A Circular Firing Squad

I have been predicting that the endless GOP Primary would end badly. It appears
that Mitt Romney and Rick Perry hate one other far, far worse than they hate
Obama, and they may want to destroy or dominate the other much more than they
want to be President. Oh, game on, Dudes!

Their behavior during the next FIFTEEN debates should tell the tale. Can
they handle conflict and interact in an effective manner with those who have
annoying personalities? or are they prone to losing it in public? I think they
are both second-raters and that neither will have the wits and character to
figure out a way to work through these personality clashes and just focus on the
task of getting elected. If I am right, this is an election that academics will
be discussing for years to come, as a "how not to" example. I just hope the
moderators keep putting them next to one another so they can reach out and
touch, and if we are lucky, pat, punch, push and shove.

You may say, wait, weren't there only thirteen more GOP Primary
debates? Yes, you are right, until Fox News added two more! God bless Fox
News! The more we see of these Republicrat candidates, the less they inspire.
I read a long article about Michelle Bachmann's long fake acrylic fingernails,
cut in the square-tipped "French" style. Ooooo boy, snarky, snarky, snarky.
The article said that journalists have been biting their tongues, not wanting
to talk about how creepy they look, along with her long artificial lashes and…
so on.

Arthur

Elizabeth Warren

This is the one candidate I feel not the slightest qualms about sending a bit of money to in this election cycle. Her opponent Scott Brown is a moron who needs to be run out the Senate on a rail. Elizabeth Warren fought long and hard to set up a Consumer Protection Agency, to fight deceptive business practices, often hidden in three to seven page small-type pages of wheres and whyfors that no normal human being could be expected to actually read.

Many years ago REI, otherwise a decent enough company, sent an order to my brother for mountain climbing gear. On the back it said in pale red print that acceptance of this purchase order, to sell goods to REI, meant that in the event of any legal claim for the use of such goods, that the seller (my brother) would assume all legal responsibility and that REI was exempted. My brother talked to an attorney who laughed and wrote him a receipt form that read "payment for these goods is accepted only on the basis that the purchaser understands that the seller lacks the legal skill to review the disclaimers on their purchase order, so he cannot be held liable for them". And REI went ahead with the purchase, since they apparently don't read that crap either.

But Elizabeth Warren, one very smart cookie indeed, asks why the Heck people should have to wade through bullshit like that? The agency that she fostered will be taxed with calling spades a spade and stopping abuse of consumers. The far-right in the Senate hated the idea of her heading that agency, so someone else was given the job. But to have Elizabeth Warren's voice in the Senate would be a game changer.

Oh, and her ass-wipe opponent? The Wall Street Journal called him "Wall Street's Favorite Senator".

To me that seems like a fairly stark choice, between the living and the Living Dead. Even $20 can make you feel like you have paid your dues and you have a voice that should be listened to. $100? The effect is even greater.

Arthur