Karl Rove: America’s Arrogant Social Misfit

Karl Rove is the sort of guy who if he went to his senior high school prom most likely stood on the side looking at everybody with a date. His skills as a cutthroat political adviser were never questioned until he helped steer President Bush and the Republican Party off the cliff in the 2006 elections. This morning he spoke with utter gracelessness.

ABC News' Christianne Klein reported that at a breakfast with Republican insiders at the Capitol Hill Club this morning, former White House senior aide Karl Rove referred to Sen. Barack Obama, D-Illinois, as "coolly arrogant."

"Even if you never met him, you know this guy," Rove said, per Christianne Klein. "He's the guy at the country club with the beautiful date, holding a martini and a cigarette that stands against the wall and makes snide comments about everyone who passes by."

Most likely, Karl Rove looks at Barack Obama and sees a man that he wishes he could have been but never was. Instead, he chose a path in which his ability to do significant harm to others has played a vital part. Former Alabama governor, Don Siegelman, was recently released from jail on a conviction he attributed to Karl Rove. Hopefully this travesty of justice will be a Christmas Eve nightmare to a Karl Rove, a man that makes Scrooge look like Gandhi.

McCain 2005: Give Gitmo Detainees A Trial Or Release Them!

Despite John McCain's outrage last week that the Supreme Court ordered Gitmo detainees know why they were being held, or released -- Political Base has stumbled upon a McCain appearance on Meet the Press in 2005 where he argued they deserved trials, going so far as to say "if it means releasing some of them, you'll have to release them." Shameless.

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Thomas L. Friedman: Mr. Bush, Lead or Leave!

Bush declared that America was “addicted to oil,” and, by gosh, he was going to do something about it. Well, now he has. The new Bush energy plan: “Get more addicted to oil.” It’s as if our addict-in-chief is saying to us: “C’mon guys, you know you want a little more of the good stuff. One more hit, baby. Just one more toke on the ole oil pipe."

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Senator McCain 100% Lobbyist Free

The headline of this post, which is painfully ironic, is about a United States senator who for some time presented himself as a reformer, and stated that he fought for greater transparency regarding the official activities of lobbyists and the disclosure of how candidates and campaigns are funded. An article in ABC news on January 29, 2008, stated "McCain has 59 lobbyists raising money for his campaign, more than any of the other presidential candidates, according to the latest finding from government watchdog group Public Citizen."

The story only gets worse from here. In widely publicized recent news the American public has learned about the so-called "Enron loophole" which exempts energy speculators who make trades electronically from US regulation. Recent testimony before a Senate committee revealed that unregulated energy speculation accounts for between 20% to 25% of the jump in oil prices.

Wendy Gramm, wife of former Senator Phil Gramm of Texas, joined Enron's board after chairing the Commodities and Futures Trading Commission, where she issued regulations that legalized the type of electricity trading that helped Enron make millions in illegal profits. In 2000, then Senator, Gramm helped pass legislation which made the Enron Loophole permanent. Phil Gramm is now a lobbyist for UBS, a Swiss banking Corporation. Mr. Gramm is Senator McCain's campaign chair and economic adviser.

The list of lobbyists working for Senator McCain is quite lengthy. One egregious example cited by the Daily News are "John Green, the senator's chief liaison to Congress, and Wayne Berman, his national finance co-chairman, billed more than $720,000 in lobbying fees from 2005 through last year to Ameriquest Mortgage through their lobbying firm." With lobbyists working for Senator McCain in senior positions who are tied to the run-up in energy prices and the housing crisis how can Senator McCain make objective decisions regarding two of the most critical issues facing this country.

The Twelve Obamas

In an Article in the New York Times on June 20, 2008, David Brooks presented an Op-Ed Column entitled "the Two Obama's." In a thinly veiled sarcastic case, Mr. Brooks described the " Dr. Barack, the high-minded, Niebuhr-quoting speechifier who spent this past winter thrilling the Scarlett Johansson set and feeling the fierce urgency of now and the " Fast Eddie Obama, the promise-breaking, tough-minded Chicago pol who’d throw you under the truck for votes.. This pretty much sums up Mr. Brooks's opinion of Senator Obama, although he goes on to cite specifics to support his argument.

In thinking about this dichotomous presentation of Senator Obama it occurred to me that why stop at just "Two Obama's." Why not take this further and present all the possible Obama's in a revelatory act to fully elucidate the public as to the true nature of Senator Obama. Below I have presented the "The Twelve Obama's," which I think paints a more detailed picture of Senator Obama and what he stands, or pretends to stand, for. (Please note that my tongue now goes into my cheek).

The Obama that presents the politics of hope and the idea that we can change things for the better.
The cynical Obama that uses the politics of hope and change merely as a means to get elected President of the United States.

The Obama that converted to Christianity and is courting the evangelical vote.
The Obama that is still secretly a Muslim and waiting to subjugate Christian America.

The Obama that has collected hundreds of millions of dollars from small campaign donors.
The Obama that has secretly been bankrolled by big-money lobbyists and big-time backers.

The Obama with a brilliant mind that uses language to lift the spirits of his listeners.
The Obama with a brilliant mind that uses language to use people.

The Obama that knows he is going to have to take on most of Washington to get anything accomplished.
The Obama that's going to rejoice when he is elected president and forget everything he said during the campaign.

Many more couplets are possible, but I wanted to make a point not a long list. However, if any of the readers of this post have any ideas please feel free to include them in their comments. Also be sure to send a copy of them to David Brooks at the New York Times.

Baby Boomers Become Seniors

Baby boomers despite their best efforts find themselves growing older and many have now passed age 60. This frightening thought has led to new vistas for people that thought they would be perpetually young. In an article in Minyanville, a web site for investors, Scott Reeves comments on the behavior of the baby boomers and what they are doing to fight off what Scott calls, "approaching geezerhood."

Scott describes what he terms "brain goosing games and exercises driven by Boomers who suddenly find themselves fat and forgetful in their 60s."

In order to keep my own brain fit in agile I play chess online and poker every Monday night. You might think that playing chess requires more brainpower, but you've never had to guess what the Monday night poker crew has in their hands. I also play Scrabble once a week with my partner who beats me with increasing regularity with her fondness for seven letter words.

Scott's final conclusion is that, "Boomers are in a sweat about losing their marbles. Of course, this is all new and no single brain workout can guarantee that cobwebs won't envelop the brain. Maybe if folks just stayed active and engaged with life, brain function wouldn't fade as quickly."

Excuse me while I eat my buttered popcorn and watch the Simpsons on my 54 inch widescreen TV