NewscomaGot A Two-Pack Habit And A Motel Tan

You know, it’s shocking that he stayed longer than Mitt “my hair is a helmet” Romney.

I’m giving Chuck Norris credit on this.

So, here’s a link if you don’t buy it.

And McCain, who was in like Flynn a month ago is now official.

Now Obama or Clinton?

No one knows. And if they say they do, they are wrong.

Will find out later.

Just saying.

I would hope that the Dems just get happy with which ever candidate wins the nomination. I like Obama, but if he doesn’t get it, then I am with Clinton. I hope those who are for Clinton will accept Obama if he wins the nomination.

You see, this is where I am right now as well.

John Shuck also quotes Molly Ivins in his post saying “In the primaries, I vote to change the world; in November, I vote for a sliver more for programs that help the needy. 

Of course a commenter posted that Ivins said she wouldn’t vote for Hillary Clinton either but that’s just for you to know and I offer that without comment.

If you are a political news junkie, you probably now know that Barack Obama did very well yesterday, however Clinton has raised a boatload of money this past week. You also know that Huckabee beating McCain 3 -1 in Kansas and also taking Louisiana.

I mentioned Louisiana in a post last night. It appears to me, although I’m no pundit or insider, that our fare friends in the bayou voted for change on both sides of the ticket.

I’m pondering politics this evening in the way I do which means, regardless of what people think, I try to balance it out. Yeah, we know Huckabee won Kansas and we know there is a ton of counting going on right now.

We also know that Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama will still be sparring it out on Monday when it’s all said and done which sort of saddens me. We also know that certain members of the GOP are very unhappy about John McCain being the frontrunner, which campers, he still is.

My sis, Homer, made a statement recently that made some sense to me.

“He was a moderate wasn’t he?” she asked.

“Well, no,” I said thinking that wasn’t right but that I also believed that was the perception. “But a few years ago he wasn’t George Bush so he had that going for him.”

“Well,” she said decisively. “He apparently made some sort of deal because didn’t he hammer at Bush like crazy in the past and then suddenly he was like his best friend and trying to convince everyone he’s a conservative this last week. I don’t get that. Did he make some pact with Bush or something?”

I shrugged. No one never knows in the world of politics. Deals are made. Deals are broken. And the American people don’t know because God forbid we need to know what Britney Spears did today. That apparently is more important for crying out loud.

Hell, Rush Limbaugh and Ann Coulter say they will fundraise for Hillary if he wins the nomination but, you see, my sis is an issue reader. We know that is B.S.

With two tween girls, the television is usually glued to Miley Cyrus making a million dollars a day so Homer’s not drowning in news like I do on purpose. And if she’s saying this, I wonder about it’s merit. Her time is scarce and when it comes to politics, she digs in and she has to digest things quickly without Fox News yelling at her or Lou Dobbs telling her things are broke.

Because, here, we believe there is a lot broken but it’s our country. And, by gum, it can be fixed. It will take hard work, but it can be repaired with the right leadership who concentrates on making things right and getting it together.

You see, Homer is a pretty astute woman. And she remembers things like an elephant. And she remembered McCain’s big change of attitude. She also doesn’t dig mice and is phobic about snakes but I digress.

I thought about this. I’ve heard this before.

But here’s what I’m thinking tonight.

What’s going on in Louisiana? A state that suffered the worst natural disaster in my lifetime in this country then was ostracized by many for just being New Orleans, an event so devastating that it got me to blogging, quite frankly. What will those folks do?

What will those states that have been ignored unless it was politically convenient, what will they do?

So much to think about. So much to dissect.

And Obama took Washington and Nebraska.

Ron Paul says he won’t run third party. Why? Isn’t that was folks want?

But what about the superdelegates?

So much to ponder in this silly little blog post.

I need an Advil and a glass of Merlot. It won’t help me figure it out but at least it will numb the buzz of this election year.

I have no idea where Random Man found this but I’m sort of all grossed out and feel yucky about it.

I don’t know why this amused me, but it did.

It’s not at all unusual for folks in this town to meet at least one of the presidential candidates. Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, John McCain, Chris Dodd et al. have campaigned amid Clinton’s 27,000 residents in recent months.

What’s unusual — okay, a little odd — is for someone to have met almost all the candidates and taken photos of each one smiling with his Mr. Potato Head. That’s right. Mr. Potato Head.

Andy Green is a student that has gotten the presidential candidates to pose with Mr. Potato Head.

Brilliant. Just brilliant.

Mr. Potato Head sort of looks like the son of John McCain, doesn’t he.

Green got most of the candidates with Mr. PH.

H/T Neatorama

I’m seeing so many changes in the political machine that what I thought I knew isn’t really relevant.

I’ve been on the fence between John Edwards and Barack Obama for some time. I’ll be honest, I’ve not been happy with anybody and I didn’t want to get too excited about anyone. And, I’ve been studying everyone’s platform. I didn’t like Edwards stance on mandatory health care and that he gives us the populist speeches that I’m not completely sold on although I like what he’s saying from a philosophical standpoint. I’ve never felt 100 percent sure of him. I feel like he means what he says, but I’ve still felt a bit of hesitancy about him that I’ve had trouble pinpointing.

I’ve always liked Barack Obama, but I felt like I’ve needed to educate myself about him (he has given great speeches over the last few years, but a great speech doesn’t make a good politician. I just didn’t know much about him as a leader). But those very same speeches made me drawn to him and he says things I like. A lot. But I kept wondering if he could translate his message to a rural vote. I think about the rural vote a great deal as I live it, and I know how fickle the rural voter can be. But I like the guy. He is inspiring. He won’t have the Iraq War vote haunting him. He’s been upfront about his recreational drug use, he seems to be more globally savvy (I didn’t say experienced but I think he has more experience than the MSM gives him credit for) and he seems more unifying than, let’s say, Hillary Clinton, who I think is one of more divisive candidates in recent history.

So I watched Iowa, and quite frankly, I was surprised with the final results. I don’t know why really. I thought Edwards might take it because it seems like he’s been running for president for about two decades. But Obama made history in the fact he got new voters out and the undecided liked him. He inspired people to go in the bitter cold to the polls.

You see, I didn’t have faith that people would get out to vote for change. I didn’t think that would happen. I had lost my ability to believe that people would follow their convictions.

And I was wrong.

Even GOP candidate Mike Huckabee got a new vote out. Both winners offered a message of change, and both winners benefited from it.

I read this and it breaks it down.

The strategy went against the traditional blueprint for winning in Iowa and showed the importance of attracting voters outside the small, insular circle of dedicated party activists who have dominated past caucuses.

I really need to pack up my cynicism and pack it in the attic, don’t I? Seven years of our latest White House administration will do that to you.

In five days, we have New Hampshire and we are going to see the formation of several things. Iowa is pretty conservative, N.H. not so much. I expect Ron Paul will do better in that primary.

On Twitter last night, (and may I say, the folks there broke the story much quicker than Mainstream Media did), there was a conversation about a possible third-party candidate. People were sharing information, relevant links from Iowa’s bloggers who were on the ground watching the primary happening. If you like politics, you might want to see how Twitter worked last night. I was out at a family function and by the time I got home, I received more information on that social media networking system than I did from CNN in some cases. And the conversation was inspiring.

Yeah, everything I thought I knew I didn’t know at all.

This is going to be an amazing campaign year. And for the first time, I’m starting to get a little bit excited about it.

And dang it all, if I don’t just love talking about hope rather than fear. I’ve said that before.

Mike Huckabee is going to raise a bunch of money, and he showed the negative ad anyway after all that hoopla.

Hillary  Clinton is going to completely change her strategy, focusing on younger voters. Maybe she will realize that Barack Obama had young voters and the undecided cast their vote into this camp.

Rudy Guiliani is going to keep on being Rudy Guiliani.

Fred Thompson might take a few more naps.

John McCain is going to be paying attention.

Mitt Romney is going to go very, very negative. Against Mike Huckabee.

I will say I find this story very interesting about younger voters and who they like on the Republican ticket. Obama was not a surprise.

And neither was Ron Paul, however, he didn’t win it tonight,  he came in ahead of Guiliani according to this report.

And now the punditry begins.

***sigh***

Love him or hate him, James Carville is always excellent for a good quote. He said once, “It’s hard for somebody to hit you when you’ve got your fist in their face.”

Iowans head to the polls today. It could be instrumental is determining who will be the nominees on the democratic and republican tickets. Or not.

But needless to say, there has been a barrage of negative ads, which is not new.  The thing I’ve found surprising, actually is a two-fold issue.

MSM had allowed a lot of the drama to play out on the news stage which doesn’t cost a candidate a dime. Remember, 40 million dollars has been spent there, but the whole Mike Huckabee “free” ad due to a press conference sort of changed the game, at least for a few days. Of course, he appeared on the The Tonight Show Show last night with Leno. Watching Huckabee is interesting to me, because he’s bending, although not breaking, some of the rules, but of course, that’s just my opinion. Or is he just using things available that the other candidates forgot about? His recent actions aren’t new. And if it works for him, he’ll continue to do it.

Whatever. I’m not digging Huckabee but I do enjoy watching him and Ron Paul.  Huckabee may have been guffawed at when he showed his negative ad to reporters, but will voters feel like he’s doing something noble with his vow to “not get negative?” Should be interesting.

Iowa is the first big “dance.” I’ve also always thought is that not only is the caucus about winning the hearts and minds of voters, but of the national political press corp. I’m not saying that’s right or wrong, but it’s reality.

The field is crowded. Iowa starts weeding things out. Things will most likely start changing in the next two months.

And will the negative come out. Well, it already has now, hasn’t it?

Of course, I’m stating the obvious.

1. Lost my internet connection for more than a day and a half.

2. Got none of the work I wanted to get done, umm, done, but then got some other things accomplished.

3. Watched America’s Next Top Model and the Ballot Bowl when I wasn’t watching Tennessee. Of course, I don’t know why I started watching ANTM, but yet I could not look away.

4. Got sick. Yay me. And, had phone calls from midnight to 3 a.m this morning due to Big Daddy’s security company calling saying his alarm had gone off. He was asleep through the police checking on him, his sister-in-law calling him and me who also got the call from said security company and me pulling my hair out. There wasn’t much sleep at Chez Coma New Year’s Eve. All is well, just a hassle.

5. Ate all those foods that are supposed to be good luck so I’d win the lottery this year.  I’ll share my millions when I win them. Or not.

6. Thought what Mike Huckabee did yesterday with the ad thing was sneaky, yet brilliant. Don’t want to pay trillions in campaign advertising?  Just call a press conference and  show the ad, where cable news will run it for you for free.

7. Took a bunch of medicine for said sickness. Feel like kidneys might fall out on the floor. The dogs, who are a pack of canine heathens, are anxiously awaiting for this to happen.

8. Watched Squirrel Queen play Wii. (Nope, I still haven’t done it. This time because I felt grody.)

9.  For some reason, this doesn’t surprise me.

10. Hope you had a nice holiday. Personally, I’m looking forward to getting back into my normal routine again. Looking forward to a new year.

The primary season is making me, in a word, yawn.

Let me ask a couple of questions. First of all, how different are the candidates in the Democratic Party? How much different are the candidates in the Republican party? Seriously, I’d like to know the difference. I mean we know Mitt Romney is a Mormon, we know Mike Huckabee seems nice enough, we know Rudy Guiliani is friends with Bernard Kerik which speaks volumes to me at least. We know Ron Paul, of all people, is getting the hipster attention. We know Fred Thompson isn’t the fireball we thought he’d be.

Heck, if I was a Republican, I’d be watching John McCain but I’m not voting Republican anyway, so it doesn’t matter.

As for the Democrats, I said months ago that these folks needed to be talking to people like me. Knock me out, impress me.

Instead, you are making me want a nap.

I see John Edwards as the most electable of the candidates, quite frankly, but mainstream media is banging on the Obama and Clinton gongs so loud who can hear the Richardsons and the Dodds?

You know, our elected officials just gave President Bush a huge Christmas present.

Yeah, Harry Reid and crew are blocking appointments, which in the long run is probably a good thing.

A nine-second session gaveled in and out by Sen. Jim Webb, D-Va., prevented Bush from appointing as an assistant attorney general a nominee roundly rejected by majority Democrats. Without the pro forma session, the Senate would be technically adjourned, allowing the president to install officials without Senate confirmation.

The business of blocking Bush’s recess appointments was serious. It represents an institutional standoff between Congress and the president that could repeat itself during Congress’ vacations for the remainder of Bush’s presidency.

Nine seconds is better than nothing.

I’ve been looking at quite a few websites over the last few days about where presidential candidates stand for rural citizens.

Many times, I will comment in my usual whimsical ways about (snark) about the different aspects of what a candidate is doing or that George Bush picked up a book and the world was genuinely surprised until he had to give it to Laura to read because he didn’t know what the word “pony” meant or whatever. You know the drill here at Casa Coma.

But, the thing that is really hurting our area is that we need industry. We need better broadband access (Thanks Maddox and Herron on that one), We need jobs terribly. I think because we live in a college environment, we do have some opportunities that some other rural communities don’t have and for that I’m grateful.

But which candidates are going to be actively advocating for the rural vote. Right now, it’s aggressively been sought in Iowa by John Edwards, who did make a visit after an internet contest back a few months ago to Clinton, Ky. There were thousands who attended and he did show up but, quite frankly, it was a Public Relations spin and we all knew that even at the time.

I’m eager as a rural citizen to see what is going to happen on a couple of levels. I read some where, and I can’t find it so I offer my apologies ahead of time, that the Democrats need someone who is like Mike Huckabee.

I’m not talking about his issues, I’m talking about how he has made a connection with some of his party and effectively pissed off the other side, but he sticks to it although I disagree with that philosophy completely. I think Edwards might be able to make that sort of connection that Huckabee has on the right but he is going to have to have a philosophy and stick to it. Huckabee is interesting to me as a progressive. He has a mission statement, he sticks to it and I love that he at least has a sense of humor but he isn’t who I want in Washington in 2009.

Edwards does make personal connections as well when he visited the area, but he hasn’t seemed to found his voice and this is his second chance. Everyone who has ever met him talks about his charm and that when you hear him, he sorta speaks to you not around you, but this whole mandating health insurance thing isn’t going to work for me. Hell, I have health insurance that sucks big-time, but I have it. If I didn’t need it, I would be freelancing full-time (and probably making more moolah than I do now), but the insurance keeps me where I’m at until I can find another place with, you guessed it, health insurance. Homer tells of a friend of hers who is working (she’d rather be home with her kids) specifically to have health insurance for her family. She brings home $40 bucks a month (Not a week, a month) after she paid. The money is going for insurance.

This isn’t uncommon. I can’t fly with that.  That’s, of course not a rural thing, but a people thing.

The rural thing, for me at least, is about industry. It’s about opportunities. It’s about that manufacturing jobs are leaving and have been for years. Off the top of my head, I can think of seven plants in my area that have closed recently. I can also tell you that the population of my county as of earlier this year has been reduced by about 3500 residents. And with that, the smaller businesses suffer.

So, there are no real answers I guess. Which presidential candidate is going to take care of the areas that don’t have voters in the hundreds of thousands? Something like 22 percent of roughly 19,000 people voted in this county in the last couple of elections.

Why?

Because they didn’t feel their vote mattered.

And, quite honestly, with the way 2000 and 2004 went, does it?

I’ll vote until my fingers bleed, believe me. I just wish I could fall in line with a candidate that I liked, that spoke for me. And, yes, I would have actively campaigned for Al Gore again.

This time, I’m thinking of electability and I think that’s the first time I have done that. I just don’t know who that person is yet.

Ron Paul’s done it. Mike Huckabee’s going to do it Dec. 27th.

Well, so am I.

December 21st I will be holding my very own moneybomb where you too can just send me money. I’m not running for office, but heck, I will if you want me to. Then I can eat out of one of these bad boys in Washington every day.

I have no platform, actually. Money sent will go to financing a trip to find Bigfoot, taking Aunt B. on a tour of haunted houses if she is so inclined and season tickets to the St. Louis Cardinals. Your kind donations will also finance my car getting an overhaul, beer and a three bedroom house in the Sylvan Park area of Nashville within walking distance of a pub.

If you require that I must actually run, I will hire some common sense folks out of Hooterville and the blogosphere in Tennessee to run the country. We will have a Milk commission, cause that’s gotten really expensive, and I will also hire Coyote Boy to be my henchman. Bush has Cheney, I will have Mack.

Big Stupid Tommy and Horrorwood Ron will serve as Zombie Czars.

So, make your Christmas plans early. The paypal button is on your right.

I imagine I will make at least hundreds of cents.

Photo from here.