"So frustrating..."

Can't you just see the Republicans sitting around this afternoon trying to celebrate their victory in Wisconsin last night.
Yes, I can hear them now:

R #1: 
"Damn, we can't catch a break!  We win in Wisconsin but the stock market won't cooperate.  The Dow and S&P posted their best day of 2012 today.  The Dow gained 284 points. We had Obama on the ropes last Friday, hit him a couple of more times last night -- and now this!"

R#2:
"Can't those Koch brothers do something besides write checks.  How 'bout a little help killing that market and while they're at it, find some way to slow down this recovery.  Congress is doing its part by refusing to cooperate with Obama on anything that might help. 

R #1: "Yep, we've got the Congressional stonewall under control; we just need some help undermining this recovery.  Who's got the phone number of the Kochs?"

Leonard Wood

Newt has unfairly maligned the reputation of General Leonard Wood in comparing his candidacy for the Republican nomination in 1920 to that of Mitt Romney today. On television today, March 13, 2012, Newt said, "Mitt would be the weakest candidate for the nomination since Leonard Wood in 1920."

Now, that's unfair to Leonard Wood. Wood was a distinguished American, a retired general in the US Army, and won the Medal of Honor for heroism in 1898. His rivals for the nomination criticized him for his strong support of the anti-communist movement (who wouldn't be for that?). But his greatest claim to fame came when he served as the second football coach at Georgia Tech. He led his team as coach and captain to its first ever victory over the University of Georgia Bulldogs, winning 28 to 6.

A weak candidate? Hardly. "Miracle worker" would better describe what he accomplished with the Yellow Jackets.

He certainly would have had a better record than the eventual nominee, Warren G. Harding.

Emperor Gingrich

A lot of my friends tell me Newt is finished. "Don't worry about Newt; he's going nowhere."

And I say to them, "As long as Newton Leroy remains on the stage, he is a danger to the republic. Do not count him out. Do not turn your back on him. And never underestimate him."

In Newt's view, this campaign is his last chance to become emperor of this republic.

With Rick Perry pulling out today, just two days before the SC primary, Newt will be working to pull most of those votes into his now "surging" campaign. (That's the media's term to keep him competitive as long as possible.)

C'mon Marianne. You'll be on the air tonight. Tell us the truth. Help us keep this fragile republic!!

Answers not at Corner Cafe

These tea party representatives in Congress think the federal budget solutions they dreamed up back home while sitting in the corner cafe, waiting for their farm subsidy check, will work because they are simple and everyone can understand them. They are finding out their solutions do not work, but they refuse to acknowledge they are wrong.

If I hear a tea party member say one more time, "I have to balance my checkbook every month, why shouldn't we expect the same from our federal government," I'm going to throw up. They are mixing two entirely different responsibilities. The last time I checked, that person doesn't have the responsibility to defend the shores, provide economic aid to tsunami victims in SE Asia, rebuild dykes in New Orleans, underwrite low interest loans to drought stricken farmers -- to name just a very few. No, your responsibility, faithful tea party whiner, is to balance your checkbook, send your tax dollars to Washington, and finally, the one thing you have not done lately, send to Washington someone -- anyone -- who has a basic understanding of how the economy works and -- bonus points here -- and has a basic understanding of the interdependency of a thousand economic elements that make it work. Please do that next time. Please.

Don't send us people who want to arrest "activist" judges. That's a violation of the Separation of Powers doctrine in our Constitution.

Don't send us people who think it took no guts to order the surgical strike on Osama bin Laden.

Don't send us people who want to shrink the size of government but refuse to tell us what current list of services THEY RECEIVE that they would be willing to do without.

Don't send us people who do not understand that government is here to serve all citizens, not just their little clique of close minded individuals -- although government serves them, too -- and well.

I'm sick of these people. Just sick of them.

Newt? I told you so.

Since the day Newt let it be known that he was going to run for President, I have been warning my liberal friends not to turn their backs on him. He is the original snake of American politics. I have known him since 1972 when he was a college professor at West Georgia College in Carrollton, GA. That was a time when he favored legalization of marijuana. He has been for and against virtually everything you can think of, except Newt. He has consistently been in favor of Newt.

My liberal friends now understand...but a lot of my conservative friends do not. So, as a public service, let me tell them what he is in terms that will mean something to them: Newt is a socialist conservative. Got it? Good.
That's enough for today. Class dismissed.

Three Truths You Can Believe

Truths you can take to the bank anytime you are ready.

1. There is no one who knows anything at all about the history of Iraq and Afghanistan who does not believe the two countries will be run by tribal leaders and/or Islamic fundamentalists half an hour after America removes the last troops. Thank you Mr. Cheney and Mr. Bush.

2. It is going to take a full generation to completely recover from the faux prosperity of the period 2000-2008 when Bush/Cheney continued to borrow and spend like drunken sailors and refused to raise taxes to pay for their two wars. Indeed, they wouldn't even let the cost be considered as part of the annual budget expense.

We are going to grow our way out of the hole by innovating, inventing and educating the next generation. Many unemployed of the present generation will never be fully employed again because they are expert only at video games and text messaging. LOL

3. Obama will be re-elected in 2012. How can I be so certain? You can't beat something with nothing. But if it turns out that you can, it won't matter anyway because America will be finished. Doesn't it scare you to realize that the 15-20 percent of the voters who will decide the next election are not even paying attention right now and couldn't tell you the name of even one of the 13 Republican dwarfs competing for the nomination. This is the state of politics in the America of 2011. It's a complex world that demands our best. And what are we doing? We're giving air time to a woman who doesn't know the significance of Paul Revere's ride, a governor who denies global warming, would secede from the union if he could, thinks Social Security is a ponzi scheme, and a former governor who doesn't believe anything with conviction -- it depends on which day you ask him.

People often walk up and say, "I don't know what to believe these days." You should feel free to offer the above three truths as something certain they can believe in. Because they can.

The year was 1972

A campaign was being waged for the US Senate. Candidates in both parties made the claim that "Washington is out of touch with the people, government is too big, spending is out of control and we need a balance the budget amendment to the Constitution to restore sanity." All candidates ran hard against Washington. That was my first up close look at an election for the US Senate.

Since then I have watched every Senate race and hundreds of races for the US House. In nearly every campaign over these past 39 years, candidates run against Washington. “Send me there and I’ll straighten things out. I’ll make sure Washington listens to you.” Although nobody – until now – claimed they could reduce the price of gasoline by 50%; nobody claimed his opponent didn’t “love” America; nobody questioned the eligibility or the legitimacy of their opponent’s candidacy. It's a sign of how far the process has been allowed to deteriorate.

So, how did we get here – wallowing in this sorry state for public affairs?

It started with candidates preaching their anti-Washington venom relentlessly every two years. Contributing to the problem was – and is – a lazy electorate that doesn’t take the time to understand what is going on around them. But for the electorate to gain that ability to discern truth from fiction, political right from wrong, best interest of the nation versus best for special interests will require them to ask better questions when they go through the education system at all levels. They will no doubt encounter teachers and professors with their own biased leanings who will teach things like, “Richard Nixon was a crook, and they all become crooks if they stay too long.” Or they may teach, “Jack Kennedy stole the election in 1960 in Illinois,” or “George Bush stole the 2000 election in Florida with the help of the Supreme Court.” And both will add something like, “But of course, that is the nature of politics today. Dirty business. Don’t get too close. Expect the worse.” No wonder even intelligent persons begin as avowed cynics at the start of their understanding.

But if you don’t make an attempt to understand the process that makes a democratic republic work, and be willing to participate in it, we will not be able to keep it.

Jon Huntsman was on ABC’s This Week program and he spoke the truth to Republican leaders and Republican rank and file voters. Because he spoke the truth forcefully to his party, right wing extremists who seem to be in control of the Republican nomination will soon dismiss him from the stage.

Of all the candidates on the Red side of the aisle right now, John Huntsman gets it. He understands the urgency of the issues our nation faces. (I say “right now,” because there is still a chance George Pataki and Rudy Giuliani will get in, not to mention Sarah Palin.) Huntsman understands what this country needs and he can articulate an intelligent argument for his positions. Debates between Huntsman and Obama would be helpful to the nation and would guarantee that whoever wins in November 2012 would have a good chance of beginning his term with the political atmosphere in Washington more in tune with progress rather than stalemate or worse, marching backward to, say, 1930.

Huntsman, unfortunately for the country, will not be on the Republican ticket. Fortunately for the country, Obama will win re-election to another term.

What about the future? How can we change the process by which we select our leaders?

Start by telling candidates to stop bashing Washington or you won’t give them your support. Washington is not the enemy; Washington is us in the form of representatives we send there. So, tell candidates that line only works with stupid people and you’re not stupid. Start asking your teachers and professors to explain how America has existed this long if all politicians are crooked like Richard Nixon or amoral like Bill Clinton. Start by seeking out good people to run for office and get behind them with your time and energy AND your money so that large donors do not have as much influence as they once did. And slowly you will begin to strengthen our electoral process. You can do it – and you must.

39 years is long enough to listen to candidates use the same old canards to manipulate us, isn't it?