Sunday Talk Absurdity

These pundits live to dumb their audiences down, especially on Sunday morning:

The Simpsons Goes To Town On 2008 Primaries

Unfortunately I missed the Simpsons this past weekend (partly on account of the fact that I do not have a television) but I would have loved to see them rag on the current primary season. According to the article from the Boston Globe, the half-hour show made fun of the system and the candidates without pulling any punches. Basically due to Homer being Homer, the town decides to hold their primary before New Hampshire, and then all hell breaks loose.

From The Boston Globe:

Highlight: An animated Bill Clinton character is pounding a "Hillary" sign into a yard and complains to a screaming voice on his cellphone about how many more he has to do. "What did I ever do to you?" he implores. More screeching from the cellphone, apparently including the words Monica Lewinsky. He says something along the lines of, "You're never going to let me forget that are you?"

The people of Springfield quickly grow weary of all the attention, and in rebellion decide to support the most ridiculous candidate they can envision. At Moe's tavern, someone suggests Dennis Kucinich. Ouch, since he's actually a real candidate in the Democratic race. A pint-size Kucinich character happens to be in the bar and complains that he's being dissed.

Finally, they settle on 8-year-old Ralph Wiggum, the not-too-bright son of the police chief. Lisa, of course, is mortified. "Oh, dear God," she exclaims. But eventually she comes around, after Ralph talks about helping people and making sure the US plays nice and doesn't fight anymore with foreign countries.

Both the Democratic and Republican parties also decide to support Ralph, who at show's end is sitting on the knee of the Lincoln Memorial in Washington like he's Santa Claus, telling Honest Abe, "I've been a good boy."

Twenty years after starting this cartoon and it still rocks!

Iowa, New Hampshire And Now...Michigan?

The TBA in New Hampshire is now January 8th. A mere five days after Iowa is going to caucus, the Granite state's ego has pushed their primary up to the eighth day of the new year so they can come before Michigan brand new primary date that was approved by the State Supreme Court today. Many states have already moved their primary and caucus days up and together to seem more important in the presidential primary scheme. If we're starting this thing off on January 3rd in 2008, who knows what will happen in 2012.

Frankly, I think this is all ridiculous. The worst offenders are Iowa and New Hampshire, who are claiming "tradition" to defend their early voting dates. I agree with this guy from DailyKos on this issue, these states need to get off their high horses and be reminded that the race isn't all about them. It is ultimately about winning the White House, that is it. No ifs, ands or buts.

To top it off, the candidates spend tremendous resources in these tiny states in order to get poll numbers, media buzz and finally a good spot (1st or 2nd place) so that the energy can carry them through the rest of the primaries through the country. It is a ridiculous system that needs to be changed. Perhaps we can just do a national system and be done with this madness and competition between the states.

Rachel Maddow Examines Presidential Hopeful's Stupidity On Iraq

Obama Girl Gets Copied For Hillary And Giuliani

The success of Obama girl on the web has prompted other fan sites to duplicate the method for their man...or woman.





Definitely not original and not even close to the hilarity of Obama Girl. Nice try guys, I can't wait for Fred Thompson fans to come out with their own. Will the model be Droopy Dog?

Giuliani Lies Again

Last week Giuliani made the news for not bothering to attend and finally leaving his position on the Iraq Study Group. It was an excellent opportunity for him to try and gain some foreign policy cred that he has nothing of. Instead, he goes around talking a lot like George Bush with ignorance and bluster. His excuse seemed rather lame and it seems there's a reason why. It wasn't true.

From ThinkProgress:

Earlier this week, Newsday reported that former NYC Mayor Rudy Giuliani quit the Iraq Study Group after co-chairman James Baker offered “him a stark choice: either attend the meetings or quit.” Giuliani had failed to show up for a single meeting during the two months he was a member of the commission.

In response to the story, Giuliani said he left the group because he “didn’t want the group’s work to become a political football” for his nascent presidential campaign, a claim that has been thoroughly debunked.

On Meet The Press this morning, host Tim Russert offered more evidence that politics was not an issue in Giuliani’s decision to leave the ISG. “Several commission members have said to me that presidential politics never entered the discussion,” said Russert. “It was all about Giuliani’s schedule and commitments versus showing up for the Iraq Study Group.”

This evidence backs up the notion that Giuliani really cares nothing about national security and only focuses on having the power of the Presidency. He would rather make money and play politics than try to find a solution to one of the nation's biggest problems since Vietnam. If America is looking for more greed and corruption, Rudy is your man. If the people want a President to lead our country out of the mess we are in, choose someone else.

Bloomberg: The Non-Candidate That Sounds Like A Candidate

Mayor Michael Bloomberg was on the campaign trail at Google's campus yesterday to talk to employees about what is wrong with the United States. Apparently he was invited to speak in an authors series, using the book he wrote ten years ago as cover to be in the Silicon Valley area. He told reporters he is not planning on running, yet he won't rule it out, calling a definitive answer on the subject too "Shermanesque."

From The New York Times:

In his remarks, he sounded much like a candidate for national office. He returned to a pet theme, criticizing the federal government for its immigration policies and what he sees as insufficient attention to rising costs of Social Security and health care.

Mr. Bloomberg also took a swipe at the presidential candidates of both parties, saying they were not offering serious ideas about improving public education or lowering street crime.

Arguing that people have a much greater chance of being killed by street crime than by a terror attack, he said: “Yet every press conference, they all beat their chests and say, ‘I can protect this country better from terrorism.’ Well, what about protecting them out in the streets every day?”

This type of talk does not correlate to his idea that he will stay put as mayor through 2009. It sounds a lot more like an independent candidacy for 2008. Even though there is an "R" next to his name, there would be no chance in hell he would ever win the Republican nomination. His only shot would have to include switching that "R" to an "I." Many independents and even some Democrats love to hear this.

However, in these times of partisan conflict, it would be hard for Bloomberg to make a good showing in a Presidential race. Much like in 1992 and 1996, even billionaires like Ross Perot did not have enough steam to make more than a dent in either the Democrat or Republican's numbers. Regardless, he says he isn't running, so we'll just have to wait and see.

Another Bad Week For Bush

Hardball takes a look at last week's reminders of how bad the Bush Administration is doing, both for the country and themselves. Grand pundits Bob Shrum and Alex Castellanos talk about Bush and who might be the next President.

Making Poverty An Issue

The ONE Campaign is putting together an aggressive $30 million dollar effort to press Presidential candidates to fight global poverty and not just paying lip service. In my opinion, there a few candidates that don't quite fit the bill in this video, especially since it is the Republicans who helped enable vulture funds capitalize off the misery of third world nations. Nevertheless, I hope they succeed in getting the future President in the field to make a real difference in the battle against poverty unlike the current Commander-in-Chief.

2008 Odyssey: YouTube Style

The Result Of Early Primaries

Bob Schieffer of CBS gives us his take on all of the primaries that have been moved up to February of next year: