If these are the best and brightest ...

Ok, so I've peeked at a few of the "debates" on TV, especially the YouTube/CNN deal. A few observations before I grade the candidates.

1. Why did Hillary get to stand on a 4" platform, and the vertically-challenged Cucinich not? Inquiring minds wanna' know.

2. Although I applaud the "newness" of the video questions, some of them were out in place, in my humble view. But then again, can you really call these debates? this is just free advertising time ...

3. If these candidates have no discipline to shut the flap quickly when Anderson Cooper says "time", it makes me wander how their discipline is when I am not looking. But that may depend on what my definition of "is" is ...

4. I agree with Hillary and John. There is way too many candidates up there. Although the guy from Alaska (Gravel) has kept me going with his complaining of not getting enough time.

5. Have ANY of these candidates ever run a business, generated any income, voted for a budget cut of ANY kind, balanced their own checkbooks? ... I wish the snowman could have asked them that...

Hillary Clinton: I have to admit, she has impressed me with her command on the lectern, her fixing her delivery so her voice is less shrill, and just the quick way she thinks on her feet. I have not ruled out that she may be a good thing for America (as I duck the tomatoes coming my way), I will explain later. Yes she is a DLC-fed opportunist, but I think she has this nomination sewn-up. Score=8

Chris Dodd: Probably the dark horse here. I never expected him to do so well. His politics are too far left of center for me, but unlike other left wingers, he speaks with a "centrism" that demands I listen. Like Hillary, he can edit himself fast, and has the tenure to claim experience. I think he is angling for a Cabinet position, ... I don't think he will make it past November, but if he can get to the final 4, ... Score=7

Dennis Cucinich: I'm not kidding. Stop looking at him and "listen" to what he is saying. Sure he is a wide left socialist, and maybe he does want to slice the largess of the military (well hell, so do I for that matter), but some of his ideas and convictions are lead pipe solid. He has not swayed his convictions according to the polls, and you got to love a guy who lays the lumber the the rest of them without any care. I think he can last until super Tuesday. As close to a Libertarian as the Democrats have on their roster. Score=7

Joe Biden: I admit I always liked this guy. Sure the guy can't find the edit button for his mouth if his life depended on it, but neither can I, so there. Even when he was going postal on the Thomas Supreme Court nomination back in the day, he struck me as smart, educated and well meaning. I think he has a pragmatic view of the military and the US role in world democracy and if he were the President (and stopped talking long enough to work) I would not have too may sleepless nights. I still can't forgive him for the Neil Kinnock plagiarism bit that torpedoed his first campaign, but I am willing to concede that he has learned his lesson. Score=6.5

John Edwards: I just can't root for him. I think his populism message and "poverty" tours are the last life raft that he can hang on to because he has lost the black vote to Hillary and Barack, and nobody in the South gives a shit about him. He is articulate, smart and all, but when he unleashed his wife to take torpedo shots at Hillary and Coulter, instead of having the stones to do it himself,, .... that spoke volumes. In my opinion, he is a fake, an opportunist of worse level than Hillary,....... but, I guarantee you he is the next US Attorney General under Hillary. Score=6

Barack Obama: I'm still not sure what to make of him. He speaks well, great presence, and an undeniable "fresh" face to the group. But did you read his book? It sounded like it was written by a 22-year old. The broadside that Hillary landed in his ass for being naive was felt. Sure Lincoln was less experienced than Obama when he ran for president as a 3-rd party candidate,... but there is not comparison. Obama comes across prepared, but not extraordinary so. New, but his flavor-of-the month moment is fading in spite of all the money he is still getting. Stay in the Senate Barack.... oh maybe another 12 years. Then go for it. Your green ears are showing. Score=6

Bill Richardson: A very boring man, and a worse candidate. This guy has the aura of a firefly against the black night sky... not very noticeable. He may have the best resume on the planet right now, but so did Bush 41 back in 88 and he still bored me to death. His delivery is fractured, he is not a dynamic speaker or figure, and I still can't find one think he did as Energy Secretary or Governor that makes me do a double-take. As to his Latin credentials?... please. With "Richardson" as his last name and his feeble attempts at Spanish,.. I doubt many even know it. Score=4

Next up: My opinion of the GOP side (and you think this is bad...)

Catching up on things,...

A few observations on the happenings of the past few weeks and months...

1. So some Senator got caught in some Madame's phone-book. Who gives a rip? Jefferson was banging his slaves and still had time to contribute to the Constitution, FDR (many rumors say) had a live-in lover and managed to wipe out the Nazis and Japanese just fine, Kennedy had the tunnel to the State Department as Diana Dors and Marylin Monroe's private freeway and managed to give us the largest tax cut in history (along with the Bay of Pigs,... but I will leave that one alone), Clinton gave the word "humidor" a new meaning and still has the adoring masses fixated. I do find it humorous that the Democrats are gleefully pounding on this story, yet when their own brethren were getting caught screwing around it was "politics of personal destruction"... hypocrites all, I say. Let them screw around. Once we let them know that all we care about is how the handle the government and not their crotch we may actually get something done up in the Hill.

2. I see Ann Coulter is still playing the press like a yo-yo. Man, this lady is the smartest marketeer I've witnessed in a while. How many times have I said this, leave her alone, stop commenting on her verbal bombs, and she will go away,... but nooooooooo, that stuff is much to juicy to Mathews and the Bloggers to let go. Good, let them waste their time on non-essential news. I just love the pulpit media types lamenting on how the "entertainment" aspect of news has replaced "serious" news, yet when Coulter opens her pie-hole its breaking news. ***k em' all, i say.

3. No, I am still not interested in commenting on any of the potential Presidential candidates for 2008. Its freaking July 11, 2007 people!,... get a life! (... and I say that with a smile on my mug, God forbid I insult any political junkies herewith...)

4. The surge?... Iraq war?... Af-crap-istan?..... yawn................ next topic....

5. Man it has been fun carousing the blogs today,... some of you have been BUSY!!!, How do you guys do it?... to put out that amount of information, AND keep your family and sanity in one peace. PLEASE write a book on how to do this! I promise I will order 2 copies,.. one for my bedside table,... the other for my toilet moments....

6. I am single and looking for a woman. Yes,... I finally decided that a man such as myself cannot go at it alone in this world. I need a woman who can massage my melon, as well as my manners.... Please send your resumes to this blog. All entries will be considered, no matter ideology, race, creed, religion (well,...maybe not ALL religions...), and nationality (except French........ ok, ok... including the French).

7. Anybody know of any good centrist blogs I can put on my blog roll?... I count a few lefts a few rights,... a few ... well, i cannot identify what to hell they are,..... but no centrists..... c'mon, aren't there any linguine-spined (Limbaugh terminology, by the way) centrist blogs out there worth a read?....

Coda...

... what a great nap it was...

.... but like all good things, it came to an end.

I have returned; like the proverbial zit on the left (or right) buttock. nice to see you all again.

I had to go away. And you will relate to my reasons if you have anything close to a pulse. To have a good blog, -a place where others come for views, opinions, or morsels of information new to their day-, one needs to a) keep it fresh, b) keep the truth flag at half mast (at least!) and, c) have a topic that grabs you by the short and curlies and doesn't let go. My problem is that I am an admitted information junkie. For every piece of news I read there is yet another and another piece of information to link, to cross-reference, to buttress and to consider. It is an endless cycle, is it not? One can easily dedicate 6 to 8 hours a day in the give and take that this medium provides. For every 10 "facts" I use to sustain my points of views, an opposing fellow will bring 20 "facts" to slay my logic. For every cherry-picked idea I espouse to try and bridge the gap between the ideologues, there are 10 cherry-bombs lobbed my way to try and snap my will. I have simply run out of gas, out of time, and sadly out of passion to deal with the mental dueling. I give up (at least on the dueling part...). I'm not kidding either. This is not a pity party to get others to prop my ass out of my doldrums. This is just the proverbial waving of the white flag to say,... World, you won, left and right wings, you won too. Trolls,... yep, you've vested me. Liberals, ... I am done trying to win your hearts and minds to see some things "my way". Conservatives,... although I am one of you (in the "pure" sense of the word), I am giving up on trying to correct some of the things the conservative movement has turned into. Congratulations, you have all won the day and I tender you my sword. The days of enjoying the ether-vinegar are no longer reasons to write. This medium has turned into WWI; where trench warfare and victory by attrition is the reality of the times. I am still a pragmatist, just less positive. I am still positive, just less hopeful, I am still hopeful, only less idealistic,.... and yes, still idealistic, but only when I allow myself to suck on a crack pipe for 10 minutes.

Some smarter guy that I will ever be once said, "only a fool tries to swim against the currents of an out-of-control flood tide. He survives by managing and steering where those floods are talking him to ..." (author unknown). Hmmm, sort of like being inside a barrel going over Niagara Falls,...albeit with a make-shift rudder,... but for some reason I find a beautiful logic in that idea. I grew up in an America where the first time I heard of Baghdad was in "I dream of Jeannie". A world that funneled what government wanted us to know via 3 all-knowing networks. A world simpler in vision, simpler in values,... and impossible to reach in its fullest. That Jeannie has left the bottle. Not only has she left the bottle, but she is pregnant, gained a few pounds of self-awareness, wears baggy jeans, has a few implants, a tattoo just above the crack of her butt, is wired to her I-pod and I-phone at the same time, and uses Blogger and You-Tube to blowtorch her views to the rest of the world without an edit button. Even if I tried to shoehorn her ass back into the bottle I would not even come close. I'm done pissing against the wind-tunnel. There were nights that I literally went to bed with a rant on my head, a comment stuck to my nerve, a new blog that incinerated my sense of decorum,... who the hell needs that? I started this to blow a little steam to things I am passionate about, not to gather yet another obsession-compulsion... I want to say I want to be a kinder, gentler soul, but heaven's, even that nice phrase implies that I just spend the last 100 days hanging out with Bush 41.

Well, t he night is aging, and I gotta' go, but I will be here, more often, albeit a little different than before. After such a 100-day nap, my face is stubbly, my eyes are still half shut, my brain is in need of a few bottles of WD-40.... and the damn Jeannie is downstairs screaming for some more bom-bombs,...