Everyone will be happy! And skinny and attractive!

Alright, it's Friday, it is a long weekend and there is no chance at all that I am getting anything else done, so I am going to blog. I have run out of clothes to look at online, so this is the next activity...

Convention thoughts:

Oh, Clint...you poor thing...

That whole episode was just so very, very weird. You know how Republicans are fond of chastising Democrats for listening to celebrities? "Shut up and sing!" Well, you know what? THEY'RE RIGHT!!! For the love of God, leave the acting to the actors and the thinking to the thinkers. Whether you are George Clooney or Clint Eastwood, you aren't smart just because everyone you pay to hang around you says so...keep your mouths shut and we will all be better off.

I had almost identical thoughts on both Romney and Rubio: I though that they were both good, but the speeches sucked. Rubio especially was energetic and smooth and polished and had all of the stage presence that Republicans have wished that they could find since Obama took them to the woodshed in 2008. Of course, the content of the speech was vapid and woefully off-topic (he was aware that he was introducing Mitt Romney, right?) But then here the analysts go today doing exactly what they do with Obama all the time...mistaking a great delivery for a great speech. It looked and sounded great...but it doesn't read great.

Same for Romney: he was polished and comfortable and very Presidential. He just didn't say much of note. The first six or seven minutes, especially, were really terrible and some of the sentences just made no sense. He got going a little bit as it went along, but it still just wasn't a great text. In that forum, a great speech should answer three questions: 1) Why should you get rid of the other guy? 2) Why should you pick me? and 3) What will I do if you pick me?

I will give him pretty good marks on the first question, which is always the easiest to answer. I think we are all clear on what his criticisms of Obama are, and many of them are valid. The second question is one he has always struggled to answer...he seems to constantly be apologizing for who he is. He tries so hard to be "likeable" and "approachable", and it is totally not him. He would be much better off simply going with "You want a poker buddy, or do you want a Chief Executive? Because I am not gonna be your friend, but my credentials as a leader are impeccable and I will do this job better than anyone else you can find." He isn't going to be warm and fuzzy, and that shouldn't matter.

My favorite part of the analysis today, though, is all of the talk of his addressing that third question...all of the "firm policy details." Really? Do we honestly pay these people to be on television? "I will create 12 million jobs and strengthen the middle class," is not a policy detail. It is a promise and a lovely goal...but it isn't an actual idea. Which isn't to single out Romney, because Obama has been talking about "green jobs" for five years, and neither he nor any of his advisers has ever told anyone what the fuck a green job is. Really, my complaint is with the talking heads who can claim, with a straight face, that there was substance in that speech.

On to much more important matters...it's time to head to the beach!!! Last time this year, probably, but it should be a great weekend!

Convening...

I will admit to being less excited than I was at this time four years ago, but the political junkie in me won't let me totally skip the conventions, so I have watched quite a bit of the last two nights after the girls have gone to bed. As I am sure you all suspect...I have some opinions;-)

First of all, this whole thing seems like it is done in anticipation of losing. I don't know whether it is an unwillingness to accept Romney, or a feeling that Obama is just going to talk his way through the election pretty easily, or what...but there doesn't seem to be a whole lot of passion in this convention. I am not totally sure that I am even know what makes me think this, but the whole building seems to be full of people who just don't believe that they are going to win.

None of the speakers have really been very good, either. I thought Ann Romney was terrible...fake and overly bubbly and not the least bit likeable. Chris Christie was OK, but he spoke too fast and the message was sort of scattered...a little bit about what is wrong with Obama, a little bit about how we could be better, and a little bit about why Romney is the guy, but none of it really seemed to tie together.

Condi Rice was pretty good, she is just not quite as comfortable in that forum as the other speakers. And they don't really know what to do with her...everyone likes her, but she seems a little bit too connected to W, and the GOP isn't quite ready to remember him just yet.

Paul Ryan...I don't know...he didn't quite do it for me, but it was close. I thought he had a really hard time with the pacing and the applause lines, and especially early on he just seemed really young. He started to get to a good message: "I had as much hope as everyone else did four years ago, but when can we all admit that Barack Obama is a terrible President?", but he didn't really hit that as much as I thought he could have. His opening line included the part about never seeing an incumbent want to talk less about his record, which should have been a great start...but then he didn't talk as much about that record as he should have.

And the entirety of the two nights has been completely devoid of any actual content...which is a problem...

So, I dunno...blah, I guess. I certainly didn't see anything that makes me think any differently than I did a week ago. When November gets here, we will hold out noses and re-elect the same President we did last time.

Summer, we hardly knew ya!

Had a fantastic weekend, and really an all-around awesome visit with Tinkerbelle. She is definitely working on her petulant teenager skills, but she kept that to a minimum and we had a really good time. We spent the first weekend at the beach, then came back here for two days and went back to the beach for the last couple days. The Boy brought the girls back with him on Sunday, and then brought them to the beach Friday, so they were much more on their regular schedule.

The weather, as it has been all summer, was really spectacular...it was really nice on the beach without ever being hot. I got a lot more sun on Friday and Saturday than I thought I did, so I am a little pinkish today;-) The girls developed a new favorite beach activity...pouring water into a hole. Seriously...one giant bucket, buried halfway and filled with water, and a big hole in the sand and voila, they climb in and out of the bucket and dump the water out for hours. All I have to do is refill the bucket once in a while...

Now, of course, the summer is at a crashing end. The beach house is basically closed after this weekend (it is in use for a couple of weddings, and we could maybe go there in late September or October if the weather is really nice, but usually we don't get there after Labor Day.) Munchkin starts school next Tuesday and the regular fall schedule will set in pretty fast.

What the fuck happened to summer? And don't I say this every single year? And why do I live in a place with something like 7 weeks of summer? And why do I keep asking myself rhetorical questions...?

The Republican convention is this week, and I will probably force myself to watch some of it, although not happily. I can't say that I am any more excited to watch the Democrats in a week or two, either...they are all making me kinda angry. Some time this fall I am sure that I will talk about it in more detail...but for now I plan to hold my nose and vote for Obama. He has been a pretty terribly President, and has turned into a horrible whiner (really, you'd think that no President ever had to deal with a minority party before) and I have almost no hope that he will be any better in his second term. But the current state of the Republican party scares me, and Romney just seems to add up to a lot less than the sum of his resume parts...so I don't think I will be able to bring myself to vote for him.

But we will see...more of this as the fall progresses. Until then, back to the grind...

Also, I am pretty sure he believes in the Tooth Fairy

I am back at work today, sort of, and wanted to spew some more public policy junk while it is fresh on my mind...and then, before I could get to Medicare shenanigans, Todd Akin went and stole the spotlight.

Really, on the long list of stupid things that politicians have said, this one goes right near the top...it is just outstanding beyond belief. I am not going to sit here and rail about it, because there is really nothing I can say that will do him justice, nor do I think anyone needs any context or explanation to make their own judgement.

You know what I am going to rail against? People in Missouri (especially those in the western suburbs of St. Louis who elected him)!!! He didn't become a US Rep by accident, nor did he become the Republican nominee for Senate by accident, either...he did it because people voted for him (well, in the case of the Senate Primary, he was helped by his now opponent, Clair McCaskill, who deemed him the weakest of the three challengers and then set about supporting his campaign. They kick you out of the Badminton Olympics for that, you know.)

First sign of trouble? According to Wikipedia, his mother's maiden name (Bigelow) is also his father's middle name...which means they may well be related. They may well not be, but I have no journalistic integrity that prevents me from implying it:-)

More seriously, this guy has sort of always been this way. He may have never said anything quite as dumb as this, but he is no newcomer to saying things that expose his overall intelligence level: he once said that Liberalism was built on a hatred of God, and also said something really kooky about Davy Crockett getting Blackberry messages from Congress at the Alamo, too.

Nor has his policy platform changed. He has been a vehement opponent of abortion, defender of guns, proponent of religion in government and several other cookie-cutter Republican positions. That is what his supporters vote for. And you know what else? Public Policy Polling says that the voters in Missouri won't hold this latest flap against him, either. Part of that is related to his relatively weak opponent...but that gets us to another issue entirely: why has the State of Missouri picked the two ass hats as its Senate candidates?!?!? Seriously...I know people from Missouri, and there is a lot going on there. You should have plenty of people to choose from, and who on earth wouldn't want to be a Senator?

I suppose it is too late to go back to the drawing board (unless Akin drops out and they find someone better) which means we are stuck with one of these folks. But really, MO, try and do better next time;-)

Short days, short weeks and special visitors

Anyone else having trouble concentrating because your littlest sister is coming out to visit? Or is that just me...

I am only working half a day, then going to pick Tinkerbelle up at the airport, and then getting the girls at day care, getting packed, waiting for The Boy to get home and heading to the beach! So, really, I can count on the whole afternoon to go according to schedule right? I can't imagine anything possibly going wrong!

The rough plan is to stay at the beach until Monday, then come back here for a couple of days...I think I will work Tuesday and Wednesday. I want to give Tinkerbelle (who is approaching "petulant teenager" years) some time to herself. She may decide to stay at the beach with Munchkin, but I have a feeling she will want to come back here and be independent for a little bit. If I know kids at that age, giving her some time to wander by herself will make her feel like quite the grown-up. I may suggest she try and track down some of the pretend cousins that are her age, too...

Then probably back to the beach for a couple of days before she heads home. That plan, however, is open to significant change and flexibility at any moment:-). However it turns out, though, you probably won't hear much from me!!!

So, until then...toodles!