During the last 36 hours, I’ve watched a lot of political news.  It’s fairly unavoidable anyway, but I do seek it out, preferring the all news channels (real news channels, not FAUX news) to the reruns and pathetic programming on network TV. The presidential election fascinates me. I’m a bit of a frustrated campaign message director, always nearly spitting mad that some of the campaigns do such stupid things.

Brief break – In the interest of being open, let’s remember here that I am a Democrat, born and raised.

Last night, I watched a news clip of our dearly beloved former President, Mr Bill, as he stood up for his wife and said something that caused a reaction in me somewhere between complete disbelief and utter aggravation. One of the spins that the Clinton campaign came up with over the past weekend for Obama’s win last week and what looked like a win coming in New Hampshire was to blame the media! The irony of that statement is kind of appalling. And don’t be mislead here, I like Mr Bill a lot. Favorite President so far. But that kind of spin really irritates me. I expect better of them.

For the previous almost 12 months, American media organizations have held Hillary up as the crowned frontrunner for the Democratic nomination – without a vote ever happening. For at least a year, every media outlet has made giant leaping assumptions that Hillary was the one, the only one, there was hardly any point in anyone even taking her on.

And I think that annoys a lot of us who don’t want to be told who our nominee will be, but want to make our choice when it’s time to vote.

And once Hillary announced, her fundrai$ing went according to the media projections, and she became the fundrai$ing leader. And once that happened, Hillary seemed to take on a presumptive air that she would be the one, she was the only possibility. Everything Hillary has said, every speech, has come across with an air of arrogance, expectation, and presumption. She comes across as if she is entitled to the Presidency (which is also a problem I see with McCain, but that’s another story altogether). By the way, even Hillary’s choked-up response yesterday came across as a bit staged and inauthentic.

But the independents, the students, the younger voters came out to caucuses in Iowa to stand up and assert their points of view. And they put Barack Obama in the lead.

 What is a real leader? A person with a vision, an inspirational person who can share that vision with others, someone who can lift others up. Real heart. Smart. Articulate (dear God, please let our next President be smart and articulate – I don’t think the US can survive another bumbling boob as President). Dedicated to the cause, not to the position. Authentic. Right now, that person is Barack Obama. 

We enjoy his smarts. We thrill to his inspirational message. We value his authenticity. We feel his desire to improve the country and the government of this country, not just get the job. 

I would say Hillary needs to take some lessons from Barack – but I don’t think that she could pull it off, even if she took the lessons. Because you can’t learn authenticity. Real is real.

Not so fast, Mrs. Clinton. Barack’s biting at your heels.

PS - I’ll still vote for her if she’s the nominee!

I adore Warren Buffett…a billionaire with a brain and a conscience and a heart….

Dear God in Heaven! If this is the kind of person who’s representing us to the rest of the world, no wonder we’ve got a bad reputation.

…or at the very least, respect his passion about how the sad state of the housing market is affecting other parts of the economy. Watch CNBC’s Jim Cramer go OFF here.

Nice to see someone discussing this stuff PASSIONATELY instead of dispassionately.

Nice job, Chertoff. Way to put everyone on edge and cover your a** at the same time. Is this what Karl Rove told you to say in order to change the recent headlines of this administration, like this one, or this one?

So, my friends, we have two Republican candidates who can officially count themselves out of the race.

Mitt “Mr Smooth” Romney for this story…
(I’m sorry, but if you don’t have any better sense than to put your dog on the roof of your car for a 12-hour road trip, then you shouldn’t be allowed in government anywhere, let alone the White House, Clark Griswold)

…and…

Duncan “Who the Hell are You?” Hunter for this story…
(if you actually, truly believe that Ann Freakin’ Coulter is a “great American,” your moral judgment and sense of right and wrong are so deeply flawed that you should just go back to kindergarten to learn the actual difference).

I found this site by accident today and wanted to post it just so it could be shared and visited more often.

It cheers me up to find out that there ARE some of us out there, here in the good old bluegrass state, that are about sick to death of KY’s Senator Mitch McConnell. I’ve seen no use for him since about 1988.

Just read this quick bit….the judge that sentenced Scooter Libby to prison was appointed by … wait for it…. Ronald Reagan!!!

 HAHAHAHAHAHAH….I’m giddy with the irony of it all!!!

…because they “are dissatisfied with their current choices,” is married to a woman who is 4 years younger than his own daughter.
Again, I just find it HILARIOUS that the most uptight Republicans don’t like their current options and want someone FROM HOLLYWOOD to run as their upstanding man when all they do is b*tch about how liberal Hollywood is!!
Check out the picture included with this blog - Thompson leering down at his trophy wife. 
Nice, upstanding example of such a fine conservative, moral values-based Republican.

The oil/gas industry continues to tell us that they’re not gouging. They blame all the prices on economics/supply & demand. 

 So, if it’s not gouging, why is it that exactly one week prior to the long Memorial weekend, prices went up more than $.40 per gallon, only to magically go down $.30 a gallon on exactly the day after the long weekend was over?

And I don’t want to hear the bs about “you should feel lucky” to be paying “only” $3.50 a gallon. People in Europe and the far east are not as dependent on their cars in order to make a living. We are the land of the mega-suburbs, people. We have to commute. And unless you’re in a large city like NYC or Chicago, public transit is not really an option.