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So last night I pondered on this blog about how in the name of cat food that Joe Lieberman got to keep his gavel.

Then I read this article this morning and it makes more sense to me.

Obama wasn’t just acting out of bipartisan good will. In supporting Lieberman’s continued inclusion in the Democratic caucus, he may have effectively defanged his toughest potential opponent in the Senate Democratic caucus. If Lieberman is anything, as he proved with John McCain, he’s loyal - and now he owes Obama a big one. His job over the next few years, for the first time in his long political career, is to keep quiet. The move is especially savvy because Obama - and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid - know that in order to achieve virtually anything on the Democrats’ long list of ambitious legislation they will need every vote they can possibly get in the Senate. Obama’s biggest challenge in both chambers of Congress will be keeping the varying factions of his own party together, especially more liberal members and the more conservative so-called Blue Dog Democrats.

Hmmm. That seems about right. In measuring short-term revenge and long-term implications regarding legislation that Barack Obama wants to get passed during his first term in office, this could be a good move. The days of Lieberman being a big time player on the national stage, in my humble opinion, will be limited.

Listen, Joe gives me hives. He always has and the thought of a quick Shakespearean revenge on a national platform of him being chastised by Democrats would be sweet. But in the long run, this may have been pretty shrewd. We will have to see what happens when it comes to voting and if Obama has effectively shut down one of his most vocal critics by giving him a second chance. Loyalty is huge with everyone and is rewarded in politics, especially when Lieberman had his head taken out of the guillotine.

Good lord, politics is liking watching Survivor. Who can outwit, outlast and outplay to get the prize at the end.

Something is always going on behind the scenes.

Life, my friends, is not always fair.

Rest well, Toot.

In this new viral ad for Barack Obama, you may see some familiar faces from the the old Wassup Budweiser commercials from about eight years ago.

H/T TechCrunch who also has the original.

When Colin Powell endorsed Barack Obama yesterday, I decided to just sit back and see what would happen. My opinion on this is that it’s more than fine to criticize the political party that one is aligned with. I’ve done it myself as I’ve become quite skeptical of both parties although I’ve never hidden the fact that I lean to the left although the idea that Obama is the biggest liberal in the Senate just isn’t accurate.

Dennis Kucinich is a a die-hard liberal. Obama isn’t. Just read the issues and his past record.

With that said, what Powell said on Meet The Press yesterday was constructive criticism of his party.

Powell talked of the things that I’ve heard other members of the GOP even here in Hoots talk about. Why are we creating discrimination of American-born Muslims? It’s a good question. Let remember Timothy McVeigh, shall we. A white guy born in New York, remember him, because he’s the person that blew up the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building. It was an act of terrorism. Of course, the events of 9/11 are horrible and still create nightmares but it was a group of radicals who were no different than McVeigh, who was also a radical. And white.

I have no problem with Powell although I still question his speech to the United Nations prior to the war in Iraq. With that said, I think that Powell cares about his country, which he has proven time and time again. Ever since Powell came into the public eye during Desert Storm, there was a connection with the American Public. And, if you look through several of the last presidential campaigns, he was always in the spotlight as some people were eager to hear his perspective on the state of the nation. He’s had a best selling novel because people apparently wanted to know more about him.

Let’s go back to the United Nations speech, his service to this  country and how he did walk the party line for the GOP for years

And then let’s look at yesterday. He talked about his party more than anything else. He was saying, from my perspective, that, and I’ve said this before, that the GOP, his party, needed to quit focusing on creating spin and get back to the issues. That subtle forms of racism need to be stopped. That the conversation of socialism needs to be stopped.

With that said, let’s go to the race issue. I have read the thread over at Kleinheider’s, and I respectfully disagree with him on some of his statements that he wrote.  He presented a dialog about race, and I have read the comments. Is race a hot button issue here? According to many of his commenters, yes. I’m not so sure, however, that those folks are just a small percentage of vocal opponents which are always in the blogosphere which lurk on both sides of party lines.

I want to say this though. Powell has been a national public figure for a long time. Constructive criticism is what I witnessed in his endorsement of the party he has dedicated his life to. I think it’s narrow-minded to automatically dismiss that Powell endorsed Obama strictly on the race issue.

I’ve never seen him endorse Al Sharpton or Jessie Jackson, have you? So the race issue doesn’t wash with me in Powell’s decision. He has one vote, he told you who he was voting for and he told you why.

And that’s that.

He’s endorsing Barack Obama.

If you haven’t seen the video of what Powell had to say, go here. It’s pretty compelling.

My dear friends, I got nothing this Monday morning, but as a fan of They Live, you knew I had to post this.

This is a behind the scenes look at the Democratic Convention this year. Regardless of your politics, it shows what happens when candidates aren’t on stage. One of my favorite movies is The War Room, and this isn’t like that at all, but it is refreshing seeing the candidates just be normal and Joe Biden and Barack Obama even make their own blooper reel at the end.

H/T Jeffraham Prestonian

As I told the innertubes about 1000 times, the guy that drives the garbage truck, the dude delivering Miller Lite, the Republican on the street, nine advertisers and four bars, yesterday was my birthday. Let’s just say Hootervillians were kind last night making sure that I had presents, beer and a brand new camera (that rocks, I must add. My first touch screen on anything EVER.)

I didn’t watch the debate as carefully as I should have because birthday debauchery was at hand.

Homer did, however, and I have to tell you, One text to me called it “Fight Club.” The other one isn’t fit for this pseudo-family blog.

I’m the nice one in our tight knit sibling relationship.

I bring you her analysis:

“They BOTH didn’t answer the questions. McCain doesn’t get that there are people that don’t have seven houses. You lose three, you have four more. Government and taxes, not lack of work, is killing my small business. At least Obama answered that question of what I’m going to have to do during this crisis.”

She’s worried. She hasn’t been sleeping. She has business, that’s not the problem, but it’s taxes and health insurance that is kicking her butt.

We aren’t the only ones. Mack said it best in his post which I will send you to.

Homer has said several times during this election that she is tired of politicians talking down to her. She, and I for that matter, take care of budgets for companies. We are business people. We don’t get three martini lunches. We don’t have handlers and advisors.

Homer and I just work.

And, apparently, we aren’t going to get a bailout either. Sacrifice is fine, we don’t mind sacrificing. Our grandparents sacrificed. Our parents sacrificed.

But be up front about it, for crying out loud.

From James Church, who is from Hoots and is at Ole Miss. He won the lottery. Not the money kind, but that one that allowed at the debate. He has a ton of observations that you might want to check out.

Here’s something else that they didn’t mention on TV. The room was cooled to 62 degrees Fahrenheit. The reason for the cool temperature is so the candidates won’t be able to sweat on camera. When the debated ended, we all quickly moved out of the auditorium just to get warm. I never felt better about returning to the Mississippi heat outside.

As the entire audience was moving to get back on a shuttle, reporters came up to us. Someone from the BBC Radio London asked me who I thought won the debate. I told her that I thought it was too close to call and both candidates appeared very strong. I told her that McCain was more agressive at attacking Obama on issues like the Russia/Georgia conflict, that I was supporting Obama, and that neither candidate said enough about the financial crisis. All I can think about today is that people in London, England are learning that James Church is completely looney.

Read the rest here.

I knew they existed, much like I know that Bigfoot is out there, but now we have proof.

Photo credit: Reuters

Angela cracks me up.

Yeah, I watched the debate but I didn’t WATCH the debate because there were people around me who were talking about other things that distracted me. Try as I might, I gave up and just listened to drunk people talk about issues surrounding the debate but who weren’t listening to a dang thing either candidate was saying. Badger, who has babysat me during my existential crisis this week, also gave up.

We were in a conundrum.

The lesson I learned is don’t watch the debates on a Friday night in a juke joint. I wish I’d gone to Megan’s house but I digress.

What does this mean?

It means I have to watch the debate alone and process it later today. Yeah, it’s my way.

Now, why does Angela crack me up, as I got off task in a haze of too much news happening this week and the impending financial apocalypse.

Well, this:

But for now: I’m still in that pool of voters most likely to end up living in Mexico, drinking cheap beer, staring at pictures of Ron Paul and listening to sappy hair metal ballads.

I was thinking Canada as I really hate hot weather because it makes my hiney sweat. I like sweaters and Mabel looks sorta cute in the snow. I’m old. I can’t do hair metal but I think a bit of Miles Davis would do.

I met Alvin Hill at the Barack Obama Headquarters on Rosa L. Parks Blvd. in Nashville on Saturday.

Imagine my surprise to see this story in the Tennessean this evening.

The phones are always ringing, but that’s a good thing,” said Alvin Hill, 51, of Nashville, a first-time campaign volunteer.

With just over six weeks to go before the presidential election, the storefront headquarters across from the Farmers Market on Rosa L. Parks Boulevard serves as a kind of a volunteer war room for Democrats, who are using the space to muster support for Obama as well as candidates in congressional and state races.

There’s a contradictory element in this presidential election season in Tennessee: The Democrats have a presidential candidate who, by most estimates, is not expected to win here, and yet is widely seen as fueling a surge of new voters and volunteers such as those at the Democrat’s Victory ‘08 headquarters.

The headquarters itself is, in a manner of speaking, a symbol of that contradiction. Until this week, the state party footed the entire bill for the space, with the Obama campaign chipping in only last week to pay for staff. Barack Obama has not been in Tennessee since last year, and a planned fundraiser with Vice President Al Gore as host never materialized.

He was enthusiastic and showed me around the headquarters. A small area at the front of the HQ’s was filled with toys and desks were scattered around the space. It was late in the day, just about an hour before the blogger meetup last night at the Saucer. Mr. Hill took me to the back of HQ’s and showed me a picture that he liked of Obama and Biden. His shirt was filled with various Barack Obama buttons.

I liked the way he laughed.

There were handmade signs in the space as indicated in the story, but it was Hill, whose joy and enthusiasm had me smiling the entire time we were in there.

“If you had only been in here and hour ago, we had yard signs,” he said proudly. “Unfortunately, we ran out.”

“That’s good, isn’t it?” I said.

He laughed and said it was good.

It’s people like Hill that mark, for me at least, the exuberance and good parts of this election year.

I put my cynicism hat aside last night because of this lovely man. I planned on writing about Mr. Hill anyway, but to see him acknowledged in today’s paper just proves that I wasn’t the only one he made an impression on

And, that my friend, is of the good.