Election Fatigue

It could happen to you, it could happen to me, it could happen to everyone eventually... But seriously. I never thought it would happen to me. I was really, really excited about this election. It was close, it was engaging... everything I could want our of an election. I loved it. It had a good guy (Obama), a bad girl (Hillary), a grumpy old man (Mc Cain), a high priest (Huckabee) and a born again Nazi (John Mc Cain). It was fun. I love our system and even with these absurdly early primaries making the season more absuder (legal term) it seemed like it would all be good.

I think I started to tire when I found out that John Mc Cain was a left leaning, pinko, gay marriage espousing, pro abortion, anti-life, probably gay himself, killer of small children, puppy maiming BASTARD! I had no idea. I thought he was just a smart but grumpy old man who had served his country well, been a prisoner of war, devoted himself to public service, refused the pork barrel earmarks and (in earlier elections) stood up to hate and intolerance. So it was distracting when my favorite comfort woman to the Nazi’s... Anne Coulter set me straight on John Mc Cain. I think that started to make me tired.
And then there was Super Tuesday. I was really thinking I would get some closure on the Obama/Clinton thing at Super Tuesday but... instead I get uncertainty and fear that we will go to the convention without being united. That there will be legal battles over the seating of the Florida and Michigan delegates where Hillary won and Barack didn’t campaign. That there will be a convention decided by “Super Delegates” that no one voted for.

Now Romney has quit. That is a good thing because I really hated him (and I know that is irrational) and his rich guy (I put 35 million into my own campaign) pretty haired, I turned around the Olympics and a consulting company so I can run the country, attitude. Now everyone says Mc Cain will pick Huckabee as his VP but I do not see it. I hope he does not grab Johnny Depp before Obama thinks of it. God it is hard on me coming up with all the ideas for these guys.

And when I started to think about all that I really just became tired of the whole thing. I listened to all the analysts on Wednesday puffing and talking and... I just got tired. The local NPR station started it’s Valentine’s pledge drive this morning and I was grateful for the break in commentating. I think that I am afraid for the future and that makes me feel weak and sad. I do not have a lot of faith that anyone can save us from a long cold winter in our economy and I have fears of fascism and nationalism and a lot of other ism’s as we start through our Limbaugh and Coulter demagogues to find people to blame. I really am afraid of that so... I am taking a break from political blogging for a while and doing a strategic withdrawal until March or so. Certainly know one can object to that?

New Years Butt Kicking

The New Year! Very exciting. Watching West Virginia play Oklahoma on January 2nd. Bowl games thus far lead me to the following conclusions:
1. BCS did not work this year to create exciting match ups OR games that truly satisfy the quest for National Champion.
2. Missouri did indeed get screwed by not being included in BCS but... you cannot lose at the end of the year.
3. Illinois WAS lucky to beat Ohio State... and nothing more.
West Virginia is making a game of it and I do not know how to feel. I hate Oklahoma for beating Missouri twice but isn’t it better for Missouri to have Oklahoma beat the crap out of them?

****

The Diner Review will continue next year but perhaps with some format changes. I think it is imperative for survival that some regular readers contribute. I am looking for a minimum of 3 guest pieces a month. Reviews, Diner Reviews, political rants..musings...give me something bitches.

****

New Years Eve. What a party. We were honored to have the Camp Arcadia Staff as well as some staff alumni spend a portion of New Years Eve or the entire New Years Eve. At any given time from the day before New years Eve (new years eve, eve?) to this morning we had between 12 and 42 people wandering around and sleeping and eating there. Most of these people between the ages of 20-26. There was a lot of energy and we were really excited about hosting this on New years Eve but we had not counted on a three day extravaganza. We also had to deal with the issues of 20 year olds drinking (it is illegal in St. Louis I am told). We did not buy any beer for the party but the kids supplied a quarter barrel (for those of you not familiar with the vernacular a quarter barrel is a keg) which lasted for a while but was evidently supplemented by jello shots and various bottles of cheap vodka. The key thing is that no one died and everyone woke up the next morning. We did over flow a toilet on the first floor which leaked through to the basement but other then that no permanent damage. A haz-mat team was sent by the EPA into the basement to take readings but once they flushed it out with chemicals and water (an additional 23 year old was discovered sleeping in a cabinet under the bar) it turned out that there was no structural damage. They finally all evacuated around noon on January 2nd. A good time was had by all.

****

Half time of the West Virginia game and WVA is for lack of a better term kicking Oklahoma’s boomer soonered ass. Oklahoma is flat and WVA is on fire with passion and good defense. They are playing the same game Missouri meant to play by playing smarter and faster then the other guys. I wonder how it will end up in the BCS if this holds up but you have to think Oklahoma's size and conditioning will eventually take over the game. We will see.

****

Iowa Caucuses are tomorrow night. We will not know anything until late tomorrow night or early tomorrow morning. Right now they are making me look like geniuses in the polls with Obama and H leading their respective party polls. I feel pretty good about Obama, I think people are going to vote for change whether Obama could deliver it or not he is the guy who we think has the best chance. Bad for Hilary. Huckabee is not going to do as well as I hoped. he still might win but Mc Cain will be the one who surprises in Iowa and New Hampshire. Romney is lost. He has nice hair but the immigration message is not a winner and his attack adds are turning people off and off and off and if you are buying a lot of TV time and they are turning adds off,.... you lose.
****
OK...now it is the night of the third of January. Oklahoma got stomped by West Virginia. Bitch slapped...humiliated on national television. Unbelievable. But what is really unbelievable is that The St. Louis Diner Review called the Iowa Primary on November 29. I am like... unbelievable. Now we roll on to New Hampshire where Romney will start to disappear and Mc Cain will start to surge. Obama will continue to roll in New Hampshire as well. He has momentum and will shortly be unstoppable. UNSTOPPABLE. Happy New Year!

DINER REVIEW ANNOUNCES PRIMARY WINNERS

Diner Review Picks Nominees!








I know that everyone is in a race to have the first primary or caucus or whatever and I know that they are going to try and spring all this on us in January but your friends at the Diner Review have decided to forego all of that and save your New Years by telling you now who the nominees are going to be. Absent a major stroke by the populations of Iowa, New Hampshire and Michigan the nominees will be:

Democrats: Barack Obama
Republicans: Mike Huckabee

You heard it here first. But why you might ask the great Diner Reviewer do you think they will be the nominees? I will instruct you as if i were the great and all powerful LIBERAL MEDIA. Well, the schedule is as follows for January for the Democrats:

January 2008
3 - Iowa caucus (per Iowa caucus, website of the Iowa Caucus Project)
8 - New Hampshire Primary (changed on 11/21/07 so it could move back up to first primary status; they waited to make sure Michigan wouldn't schedule their primary even earlier than Jan 15th)
15 - Michigan (on 11/20/07, a judge ruled the primary can be held on Jan 15th; DNC will probably penalize them by taking away delegates)
19 - Nevada caucus (approved by DNC)
26 - South Carolina Primary (approved by DNC)
29 - Florida Primary (may be penalized by DNC for breaking party rules, which may result in losing delegates)

The Republicans throw in a party in Wyoming:
January 2008
3 - Iowa
5 - Wyoming Republican Convention
8 - New Hampshire Primary
15 - Michigan
19 - Nevada, South Carolina
29 - Florida

So here are the problems and opportunities according to the Diner Review. Hillary Clinton is the only Democrat who can lose the presidential election. She is a galvanizing force for the Republicans and has no real governing experience and although advised by the BEST political machine in recent history she cannot fix herself. She has flipped on every important issue to make herself more palatable to what she perceives as the the main stream of the party and is nothing anymore to anyone other then Bill’s really smart, aggressive wife. She is too much of the same system that has brought us here. All Obama will do is the week before the caucus is to remind the Iowans that if she is elected we will have had 20 years of Bush and Clinton dynasties and are they going to tack on another 8 years... a whole generation of two family families having the the Presidency divvied up between them? Iowan’s will not tolerate it.

John Edwards is lost before he starts. he does have a great populist stump speech and I think he has a great heart but he got played out as Gore’s number 2 and people think that they have his number. He is a populist of the multi millionaire variety. he might make a nice VP candidate this time around but Obama will need someone from New York, California or Texas to round out his ticket. Bottom line is that Edwards would be tough to elect as well.
Obama is asking the hard questions and doing his best to tell the truth. He is telling the folks that there are no easy answers and that it is time for a change. Thats is what people want to hear, that is what they need to hear. I only hope the guy can deliver. he appears to be the only one of the bunch who can make any claim to be an outsider. Perhaps it is an illusion and maybe even a lie but... maybe night and that is all we really need. Once he wins Iowa Hillary’s bubble bursts, Edwards goes away when his funding dries up. New Hampshire even if Hillary can limp through and win that one starts to get killed in Michigan (which might lose it’s delegates anyway) but when they hit Nevada and South Carolina it will be over. Obama will kill her by then

The Republicans will be a lot easier. Huckabee beats Romneys well financed machine by 5 percentage points... or more. Guliani get killed in Iowa... killed. He and Romney limp into New Hampshire where they narrowly beat the rising tide of the Huckabee machine which then rolls on into Michigan, where he kills and the they fight a little battle in Nevada and then HE KILLS THEM in South carolina... and if Florida has to vote...they will and he will win there too.
Romney is a Mormon and the conservative christians will not line up behind him. Like it or not Christians view Mormons as nuts. I know that sounds bigoted or wrong but it is what it is and no amount of repositioning or pandering can get him there. Guliani is just simply unlikable outside of New York and he cannot say 9-11 enough to change that. Huckabee is pleasant, likable former minister who talks pretty well and has a nice story. he is also from Hope Arkansas and the republicans as much as they hate Clinton, admire the way he bitch slapped them. it is Huckabee and it is over before Super Tuesday.