Political Observations

What did I think of last night's debate? I didn't watch it. I have the flu and couldn't maintain consciousness. I wouldn't have watched it anyway, especially since that gasbag Tim Russert was moderating. There's just not that much difference between the two candidates, so I don't really care which one gets the nomination. Either would be better than the GOP's presumptive guy. If my own candidacy does not take off, I will throw my weight behind the Democratic nominee whoever it is.

I saw a couple of conservatives on Bill Maher the other day, David Frum and some Congresscritter from Georgia, and I think I got a preview of some of the GOP talking points. They decided that it would be a good idea to attack JFK because of the comparisons of BHO to JFK. Frum actually characterized the Berlin blockade and Cuban Missile Crisis as failures of the Kennedy Administration. On what basis? Because they happened, that's why. The Russkies tested Kennedy in a way they never would have tested a Republican. Presumably, JFK was also a failure because he did not destroy the world in response to these Soviet actions. How do we know that the counterfactual is true? Because David Frum says so! If enough wingnuts and neocons say it, it will become "true". So if your model is Kennedy, your opponents will demonize Kennedy.

They also jumped on the lapel pin controversy and Mrs Obama's pride deficit. As far as they are concerned, the president of the US is also the Emperor of the World and must act like it. Any talk about diplomacy, humility in foreign policy (and meaning it), respect for the opinions of the world community, international law, and what not will be characterized as unpatriotic and an insufficient commitment to US hegemony. Of course, that hegemony must be maintained by raw force and fear, in the most expensive and inefficient and and ineffective manner, in order to maintain a state of perpetual war to bolster concentrated executive power and the surveillance and security apparatus at home.

John McCain is in bed with lobbyists. If not literally, then figuratively. I would be less concerned that he was screwing a lobbyist than that he has been screwing the rest of us on behalf of lobbyists. He has a "character" problem that his POW status appears to have counterbalanced. He is immune to criticism to some degree because he was in a POW camp and tortured back in the day. He plays the POW card all the time. You don't hear the media talking about the POW card like they do the race card or the gender card in connection with Obama and Clinton. McCain was captured by the Vietnamese and subjected to enhanced interrogation techniques. He is permanently disabled. I am sorry that happened to him. It doesn't otherwise signify.

If Obama and Clinton are pretty close after the primaries in the number of elected delegates, will the disenfranchised Democratic voters of Michigan and Florida be given a chance to weigh in?