Well, weeks have gone by without a post...just have been too busy with other business. The upcoming year certainly is lining up to be very interesting, and I hope to weigh in on some of the things that are going on. I will start with politics, of course.
Politics for this election is shaping up to be very ugly, I am afraid. Every time a candidate starts to do well, others begin to take shots at them. Some may be deserved, at least partially, but others clearly are not.
Hillary, of course, has been the first target. Most agree that she is a quite polarizing person because of her past, but some of the stuff out there probably goes beyond the pale. What has occurred is that instead of issues being the issue in the Democratic race, Hillary has become the issue. It will be interesting to see how she deals with that.
The question remains for Democrats: if not Hillary, who? Neither Obama or Edwards seems to have the depth to get the job done. Is there a guy on a white horse out there that will come along to save the Democrats? Al Gore, anyone?
On the Republican side, much the same thing is occurring. Each new leader in the polls is subjected to a great deal of scrutiny (which they should be) and then come the attacks. Romney is a Mormon; Rudy is divorced, is not pro life, has some "shady" associations, etc., etc.; today we hear that McCain may have given preference to a lobbyist; Fred Thompson is too lazy; and now it starts on Huckabee: he's too Baptist.
Who will survive? Will there be a survivor?
On top of all of this, we, the public, have been subjected to the most inane "debates" sponsored by several entities. Every single one of them has been very shallow, with incredibly stupid questions, and absolutely no development of real debate on important issues. That does not look to improve next year. Its going to be real ugly.
The first primaries are coming up in a couple of weeks. Hopefully this year they will be assigned their true importance, rather than the media creating a stampede toward one "winner" or another. Given the qualities of the candidates in both parties, we need a lot more from all of them before settling on choices for nominees. Maybe the races will go down to the wire. Maybe that would be better for everyone.
Another situation that appears on the horizon is the probability of some third, fourth and fifth parties taking a shot at the prize. Look for Ron Paul, for one, and possibly Mayor Bloomberg for another.
Frankly, I kind of wish Kinky Friedman would run for President. It would be better than having to vote for "none of the above."
