"Obama Is Likely to Lose"?

I like Peggy Noonan. Yes, I know she was reagan's speech writer back in the day, and she is, for all practical purposes, a wingnut---- albeit a more educated and somewhat reasoned one.

Anyway, I read her piece in the Wall Street Journal today (yes, I read the WSJ) and I found her comments about O to be quite interesting.

Basically it was a cheer up fellow republicans note, and it came with the usual things that you would expect from someone trying to give their base hope.

I am paraphrasing here, but she writes things like the following: Obama will lose because he was too focused on his health care plan. His foreign policy is confusing and muddled, and he is getting all he can handle from Gaddafi in Libya. He was outgunned and outclassed by republicans domestically because their budget proposal was serious and offered a unique approach to solving our fiscal problems, and his did not. The polls show that 69% of Americans say that we are on the wrong track and only 38% of Americans say that O deserves reelection. Throw in the fact that his numbers are down among folks he could count on in the past such as....(Gasp!) African Americans, and, well, you can see where she was going.

And yet, in spite of all that gloom and doom predicted for his O ness, she finished her column with a warning:

"You would think Democratic professionals, who read the same numbers Republicans do and pick up similar trends, would be hanging their heads in despair. They are not. They have hope.

Their hope is that Republicans in the early caucus and primary states will go crazy. They hope the GOP will nominate for the presidency someone strange, extreme or barely qualified. They hope that in a mood of antic cultural pique, or in a great acting out of disdain for elites, or to annoy the mainstream media, Republican voters will raise high candidates who are unacceptable to everyone else.

Everyone else of course being the great and vital center, which hires and fires presidents. The Democrats' hope is that centrists will look at the Republican nominee and, holding their nose, choose the devil they know. Especially if the one they don't know seems to have little horns under his hair.

Republicans voting in recent presidential primaries have tended to pick the candidates who are viewed as the moderate in the race—Bob Dole in 1996, George W. Bush in 2000, John McCain in 2008. But in truth, there are some pretty antic candidates out there this year.

The great question of the coming year is not, "Will Obama reignite his base?" or, "Will the Democrats outraise and outspend the GOP?" It is: Will the GOP be serious? Will Republicans be equal to their history, their tradition and the moment? If they are—if they recruit and support candidates who can speak to the entire country, who have serious experience and accomplishments, who are grounded and credible, then they will win centrist support. And with it they will likely win the thing without which they cannot achieve the big changes they seek, and that is the presidency." [Source]

As a fellow republican Peggy is worried that there are no adults or serious candidates in her gang. I can't say that I blame her. When their great weight hope is a guy who can't control his own appetite and yet they want him to control the nation's budget, there just might be a problem.

A problem that doesn't look like it can be fixed with the gang lining up to ride the elephant in 2012.

Good luck wingnuts, at least half of the country is counting on you.

*Pic by Chad Crowe in the WSJ.

Iraqi shoe- ts at our Prez.

So here I am on a crisp Sunday afternoon, going over some post trial briefs, and keeping one eye on some crime show on MSNBC. Then I hear the BREAKING NEWS ALERT, and I glance over to the tube. These alerts always get my attention, because in these volatile and perilous times in which we live, you just never know what might be coming next. So what was it? An Iraqi journalist threw both his shoes at my Commander in Chief. Both of them. (Are we sure we still have Richard Reid in custody?)

Now I don't want to pile on the frat boy, lord knows he has been subjected to enough obloquy and derision. But there was the clip over and over again. The frat boy with that little irritating smirk of his, yucking it up with the Iraqi Premier, and taking questions from the journalist present in the room. And then, shockingly, there is the man doing his best Pedro Martinez imitation with his size tens.

Now my first thought was that the frat boy was pretty nimble on his feet, and he showed some good moves to avoid the first shoe. (The guy should have been a boxer. I bet he would have been a better boxer than he was President) The second shoe was going to miss no matter what because It was high and away. (Ball one strike one) And of course my next thought was, where the hell is the Secret Service? They guy got off two shoes before they could take him down. What if he was firing bullets instead of shoes? And what if those shoes were bombs instead of Iraqi Adams or whatever the hell they wear in Iraq? ("Iraqi Adams", get it?). Hey, let's just be glad that Shaq is on our side. Anywho, I really shouldn't be making light of this, it could have been a seriously tragic event in our nation's history. It could have triggered a war....wait, we are already at war with the Iraqis. Okay, but it could have been a serious historic event, nevertheless.

Obama let that be a lesson to you, you better start calling on those FOX reporters. You don't want them pretending they are Iraqi journalist on you all of a sudden. Who are we going to send to cover the Obama news conference today? How about old Major Garrett, I hear he has a pretty mean fastball. Besides, he wears size 12 shoes, there is no way he can miss.... But don't worry O man, I have a suggestion: all members of the press must remove their shoes before going into the White House press briefings. If they don't want to comply, they don't get credentialed. It's that simple.

Still, even though the shoes missed, this is yet another sad day in what is fast becoming one of the worst and saddest administration in the history of our democracy. Just think about it for a minute: Our President suffered the indignity and the affront of having a journalist from a country he claims he liberated throw his shoes at him. And while in a formal press conference no less. You can't make this stuff up. And if you did, you would have a hit movie or novel on your hands.

Poor frat boy. Honestly, I am actually starting to feel sorry for the guy.

Now I know I am getting old.

Obamaholics, I was wrong

may I eat chicken instead of crow?



Your boy did it, and no one in A-merry-ca is as surprised as I am. Hopefully the real A-merry-ca showed up tonight, and if it was the real A-merry-ca, it's a country that I can say that I am proud to live in. Blacks, Whites, Gays, Asians and Latinos; all of you Obamaholics who stepped up and volunteered with your sweat and tears deserve to be sitting right on 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue with his O ness. This is your election victory. You could have sat back on your ass like this cynical blogger and say it couldn't happen, but you didn't. You could have said, like this cynical blogger, that A-merry-ca was not ready to elect a black man with a Muslim* name, but you didn't. Instead, you believed, and you started a movement. A movement which will make A-merry-ca a better place for all of us.

I will leave you with some comments that were left on this blog which moved me to tears today:

"I Didn't Vote For Obama Today I have a confession to make. I did not vote for Barack Obama today. I've openly supported Obama since March. But I didn't vote for him today.I wanted to vote for Ronald Woods. He was my algebra teacher at Clark Junior High in East St. Louis, IL. He died 15 years ago when his truck skidded head-first into a utility pole. He spent many a day teaching us many things besides the Pythagorean Theorem. He taught us about Medgar Evers, Ralph Abernathy, John Lewis and many other civil rights figures who get lost in the shadow cast by Martin Luther King, Jr.But I didn't vote for Mr. Woods.I wanted to vote for Willie Mae Cross. She owned and operated Crossroads Preparatory Academy for almost 30 years, educating and empowering thousands of kids before her death in 2003. I was her first student. She gave me my first job, teaching chess and math concepts to kids in grades K-4 in her summer program. She was always there for advice, cheer and consolation. Ms. Cross, in her own way, taught me more about walking in faith than anyone else I ever knew.

But I didn't vote for Ms. Cross. I wanted to vote for Arthur Mells Jackson, Sr. and Jr. Jackson Senior was a Latin professor. He has a gifted school named for him in my hometown. Jackson Junior was the pre-eminent physician in my hometown for over 30 years. He has a heliport named for him at a hospital in my hometown. They were my great-grandfather and great-uncle, respectively.But I didn't vote for Prof. Jackson or Dr. Jackson.I wanted to vote for A.B. Palmer. She was a leading civil rights figure in Shreveport, Louisiana, where my mother grew up and where I still have dozens of family members. She was a strong-willed woman who earned the grudging respect of the town's leaders because she never, ever backed down from anyone and always gave better than she got. She lived to the ripe old age of 99, and has a community center named for her in Shreveport.

But I didn't vote for Mrs. Palmer.I wanted to vote for these people, who did not live to see a day where a Black man would appear on their ballots on a crisp November morning.In the end, though, I realized that I could not vote for them any more than I could vote for Obama himself. So who did I vote for?No one.I didn't vote. Not for President, anyway. Oh, I went to the voting booth. I signed, was given my stub, and was walked over to a voting machine. I cast votes for statewide races and a state referendum on water and sewer improvements.I stood there, and I thought about all of these people, who influenced my life so greatly. But I didn't vote for who would be the 44th President of the United States.When my ballot was complete, except for the top line, I finally decided who I was going to vote for - and then decided to let him vote for me. I reached down, picked him up, and told him to find Obama's name on the screen and touch it.And so it came to pass that Alexander Reed, age 5, read the voting screen, found the right candidate, touched his name, and actually cast a vote for Barack Obama and Joe Biden.Oh, the vote will be recorded as mine. But I didn't cast it.

Then again, the person who actually pressed the Obama box and the red "vote" button was the person I was really voting for all along. It made the months of donating, phone banking, canvassing, door hanger distributing, sign posting, blogging, arguing and persuading so much sweeter. So, no, I didn't vote for Barack Obama. I voted for a boy who now has every reason to believe he, too, can grow up to be anything he wants...even President."





~~~Mrs. Reed~~~


Damn it, I think I am crying again.


BTW, I hope you folks like my little virtual Broad Street run (thank you ArtMaggot) it might be the only running I will do for awhile.........alright, alright, I won't be a wimp, I will think about the run, and I will post it.

Link here.

President Obama?

A-merry-ca might prove me wrong after all, it seems that one of her leading political parties might actually nominate a black man to represent it in a general election for the presidency of these divided states. If that happens it will be historic, but if he goes on to become president, the field might go into a cardiac arrest.

I actually have a bet with a friend that if Obama is elected president, the day after his inauguration, I will streak at least two blocks down Broad Street. So now that my little Broad Street run is looking more and more like it could happen I am starting to get a little worried. I know my buddy will be holding me to it, and there will be no escaping the consequences of opening my big mouth. Besides, aren't inaugurations in January? It's cold in Philly in January. How will my "Johnson" survive sprinting two city blocks in the freezing cold?


So anyway, now that Obama is surging and the bull's eye is on his back and not Hilary's, I can't wait to see what happens from here. I know the Clintons, and they don't like to lose political battles. The re-puke-licans act like they want to run against Hilary, but I don't believe that for a minute. I actually think that they want to run against Oprah's boy. (Just look at the latest poll from their media arm. This is a trick to get Hilary supporters to relax. Look at what the real polls are saying, and you will see what I am talking about) One thing I will say about the re-puke-licans though, is that they know their A-merry-can voter, and they play hardball when it comes to staying in power. They know that the "average" A-merry-can isn't ready to pull the switch for a black man, even if it's half of one. A woman? Maybe. But a black man? To quote my man Borat, "Not"!

Now don't get me wrong, if Obama were to run for president as a dumb-ocrat, he would win some blue states. ---I give him California,New York, Illinois,Massachusetts, and some other Yankee states. But that's it. Don't for a minute think he would get any states to go blue south of the Mason Dixon line. It just ain't happening. Dead people and babies would be voting against him. I thought Vicksburg Mississippi only had 27,000 people how did they get 40,000 votes for Romney? And let's not even talk about that other thing....all I can say is thank god the man has secret service protection already.

You know what, the more I think about it, the more I think I will be able to keep my clothes on this January and stay out of jail on an indecent exposure charge. But we will see. After all, the re-puke-licans might fool around and elect a guy that thinks all Aids patients should be quarantined, and all wives should submit to their husbands. If they elect that guy, I will have to start doing about 1,000 crunches a day.

Because let's face it, if my naked mug is going to show up on the news somewhere, I might as well have a six pack to show off.

"Black Friday"

Well, another turkey day in the books, and we Americans have once again given thanks for all that we have been blessed with here in the home of the (some) free and the land of the brave. I, like everyone else, ate my fair share of turkey, and gave my thanks to the creator for all that he (or she) has blessed me with. So excuse me if I go back to the real world now.

I want to start with this immoral and senseless war taking place in Iraq. Because while we were chomping down our turkeys, and stuffing our already fat guts with gravy and cranberry sauce, over 160 Iraqis were blown to bits in yet more sectarian violence in Iraq. It would be way too easy to me to jump all over the frat boy again. After all, this is his war, and for better or for worse. No scratch that. There is no better here. This war has defined the frat boy's Presidency and he will go down in history along with James Buchanan, as the worse President to ever lead our republic. But again, jumping all over the frat boy would be too easy.

I want to focus on those who were complicit in allowing this illegal and immoral war to take place. Those of you in the media, and the opposition. The people who were charged with looking out for the interest of the American people, and not letting our democracy get hijacked by a bunch of neo cons in back rooms, and a high profile television station (masquerading as a news agency) with token Negroes, blond bimbos, and fancy graphics and trailers. Yes, you have all failed us. The press was silent, and looked the other way, while the frat boy and his minions dared us to challenge him. Dared us to call him on his lies and deceit. And dared us to scream at the top of our lungs that the Emperor had no fuck***g clothes. The opposition party failed us. They were too busy trying to read the polls, too busy trying to get reelected, and too busy not wanting to be seen as unpatriotic and all too willing to "cut and run".

So thumbs down to you Hilary for your gutless stance and your vote for this war. I hope the voters in the Democratic primary never let you forget. And all the triangulation in the world won't allow you to take back that vote. The sad thing is,we know you didn't mean it, we know you are smarter that that, and you knew this war was ill fated and wrong from the jump. But we also know that you are a political animal, and your political instincts-like your husband-always trumps your convictions. So we weren't surprised when you took a position that you thought would be popular. Well, it's not popular anymore, and I am enjoying watching you try to use pretzel logic to justify your initial stance, and your sudden change of heart when you see that America has finally seen that the Emperor is naked. "I voted for this war but not for the way this war has been prosecuted..." Well f**k you! I hope the Democrats vote for your opponents and your sorry ass never makes it out of the primary. But it's not only Hillary, it's most of her democratic colleagues, I am only picking on her because she is the standard bearer for the party right now.

But maybe I am being too hard on the former first lady. To be fair, we all were somewhat complicit, we all were afraid to be called unpatriotic, and we all were afraid to seem like we were not supporting our troops. Of course, if you were like your truly, and actually had loved ones who were put in harms way, and who left their blood and a pieces of their body over in Iraq, you would know better. I heard from the horses mouth that it was a fu**#d up war, and that many of the soldiers over there knew it. That they were walking around like sitting ducks while the criminals running things played political games with the war and with their lives. That they wanted the war questioned, because it was the only way that those on charge of prosecuting it would see the error of their ways.

So here we are three years later, almost 3,000 of our precious young men have lost their lives, and billions and billions of our tax dollars have gone down the drain, and still, there is no end in sight. Over 100,000 Iraqi civilians dead(650,000 if you believe one recent estimate) A war that is supposed to be fighting terror is creating nothing but terror for those poor Iraqi women and children. How pathetic is the frat boy? Now he has sent daddy's friends to find a solution to help bail him out, and daddy was moved to tears to defend his incompetent son at a recent conference in the Middle East. But again, it's too easy to pick on him. He lost the midterms, his approval rating is still in the thirty percent range, and his scandal plagued party is in disarray. He is a lame duck in every sense of the word, and now when I see him I actually feel pity. (Damn I'm getting soft!)

So most of my ire today is directed at the American people. Maybe it's watching all those people dashing to the malls to spend more money on gifts, maybe it's my own sense of guilt at being so blessed while those children in places like Iraq, and Darfur are living a form of hell right here on earth. Maybe it's seeing how the media has made headline news out of the fact that Rosie O'Donnell and Kelly Ripa are feuding openly about an incident that took place on Ripa's show. I mean really, who gives a f**k? But this is America for you, so shallow, so happy, and so focused on all the wrong fuck**g things!

So today is "Black Friday"; but for me, it's black Friday for totally different reasons than it is for you. And as I watch the funeral procession pass through those Shiite slums, and those poor people burying their dead one after another; I suspect it's "black Friday" for them too. But unlike you and me, they won't be getting any deals at Wal-Mart anytime soon.

***Before I go, you might have noticed I changed my logo. Yes folks that good Maroon fighter I was using was lifted from another source. (Given my profession I should have known better than doing such a thing) So anyway, rather than face a lawsuit down the road, I decided to use my own likeness. I will miss my Maroon fighter but this was the best and safest way to go.

Besides, all that time spent in the gym should be good for something ;)