Fun With Play-Dough

Song Bush was humming after his speech today: “It’s my White House and I’ll lie if I want to”. Seriously, what are the speechwriters thinking? Oh, we’re in Israel, Israel means Jews, and Jews shit their pants when you invoke Hitler’s name?

As a matter of fact, we don’t. George must not have heard about Telushkin’s 614^th commandment: “Thou shalt not grant Hitler any posthumous victories”. That includes not letting anyone bully us into turning our backs on Obama. What, did you think we’d roll over and play ball when faced with your stupid propaganda? Besides, if the Nazis had had their way, there would not be anybody like Obama on the planet.

Thanks; Bush, for trying to score a victory over the backs of six million victims. Asshole. But we’re not falling for it.  As if we needed any additional reminders that George Bush is the biggest wanker to ever have walked the capitol. If I were McCain, I’d place a phone call to George and tell him to shut up. On second thought: keep it up. We can use an easy victory in November. Then we can pull the troops out of Iraq and use the money for all the collective therapy we’ll need to forget about the past eight damn years.

Say it loud and say it proud: Jews for Obama! 

First he’s “too black”, now he’s “elitist”? Are you kidding me? I wouldn’t have believed this a week ago, but it’s true: suddenly, the biggest battle Obama is facing is the notion that he’s too uppity, and out of touch. What about being ahead in the race points towards being out of touch? Obama spoke the truth; Americans are angry. Never since his inauguration has Bush faced a lower approval rating, the economy isn’t just in the toilet, it’s been flushed, and that war keeps dragging on and on. Yet, saying out loud that Americans are bitter about this is a problem?

This is a non-issue; I wish it would go away, but I know better. This one’s going to stick, I’m afraid. Oh, and the new Clinton ad sucks. Honestly, Hillary, you’re disgracing yourself. Stop it.

Maybe we should all act like the anonymous Italian voter, who was so disgusted with his country’s politicians that he literally ate his vote. Of course, he was arrested; still, it’s an original protest, if nothing else.

On a different note, why is the Pope coming? I don’t want to insult any Roman Catholics, but it’s distracting right now. Is he going to bring a message? Does he have something to say we haven’t heard before? Or is he going to kick Bush in the behind for not ending this war? I hope he’s not planning to tell anyone how to vote because that would mean trouble. But why else would the Pope visit during an election year?

Maybe we better keep an eye on him…

As a nation, we have done our share of complaining about a government that lies. It is one of the biggest reasons that Barack Obama has been successful in gathering support; yet now that he tells the truth, he finds himself in hot water.

I am not convinced that he should be apologizing; it is human nature to get bitter when the economy tanks at such a large scale. It is also human to look for blame elsewhere, and to express that bitterness by focusing on issues that may not actually help the situation, be it immigration, religious causes, or resorting to ‘one-issue-voting’.

Barack speaks the truth, and the truth is unpopular, maybe more unpopular than the lies we have lived with so long. The lies, unfortunately, are familiar; only time will tell whether he will be able to get past this.

It is pathetic that, rather than addressing the issues, both McCain and Hillary attack the person Obama; calling him elitist is outrageous, especially coming from them. The response from both campaigns makes it abundantly clear that they don’t care about Obama’s words; they just care about chopping off his head. Once again, the smell of blood is in the air. Except this time, McCain and Hillary’s responses are eerily similar; and that is perhaps the most uncomfortable aspect of this whole firestorm.

Only some of us are interested in politics for politics’ sake all the time; most of us navigate between being genuinely vested in our country’s well being, and wanting to be entertained.  We are the Romans, and Washington is our Coliseum; the smell of blood will get us out of bed every time.

Having said that, what do we make of Obama’s speech?

The gap between the promise of ideals and the reality he spoke of is pretty wide. Still, I think it’s gutsy to give this speech at all, not to mention extremely smart. I wouldn’t be surprised if this was the moment that decided the race. Let’s face it; the man has charisma, not to speak of Kick-ass speechwriters.

I’m sure any real or imagined benefits of Obama’s speech will be picked apart during the next weeks, until we are so sick of it that we once again forget what really matters. But that’s okay; at least we might get temporary respite from this whole ‘he said, she said’ bonanza we have been suffering for weeks.

Still smelling blood? It must be Governor Paterson’s strange admission today that both he and his wife have had extra-marital affairs in the past.

Good Lord, will it ever end? What is he thinking, better to get this over with now, and maybe everybody will be so relieved I came clean, they’ll forgive me? What does he want, a medal? I’d be the first one to say that it’s better to have a good politician who is a crappy husband, than a great husband who lets his constituents down. But, please, is it so hard to have someone who can be both? Anyone?

Honestly, if I have to watch one more politician standing behind the microphone blabbing about how ‘weak’ he’s been, and how sorry he is, I’m going to throw up.

Can anybody explain what Geraldine Ferraro was thinking? We can assume that, since she ran for Vice President once upon a time, she is a reasonably smart woman. Although, Quayle and Cheney have done their part to ruin the reputation of the VP office, so there’s that. Still, her remarks are puzzling.  Was it verbal diarrhea? Temporary insanity?

I’m strongly in favor of having Hillary in the White House, but I doubt that Obama arrived at his success “because he is black.”  I’m sorry to be pointing out the obvious, but he got there in spite of his ethnicity, in spite of a middle name that some people keep whining about, and in spite of the fact that racism is still alive and well.

We can assume that Ferraro isn’t that much of an idiot; so then, what is she actually saying? Is she assuming that this is what people are really thinking, that this is some sort of affirmative action on a very high level? That’s not only insulting to Obama; it’s insulting to the voters that checked his name on the ballot. And there are quite a few of those; she is implying that they voted based on color and gender alone. She also implies that people are ignoring the issues at stake, and that they are willing to ignore the economy, the war in Iraq, health care, to name but a few.  It suggests that most Americans can’t see further then their own nose. That may have been true in the past, but it certainly isn’t true anymore, not after eight years of Bush.

She should be ashamed of herself; this behavior does not become her. It’s time to Reject and Denounce.