"Your Vote....Don't Count On It...."

Every vote matters.

I remember that pearl of life wisdom being thrown at me very early on, somewhere between “use the potty, not your pants” and “don’t talk with your mouth full.”

Thing is, given the way we elect presidents in this country, the phrase is misleading.

Every vote counts.

But it doesn’t necessarily matter.

And while I’m about as far from being an Electoral College scholar as you can get, I understand its basic principle.

If I didn’t understand it before 2000, I sure figured it out then.

The simplistic truth is that we, the people of the United States, don’t elect presidents.

That’s done by they, the people of Nevada.

Or they, the people of Ohio.
Or they, the people of Colorado.
Or they, the people of Florida.

Or whichever state ends up at the end of the night with the number of electoral votes necessary to put a candidate over the top and into the Oval.

So, while I am certainly not about discouraging anybody from exercising, and enjoying, their founding fathers given right to pull the lever, I feel it worth mentioning that if you live in a state that is already a lock for either McCain or Obama (and, let’s be honest, my country tis of thee sentiment aside, red and blue states are as real and inevitable as Wall Street greed), then your vote wont really affect the outcome of anything.

Oh, it’ll count.

Cause they have to count it.

But, until we finally send the Electoral College to the back of the storage shed with the eight track tape players, your vote isn’t going to matter all that much.

Unless, of course, you live in Nevada.

Or Colorado.

Or Florida.

"What I Learned From Last Night's Debate......"

…was that the greatest difficulty in choosing between the two men the political process has floated to the top of the pile wont be determining who our instincts and value system tell us we want to be in charge of things for the next four years.

It will be finding a quiet place, where we can be insulated from twenty four hour a day cable analysis, polls every twelve seconds, sound bytes designed to keep us tuned in, as opposed to enlightening us and where we can try to listen to the inner voice that, ultimately, is the only sound we hear when we close the curtain and pull the lever on election day.

Whatcha think the odds are on finding such a place in this drivel driven culture we live in?

Yeah.
Me, too.

Almost every on air interview with the candidates that I’ve seen or heard ends with the interviewer wishing the candidate good luck in the election.

The candidates don’t need good luck.

We do.

"Don't Blame George Bush"

Assuming the stock market rebounds and this latest little financial version of “the perfect storm” doesn’t put us all in the streets wearing potato sacks and warming our hands over flaming barrels of trash, I think it only fair to point something out.

All I’ve heard for the past few days is the mouthpieces talking about how the Federal Government is going to step in and bail out the ailing banks, etc.

Is it any wonder that we don’t have any confidence in the people who run the government?

They talk about solving the immigration problem, but they, themselves, don’t even know how to speak plain English.

Like this, for example.

The Federal Government isn’t stepping in to bail anybody out.

We are.

It’s our money they’re generously using to prop these rotten in the basement beams businesses back up.

Is this bailout necessary?

Everything I read and hear tells me that it is.

Does somebody, or bodys, need to be held accountable for letting it get to the point of BEING necessary?

Bet the farm.

If you don’t lose your farm this year, that is.

Someone said to me the other day that George W. Bush isn’t to blame for the mess on Wall Street and the near meltdown of the economy.

Fair point.

It’s not about blame.

It’s about responsibility.

And any first year plebe, private or sailor can tell you rule number one.

His watch.

His responsibility.

"The Monsters Are Due BACK on Maple Street"

Years ago, Bobby Kennedy wrote a book about the threat of those who would work to bring our society down from the inside.

It was called “The Enemy Within”.

I hadn’t thought of that for years.

Until this morning.

(CNN) -- Call it a self-fulfilling prophecy: An estimated three-fourths of gas stations in the Nashville, Tennessee, area ran dry Friday, victim of an apparent rumor that the city was running out of gas.
"Everybody has just gone nuts," said Mike Williams, executive director of the Tennessee Petroleum Council.
He said he has no idea about the origin of a rumor that there was going to be no gas in Nashville. One reporter called him, saying she had heard that Nashville would be without gas within the hour, he said.
Hearing the rumor, drivers rushed to fill their cars and trucks.
CNN called 13 Nashville gas stations at random. Only two reported having gas, and one said it was almost out. The stations said they were being told they would not get more until Monday or Tuesday.
Katie Givens Kime, visiting from Atlanta, Georgia, was trying to fill up her tank for the trip home when she ran into trouble -- when she was already low on gas.
"We panicked and looked online," she said. "And holy cow, there is no gas in the city. ... It has definitely gripped the city, for sure."
One store clerk told her there was no way she could get gas to go back home, she said.
Williams said some drivers were following gas trucks to see where they were headed, and lines at some stations were a mile long. Fuel was continuing to enter the city, however, as pipelines were working and barges were coming in.
He likened it to Southerners rushing out to stock up on bread and milk when they hear it might snow. As stations began running low, the situation snowballed, he said.
One station reported selling as much gas Friday as it usually does in a weekend, Williams said.
The phenomenon seemed to be isolated to the Nashville area, he said.

One thing triggering the memory of another the way it can, I was reminded of an episode of the classic TV series, The Twilight Zone.

It was called “The Monsters Are Due On Maple Street”.

Here’s a quick synopsis.

It is mid-evening in September and the street is full of playing children and adults talking. A shadow passes overhead and a loud roar is heard, accompanied by a flash of light. Later, after it has gone dark, the residents of Maple Street find that the telephones no longer work, and there is no power. They gather together in the street to discuss the matter.

Lights begin turning on and off in different houses; lawn mowers and cars start up for no apparent reason. A riot begins and the hysterical residents smash windows, fight and switch blame from one person to another with little justification.

The episode ends with two Martian observers watching the rioting on Maple Street and discussing how easy it was to create paranoia and panic, and let the people of Earth destroy themselves, one place at a time. One of them tells the other:


"Understand the procedure now? Just stop a few of their machines, and radios, and telephones, and lawnmowers, throw them into darkness for a few hours, and then sit back and watch the pattern."

"And this pattern is always the same?"

"With few variations. They pick the most dangerous enemy they can find.... and it's themselves. All we need do is sit back and watch."

"Then I take it this place, this Maple Street, is not unique."

"By no means. Their world is full of Maple Streets, and we'll go from one to the other and let them destroy themselves. One to the other. One to the other. One to the other."

Read that synopsis again.

Take out the word Martians, substitute the word “Al Quaeda” and have them say “ Just stop their flow of gasoline and then sit back and watch the pattern. All we need to do is sit back and watch”

“Then I take it this place, this Nashville, is not unique”

"By no means. Their world is full of Nashvilles, and we'll go from one to the other and let them destroy themselves. One to the other. One to the other. One to the other."

Maybe the reason we’ve been spared airliners flying into skyscrapers for the past seven years is that our enemies have been busy.

Sitting back and watching.

(note: Part I of the episode is included here...you can find part II at You Tube)

"With Tax, That Comes to $9.99...and $9.99....and $9.99...."

Imagine the following scenario.

You’re standing at the fast food counter, you’ve placed your order and the clerk tells you that your total comes to $7.89.

You pay, take your food and then sit down to enjoy another example of fine American trans-fat free cuisine.

You’ve only taken several bites when someone in a logo emblazoned T shirt appears, pulls your tray out from under you and informs you that in order to get it back, you have to pony up another five bucks.

You pay, whereupon your tray is returned to you.

At least once or twice more during the course of your meal, at random times, you are asked, in mid bite, to cough up another buck or two. Your instinct, of course, is to protest, but a quick glance around the splendor of the clown themed dining room tells you that everyone is in the same boat, so you grumble and you grimace, but you fork it over.

Oh, pish tosh, you say, enough of this silly scenario… that would never happen.

What kind of fool would do business with someone who did business like that?

Turns out…
You and me.

Assuming, of course, that, like me, you have cable.

We pay a monthly fee (excessive, to be sure, but that’s another time and another blog) for the “privilege” of having hundreds of hours of programming pumped into our home.

And put aside the fact that we can’t even order the combo we want. We have to order the combos that are available. (“…Uh, no, sorry, you can’t get just the ten or so channels you really care about, you have to get, and pay for, seventy one other channels that you’ll never spend more than a moment surfing through…”).

Then, there are the commercials.

Admittedly, many cable channels are commercial free.

Like HBO and Showtime, among others.

Though commercial free is a relative and misleading term because even these channels do commercials for their own product.

Oh, and these channels are also “premium channels”.

Meaning you want em, they cost extra, (“…Oh…you wanted KETCHUP with your fries…that’ll be extra….”)

Okay. So now you’ve paid for your cable twice, if not three times.

The original monthly fee.
The “premium” channel fee.
And the third?

Well, let’s be generous and ignore the fact that HBO and Showtime, et al, do their own commercials.

There is yet an insidious little “fee” that I could easily persuade the judge of all things television constitutes a third charge.

The infamous, and more and more commonly seen, pop-up.

“Whatcha you mean, Willis?…Pop ups are those annoying little interruptions of my day on the PC, not the TV!”

Guess again, gang.

Dozens of channels do it, but the world gold medallist at it is TNT.

Check me out when you’re done here, but, for now, just think back.

You’re watching Law and Order.

So far, you’ve only seen the “who got it” segment and the opening credits.

But you think you recognize one of the guest stars and, now, are hooked, because you want to check out the “guest starring” credits after the first commercial break comes and goes.

The first commercial break comes and goes

The program returns.

You resume your interest in who did what to who and will Jack McCoy make the case against them, but moreover, have eyes locked like a laser on the bottom of the screen to see if that guest star is, in fact, the actor you thought you saw in the “who got it” segment.

But, you’re never going to know.

Because you can’t see who that actor is.

Because there is a huge POP UP ADVERTISING the OTHER SHOWS that TNT is hyping at any given time at the bottom of your screen.

And it’s BLOCKING THE OPENING CREDITS of the SHOW YOU’RE WATCHING!

Congrats.

You have now officially paid three times for the same cable.

And you’re not even getting what you paid for.

Imagine reading “The Da Vinci Code” and just as you get to the “oh my, gosh, Jesus was …….” part, you realize that you’re not gonna find out what Jesus was.

Because that paragraph at the bottom of the page is covered up by an ad for Dan Brown’s other book or books.

You’d have that pesky paperback back to Barnes and Noble for a refund in a heartbeat, wouldn’t you?

But we just sit and wait out the hype for “The Closer” or “Raising The Bar” while it gets the hell out of the way of the program that we paid to watch.

I’ve lived long enough to know that nothing can, or will, be done about it.

It’s the Golden Rule.
“He who has the gold, makes the rules.”

And in this case, the cable company has the gold.

And the only way to get it is to play by their rules.

Thing is…I wish every once in a while, they’d send somebody from the cable company by to knock on my door and hold a gun on me while they took my money.

I still wouldn’t be able to see who that guest star was.

But, boy, what a fun story I’d have to tell.

"Whether You Like Her...Or Not...Part II

I just finished reading another piece from a conservative columnist extolling the virtues and defending the record of Sarah Palin.

The main theme, this time out, was the excessive scrutiny the governor is being subjected to, implying that she was being treated unfairly.

It was also basically a him vs her, Obama vs Palin kind of comparison.

Let's put aside that Obama is running against John McCain, not Sarah Palin.

Evidence to the contrary notwithstanding.

Here's another one of those pesky bottom line things that keep popping up in my line of sight.

Barack Obama was vetted and chosen, over a two year period, by approximately seventeen and a half million Americans.

Sarah Palin was vetted and chosen, over several days, by one American, John McCain.

Those seventeen and half million Americans want, I think it safe to say, to be able to fuel their cars, keep their homes and know that their families are safe.

That one American wants, I think it safe to say, to win an election.

The point that the governor is being scrutinized to the point of microscopic distraction is a reasonable one.

But, fair being fair, it's also reasonable that the governor should be subjected to that scrutiny.

She has a lot of catching up to do.

And so do we.

"Whether You Like Her or Not....."

After two weeks of ad nauseum, ad infinitum debate about the choice of Sarah Palin as the Republican nominee to be Vice President of the United States, I have yet to hear any one, politician, commentator, pundit, expert (real or self professed) ask what I believe to be, at the end of the day, the only question that really matters.

And those who ask "Is Sarah Palin qualified to be President of The United States?" are missing the point.

The question that matters is:

"Is Sarah Palin the BEST and MOST qualified candidate?"

The answer to that question speaks volumes. About John McCain. About the Republican Party. About any one of us who honestly believe the answer to that question is "yes".

Just a year ago, we watched and listened as John McCain and Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama, among others, made it clear that this election was going to be unlike any we have experienced in our history.

We had no idea.

"You Can Put Lipstick on A Pig.....'

....but you cant find two candidates capable of keeping the first promise most of them usually make......

.....to run a positive campaign.

"Gosh, Mom!...Putin is On The Hotline and Our Goalie Just Got Knocked Out Of The Game!..."

Something has been mildly bugging me since the whole Sarah Palin thing started.

And I think I may have figured it out

First, though, I wanted to share something I found both funny and thought provoking this afternoon online.

And I never really thought I would consider Matt Damon's take on things to be spot on, but, credit where due, he made me laugh and he made me focus.

(CNN) – Admirers say Sarah Palin's compelling narrative and working-mom credentials helped land her a spot on the Republican presidential ticket, but Hollywood star and Obama supporter Matt Damon said Monday the Alaska governor's story more resembles a "really bad Disney movie."

In a blunt interview with the Associated Press, the star of the Jason Bourne film series also said there was a good chance John McCain would die in his first term in office and the thought of a President Palin is "terrifying."

“It’s like a really bad Disney movie — the hockey mom…from Alaska, and she’s the president, and it’s like she’s facing down Vladimir Putin and using the folksy stuff she learned at the hockey rink. And it’s absurd, it’s totally absurd, and I don't understand why people aren’t talking about how absurd it is," Damon said.

"You do the actuary tables, there's a 1-3 chance if not more, that McCain doesn't survive his first term and it will be President Palin," Damon also said, adding later "I think there's a really good chance Sarah Palin could be president, and I think that's a really scary thing, because I don't know anything about her, and I don't think in eight weeks I am going to know anything about her.”

So, what's been bugging me?

I think I've been overthinking it.

We've all been dazzled by the "electrifying" choice of this Disney mom because it is, admittedly, about as far outside the box as any of us could have imagined. And when you're dazzled, you are also very often blinded.

And blinded we have been and blinded we are.

If we open our eyes and look at this thing fairly, I think it really boils down to a gender thing.

And not whether a woman is qualified to be president.

It's not about a woman.

It's about this woman.

Here's the thing.

If John McCain had chosen a 44 year old former mayor turned first term governor with no discernible foreign policy knowledge, let alone chops, hockey DAD to be his running mate, would any of us have hesitated for a second to wonder if McCain was a couple of bricks shy of a full load?

Party lines aside, hand to God, I cant imgaine anybody really taking that seriously.

It would have made Dan Quayle look like Lyndon Johnson.

So my two cents to hardcore McCain supporters would go something like this:

If this is the Senator's brand of exercising good judgement and making the best, most prudent, NON POLITICAL decision in a pressure situation, then he is not the man we want working in the Oval for the next four or eight years.

Assuming, of course, that Damon's 1-3 odds get beaten.

"Forget About the Remote Control....Anybody Seen the Mouse?"

Gallagher has a comic mind I admire.
And this line is his:

"One great thing about video games....they keep you from watching too much television..."
Irony aside, some years later, the same thing can be said about computers.

Except now you can do both.

Sit at your computer.
And watch television.

The major networks all have streaming available on their sites.
And for pure fun, check out http://www.hulu.com/

The selection of TV shows isnt all that comprehensive yet. But there ares some pretty cool choices already, from the Raymond Burr classic "Ironside" to the first two seasons of the original "Alfred Hitchcock Presents."

And just for fun, I've posted, here, the very first episode of a show I thought was pretty funny when I was eleven.
McHale's Navy.

Check out Hulu. It's a really good idea that I'm sure is going to grow.

And enjoy the show.....

Enough Said...

Just about the time you begin to think that politicians really don’t get it…

(CNN)—The party attacks will be set aside Thursday, as Sens. Barack Obama and John McCain plan to make a joint visit to Ground Zero in honor of the seventh anniversary of the September 11th attacks.

“All of us came together on 9/11 - not as Democrats or Republicans – but as Americans. In smoke-filled corridors and on the steps of the Capitol; at blood banks and at vigils - we were united as one American family," Obama and McCain said in a joint statement Saturday.

"On Thursday, we will put aside politics and come together to renew that unity, to honor the memory of each and every American who died, and to grieve with the families and friends who lost loved ones. We will also give thanks for the firefighters, police, and emergency responders who set a heroic example of selfless service, and for the men and women who serve today in defense of the freedom and security that came under attack in New York City, at the Pentagon, and in Shanksville, Pennsylvania."

And this, kids, is what those loonies who think they can bring down a country by flying airliners into skyscrapers don’t get….

We really are a family in this country.

A family made up of, among millions of others, brothers Barack and Joe and John and sister Sarah doing their best to knock the other out of their place in the line to move into the Oval….but who wont hesitate for a second to stop the rumble and, in an instant, stand together to kick the butts of anybody who threatens the family.

Obviously, the fanatics don’t know their history.

We put aside our family squabble to kick the crap out of England a couple hundred years ago.

And we liked them.

Yes, this IS a great country or what.

"Uh,While You're At It There, Congressman, Look Up the Word "Moron"....

This is too funny for words…

(CNN) - Republican Rep. Lynn Westmoreland was unaware a word he used to describe Barack and Michelle Obama on Thursday carries racial overtones, a spokesman for the congressman told CNN.

Westmoreland, who represents Georgia's third district, described the Obamas as "uppity" when asked by reporters in Washington to compare Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin with the wife of the Democratic presidential candidate.

“Just from what little I’ve seen of her and Mr. Obama, Sen. Obama, they’re a member of an elitist-class individual that thinks that they’re uppity,” Westmoreland said, according to the Capitol Hill Newspaper the Hill.

Westmoreland's spokesman, Brian Robinson, insisted the congressman did not know the word has been used with a racially derogatory intent against African-Americans.

"When describing the Obamas as part of an elite class, Congressman Westmoreland also used a synonym for elitist: uppity. He was using the dictionary definition of the word, which is having 'an inflated self-esteem' or 'snobbish.' He stands by that characterization and thinks it accurately describes the Democratic nominee. He was unaware that the word had racial overtones and he had absolutely no intention of using a word that can be considered offensive," Robinson said.

Tommy Vietor, a spokesman for Obama's campaign, would not comment to CNN, but told The Hill, " “Sounds like Rep. Westmoreland should be careful throwing stones from his candidate’s eight glass houses."

Robinson said it is important to note the Obama campaign did not note the racial overtones of the word in its response.

"Congressman Westmoreland and Senator Obama may not agree on much, but at least they can agree that Congressman Westmoreland was not referring to race," Robinson said.

I don’t know about you, but the first thing I did, after reading the first paragraph and even before reading on to find out the “word”, was jump ahead a little to see where this Congressman was from.

And it was the one two punch of reading that he was from Georgia and then reading the “word” that made me literally laugh out loud.

God, I love these guys.

Assuming that Rep Westmoreland is older than, say, twelve (he is, in fact 58..), you cant help but see the humor of a guy from Georgia who says he didn’t “realize” that the term “uppity” might be construed as a racial thing.

Is there anybody on the planet who was alive during the fifties and sixties, let alone before that, who doesn’t know that one adjective very commonly used by bigots to describe blacks in those days was “uppity”?

And for the next chuckle, you gotta love the fallback position.

The Congressman was “using the dictionary definition of the word”.

I do a fun feature on the morning show called “Boneheads in The News”.

Here’s the dictionary definition of the word “bonehead.”

Bonehead (n) - a stupid person; these words are used to express a low opinion of someone's intelligence

Here’s a thing, though.
Turns out to have a slang definition, as well.

Bonehead - A racist posing as a Skinhead

And please keep in mind that I mean no offense to Rep. Westmoreland when I call him a bonehead.

I’m just using the dictionary definition of the word.

http://westmoreland.house.gov/

"After Changes Upon Changes...We Are, More Or Less, The Same..."

First of all, read, please, the following…

Then, I’ll share my thoughts.

And I think you’re going to find that those thoughts are not what you’re expecting.

(CNN) – Talk show host Oprah Winfrey is denying a report of division within her staff over booking Republican vice presidential nominee Gov. Sarah Palin as a guest.

“The item in today’s Drudge Report is categorically untrue,” Winfrey wrote in a statement issued Friday. “There has been absolutely no discussion about having Sarah Palin on my show.”

Citing sources that had spoken to the news Web site, a

story posted Friday morning on The Drudge Report said “Oprah's staff is sharply divided on the merits of booking Sarah Palin.” “One executive close to Winfrey is warning any Palin ban could ignite a dramatic backlash!,” the story also says.

But Winfrey, a longtime and outspoken supporter of Sen. Barack Obama, is flat-out denying the report. “At the beginning of this presidential campaign when I decided that I was going to take my first public stance in support of a candidate, I made the decision not to use my show as a platform for any of the candidates.”

Have you already got a fix on where I’m headed here?

That Oprah is talking out of both sides of her mouth because while saying she wont have Palin on the show because “…I made the decision not to use my show as a platform for any of the candidates….”, she has, in fact, already had the Obamas on?

Fair point.

Not my point, though.

That comes one sentence sooner.

“…when I decided that I was going to take my first public stance in support of a candidate….”
Oprah has been a public “voice” for over two decades.

22 years this Monday, as a matter of fact.

If memory serves, there have been five presidential elections in that time.

And it would be unfair to assume the obvious.

That she chose a black man to be her first public endorsement simply because he is black.

But, it seems pretty evident that Oprah may be have TV down cold, but she knows from squat about politics.

Because, in politics, if not life, perception is reality.

And a politically savvy Oprah would have known, without being told, that the perception would, without fail, be that she was, in fact, endorsing Obama because of his color.

Kind of ironic, aint it?

A woman who has spent almost two dozen years working to break down stereotypes inadvertantly ends up perpetuating one.

And we’re not even close to having become a colorblind society.

What Oprah is doing is the most sincere and heartfelt use of her celebrity.

It’s just not the smartest.

"Turns Out They Really ARE Equal, After All..."

Whatever else you may, at this point, think of Sarah Palin, don’t, for a single second, concern yourself that she lacks the experience or savvy to play with the big boys in the NFL of politics.

Check this out.

ANCHORAGE, Alaska (CNN) — Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin bolstered her fiscal-conservative credentials early in her term by putting her predecessor's state jet up for auction online.

"That luxury jet was over the top," she told Republican National Convention delegates when she accepted the party's vice presidential nomination Wednesday night. "I put it on eBay."

Since Palin was chosen as Arizona Sen. John McCain's running mate last week, the story has become a cornerstone of the Republican effort to paint Palin as a reformer who took on her own party establishment.

"How many saw her speech a couple of nights ago? Wasn't it fabulous?" McCain said Friday during a campaign stop in Cedarburg, Wisconsin. "You know what I enjoyed the most? She took the luxury jet that was purchased by her predecessor and sold it on eBay — and made a profit."

But it turns out the twin-engine Westwind II was a tough sell on the Web — and the state eventually pulled it offline and sold it through an ordinary brick-and-mortar brokerage, for a loss, a spokeswoman said Friday.

"Governor Palin has been correct in saying that she put the plane on eBay," McCain campaign spokeswoman Maria Comella told CNN. "They did end up selling it for $2.1 million. but not on eBay."

When putting it on eBay failed, aircraft broker Rob Heckmann was called in to sell the jet. Businessman Larry Reynolds bought the five-passenger jet for sold for $2.1 million. And Reynolds is now seeking another $50,000 from the state for unexpected maintenance issues with the aircraft.

I’ve made no secret of the fact that I think George W. Bush has been a failure on a scale we have only yet to begin to comprehend.

And, regardless of what friends, peers, family, etc, might think, given the “slant” of my writings and commentary, I honestly haven’t yet made up my mind as to whether the “better man” in the 60 day Freestyle to Pennsylvania Ave is McCain or Obama.

Tell you what, though.

In that ironic way that is uniquely American, I am relieved to know that Sarah is not, after all, just Dan Quayle with great legs.

She knows exactly how to play with the big boys.

Because the business of deftly blurring the line between the truth and the lie is practically page one in the big boy playbook.

And in an historic election where we have the first black man in a top slot, the first woman on a Republican ticket and the oldest man ever to run, it’s nice to know that regardless of race, creed, color or gender, everybody who wants an E ticket to WhiteHouseWorld this time out has the same level of ability.

They all know how to make shit up to fit the occasion.

Kind of warms the cockles to know that, at the end of the day, all men…and women…are created equal.

"There is Nothing Like a Dame...Nothing in the World...."

Been pretty busy this past few days and havent had a chance to weigh in here on the choice of Sarah Palin.

And, to be honest, while my satiric instincts are screaming at me to let the skewering begin, I think something is happening here that is sufficiently historic that a little wait and see might be in order.

Of course, at this writing, we're about five hours away from her "big" speech at the RNC, so this whole thing might be moot tomorrow.

Like I said....I'm trusting the force.
And the force says wait and see.

In the meantime, I saw this on Premiere.com and thought it hit the nail(s) on the head pretty well, so.....thought I'd share it with you here....

Whatever You Think Of McCain Picking Palin, Here Are Six Things It Tells Us About Him, According To Experts:

1) He's Desperate. Let's stop pretending this race is as close as national polling suggests. The truth is McCain is essentially tied or trailing in every swing state that matters. On top of that, voters seem very inclined to elect Democrats in general this election - and very sick of the Bush years.

2) He's Willing To Gamble -- Bigtime. McCain talks incessantly about experience, and then goes and selects a woman he hardly knows, who hardly knows foreign policy, and who can hardly be seen as instantly ready for the presidency.

3) He's Worried About The Political Implications Of His Age. Like a driver overcorrecting out of a swerve, he chooses someone who is two years younger than the youthful Obama, and 28 years young than he is. (He turned 72 Friday.)

4) He's Not Worried About The Actuarial Implications Of The Age Issue. The McCain campaign has made a calculation that most voters don't really care about the national experience or credentials of a vice president, and that Palin's ebullient personality and reputation as a refomer who took on cesspool politics in Alaska matters more.

5) He's Worried About His Conservative Base. If he had room to maneuver, there were lots of people McCain could have selected who would have represented a break from Washington politics as usual.

6) At The End Of The Day, McCain is still McCain. People may find him a refreshing maverick, or an erratic egotist. In either event, he marches to his own beat.

Whatever else has happened here, you have to admit that this is gonna be, at least for awhile, more fun than we anticipated.

So, for now, I'm just gonna ride the ride until I decide who needs to be harpooned and who needs to be lampooned.

As for you nice folks who enjoy reading what I think....I'm afraid I have to impose upon you here....

...to wait and see