AMERICA'S GOT NO TALENT

My lovely wife, the Kitty, enjoys the Sunday morning political shows like Meet the Press and Face the Nation. We turned on the former, moderated by David Gregory. and Congressman John Boehner, Leader of the loyal opposition and former Speaker of the House before Queen Nancy Pelosi, was questioned intensely by Mr. Gregory. Despite being asked 5 times about his various positions on Social Security, Charlie Rangel, and other things, he gave NO answers that could be considered understandable. After watching him for several minutes, the only impression I got was that he is a squirming weasel. OMG, if this guy gets to be Speaker again, there is no sense electing Republicans to the house.

I understand that "gotcha" journalism is alive and well on TV and one has to be aware of the next chess move of the moderator when a pointed question is asked. A simple question was asked..."Do Republicans favor raising the age for Social Security?" What would be wrong to saying, YES, but incrementally over several years we should raise the retirement age to 70, eventually. When Social Security was made an entitlement in America, the life expectancy was 61." Nooooo. He hedged and hemmed and hawed and said nothing. I am far more of a Republican than anything else but if this guy were my congressman, I would rather vote for the Green Party candidate. He is the poster boy for everything that is wrong with politics on both sides. He was afraid to take ANY stand on anything and left me "empty." I prefer Dennis Kucinich's style. Despite being the most liberal of liberals, Dennis at least tells you his firm position on everything. To make a real difference, run some Republicans with a similar willingness to take a firm stand and have a platform other than "Obama Sucks." If the Republican Party insists on putting up little mini-Boehners to run in primaries, I am staying home on election day. Make no mistake, voters don't get to choose from a large selection, we get to choose from a few, one or more of which were chosen by the Party. You may well get to choose between Tweedle Dum and Tweedle Dee in the primary. As a result of gerrymandering and redistricting, winners in Republican district primaries tend to stay Republican and win in the general election, and Democrat...similarly. So they person who wins the primary will likely be your representative. Show up, make sure he or she is not a weasel, and vote in the primary. Your vote will count more because so few people show up.

David Gregory is more than subtly biased. The guest representing the Liberal-Dems was former congressman Harold Ford Jr. Ford was much more adept at forwarding his position but it was far easier for him to be so because he was essentially unchallenged by the moderator in any way. He was allowed to speak uninterrupted without follow up questions or his feet being held to the fire. None the less, a weasel is still a weasel, and Boehner looked like one to me and I drink the Kool Aid to a degree. I can only guess what an "independent" would have thought.