It's time for Conservatives to forgive Senator John McCain

Good heavens. It's like the right wing of the Republican party is finally getting their wish: achieving martydom by pretending they're on the cross for Christ rather than support anyone but their own inflexible, polarizing--did I say unelectable-- phonies like Huckabee of the swift tongue and Romney of the $40 million dollar open checkbook.

He's George's kid, after all
They (the ancients in the GOP) did it before in the 2000 presidential primary and they're doing it again (they never learn). George W. Bush had no business becoming president and most of us knew it, especially those of us who were so bitterly disappointed in the SC campaign. It was George W. Bush and the establishment machine who destroyed John McCain's chances then, not a very proud moment for my party because of some misplaced values.

I was always a McCain fan even before he ran for the senate and quite by accident. For years, in the late sixties, I wore an ugly gray metal POW bracelet on which was brazenly stamped his name and date of capture. Naturally, I was delighted to work for Senator McCain's presidential campaign later in my life. So, I'll admit that it took me a while to forgive such treatment by my party of a true American hero.

That's politicians and politics for you; you can't take it personally. Maybe so, but the SC shenanigans against Senator McCain were personal and obscene and it was the establishment that allowed the Bush people to get away with it. But, as my grandfather, the original Republican, said about entrenched party politicians, "Once you buy these guys, they're yours for life."

He was right. I'm reminded that power trumps money sometimes.

So the right wing kids are taking their balls and going home?
Limbaugh, et al. won't support John McCain. Pity.

I guess that's just about 17 million more registered Independents and disaffected Dems we regular Republican folks need to win over to Senator McCain's side (Limbaugh's alleged number of chronic listeners).

The popular spokespeople for the religious Right and the religious Left have shown they're simple, intractable and stunningly willing to expose their own life ignorance--which they must consider the antithesis of pride and ego--doing all that good and all, standing up for what is "right" (don't we all, BTW?).

By answering the call from their "gods," they view themselves as actually putting themselves on the line in taking the "risk" for their cause (and ego), on and on, whatever keeps them in the limelight. Most of these well-knowns are natural iconoclasts who became entertainers by uttering interesting, usually rehashed concepts in a new way. Political cartoonists have been doing it for years. So have satirical cartoon/graphic novels and periodicals.

I wanted to hear what Limbaugh would say about McCain, so I tuned in. Some woman with a cobra for a tongue stated how she hated John McCain and how he hates we (sic) Conservatives. She sounded to be around 35 or so, who knows? But her viciousness toward Senator McCain was telling as to her lack of grace; her delivery was hostileand she was practically screaming at her host in the most self-righteous language. Then, when her diatribe was finally done, the following (paraphrase) was Limbaugh's response;

Rush Limbaugh: (after great sighing, pausing) Now you see, Ladies and Gentlemen, how real people out there feel about John McCain. They see him as a traitor to the Repubican Party and to Conservatives causes. I just don't see how we can possibly ignore his liberal tendencies, he will turn against us again and again, he'll raise taxes, his best friends are Democrats, blah, blah, blah.

Wait a minute, Rush. You certainly went a long way when you ignored George Bush Sr's and Jr's liberal tendencies. Have you forgotten New World Order, Read My Lips, and my personal favorite, "It's not really amnesty." among others? Oh, I forgot. Rush is pretty star struck and got an invite to the Lincoln bedroom from the Bush Srs. That changed everything in his very, very small world.

It's the heroics, Stupid
Who'd have thought the Republican Party would get a do-over? Other men would have walked away, but McCain stuck out his gimpy leg and limped forward anyway. We are watching a great man rising to greater glory. What a time to be alive.

John McCain is a national hero and deserves every American's respect. That is a challenge I will issue to anyone who comes back at me about McCain's so-called disloyalty to the party. God help us all if we can't listen to our mavericks and the ones who make us recall what could happen, what might happen and what should happen. The ones who are right are seen as statesmen, charismatic leaders and heroes.These great men and women overcome odds just by becoming forces of nature.

Our country needs great men again. Our boys need them.

John McCain has walked it, he's talked it. He's earned it and he deserves it. Now, it's time for Conservatives to get over it.


Thanks for the read.

Obama's missed opportunity

In reviewing the South Carolina primary game films, I hope someone in the Obama camp points out the missed opportunity during the last Dem debates.

He thrust with his remark about Hillary's service on the board of directors at WalMart. Most people in the audience didn't connect the dots or know to do so. Here's how he might have successfully and in a gentlemanly way dissed Big Girl.

Immediately, Barack should have parried, then outshouted her with, "Mrs. Clinton, WalMart alone is responsible for the closings of thousands of mom and pop general merchandise, grocery and drug store all over America. How did they beat these home town businessmen? How do you think, Senator Clinton? The cost of their goods was so low because those goods which flow into the stores in whose name you sit on a board of directors are made by Chinese labor that is cheap and easy, sometimes even enslaved Christians. Because WalMart ordered huge numbers of goods, they could make and ship them at a fraction of the costs for other merchandisers."



That would have opened up the Chinagate issue and she would have been doubly offended. Good attack, great results. It's easy but you gotta know everything there is to know about the world ala Clinton. Here is the psychology of man versus woman that has yet to pay out. Just a step forward would have taken away any advantage he had because of cultural bias and fear. Just a step back would have indicated he was talkin with the massa's wife and invite what he got.

Instead, his lack of experience let her pull the slumlord counterattack. She never should have got that far. He would've taken her out in the second sentence if someone on his staff had had more sense. He now needs major players, mainstream, black, white, Asian, polka dot people to help the campaign. May be he can remember to connect the populist dot next time.

In the meantime, tonight Obama has won the SC primary by a humongous margin. Watch for a new Bill Clinton charm campaign sprinkled with a little nugget of fear here and there about Obama's background. We'll see how long they wait. Go for it, Barack. Just get smart, will ya?

Thanks for the read.

How Obama can get the old ladies' vote--not that there's anything wrong with them

I've got to admit to some possible ageist thinking in the last few months as the media announced the new phenom, Barack Obama. I thought he was a cute kid, but I was waiting for him to grow into that rich baritone that doesn't yet fit inside his boyish, lanky frame.

I was underwhelmed when the queens of daytime TV anointed him as their man. They hate women like me; why in the world would I care what they anoint?

As the primary season has lurched forward, I'm still polishing my opinion of him.

Obama is my favorite kind of liberal
He's epitomizes the beauty of true liberal thought based on sincerity, goodness and mainline American protestantism. I know and love people just like Obama. Occasionally, we'd have a wunderkind like Barack in my church's pulpit whose exhortation that "you are your brother's keeper" pounded the congregation with compelling, heart-to-head, emotional phraseology. I relate to Obama's Christian language inthe same way and I honestly believe he is what he says he is. He had a hard upbringing with absent parents. However, his people on both sides of the house were educated, interesting, liberal people. He's a natural Democrat, old school.

Barack is as pretty as a new penny, I'll admit. And I'm beginning to like how he has avoided offensively utilizing a race-tinged attack so far. He seems to be an engaging, charismatic, reasonable person and could be a good, mainstream, centrist Democrat president...maybe some day when he learns to take a stand on issues instead of merely voting "present," for instance. I predict he will graduate to junior statesman following this real life battle with the Clintons. If he moderates his politics as a result of experience and pain, he could. Some day. Not today. He's way too young. His inability to see the Islamist threat is a problem.

I feel sorry for Senator Obama. I wish the black political establishment would thumb their noses at the Clintons. Some of the braver ones have stepped forward...to which Bill responds, "oh, sure...like I'm so afraid of John Kerry."

The rest might have two reasons they can't abandon the Clinton ship: one, they are politically and personally beholden to them, thus frightened of them; and two, the establishment is not willing to step out on a limb because of Obama's youth and naivete. I doubt he'll even be given the key to the REAL men's room until after the convention. Remember who Obama's supporters are: black voters, black women. The pols aren't going to risk their comfortable positions to support a kid like Obama, unless they have something on the Clintons that all of us can't wait to hear. What a knock out punch that'd be, huh? I can always dream, can't I?

Hey, such is politics. Now the devil's due has come. The black elders must be sweating it out, soul-wise. They've got their dream candidate (Heck. Even I might vote for the guy some day, when he grows up). They've got this political generation's great black hope. They should be throwing rose petals in his path. Instead of rallying behind Senator Obama, encouraging their voters to maintain a civil tongue, working through their intraparty racial, money and generational issues-- Charlie Wrangel and others choose to squander this opportunity to to put the first black man in the White House who isn't asked for another drink.

Instead of fulfilling their own long-forgotten dreams, instead of sharing their righteous front line experience and lessons learned to assist this young man to levels higher than even they can imagine...instead of having a pseudoblack president like Willie, they can have the real thing. But instead, they are obligated to their royal highnesses' destiny.

As Bill Bendix ("Life of Riley" ca. 1950s) would say, "What a revoltin' development this is."

Thanks for the read.

Bill's White House

Well? Isn't that what's really going on here? How many of you honestly believe this won't be a co-presidency?

Vote for Monica Lewinsky's ex-boyfriend's wife for president
Great bumper sticker. Wish I could take credit, but it came off The Front Page Magazine's message board. LOL! I HOWLed.

Meanwhile, the ex-boyfriend in his inimitable, baby boomer, break-the-rules, lose-his-temper and point-his-finger-while-his-face-gets red, acts like he's the one on the ballot.

Actually, he is--running, that is. He's also running the campaign, the strategy, the tone and the racial provocations. He is ready to make history. After all, he could become the first male first lady, the first ex-president to be the first male first lady and most importantly, the only human being in American history who will in essence serve (as a shadow co-president) for eight more years.

Why doesn't someone besides me make an issue of this? Is the cult of personality so profoundly embedded in our culture that this constant shifting of the rules (laws) a little here, little bit there, that we can't even recognize it as a problem? Can't we debate this issue? I think it warrants a quick talk though at least.

Once again, Bill's confrontational behavior in this week's scenes of our dynamic political drama likely is nothing more than the implementation of a long-held plan to get the White House back. I can see Bill and Hillary sitting around in their jammies talking about what if we do this or do that...then what will you say? No, Bill, you can't say that. No, Hillary, you gotta do this.

Yet, Bill's public display (act?) of his lack of impulse control these days has to have angered Mrs. Clinton. Again, I can just hear them. Hide the heavy ashtrays and vases because the brains of this outfit knows well Bill's bigger than life body language brings back bad memories for everyone.

We'll see if Bill can control himself. Knowing his ego and his constitutional inability to accept criticism, I predict the benefits to the Mrs.' campaign are minimal.

Don't you talk to my man that way
Back at Menopause Central, Senator Clinton might have a big problem with black women. I know my black girlfriends will correct me if I'm wrong, which I welcome.

The visual of an older white woman pointing her finger at Barack Obama and raising unpleasant issues about his character must be quite offensive to black women.

We women boost our mates because it's in our best interest to support them, bolster their egos and self image. But, black women over time have seen their men dehumanized, abused and treated in unspeakable ways. As a result, there has been almost an overreaction to any criticism. I can't see any black woman worth her salt who would stand by and watch her husband get humiliated by an older white woman.

Once again, Mrs. Clinton shows her inability to "get it." She's absolutely tone deaf, politically. Nor does she seem to understand the black experience as much as she has claimed, e.g., equating the "older white woman" with the lady of the plantation doesn't cross her mind. Either that, or the black establishment is so indebted to the Clintons, she/he can say anything and get away with it. After all, they all owe Bill big time. What a dilmema for a traditional black Dem.

I don't know if Obama can resist taking this issue to the limit by using the "it's because I'm black" response. I hope he doesn't, but with the Clintons, you gotta get out the big guns.

Thanks for the read.

Rudy's out. Mac is back.

I wrote the following email this morning in response to Rudy Giuliani campaign's email request that I man the volunteer phones this week.


Dear Giuliani Campaign,

I sent the campaign $200 three months ago.

I don't know what happened and why the mayor thought he could do a hare-style sprint to the finish line, but he's so far down now, I doubt he can regain his momentum. I still am wondering how the front runner became a single-digit also-ran.

That's not leadership

Something seems to be very, very wrong in the Giuliani campaign and I'm not sure what. However, I'm not all that interested anymore because, frankly, Rudy doesn't seem to be particularly interested either. He should have participated in Iowa, New Hampshire. Now I read his people aren't being paid (kinda wish I could reroute my donation to John's campaign).

Whatever stopped Rudy from moving forward and becoming more active in his own campaign has hurt him. If it's his personal life, I'm not thrilled about having to fight a hideous, Clinton-style, dirty linen battle in the name of Rudy.

I just want a leader who can keep his nose clean, not cheat on his wife and do the job. Bernard Kerik's mess and Rudy's affair has hurt. You can be assured that the Clinton or Obama machines will decimate him. The "dubious character" perception now is almost impossible to turn around.

No, that's not what the party--or our country--needs.

Meanwhile, as I hinted above, I've gone home to McCain for whom I worked last time.

Respectfully and with regret,


Gee, I hated writing that.

I really don't want to seem fickle, but sometimes a girl's gotta do what a girl's gotta do.

Thanks for the read