Rev.Wrong

Since this is a political year in which guilt by association is fair game; And since Barack’s former pastor has been the constant grist of the last two months of the media cycle, can we please give equal time to the colorful cadre of religious charlatans that John McCain elects to share the stage with? For instance, Rev Rod Parsley of Columbus’ World Harvest megachurch. He has some very interesting thoughts on American history and our national duty to slay the infidels. All this guy needs is a limp and cave.

Flip Flopper

Nobody likes those. Just ask John Kerry.

Rocky victory

All the pundits said that Hillary stays in if she wins Pennsylvania by double digits. And she did. Just barely. It is all so Rocky! ( Even if she had won by 9 points, something tells me she would still be in their plugging away.) Of course, the real winner is John McCain. Even though there are still two Democratic candidates in the ring taking jabs at him, Hillary always seems to be helping him take a swing at Obama. (First with the Wright, then with the Farrakhan, pow, pow, pow). Very Rocky, indeed. Cut my eye. Cut my eye.

Who won the debate?

Why, this guy, of course. Charlie Gibson––the guy with all those substantive questions. “Will you agree tonight to make the other your running mate?” That, of course, is a question to which we all already knew the answer. But it was worth it to see what appeared to be two candidates like deer in the headlights. Of course, it was, in fact, two candidates waiting for the moderator to do what moderators are suppose to do: direct the question to a particular individual. Instead, good-time Charlie throws out his snarky ” Not every one at once.” Yup, journalism at its best! Then Charlie raised this campaign to higher ground by resurrecting Rev Wright (who lies a molding in the grave), Bosniagate and the so-called bitter controversy. Yup, the electorate just can’t get enough of that stuff. Why talk vision and policy differences when we can watch the candidates skirm? Attaboy, Charlie. And kudos, to the caped crusader’s diminutive sidekick, George S. When Obama said he disowns his former Pastor’s remarks, Stephanopoulos shot back, “So now you disown him?” Alright, Georgie! Stirring it up!! By the third act, the two stooges actually asked some policy-related questions and Senator Clinton clearly performed strongly in this portion of the debate; but only after looking totally disengenious feigning bewilderment about Obama’s strange remarks about guns, God and racism. But, all and all, Charlie won this one. He led the debate with sensationalism and gave short shrift of the real issues. He made both candidates look stupid, and himself look clever. There must surely be a spot on FOX News for Charlie Gibson after last night. Clearly, he gets it. He’s the brand. He’s not a messenger. He’s the message. It’s enough to make me cling to guns and religion.

Look who’s voting for Obama

Just as soon as the Clinton Campaign and the GOP squeeze all the mileage out of the Rev Wright and the “Bitter” controversies, get ready for this one. Barack Obama consorts with known terrorists!!!! Pictured above is Bill Ayres, a former Weatherman. No, not the guy with the funny maps before the Sportscast– the 1960’s Yippie variety. He plotted the overthrow of our government, protested the Military Industrial Complex and conspired to put LSD in the Jello mold. All about the time Barack Obama was in Pampers. Anyway, today’s he’s a Obama supporter. And fair game. So get ready.

Gaffe?

Barack Obama has an international upbringing, a biracial heritage and an ivy league education. He is wicked smart and a powerful speaker. So when he says something you can be assured of two things: He is not misspeaking and he is trying to bring people together. So any attempt by the Obama camp to wiggle out of his comments concerning “bitter” blue-collars workers, we should question. This guy doesn’t misspeak. He says what he means and means what he says. But the other thing we should seriously question is his opponents attempts to cast Obama as out of touch with working-class people. The one thing Obama has in spades is empathy. So when he speaks to a group of San Francisco liberals he articulately and candidly tries to explain why conservative Catholic factory-workers may not embrace the benign programs of the liberal establishment. He challenges his listeners to transcend their cultural and political biases to understand the other end of the spectrum. He challenges middle-class white people to understand the plight of poor blacks. He challenges faith-adverse Democrats to embrace faith-based evangelicals. He challenges us all. Because without being challenged, we remain cosy and comfortable in our individual enclaves. And the other guy, is always the enemy. Sadly, frank, articulate challenges from a frank, articulate leader like Obama are always going to make dodgy-sounding sound bites for FOX News and the GOP. But when truth is spoken it is never a gaffe. It is, at worse, an inconvenient truth.

McCain: Unplugged

The Real McCain by Cliff Schecter, which will arrive in bookstores next month, reports an angry exchange between McCain and his wife that happened in full view of aides and reporters during a 1992 campaign stop:

“Three reporters from Arizona, on the condition of anonymity, also let me in on another incident involving McCain’s intemperateness. In his 1992 Senate bid, McCain was joined on the campaign trail by his wife, Cindy, as well as campaign aide Doug Cole and consultant Wes Gullett. At one point, Cindy playfully twirled McCain’s hair and said, ‘You’re getting a little thin up there.’ McCain’s face reddened, and he responded, ‘At least I don’t plaster on the makeup like a trollop, you cunt.’ McCain’s excuse was that it had been a long day. If elected president of the United States, McCain would have many long days.”

And Cindy will be First Trollop. It makes a second Clinton White House sound like Ozzie and Harriet.

McCain closes the gap

In a recent poll, John McCain has closed the 10-point gap between himself and Barack Obama. Now, if he can only close the gap with himself.

Tolerating Freedom

Freedom of religion is complicated business. More complicated these days because of something called “tolerance.” Look as you may, you won’t find the “T” word in any of our founding documents. Because tolerance––in the way that it is popularly conceived–doesn’t seem to tolerate many of the built-in disagreements various religions historically have had with each other. To say nothing of religions’ varigated positions on you lovely heathen. Which brings us to the congregants of Topeka’s Westboro Baptist Church––a faithful band of true believers who truly believe that GOD HATES FAGS. Not something you will run across in the anathemas of Trent, but then again, not something entirely inconsistent with the sacred writings’ conspicuous intolerance for all things kinky. (You may recall, that nasty Sodom and Gomorrah business.) Be that as it may, it seems that a federal judge has recently put a $5 million lien on Rev Phelps’ tax-exempt temple. According to the story, his church is being sued for their colorful devout behavior: Showing up with their banners and signs at the funerals of gay men. Which sounds as much like a freedom of speech issue, as a freedom of religion one. And it appears the government is clearly trying to limit both. So perhaps the moral of the story is that even free speech has it’s limitations. You can’t yell “fire” in a crowded theater. And you better not yell at gays period. Especially the dead ones.

Loaded

Okay. Is it just me or does this blue-collar, populism of Hillary Clinton’s receive a little blow back when we learn that she and Bill cleared $109 million over the past six years. I mean, saying you are going to help the hard-working poor prevail against the filthy rich seems to work better if you don’t happen be filthy rich. Of course, the Clintons do represent that segment of the dirty, stinking rich who are asking the government to increase their tax burden; And I guess that counts for something. But class-warfare rhetoric seems to work best when the bad guys aren’t ones making the speeches.