Where the hell have you been?

Yo. I got a wonderful email from an old high school friend today from the form on this site and it reminded me of a) how fast time flies and b) thay I've neglected this site for too long. Reasons? Busy with work, family and volunteering as well as not having a single shred of interest in national politics anymore. Surprised? Don't be.  Just as working on the Carly Fiorina campaign extinguished my passion for politics professionally, the current state of the GOP has wiped out my concern for national politics personally.

 

Is that bad? Have I caved into the apathy that chokes much of our population from their civic duty? YES. And it doesn't matter. If there's one thing I've learned over almost two decades is that when it comes to the federal government, you're ON YOUR OWN. Always have been. Success or failure is up to you. Nothing the federal government does or doesn't do holds your way of life by the balls. I don't care how many of "those crazy INSERTLEASTFAVORITEPEOPLEHERE are ruining our country" speeches you hear. These crackpots do not "control" what the fate of the United State is. YOU do.

 

In terms of what's happening politically, the South Carolina thing is amazing.  I honestly don't know what's funnier: how scared the core GOP is of a Mormon or how willingly they are able to throw all their sanctimonious bullshit away for a candidate who's a walking example of hypocrisy. This is either going to be 1996 (Gingrich = Dole) or 2004 (Romney = Kerry) depending on how you look at it. And guess what? We already know how those stories end.

 

I know few people stumble upon this site these days, but I think I'm just going to dive in and debunk all the issues I've witnessed over the years used for campaign fodder. Abortion? NOT an issue. Gay marriage? Nothing to get excited about. Immigration? Too many of us have short memories.

 

The good news is that for those of us who like to watch with amusement at political theater, 2012 will be an Oscar worthy year.

The American Comeback Ends

Honestly am not surprised that Tim Pawlenty ended his campaign today. It's  too bad since admittedly, the Ames Straw Poll isn't that accurate. It's only picked the Republican primary winner twice in five times. But what I found interesting was this video from the Pawlenty campaign:

Maybe it's the sentimentalist in me, but I am BLOWN AWAY by this video. Aside from the content, the editing is just superb. The music is spot on and the imagery is just fantastic. This is by far one of the most inspiring, well meaning and well produced campaign videos you'll ever see. So what happened?

Bottom line is that NOTHING about this video is evident in the candidate. And when your fantasy is this far away from reality, nothing this good can help you.

Summer of Stupid

It's hard to believe summer is almost over. Most kids in Arizona start school on Monday if you can believe that. So, what's happened over our summer breaks? Yikes. I'll summarize it this way: you have now seen how much the stupidity of campaigns has permeated the actual governance of those who get elected. It's amazingly sad and unfortunate. But, here's the good news: you have to hit rock bottom sometimes before you can fix things. Put in another way, sometimes "you have to burn the village to save it."  Politically, we're very close to that.

Enjoy the rest your summer. Because once Labor Day is over, the real campaigns begins and you're about to see whole new definitions of dumb be made.

UPDATE: Let's Just Win Today Instead

OK, wow. I was all set to make fun of the Gingrich announcement today saying how he was like Bob Dole (and I should know Bob Dole) and ha-ha, heh-heh it's all 1996 all over again.

But no.

It gets SO MUCH BETTER. Here's a screen shot below of the Newt campaign website. Notice the top story. WIN THE FUTURE? Go ahead and Google that right now. Heck, let me help you.

If you ever wondered why this site is called what it is, this post is now EXHIBIT A.

UPDATE: As a friend just reminded me, it gets even better.

• Newt used a variation of this slogan for the title of his book from 2005.
• An Oregon Republican owns the domain name www.winthefuture.com and points it to the Oregon GOP.
• Sarah Palin made fun of it when the President used it in the SOTU. I'm sure she loves it now.

This is all still exhibit A. ;-)

For the President, One Step Forward, Two Steps Back

Why do politicians get bogged down in the garbage of politics so often? Fresh on the heels of the Osama bin Laden story, the President digs into immigration reform today with this gem:

"I suspect there will be those who will try to move the goalposts one more time. ... Maybe they'll say we need a moat. Or alligators in the moat... They'll never be satisfied... [but] that's politics."

Actually Mr. President, THAT'S not politics. Politics is when any politician embellishes objective plans to solve a problem with partisan divisiveness.

Why be so mocking? I know I'm hard on Republicans most of the time because I know them so well. But wow. Here's a chance for the President build on great points like "In embracing America, you can become American. That is what makes this country great."  But then he squashes it with the eye-rolling stuff above. It's too bad. There are so many times he comes so close to real greatness and the embodiment of what he campaigned on only to be constrained by garbage like this. It's too bad and unfortunate.

Amusingly, he'll still be OK next year especially after Bob Dole announces his campaign tomorrow.