In what way is abortion a campaign issue?

It's not.

Abortion is permitted by law, and confirmed as legal by the Supreme Court. So why are we talking about it? Why don't we discuss how many orfreys an archbishop can have on his chasuble? That would be more pertinent.

George W Bush, ostensibly anti-abortion, did nothing to change this law because there was nothing he could realistically do. Clinton did nothing, Obama did nothing, Romney will do nothing. So who cares what their respective opinions are about abortion; it's as relevant as their opinions on pickled herring.

T

he real takeaway from this whole discussion is the knowledge that a member of Congress can be as dumb as a post. Dumber, really, because a post can't make a fool of itself. We leave that to Todd Akin. Oh, yes, and Debbie Wasserman Schulz.

Oy vey! These people are running the country!

The gingham dog and the calico cat

Does anyone remember that little ditty? I read it when I was a child. The gingham dog and the calico cat had a fight, and when it was over they had eaten each other. Does this remind anyone of Gingrich and Romney? 310 million people in the US, and not one Republican with a brain. Welcome to Obama's second term, thanks to the stupid party.

Are Republicans the stupid party?

Possibly. An interesting post on how to talk to a toddler elicited the following comment:

I certainly wouldn't recommend for President Bush to speak toddlerese to the Left, since they would just assume this was his natural mode of speech. Media both in America and allied nations faithfully portray Bush as severely retarded, a man who cannot watch TV and eat pretzels at the same time, much less understand the speeches he reads.

I can remember the days when Eisenhower was president. The press generally considered him stupid because he was not a polished speaker. So did the Democrats. Everyone who was anyone knew he was stupid. He barely had enough brains to pick up a golf club. Adlai Stevenson (remember him? I didn't think so) a C student if there ever was one, was considered an intellectual. We mourned when Ike defeated him handily.

The only people who didn't consider Ike stupid were the voters; somehow the stupid had enough low cunning to manipulate the general public.

It took me years to emerge from the fog of lefty superiority and ask the simple question: How did Eisenhower manage to win the war in Europe if he was so dumb?

The Republican debate

I watched the whole debate last night, and then read the transcript in the New York Times. So here are my impressions, for what they're worth:

1. Romney is impressive, but there is something a bit plastic about him. Particularly when he opens his eyes wide, he reminds me ever so faintly of Dudley Doright.





2. You have to hand it to McCain for knowing the score where the war is concerned.

3. Giuliani did okay, but not fantastic, in rationalizing his changing positions re immigration, gun control, etc. He's also sound on the war. He's at his best when he's being straightforward, not trying to "frame" his positions.

4. Mike Huckabee is very intelligent and made some good points. I think he is a good candidate for some future period unless he does something stupid.

5. I think Fred Thompson is going to flame out.

6. Can we forget about "family values," at least until we whup these Islamists? Also gay marriage? Gun control too. The president of the United States has little to do with these issues.

7. Brit Hume is the best dressed man in television, casual yet elegant. Could we elect him?

I love a snappy dresser.

Depressing--in a low rent sort of way

When I think of the Larry Craig mess I want to reach for the thesaurus, searching for a word that sums it all up. How about these: sordid, squalid, pathetic, ludicrous. I believe it is all of these.

To me the sight of a grown man groveling and trying to explain the inexplicable while his enemies tear the flesh off his body and his erstwhile friends run away from him--well, it's depressing, yes, unedifying, but in a trailer park kind of way.

The evidence given by the arresting officer is weird: who knew that raising your foot and tapping your toe is evidence of illicit desire? I feel like Rip van Winkle waking up after 100 years: this modern world is just too much for me. In my state of deep cluelessness I might have assumed that the man was just trying to get the mud off his shoe. These subtleties are too deep for me.

And in what way is all this shoe tapping disturbing the public order? Please explain in 100 words or less.

The most disturbing feature of the whole thing is the absolute glee being taken in tormenting the man. His tormentors are schoolyard bullies grown to man's estate, but still totally without empathy for another's suffering. Their glee disgusts and nauseates me.

I hope each and every one of his tormentors is discovered in a compromising position with a live boy or a dead girl. Or perhaps having abandoned a woman to drown in a waterlogged car. Or discovered with $90,000 of illegal swag in his freezer.

An oldie but goodie

from my archives:

The Republican Party was supposed to be conservative. I was misled. They will spend all of your money, including the loose change under the floormats in your car.

The Democrats will also take the cigarette lighter, CD player, and air freshener. Moreover, they are going to subsidize research on methods of converting the lint in your belly button to clean, renewable energy.