Shut Up

Shut up, shut up, shut up, SHUT UP!

I watched some of the debate last night between the two Democratic candidates and that is my response to what I saw.

What tore it for me was when they ran the video question from a snarky woman voter in Pennsylvania who asked Senator Obama why he doesn't wear a flag pin on his lapel.

She REALLY needs to shut up.

As if wearing a fucking flag pin on your lapel would qualify you for being president. Or as if not wearing one indicated your lack of love for the Greatest Country Ever In The History Of The Entire Universe With God On Its Side.

The questions posed to the candidates have gone below what they scrape from the bottom of the barrel. They're ridiculous, meaningless and reflect exactly why we have the president we have now. We obviously want a president who is no smarter than we are and with whom we would not feel uncomfortable if given the opportunity to hang out and slam a few shots and beers.
Because that's going to happen, right?
Forget all that bullshit about actually knowing something about foreign policy, the economy, the environment or health care.
Nah. That stuff is too BIG for us to understand and anyway, we have GOD on our side and His Mighty Magic Wand will be taking care of all that so let's elect a president we feel comfortable with and certainly not one who's elitist. Heaven fucking forbid.

Yeah! Let's go bowling! Let's go hunting! Let's go to church!

Oh. But not Reverend Wright's church. And by the way, Senator, do you think that Reverend Wright loves his country as much as you do?

What???!!!!

Here's what I think- I think that Senator Clinton and Senator Obama know at this point that one of them will be the presidential nominee and the other will be the vice-presidential nominee. Has to be. And that this silly, sniping crap coming out of their mouths about each other is not going to serve them well when they're running as a team.
And they know it. You can see it in their faces and hear it in their responses.
But what can they do? Tell the media to fuck off?

Because the media is fanning these tiny fires of bullshit like frantic Survivor contestants trying
to get a fire going to cook their tasty rats on.

I've said it before and I'll say it again- why would anyone want to go through this process? Here these two obviously well-qualified and intelligent candidates are having to answer questions about their elitism-levels while McCain gets a free ride despite the fact that every time he opens his mouth about something important he gaffes another big one.

I don't know what the answer is to ending this farce of a process but perhaps spending less time on it would be a start. Looking into the faces of Clinton and Obama last night revealed two people who obviously need a month's worth of sleep.

And maybe, if everyone would just shut up, they could get it and we'd all be better off.
They could wake up, have a cup of coffee, face the results of the final primaries, join as a team and get this job done.

Because if another Republican gets in the White House, the only people who are going to come out as winners are the people who make flag pins.

Which we'll all probably be required by law to wear in our lapels.

And I'll be in Mexico, wearing a huipil, which has no lapels, sitting outside watching the sun set right off the balcony of my house. Where I'll be living. Because I can't stand this bullshit any more.

Let's Get Serious

I'd like to discuss politics now.

Not in depth, you understand, but just some general thoughts I've had about the subject, seeing how it's the year we get to pick our new president. Are you as excited as I am about this prospect?

So what I've been wondering is What Kind Of A Crazy Person Would Want To Be President At This Point In History?

I mean, really. Bush has fucked up things so badly that it seems to me it's going to take at least four years just to get things vaguely back on track. Where's the fun or glory in that? Are there really people who have such a desperate need to perform public service that they're willing to spend millions and millions of dollars and all their time and energy to get elected to a job that they're completely bound to fail at?

And what kind of an egomaniac does it take to believe that straightening out the country is even within the realm of their capabilities?

The economy is now in world-wide panic mode, we're still in Iraq, the middle east is, as always, threatening to blow, we've forgotten all about our constitution, our schools suck, our bridges are falling down, our highways are crumbling, our health-care system is a joke unless you're rich, our reputation in the world is pathetic, we're torturing people in secret prisons and not-so-secret prisons, we're limiting basic human rights in our own country while threatening other countries with war because they're not protecting theirs, the entire planet is on the verge of major catastrophe due to global warming, we're in hock to our eyeballs to China and the countries that supply us with our lifeblood-oil, and people who believe that their Imaginary Friend created the universe in seven Earth-days are fighting to get science out of the classroom.

Barack- you ready to take that on?
Hillary- you want the job?
Huckabee- you think you the man?

Why?

So as I see it, anyone who wants to be president has go to be a little bit insane. At the very least.
And beyond that, I'm not believing a word I hear fall from any candidate's mouth. I've gotten to the point where I'm so cynical about the whole thing that I believe everything they say is the result of some focus group study and if I hear the word "change" one more time I'm going to puke.

I'm not saying that all the candidates are big liars, just up there parroting the words they think people want to say but...
Oh wait a minute. Yes. I am.

This is not to say that I wouldn't much rather see Hillary, Barack or John in the White House than Rudy, Mitt or Mike. Please. Don't even say the word Republican to me.

BUT, at this point in time, I'm ready to have a system for electing the president that involves a Oija Board or a telephone book. We're spending crazy money and we're all acting like monkeys, listening to these people make promises that we all know damn well they can't keep.

It's just not working for me.

Is it working for you?