Study This!

The Iraq Study Group, which sounds all the world like a "break out" group from the last "Middle East and You" Conference, is a total and complete sham. Like most blue-ribbon panels, its intent is not to clarify issues and solve problems, but to quiet the rabble and give political cover to the Administration. I just hope most American's can see through the window dressing and into the smoky back room.

The concept is this; The ISG is bipartisan. They will agree that some sort of phased withdrawl from the quagmire is necessary. This will happen, in some manner, before the 2008 election cycle kicks into high gear.

So...GOP candidates and their lame ass, er, duck President, will be able to say; "We wanted to stay the course, but the will of the people and of the ISG had to be heeded. We didn't cut and run, we only agreed to the terms set out in this (did we mention?) BIPARTISAN group." At least that's their hope. When the Senate and House candidates start running TV ads 18 months from now, the ISG will (they hope) let them avoid another wave. Will it work? Nope. Don't think so. This war will hang around their necks like a 20-ton albatross, as well it should. No amount of stage-managing will help them.

Their goose is cooked. So is the albatross

The Truth Hurts

I was recently taken to task by a reader who noted that, as the lefty-child-hating-scum that I am, I couldn't possible understand why Rick Santorum wanted his kids on the dias the night of his recent defeat. This was just one in a series of affronts to my honor, but it is the one I will address here.

How to begin?

How 'bout this. In my world (left-leaning, CBC dipshit that I am) I believe it's wrong to subject children to pain and humiliation if it isn't necessary. Isn't that just part of the Judeo-Christian ethic? Wouldn't most people agree with that? There are times, of course, when a little pain or a little loss is important for kids. Like when the pet rabbit dies or you can't buy them the Super Elmo. It builds character. It presages what they'll face later in life. But that wasn't what happened on Election Night 2006. Santorum, in fact and deed, forced his children to face public humiliation. From where I sit, and I think most of you who subscribe to a nominal sense of Christian ethics would agree, Rick should have taken his lumps alone, or at best, with his wife at his side. Not with his brood crying in the background.

If Santorum's Election Night display is your idea of normal, then yes, I'm not part of the mainstream. And you know what? I'm proud of if!

The Incredible Lightness of Winning

The much-heralded "Gingrich Revolution" is over. The neocon onslaught is DOA. It's morning over America II...and it feels really good!

For those of us who have been inpatient with the US electorate, here's a tip of the hat. It may have taken them a lot longer than we hoped for, but they did finally, "get it." Even some of the dimmest bulbs figured out, "Hey, these guys are usin' me!"

And while the political pundits talked on about Bush, the War, terrorism and the housing market, I think the most enlightening poll result was the one which showed that a wide majority of American's are simply fed up with "how things are going." They are sick and tired of feeling, well, sick and tired!

And they have had it with the devisive "War on Moderation" which has been the hallmark of the Bush Years. They want to feel positive again. Starting today, they can.

Now, to a couple of my least favorite pols. First, Rick Santorum. The long, dark, depressing and bizarre tenure of Rick is over. Having spent millions and millions on some of the least-effective TV adversiting in years, Santorum never moved a number. His support started at around 40% and he ended up with about that, when all was said and done. It seems he could have run hemmeroid ads and had just as much success.

Rick's final hurrah came at a hotel in Pittsburgh last night, where he did the usual gracious concession speech. However, I did find if mildly upsetting that he dragged his entire family up on the stage, so that they could suffer his humliation with him. Son Johnny and youngest daughter Sarah Marie were crying rivers. It might be the final time Rick gets to use the kids as props...and I guess he wasn't going to let the opportunity pass.

Also in Western PA, there was Missy Hart, a Bush acolyte, who wasn't nearly so sanguine about her loss. After first claiming that "We have no votes" from Beaver County (long after the Altmire campaign and the media did) she finally admitted defeat. But, in a show of classlessness, she couldn't resist a final swipe at Altmire, saying "People told me to cut his legs off, but I didn't want to run a campaign like that. Of course, he's new and he did do that. I just hope he learns not to in the future." (all paraphrased)

Hart was visibly stunned and pissed, but she knew (or should have) that this was a very real possibility. And Altmire's "negative ads" were mild...and mostly recounted Missy's connections to Bush, et al.

She should have left the stage like a pro, but perhaps, in that final moment, she revealed herself for what she really is; an oafish, manipulative, arrogant pol. Ex-pol, I mean.