A bit troubling, a bit creepy but definitely fascinating

Aside from the tired old  ‘insert your enemy’s name here’ is Hitler routine, this still matches up pretty good. And, as far as chewing ass goes, it seems to me like this is probably how it went down.

Beyond stoopid (and a prediction)

I am not really sure if it’s because, while we were waiting for today’s Pennsyvlania primary, we were also waiting for winter to end, but it has been a looooooooong 6 weeks since the Texas and Ohio primaries. So now that the entire state of Pennsylvamnia has had its 15 minutes, let’s just move on with a quick prediction:

Clinton by 8 points

Obama put up the good fight  and he will crush her in Philly but the folks from Scranton are gonna put Hillary over the top and by no short measure because many of them just will not vote for a ‘colored Muslim.’ Well, at least they are half right.  Gov. Ed Rendell, a strong Hillary supporter, called this months ago and 8 points is probably as much of a victory as Obama could expect.

Still, this whole Pennsylvania race with its Bosniagate, its Wrightgate and possibly the most insipid debate that I have ever seen (and I have seen debates for high school student council president) has really put the scare in me that we might just be too stoopid to save.

Specifically, I will point out a question that the ABC moderators Charles Gibson and George Snuffalufugus couldn’t bring themselves to ask so that had to get some idiot yahoo to ask for them. It went something like this:

“Sen. Obama, I am not questioning your patriotism (uh huh) but do you believe in the American flag?”

Really? REALLY? Ten million people are watching a presidential debate for the most important job in the world and you ask this? DO YOU BELIEVE IN THE AMERICAN FLAG??!!

Well, I have a question for you, Ms. McCabe, “Are you a complete and utter moron or do you have some kind of vitamin deficiency that causes you to ask incredibly stoopid and pointless questions” Seriously, because you just made and ass out of yourself in front of 10 million people.

I mean I guess she could have asked “Sen. Obama, do you believe in puppies and rainbows and sunshine?” Or perhaps she could have followed up with “Sen. Obama, people here in Pennsylvania believe that giving crack to babies or having crack-addicted babies is bad. Do you believe that crack babies are bad or are you pro-crack baby?”

Honestly, I could not even listen to his response. I felt embarrassed for him, for her, for everybody watching and most of all for the United States of America. Kind of like the way you are embarrassed when you see a couple of jackasses giving a waitress a hard time and even though you are not doing it, you still feel bad.

Once again, “Do you believe in the American flag?” Um, did she mean did he believe it has special powers? Or perhaps she meant did he believe that it should be around like the designated hitter rule. No, wait, I am pretty sure she’s just a moron.

Please Hillary, please God, please American flag, please end this wretched primary fight soon so we can move on to the General where there are actual differences between the two candidates and people who ask questions like this are too busy buying ceramic angel figurines at the Cracker Barrel to pay attention.

One last note about Ohio (ok, and Texas too)

There’s even a chance that Hillary could win the state but actually lose in the delegate count similar to what happened in the Nevada caucuses. Of the Buckeye State’s 141 delegates at stake, 92 of them are apportioned by congressional districts in a way that favors Obama. You can get a pretty nice round up of the daunting mathematics she faces in trying to gain ground here.

Also, the “Texas Two-Step” which is what the Obama campaign has been calling the Texas primary-caucus system definitely seems to be in favor of Obama since he is undefeated in caucuses this year.

There have been several stories that have gone under the radar recently of the Hillary campaign’s poor management of delegate counting and complete ignorance of the individual states’ primary systems. It would be cruelly or perhaps laughably (depending on where you sit) ironic if the candidate who has been running on experience and competence ended up losing because her campaign couldn’t master something that you could find out from any high school civics class.

There’s a reason they call it “Balkanization”

For those of you who aren’t familiar with the peculiar tale of woe that is Serbian history regarding Kosovo, Christopher Hitchens’ lates article, The Serb’s Self-Inflicted Wounds is a really good place to start. Personally, my favorite quote from the most recent events actually came from Condi Rice who said, ” I mean after all we are talking about something form 1389 — 1389! It’s time to move forward”

Another great view albeit a sadder one, is a blog being written by Jasmina Tešanović , a Serbian writer and activist in Belgrade as events unfold. Still coming from the South, I kind of understand what is going on in Serbia. Old wars and blaming the other guy is a great way to get support without really having to accomplish anything or make any actual improvements for the people you lead. And, when you can mix the fury of nationalism with the stupidity of religion, well, it’s hard to get people not to riot especially when you are busing them in for free and getting them liquored up before they get there.

The whole episode really reminds me of a bunch of guys who get drunk and start arguing with anyone who will listen as to why we still need to fly the confederate battle flag. Except that in Serbia’s case, it’s the town sheriff that’s supplying the Jack Daniels and driving them from place to place so they can pee on their neighbor’s lawns.

It remains to be seen whether or not the Serbs will try to re take a piece of land in which 90 percent of the population doesn’t want them or what NATO or the EU would do about it if they tried. But if the Balkans have shown us anything over the last 100 years, it’s that its a place of extremely long grudges where nobody is completely blameless and where we’d be best served by treading very cautiously.

In other words, let the Europeans handle this one.

Kerry endorses Obama.

Ok, so let me get this straight, John Kerry came out today and endorsed Barack Obama for president. Sure, fine it’s his right and probably a wise move. But, doesn’t anyone else think that he looks a bit disingenuous since John Edwards (you know, the guy that Kerry picked over all his other choices to be his vice-presidential running mate) is still in the race?

Doesn’t choosing someone to be your VP candidate kind of say, “this is the person who I think would be the best president if, God forbid, something ever happened to me.” Isn’t that kind of the purest presidential endorsement you can get? And, why isn’t anyone asking John Kerry this rather obvious yet awkward question?

Another very relevant question would be to ask what Kerry thinks happened to John Edwards in the last 4 years that has changed his “one heart beat away” status. Is there something about Edwards that Kerry has since learned or is he still eminently qualified to be president just not as qualified since Obama came around?

Wow, I am just blown away that the GOP was so able to portray this guy as a flip flopper.

OK then.

via SMS:

---

I have an idea. Let’s start a blog. We can argue over who is stupider of the current candidates. Then after election season we can extend it to entertainment, writers, sports, etc. I think this could really work. whoisstupider.com is available.

Stupider is not a word. Otherwise I love it. Either more stupid or dumber.

I realize stupider isn’t a word. That’s the point, the gimmick, the theme.

Ah. Clever. It still hurts my ears.

I’m serious. Let’s do this. Need a creative outlet.

OK OK but you have to personally answer all the comments from people who don’t get the irony.

---

OK then. Let’s talk about stuff.