SamSaid!

LAST GASP?

It may be an understatement, but Hillary seems to be on the ropes. Just a few months back she seemed to be a sure thing with all of the support from the left wing media, a big war chest and the Democratic leadership. No more. In just a few months her campaign is in trouble, most of the money is spent or committed, and her endorsements are slipping away. How did all of this happen?? Is Batpak Omega really that tough? Or did she botch it?

All kinds of reasons can be cited for Hillary's demise and there is no shortage of pudits weighing in with their personal pronouncements. But maybe the best observation might be the closest — i.e., there are a lot of people who just don't like Hillary. Maybe not fair, and not warranted, but nonetheless true. They just don't like her. Charm school and hairdoes aren't enough, nor are academic credentials or White House savvy. Personally, I don't think there is much she can do to avoid being steam rollered next week or those following. Bill certainly didn't help and I think the average American has had enough of a Clinton White House.

It musr be galling to her to be vanqished by an unqualified neophyte.

CLEMENS

Roger Clemens is one of the greatest baseball pitchers of all time. Now he has placed his records and reputation on the line over steroid use — and is absolutely denying the drug accusations — before the American public and the Congress of the US. Not much wiggle room in his denials. I can't imagine a high visibility guy going out that far on the end of a limb unless he is truly innocent of the charges. In this case, I am biased, and I hope that he is telling the truth. Sordid affair — a no win issue for baseball. Roger is right on one point — no matter how this affair ends, he will never outlive or recover from the damage done to his reputation by the accusations.
Nothing wrong with “hope” — just ask Mr Omega.

ROMNEY

A while back, I started to opine on the different presidential candidates, but deferred on Mitt Romney since I figured he woud be around for a while. Bad guess. His withdrawal caught me by surpise.Sorry to see that happen. First of all, he LOOKS like a
President and presents himself as one. No question, he is a leader. Well groomed, well spoken — a take charge kind of guy with business experience and impeccable educational credentials. If you consider what he brings to the party, I sort of gag in thinking of Begonia Omega or Billary.

Romney's campaign never caught fire, but someting tells me that we have not heard the last from Mitt. Hope not. Now we will have to see how broad based the appeal of John MCCain will be.

COMPETITION

The primary elections have generated fierce competition among the Presidential candidates with more to come as the races narrow. But while we focus on Omega, the Clintons, McCain, Huckabee, etc., there is another competition that is equally attractive — if not moreso. That would be the competition among the networks (ABC, NBC, CBS, FOX. CNN etc., for the best looking newscast femmes. Right now, with Megyn Kelly, Jane Skinner, and Laurie Dhue, FOX wins hands down. And their 2nd tier of blonde ladies is not far behind. The real test of course is the best looking blondes wih a lock of hair hanging over one eye. Too bad we can't get a good view of their figures standing and moving. Sitting in a chair doesn't quite win the trophy!
Not a time for brunettes.

TRILLION

In the Sunday newspaper, there was an article on one of the inside pages saying that Prez Bush had proposed a budget of 3.1 Trillion dollars. That is 3.1 TRILLION — which looks like this –
$3,100,000,000,000.00. That is a lot of zeroes before the 3. I'm sure that most people have no real appreciation of the magnitude of $3 Trillion. When you grow up thinking in terms of hundreds or thousands, the whole notion of a trillion goes off the chart.

How does one go about spending $3.1 trillion? And what about the variables introduced by 100 fractious Senators and 435 bickering House members — to say nothing of the Committees involved? I guess that when Trillions are involved, 2-3 Million dollars here and there looks like pocket change. A $5 Million overrun?? So what's the big deal? Peanuts.

Maybe our Congress folks have become numb to big numbers. Could that explain financial irresponsibility?

SUPER

The finale of the football season is the Super Bowl, which has become a National and International event. However, some Super Bowls are Super, and others are not. The 2008 SB was SUPER. Low scoring games are often boring, but this one wasn't. The audiences kept waiting for the explosion to occur, but it wasn't intil the 10 minute mark in the 4th Quarter until the fireworks really began.

While lots of folks wanted to see the NE Pats finish “perfect” at 19-0, most of the fans seemed to support the underdog NY Giants. And almost all fans wanted to see how Eli Manning would fare against Tom Brady, who is as close as you can get to being a legend in his time. Tom did OK, and brought his team back into the lead with 2 minutes to play. Manning had only the 2 minutes, but it was enough. That final drive will last in NFL highlights for decades to come.

Now the Manning brothers have both QBed a Super Bowl winner and been selected as the Most Vauable Player in their wins. And Archie Manning and his wife are now the proudest parents in the world. Sort of makes you feel good ==== or maybe, SUPER!

CHANGE

I am increasingly amused at the way in which the Presidential candidates have latched onto the electioneering watchword, “Change”. When is the last time you have heard a candidate who did NOT advocate change. They all do — it's a given. Mr Obama would have you believe that he had discovered a political axiom that is comparable to re-inventing the wheel. “I will be the agent of change”. Really?
Like change what? Change from X to Y or Z?? It is discouraging to see so many dimwits buying this garbage without pursuing the followup questions. Specify, please. Take a simple example. It is commonly conceded that Social Security is financially unsound and has to be changed. Pray tell, Hillary or Obama, how would you change the system? Higher taxes, lower benfits, different eligibility. what?? They will give you all of the glorious generalities and buzzwords, but no specifics. Glib generalities won't cut it. How many TV journalists will keep their feet to the fire?? They will take you for a trip around th barn, but no direct answer. Only the grand goal of “change”. Does that kind of pitchmanship earn a vote.
Not from this end.

SPECIAL INTERESTS

During the early 2008 primary election campaigns, Obama, Edwards and Hillary practically salivated every time they turned a phrase about those evil, terrible, odious “special interests” in Washington DC. It is these organizations, they say, that are at the heart if the ills that plague us. Of course, these special interests, by definition, are lobbyists (some), and greedy money hungry companies or corporations. But just who really are these special interests?

Perhaps a key question is, aside from elected officials, “Who in Washinton is NOT a special interest?” Labor Unions? Sierra Club? ACLU? NAACP? NOW? Pro-choice? Anti-abortion pro life? NRA?? Green enviros?
Can anyone name an organization that espouses a cause that is NOT a special interest? Not hardly. All of the preceding examples qualify — eminently. They all are special interests. But the Dems don't like to concede that. They prefer to keep using their code words meaning, Oil, Steel, electronics, agribusisses, i.e., anyone in business to make money. Is George Soros a special interest? And if not, why not?

And when these Dems talk abiut creating more jobs, just who is going to hire people? And pay them? I think they know as much about economics as a pig knows about Sunday.

When any group of people tries to influence the vote of an elected offical, they become an interest group seeking to advance their own cause. But the Dems seek to have you believe that only they can identify the good ones from the bad ones. If a lobbyist is hired to support a Democrat program, that is OK, but when the lobbyist supports the cause of business, he (she) becomes evil and bad, bad, bad.

When I listen to these candidates and hear the term “special interests” I try to break the code to see exactly who they mean. If you really want to go to the heart of a prominent special imterest organization, the Trial Lawyers would be a good place to start. If the Dems really seek bi-partisanship,the Lawyers are the bullseye!!

RUDY
Rudy Giuliani beat me to it. With the amount of time and money he spent in Florida, most observers felt that he would draw substantial support. It must have been a major disappointment to see the lack of support from Florida Republican voters. He really didn't have much alternative than to withdraw from the race. I figured that he would pull out, but he certainly didn't waste much time. Several thoughts come to mind.
First, he may have overplayed his 9/11 reputation and heroics. Time has a way of dimming those memories. Second, in his personal life, he carries heavy baggage, especially in southern climes. But maybe moreso, he conveys the image of a New Yorker — a north eastern Brahmin — and that just doesn't play that well in the south. Just as the Southern vote may be termed provincial, the northeastern vote can be comparably assessed. Sorry, Rudy. Wrong time, wrong place, wrong message….. and wrong strategy.
He withdrew from the race before I had a chance to recommend that he do so. Can't be all bad!

EDWARDS

At this point, I think he is just along for the ride. His class warfare only goes so far. He made a ton of money from class action law suits and wants to spend it on his personal missions. He should know by now that his message is falling on deaf ears. If he stays in the race, about all he will get is a couple more TV spots on the Sunday AM talk shows. Sorry John, no waves — only ripples.