Recently in 2008 Category

Some of you may disagree with me. Oh, hell, most of you may disagree with me. But, as God (or to whomever HP you profess faith) is my witness, this is the sign of decline of conservatism for the next 30 to 40 years.

 

It brought tears to my eyes at the same time as I chuckled in happiness.

Carl, over at Unpopular Ideas reminds us that the introduction of Sarah Palin as the GOP VP selection was a "Hail Mary" pass. In keeping with this metaphor; a reminder that most Hail Mary passes are incomplete. Her resignation from the Governorship of Alaska - that she is leaving with an incomplete term - completes the metaphor.

Oh great. Now comes the next stage; arguing over the wording of today's release of the ruling on Franken/Coleman.

Particular sentence to be argued over:

For all of the foregoing reasons, we affirm the decision of the trial court that Al Franken received the highest number of votes legally cast and is entitled under Minn. 32 Stat. § 204C.40 (2008) to receive the certificate of election as United States Senator from the State of Minnesota.

Oh yeah. We are going to hear all sorts of rationalization and intellectualizing over the meaning of entitled.

Update: I guess Norm didn't want to get into a debate over definitions.

It's 5 PM and I've heard not a peep about Norm's court challenge to the recount.

Well, now I have. Next week, then.

Welcome Dusty Rice to Eastern Blogstonia. I got to meet Dusty once. He was part of the Al Franken senate campaign. That was the day I embarrassed myself when I thought Al was referring to his movie "Stuart Saves His Family" when in fact he was referring to "When A Man Loves A Woman." I managed to wipe the egg off my face and have a good talk with Dusty and the rest of the team. Of course, he was quick to make the talk off the record. It was fine by me, because I really didn't want to write about the egg on face incident.

The one, of course, I just mentioned. Doh!

CNN

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Call Sarah Palin the closer.

The Alaska governor and former Republican vice-presidential nominee is back on the campaign trail Monday, teaming up with Sen. Saxby Chambliss at four campaign events in Georgia on the last full day of campaigning before the state's Senate runoff election.

Chambliss is the freshman Republican senator from Georgia who's fighting to keep his seat. He's up against Jim Martin, a former Georgia state lawmaker, in the runoff election.

I started reading blogs back in 2003, right after Rich Santorum uttered his famous term "man on dog." Then, there was the obviously deteriorating mess that is still Iraq. All in all, there were many issues to voice out about. But, after last night's victory for Obama, I am wonder "what for?"

My novel continues on at a reasonable pace, considering I have a full-time job and a family. I also believe I've lost the passion. I do not enjoy blogging like I use to. I am really thinking it's time to close the old Rant down. I would like to say I've achieved what I set out to do with this blog, but in reality, I never really had a set goal to achieve, other than to post my rants.

Well, I grew tired of posting rants a while ago. I also grew tired of writing about life. I am busy living it, I find it redundant to then write about it.

Now, I know better than to announce a hiatus, because I never actually last more than 24 hours. I go longer when I just say nothing. What I am debating, is whether or not to shut down this blog permanently. In the great scheme of things, I am but a small microbe on the ass of a flea. Visions of grandeur and greatness are tiring and require a level of denial I am loath to continue.

I do appreciate those few loyal readers that occasionally leave comments for me. And I am aware of my rather unreliable response; that is, I usually don't feel moved to respond to comments. Unless, of course, you piss me off. But than, none of my regulars ever have pissed me off.

Anyway, I am not sure what the hell I am trying to say. It just seems that Rook's Rant does not have a place in the approaching social and political changes of this country.

I have much to contemplate. But than, I think the whole nation does.

I wonder if anyone really is aware of the incredible level of change that has occurred, and that life as we knew it is about to radically change? I don't think any of us do. The initial amount of energy required to overcome stasis is always greater than what is necessary to continue momentum. Yet, from the look of things, there is still a lot of energy in this nation. I hope Barack Hussein Obama has the strength and ability to guide that energy towards positive and uplifting change.

Actually, I voted in the middle of the morning, before heading to work. I am just now taking the time to post about it this afternoon.

I've been checking the news sites, to see if any trends have become apparent, but there is not a peep about them. Damn, and I have to work until 9:00 PM, with group from 6 until then. That means I am going to be missing the meat of the returns. That really sucks.

CNN

(CNN) -- Some aides to Sen. John McCain say they weren't happy that running mate Sarah Palin went off script Sunday and turned attention back to the controversy over her wardrobe.

The Alaska governor on Sunday brought up the recent reports regarding the Republican National Committee's $150,000 spending spree on clothing and accessories for the Palin family.

Palin denounced talks of her wardrobe as "ridiculous" and declared emphatically: "Those clothes, they are not my property."

"Just like the lighting and the staging and everything else that the RNC purchased, I'm not taking them with me," she said at a rally in Tampa, Florida.

A senior McCain adviser told CNN that those comments "were not the remarks we sent to her plane." Palin did not discuss the wardrobe story at her rally in Kissimmee, Florida, later in the day.

People, this campaign is collapsing, and neither side is looking good. All I can say is that if these two end up in Washington, we are going to be in for a long 4 years of incompetence, failure, whining, and corruption.

CNN

(CNN) -- There's been a lot of sniping and a lot of stories Wednesday about Gov. Sarah Palin's clothes.

Politico.com reports that the Republican National Committee spent more than $150,000 on clothes, hair and make-up for Palin on the campaign trail. Now, these are not your tax dollars.

This is money given by Republican donors to the RNC. But the report questions whether it is legal to use campaign cash for quote "personal use."

My issue? There is an incredible double-standard here, and we are ignoring a very simple reality.

Women are judged based on their appearance far, far more than men. That is a statement of fact.

CNN Political Ticker

WASHINGTON (CNN) - New polls suggest that John McCain is on defense in four of five states that President Bush won in the last election. CNN/Time Magazine/Opinion Research Corp. surveys released Wednesday afternoon indicate that Barack Obama has a small advantage in Ohio, Nevada, North Carolina and a large lead in Virginia, with John McCain ahead in West Virginia.

McClatchy Washington Bureau

HARRISBURG, Pa. -- With polls showing him losing ground, Republican John McCain on Tuesday raised the specter of nuclear war to cast doubt on Democrat Barack Obama's readiness to be president

CNN

GRAND JUNCTION, Colorado (CNN) -- As the presidential campaigns enter their final days, Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin is getting getting the rock star treatment, drawing much bigger crowds than her running mate, Sen. John McCain.

I really do not have time to due this post justice, but I still wanted to get this thought out there. It appears that John Kline is feigning towards Madia. But that begs the question; Why? Madia is not running against John Kline. Steve Sarvi is running against him. So, why the misdirect?

Is John's campaign in need of some free attention? Madia is making tremendous headway in his campaign for CD 3. Maybe John is trying to ride on his coat tails? Let's face it, despite the failure of McCain and Palin's negative campaigning, historically, it works.

Maybe that's the problem. Because of McCain's and Palin's negative attacks backfiring, Kline is trying to prevent a backlash by attacking someone the voters in his district really don't care about. That just seems craven, bordering on cowardly. Very unbecoming of an ex-marine.

So, I guess, why is John Kline afraid of Steve Sarvi?

You know you are in trouble when you have to tell everyone how you are going to turn around your campaign at a time when your opponent is telling everyone their plan for turning around the country.

I've been remiss of late. Please go to ActBlue and give Steve Sarvi some green lov'n!

The Washington Monthly

Campaigning in Wisconsin alongside Palin, McCain, complaining about earmarks, said, "[W]e've had a Bridge to Nowhere, $233 million bridge in Alaska, which I'm glad, happy to say, this governor stood up against."

Now, every reporter on hand knew he was lying. I suspect even most of the crowd knew he was lying. Palin knew it, McCain knew it, practically everyone knew it. The line was debunked, over and over again, more than a month ago.

This, of course, leads to a few questions. Why on earth would McCain bring back a demonstrably ridiculous claim now? Does he not remember last month? Is there really something wrong with his cognitive skills?

Okay, we are approaching end of Reagan's second term behavior now. He is simply not dealing well with the pressure. This man can not be the President. He does not have the mental ability to handle the stress.

Okay, there are misspeaks, and then there are misspeaks that say something. This misspeak says something: