Is It Over Yet???

Every once in a blue moon, less often for David Gregory, an interviewer asks a relevant question.  Sometimes they even make an astute comment.  Not about whether Christine O'Donnell is competent, or what are the voters angry about.  Questions like, what do you propose to do about low wages, poor schools, internet access for all?

Lots of good questions, and when they are asked, the candidates tend to scurry into a corner like roaches, using pat phrases like "ensure the safety of our homeland", "giving businesses the opportunity to compete", and "strong families are the true strength of America".  Now, I didn't make those phrases up; they came directly from Jim Demint's web site, and you have to know I didn't spend too much time wandering around in there to find that stuff.  There is only so much a thinking person can be expected to take.

The point is, those pat phrases are like the oil that once floated in the Gulf and is now coating the bottom.  And, to mix metaphors in an unappetizing sort of way, they are the meat and potatoes of election season.

I miss Tim Russert, but before he died, I would watch Meet the Press and yell at him because, since the election of 2006, he had been obsessed with the campaign of 2008, and not in a good way, but in a gossipy, sporting event kind of way.

I'm tired of hearing about Carl Paladino's dirty nasty emails and about Christine O'Donnell and witches -- have we all missed that in her ad denying she is a witch, and the creepy "I'm you" (no, you're not), she tossed out the same meaningless crap about the bad stuff Congress is doing in Washington and that she won't do.  And let's not expect her, or anyone else, to get more specific than that.

And if one does happen to back one of them into a corner, for example about jobs, the answer is always, renew the tax cuts, or better, stop trying to raise taxes.

So, I'm exhausted.  I keep watching and listening, but I can't imagine I'll hear anything new.  I just wish Matt Taibbi would do his next interview on Olbermann in his Viking costume.

Defending Her Own Freedom

I don't need to hear Christine O'Donnell talk about how she experimented with witchcraft in high school anymore.  However, when Chris Matthews interviewed Bill Maher on Hardball, he put her comments in a little better perspective.

I am also not too concerned by whether or not Christine dabbled in witchcraft in high school.  I'm not concerned that she fooled around on a slab that she hadn't noticed was a satanic altar.  I'm not going to say, "All kids do it," but I have to admit that many years ago I dabbled in things not witchcraft, but which would not have made my parents proud or happy.

Teens rebel.  They sometimes get into trouble, hurt themselves and/or their futures, give their families great pain.

I allowed my daughter, as a teen, to drink in my home.  I don't believe that one magically learns to drink at 21.

If a teen experiments with sex, I think it's important for a parent or other trusted adult to be available to listen, and to help that teen get through the angst of learning about intimacy.

I don't believe that someone who was able to "experiment" with sex, witchcraft, drugs, or anything else of which she may now disapprove, has the right to dictate how other families should experience the teenage years.

That is what is wrong with the right wing proclaimers of values.  Their values may or may not be my values.  They appear to believe that their freedoms DO NOT END where I begin.

So keep in mind when you are chuckling at Christine's escapades, that when she gets to Congress, she will be as passionate about dictating your moral values as she was about "dabbling in witchcraft".

Christine O'Donnell Has Her Man-Pants On

Who knew a week ago what "man-pants" were?  We don't exactly know today, but it's so much fun to imagine, isn't it?

Christine O'Donnell would be almost as much fun as Sarah Palin was when she hit the national stage, except she's learned from Palin's mistakes, and her own.  She's an "English major" and as such, is proud of her use and abuse of the English language.

Take her own personal definition of feminism:

Asked if she considered herself a feminist, O'Donnell said: "Absolutely, but let me qualify that -- I consider myself an authentic feminist. Not as defined by the modern movement. And, let me clarify that a little bit more. I was an English major, so break it down: -ist means one who celebrates. As a feminist, I celebrate my femininity."

I remember my own high school English teachers being tickled when I was creative in developing arguments, even if I was wrong.  And that's how I see Christine.  Still caught up in the flattery she got in high school, and still being creative in developing arguments, even if she's wrong.

I have to admit, she's definitely more head-spinningly verbal and creative than South Carolina's Jim Demint; if I had a dollar for every time he used the word "freedom" I'd be a wealthy republican today.

And she will stay away from the tough interviews, although I think she has the "man-pants" to say whatever crazy thing she thinks about religion and sex, or, as they present themselves in her head, religionsex.  She'll just say it to her own circle of wingnuts, and when forced to speak to the general electorate, tone it down with some excuse about her being young back then, and never actually answering the question (Will we get to see her backside as reporters insist on answers, a la Jan Brewer and Sharron Angle, I wonder.).

As hilarious as they might be on the campaign trail, though, we need to keep in mind that Demint actually got elected.  Voters in this country haven't gotten any smarter or less gullible in the six years he has been attempting to run the country into the ground.  If you can't picture Christine giving a speech on the Senate floor, just think of people like Demint, and House Tea Partier Michele Bachmann.

And then round up all your friends and family, and VOTE.

In a Democracy Even Crazy People Get to Vote

Apparently, this is the year of the crazy vote.  And the crazy voters are out in droves, making pundit predictions for this year's primaries even more meaningless than usual.  Health services for chickens was beat out by if-voting-doesn't-work-get-out-your-guns candidate Sharon Angle.

Sarah Palin and Jim Demint are slugging it out across the country over who can back the craziest candidate.

And in Delaware yesterday, the republican winner was Christine O'Donnell, to whom I believe God has given the nod as far as being in charge of making sure we don't do the dirty deed in the shower.

All I can say is, you can't blame South Carolina anymore.  Jim Demint is just a tiny, tiny cog in the crazy-wheel of American politics.  Alvin Greene may have been bribed  by some dastardly right-wing conspirator, but at least he's got the decency to lay low.  HE knows he doesn't have much to say.

Be forewarned, Democrats.  If you laugh off this year's general election, we just may have two years of not-so-funny legislators throwing darts at the Constitution.  You know how the song goes,

"They all laughed..."

They all laughed at Reagan running for President.  And not twelve years later, we laughed again at a George W. Bush presidency.

We paid for that laughter with a lot of tears.

So GET OUT AND VOTE.