Odd and Ends

Now the McCain people are attacking Palin as a diva and a whack job. How come when others said that they got so much right wing hate mail.

Is anyone seriously talking about her and 2012. Come on guys, wake up, this nation is in serious straits.

McCain reported proudly how many Secretaries of State support him; unfortunately he could not remember George Schultz.

Word is Obama people are writing his inaugural address. Shouldn't they be spending their time on getting out the vote?

What Change Looks Like

Barack Obama is complaining that his liberal friends have misunderstood his movments to the center. That is what happens when you look like you are changing your positions on Iraq, telephone survelliance, campaign financing and faith based social work.

Oil Prices

We all are weary of the rising oil prices. But it is interesting to see the break down of who gets what from $4.00 a gallon: $3 for extracting crude oil; refining 40 cents ; oil profits 20 cents; gas station owners 10 cents; taxes (fed and state) about 40 cents. New Jersey has the second lowest tax in nation.

Bread and Butter

Obama's victory in North Carolina, and near upset in Indiana is pretty much the ball game for Hillary. She has fought a long and honorable campaign but the public mood is clearly for someone and something else. The Clintons have been around too long, and with the general of the Bushes, perhaps it is time to end their lock on the modern presidency and get in some young blood.

McCain may not have that blood, but he is solidifying the party and getting ready to hit Obama hard on the usual patriotic issues that the GOP loves to fight on instead of the war, taxes, gasoline, and health care.

Obama needs to bleed the new politics he so advocates with bread and butter issues which have been so important to the Democratic party since FDR. No Democrat can win without raising the class warfare issues.

A National Curriculum and Iraq

Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings has unilaterally amended the No Child Left Behind legislation, an act that too few of us have supported over the years. Her new directives will essentially focus on urban schools and probably alleviate its impact on suburban and rural areas--areas surprisingly where Republicans are strongest. Her polices will basically let more homogeneous districts off the hook even if they would have qualified as deficient under the old administration of the law. That is too bad, for it eviscerates the law. It also puts back the notion of a national curriculum which many of us believe is the major need we have now.

The Congressional Budget office is saying that the endless war in Iraq has cost from $1 to 2 billion. How useful are these budget estimates that have such a fudge factor. Does anyone wonder? Do these guys have civil service protection in the CBO, or what? And these are supposed to be the most non-partisan and most professional experts that Congress relies on...

Obama Leader?

While the New York Times is close to pronouncing Obama the democrats candidate, Hillary looks ahead in Ohio, Pennsylvania, maybe Texas, and likely to get Florida and Michigan in a floor fight. That is a big bloc.

Huckabee is continuing on in part because has nothing else to do. Who wants to go back to hope Arkansas?

Biden is out raising money to pay off his campaign debt. Too bad, he at least had a plan thought out to leave Iraq.

Two Remain

With the exit of Edwards and Giuliani before Super Tuesday, it is obvious that we are talking about a two person race. There is much excitement with the Obama candidacy but the Clintons have strong organizations in the 20 plus states that are up for grabs. McCain in Florida did remarkably well among those who say they are conservative and those who are concerned about the economy. Both appeals were keys to the Romney strategy.

The New York Times wonders what happened to Giuliani. Perhaps they may want to look at their own series of exposes of his years as mayor—they went out of the way to fly every piece of dirty linen. Part of the problem was his really tough style over the years, but The New York Times has a long history of anti-Italian and anti-Catholic sentiment going back nearly a century. There are many ethnic and religious angles in this long campaign