Does Iowa Really Matter?

Why do we place so much importance on the Iowa Caucuses? I've been reading up on it, and it seems overly complicated to me. I couldn't find any hard and fast rules, except for the date. Everything else can change in mid-caucus, and frequently does.

Nevertheless, I watched all the media types bloviate all evening about what a win in Iowa would mean. The only real surprise, to me, was that Hillary! ended up in third place. I thought that slot would belong to John Edwards. I was pretty well satisfied with that outcome, strangely enough.

I was not surprised that Mike Huckabee came out ahead of the rest of the field. Over time, the more pious Mike Huckabee seemed, the most insincere Mitt Romney looked. And, perception is everything. Just remember, there's a reason why most of the people in Arkansas called Mike Huckabee "the Huckster". And, it's the same reason they called Bill Clinton "slick Willie". And, it had nothing to do with bimbo eruptions, and everything to do with the dictionary description of "Flim-Flam man".

But, I digress.

Just what does the Iowa outcome mean for the coming primary in New Hampshire? Not a whole lot, I'd bet. Even the talking heads can't seem to agree. The main thing it means is that it is going to be a long, long campaign. But, New Hampshire is very different from Iowa. The state motto, "Live Free or Die" says a lot about it. It will be interesting to watch Huckabee morph into "more of a governor than a pastor", which he is already saying in interviews. He'll be whatever you want him to be, as will most politicians.

I fully expect John McCain to come into his own in New Hampshire. And, strangely enough, I expect Obama to stay on top. If Hillary ends up in second place, I hope Bill doesn't put on that goofy grin of his and crow about her being "another comeback kid". Shiver.

But, by the time the New Hampshire primary is over, Iowa will be forgotten. So, to answer my own question, Iowa doesn't matter a whole lot, except for being first. Which is about all you can expect from a loosey-goosey musical chairs kind of meeting.