President Bush gave a speech yesterday.   Did anybody care to hear what he had to say?  Does anybody believe a word he says anymore?  I can’t say I bothered to tune in this time.  Typically Bush speeches have given me much to rant about; much that disgusts me but now in the twilight of what personally stands as not only the worst but the worst imaginable presidency in my lifetime I can’t say that I care anymore.  I’m sure that his speech was full of distortions of the state of our economy, lies about how spying on citizens without a warrant is essential to our safety and dire warnings that the Democrats want to tax and spend us all into oblivion while he has racked up a national debt greater than the total deficits of all of the presidents in the history of our once great nation.  

Not to worry.  This nation will be great again.  Even if the most unlikely of scenarios occurs and Hillary is our next president.  I am quite confident that our nation will regain it’s once glorious stature in the world even if McCain is elected.  So long as the Democrats gain seats in the Congress.  A super majority of Democrats with a McCain presidency would assure us protection from a continuation of Bush policies.  But if things continue as it appears they will Obama will be our next president and the only people who will be disgruntled in the near future will be the 19 percent of Americans I have fondly grown affectionate of calling lapel pin patriots.  Lapel pin patriots value capitalism above democracy, profit above humanity, and macho bravado above thought and understanding.  Think Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity and Dick Dobson if you haven’t gotten the picture yet.

          Hey I missed ya while I was gone… I caught a quick flight out to Detroit for a business meeting on Monday.  It’s a glamorous life I live getting to travel to Detroit in February.  The travel karma ferries were with me.  My booked flight was to layover in Chicago both going and coming but a winter storm cancelled or postponed both my departure and return flights to where I had to seek alternative arrangements.  In both going and my return trip I was able to secure direct flights which departed and arrived at more convenient times than my original booking.  I love it when a plan comes together.

            While I have been on a political commentary hiatus some interesting things have been happening as the Obama campaign transitioned into that of front runner.  Clinton and McCain supporters have been salivating over Michelle Obama’s sound bite when she said, "For the first time in my adult life I am proud of my country."  The lapel pin patriots want to take this statement completely out of context and air it out as dirty laundry.  Did the statement reveal a sinister lack of patriotism from within the Obama household?  Only a fool would believe that.  Given today’s politics Mrs. Obama should have known better than to make such a statement in the same way that high school football players are warned that what they say might end up on the bulletin board in the lead-up of an upcoming game with a rival. 

            Could you imagine that Mrs. Obama is bursting with pride in her husband and her hope for the America we could realize under his leadership?  Is it possible that she, like so many others of us, has been uncomfortable with the path our country has followed these last seven years?  All of us are prone to overstate our beliefs in times of great pride or discovery.  Hell, I even know a guy who on a weekly basis will tell me of a new restaurant he has found that has “the best fried chicken or best tenderloin or best steak he has ever eaten.”  But in politics you can never misspeak.  You can never show exuberance.  You can never let your guard down.  And that is precisely the type of politics that has America disgruntled with politics in general in this country.  If the lapel pin patriots are really interested in proving their love of country they should focus more on the policies of the candidates and less on an ill advised comment by one of their spouses. 

            Some people have been claiming that Obama is lacking in experience and Obama has fought off those charges adeptly by reminding us of his service to community and country his entire life and stressing that good judgment is more desirable than repeating the mistakes of our past.  And when it comes to effective leadership in the Senate Barack Obama has authored 152 bills while Hillary has only authored 20 in six years.  If I were a member of the Clinton campaign team I might shut up about experience because when it comes time to be ready on day one it is obvious who is a more effective leader. 

            And finally the McCain campaign is making it a big issue about Obama agreeing to public financing in the general election.  I’m all for it but I find it ironic that the GOP who has traditionally enjoyed a significant advantage in campaign finances and has suddenly when they find themselves at a disadvantage they are mum on their argument that public financing infringes upon their First Amendment rights.  Obama’s campaign finances are huge and his support has come from nearly an unprecedented nearly one million contributors.  Talk about the First Amendment being alive and well!  But until this Obama campaign finances have come largely from special interest groups and corporations seeking favor for policies once their man was elected to office.  It is time that sort of campaign financing is ended.  It’s just a shame that Republicans lacked the integrity to agree to this sort of campaign finance reform until it was to their benefit.

Happy Birthday to me!  The Red Hog turned 48 today.  You’d think I would have decided what I want to do with my life by now, wouldn’t ya?  We had a quiet day in store that included a trip to Iowa City to see my daughter and go out for lunch.  That’s always a good thing.  We went to a big shopping center and I had one of those “Dad moments” when SWMBO and I followed the kids who were walking hand in hand across the parking lot as we made our way into the store.  There is no way they could have planned that.  No way they could have known how it would have made my heart swell in my chest as we navigated the still icy parking lot.  They just did it.  And I followed along behind with SWMBO hoping I wouldn’t cry from such an innocent display of their affection for one another.  Thanks kids. 

            And the rest of this post isn’t a rant but merely an observation.  We are blessed with a pretty good income in the old Red Hog homestead but I had to wonder how people make it these days.  The quick stop at the shopping center was over a hundred bucks, lunch for five at a local restaurant approached a hundred dollar bill and we needed gas and groceries on the way home.  We bought few groceries but that was over a hundred bucks and with gas prices over three bucks a gallon again and my 28 gallon tank almost on empty another two hundred bucks was spent without the blink of an eye.  It’s getting to where I’m almost afraid to leave the house.  When it costs almost $500 to go out and make a few stops for necessities a guy has to wonder how someone living on more modest means makes a go of it. 

            Clayton and I are still riding a bit of a buzz from last Thursday’s comedy event.  Today I sent out emails to my friends who had traveled in from out of town thanking them for their support.  Maybe the only thing better than working before a full house is knowing that you have a big block of family and friends filling up the seats.  Friends are a great thing.  My daughter commented that the collection of friends who made the show were like a walk through the phases of their lives.  Life is like that.  There are friends who dominate certain periods of our lives and then, for one reason or another, other friends come along.  To be sure there are life long friends and friends for life and the distinction being that the former are never too far away.  We had a good mix of both sorts at our show and appreciate their support.

            When the lights dim and the house P.A. system starts cranking out the club theme music is one of the most exciting times for a stand up comic.  Last night my son Clayton and I joined three other comics to raise money for our local Big Brothers and Big Sisters chapter and we took the stage in front of a near sell out crowd.  As amateur comedians this gig was about as good as it gets.  It was personally gratifying on so many levels.  The fact that we were invited to perform in a local all star benefit was an affirmation of our progress as aspiring comics.  Recognition in the local media was a new experience for us and the fact that we had friends drive in to Cedar Rapids from towns as far away as Davenport, Cedar Falls, Grinnell, Iowa City and Buckingham (on the Missouri border) on a Thursday night meant a lot to us as well.  The format allowed us to do a full twenty minute set which for guys used to being constrained to 4-6 minutes on open mic nights was akin to the family dog discovering the mailman was sporting hamburger underwear.

            Once you take the stage as a comic it doesn’t matter how many times you have been through your material or how many times you have done it in front of an audience before there is always uncertainty until you deliver the first punch line and hear that first burst of laughter.  Every audience is different and from night to night there is no telling what will strike them as funny.  Overall your material is funny or it isn’t but it is amazing how an audience will hit on various points of a joke line differently from one performance to another.  While an unexpected eruption of laughter is always welcome it is perhaps more gratifying when an audience laughs in all the expected places.  I’m not sure if those variances are attributable to our amateur status or if all comics experience those subtle nuances.  But last night we felt like we owned the audience and it doesn’t get any better than that. 

           
            Why all the outrage from the cable network pundits?  I don't recall any such display when untrue allegations were front page news claiming that a Democrat war hero had acted dishonorably.  The allegations of John McCain screwing a lobbyist during his 2000 campaign, as reported by the New York Times lacks the specific evidence of say a semen stained blue dress but seems likely to lead to investigations into the possibility that America was screwed.  If McCain’s close personal relationship with lobbyist Vicky Iseman resulted in preferential treatment for her employer his campaign will be in trouble.  The story alleges that McCain wrote letters and pushed legislation involving television station ownership that would have benefited Iseman's employer.  This is old politics as usual.  McCain’s campaign has issued a statement saying, "Americans are sick and tired of this kind of gutter politics, and there is nothing in this story to suggest that John McCain has ever violated the principles that have guided his career."  I guess McCain’s campaign is suffering the early onset of Alzheimer’s because anyone who was alive during the savings and loan crisis of the early 70’s will remember his attempts to influence banking regulators on behalf of Charles Keating who was ultimately convicted of securities fraud. 

            “In late 1999, McCain twice wrote letters to the Federal Communications Commission on behalf of Florida-based Paxson Communications — which had paid Iseman as its lobbyist — urging quick consideration of a proposal to buy a television station license in Pittsburgh. At the time, Paxson's chief executive, Lowell W. "Bud" Paxson, also was a major contributor to McCain's 2000 presidential campaign.”  Yeah, that sounds to me like John McCain is beyond reproach.  It’s going to be fun to watch conservative backlash over all of this.  No defense is better than a good offense.  And nobody is better at attacking than the GOP.  Question is; will the hard line conservatives blame the liberal media for withholding this story until McCain secured the Republican nomination or will they blame Democrats for pushing the issue at a time when McCain is focusing on the general election. 

The story is no less newsworthy than the stories about the alleged and the proven affairs of Bill Clinton and it obviously has an infinite amount of more credibility than the Swift Boat allegations made against John Kerry.  But the McCain campaign is correct when they said, "Americans are sick and tired of this kind of gutter politics,”  It would be an outrage if there is no legitimate evidence of untoward influence by McCain that are directly tied to campaign contributions or his close personal relationship with Vicky Iseman.  But if that evidence does exist; the fact that it reflects poorly on McCain does not constitute dirty politics.  What goes around comes around.  You reap what you sow.  Live by the sword and die by the sword.  Pick your adage.  I’m betting McCain supporters won’t find much comfort in finally getting their due.  And I bet they still don't see what was wrong with Swift Boating John Kerry.

           
            When Clayton and I went to Minneapolis to audition for Last Comic Standing we had no idea the competition would place such a literal test before us.  To start our adventure Iowa and southern Minnesota were buried under a winter storm on Sunday that started with an inch of freezing rain and then six inches of fresh snow on top of that.  On Monday, our travel day, an arctic cold front and 40 mph wind gusts blasted through the area making road clean up impossible for state highway crews.  Clayton and I knew we were facing slow going when we found the interstate leading out of Cedar Rapids had been closed due to a huge accident which required us to take back roads twenty miles north of town before we were allowed access to the highway.  We started counting cars in the ditch and counted 157 cars, trucks, and semi-tractor trailers in various states of uprightedness “or not” along the way between our home and the Twin Cities.  Leaving home at noon and expecting to arrive at Acme Comedy Club, home of the competition, by 4:30 we didn’t arrive until 7:30 PM. 

            Once we arrived at the club we felt like true warriors who were willing to face adversity in the chase of our dreams which would no doubt propel us to fame and fortune.  The negative eight degrees had chased away less dedicated comics and when we arrived we discovered we were the eighteenth and nineteenth comics in line.  From all of the reconnaissance we had done before leaving the warmth of our home we expected to see a hundred or more comics ahead of us.  It took us maybe all of two minutes to lose all of the enthusiasm we had experienced as a result of being so high on the list when the cold Minnesota wind began to pierce our layers of winter clothing.  We lasted until about 10 PM and saw that there was no mad rush to join the line and we abandoned our tent for the luxurious warmth of the Normandy Inn & Suites in downtown Minneapolis. 

            We made our way back to the queue at 5:30 AM and were third in line.  Somehow the four hours of bitter cold inhibited our ability to give a crap and we ended up going in for our audition 45^th and 46^th.  Some people weren’t raised right I suppose and when it comes time for behaving civilly they can’t get past the idea that the world isn’t all about them.  I suppose in some distorted way it is a comfort to know that we didn’t see where one comic who braved the cold made it through to the finals of the show.  It wasn’t like people were jostling for position to the front of the line resulting in confrontations.  We were all having as much fun as we could and the only common enemy in line was the bitter cold. 

            We finally made our way into the club at about 10:30 and filled out all of the requisite paperwork and had posed for a Polaroid to be attached to our forms and were lead to staging area.  We were told to sit at a table in the group of six we had been admitted with until it was our time to appear before a producer who would determine if we had what it took to be worthy of an audition before the show’s judges.  When it came time for us to “do our thing” our group of six went to another table in the room and stood on one side while the producer stood across from us and asked us some bio information.  Then he told us to show us what we had and went around the table three times as we shot our best material in the hopes of making the cut. 

            At this point your mind starts to reel with ideas of what the body language of the producer meant, how the process would actually work and question if we were really as much better than the other four at our table as we thought we had been.  We were told we would get a call back between 1:00 and 2:00 if we made the cut.  More waiting.  But at least we were able to leave for lunch, “indoors” and we had the peace of mind that came with knowing our fate remained in the hands of our performance.  We made our way back to the club at 1:00 and snagged some seats as close to the action as possible.  All of the comics who milled about were clutching to their cell phones in anticipation of the coveted call.  The calls never came.  Well, Clayton received a couple.  I called his number just to watch his face when his phone rang in the tense moments of anticipation. 

            Finally at 2:00 we saw the producer walking past and I asked him if call backs were concluded.  And here is where the most positive aspect of our comedic aspirations of the trip occurred for Clayton and me.  The producer stopped and walked up to us and warmly told us that we had come close, we really had and that he was saving our contact information because he liked the father and son angle of our story.  He shook our hands and wished us luck and then was swarmed with other comedians who wanted to know if they had maybe missed their call.  The busy man was kind enough to ask them their names and went to check for them and returned to give them the bad news but it didn’t go unnoticed that he had known our fate without having to go check further for details. 

            Before leaving we were able to see into the room that the finalists were being staged and we saw no familiar faces from our hours outside in the cold.  The network had run two sets of auditions for the event.  One was for walk-on comedians such as us and the other was for invited comics who had been placed by agents and talent scouts.  I suppose we could be bitter that our presence and the presence of the other two hundred hopeful comedians who had braved the cold had only been there to provide footage that the contest was indeed a national search for all aspiring comedians.  And I don’t doubt that had someone from the ranks blown the producer away with a Robin Williams-esque performance that they may have made it through.  But for most of us it was a pipe dream from the beginning and we were grateful for the smallest of opportunities. 

            We still might make it onto the show, not as contestants, but as footage of the process for which we now feel was our destined role in the first place.  Clayton was set up to perform a bit of a skit from inside the tent with a friend of ours, Tim Sullivan.  And the camera crew actually sought Clayton and I out as they had heard there was a father son story in the line outdoors.  A camera crew came by and asked me if anybody had talked to us yet.  I was a little confused by his question and replied, “no, not really.” And he asked me if I was here with my son.  I quickly reached back into the line and yanked Clayton to mug before the camera before us and they interviewed us briefly.  The mind numbing cold really made it nearly impossible to improv but I was able to tell them that no matter what happened inside I was grateful for the opportunity to be here and do this with my son.  They seemed to like that and we hope that it will make appropriate footage for a network television show that appeals to families. 

            If nothing else, our tent made it on to the local television news that night in Minneapolis.  KARE Channel 11 came down and shot some footage after we had snuck away to our motel.  Would we do it again?  Yes.  Will we do it again?  No.  Unless by some crazy circumstance we were included in the invited comic class.  There seems to be a huge advantage to being recognized as worthy, invited to a scheduled audition and appearing rested and not toting five layers of hats, coats and gloves under your arm. 

            I took my second grader to see the Disney movie “Enchanted” last night.  We braved a fresh wet and heavy six inch snow fall that had been blown around by strong winds all day to get there.  Movies rank right up there as a favorite thing in my book.  Books rank up there too come to think of it.  Enchanted was true to Disney form in that it was all about loyalty, friendship, and heroism in the face of good challenged by evil. The movie was complete with staple Disney song and dance.  While nobody is going to claim this movie is the next Citizen Cain you can’t deny the feel good experience of a most Disney films.  I tried to deny the feel good experience but I couldn’t.  There is a scene in Central Park where, true to the musical genre, complete strangers broke out into a perfectly arranged and choreographed song and dance.  I wanted to roll my eyes and slide down in my seat but the Disney magic had overtaken me so I watched and enjoyed.  Glancing over at Carter and seeing his eyes all big and glued to the silver screen qualified as one of those priceless moments of the MasterCard commercial fame.  And hearing his delighted shrieks and giggles at the cheesy antics of a cute little CGI chipmunk did my old jaded heart some good as well.  If you can possibly find a kid to give you an excuse to go see Enchanted I’d tell ya to go ahead and do it.  Or if you don’t think that sounds like something you’d want to do there is always Netflix.  You could watch the movie in the anonymity of your own home.  Nobody has to know and you might just have a good time.

            So today Clayton and I are on our way to Minneapolis for our big “Last Comic Standing” auditions.  Reading the message boards on the network website gave us a huge reality check.  Making it on to the show would most likely be similar to winning the lottery.  But we aren’t going with expectations of instant fame and notoriety.  We have a shared passion for stand up comedy and the fact that I have the opportunity to do something like this with my son is greater than any opportunity I might find if everything went perfect with our auditions.  And that’s pretty much what being a Dad is about.  We will be back in town Wednesday and I’ll give you the play by play.  Happy Monday!

            If you are relatively new to the Red Hog Diary of if you haven’t been paying attention you might wonder why I am about to ask you to go vote for the Lesbian Blog of the Year!  Two years ago a great friend of mine and I began our blogs out of a mutual desire to make our voices heard.  Lori and I have been long time friends with a history that goes back to one of those friendships like Rob Reiner so brilliantly showed us in the movie “Stand By Me.”  Well okay, not exactly like Gordie, Chris, Teddy and Vern but the age demographic and friendship part fits pretty good for this story.  Lori’s blog is all about the personal challenges of being a single mother while dealing with the zany-ness of raising teen-agers, holding down a power job, finding romance, nurturing friendships and doing the right thing while the dogs are barking, dinner is burning and the phone is ringing.  And so much more.  Oh and Lori is gay. 

            The whole “gay thing” was put out at the end of all that because to know Lori and those of her friends who I have been fortunate enough to meet, the least prominent characteristic about them is that they are gay.  I don’t mean to diminish any aspect of what being gay means to Lori and her friends.  It obviously would be a huge part of their consciousness; of their essence.  What I mean is that their “gayness” doesn’t stand out any more predominantly than the conservatism or the liberalness or the Christianity or atheism or goofiness or seriousness or “straightness” of any other of my friends.  Funny how that works; how differences melt away when you get to know somebody.  What does underlie the personality of a gay person, not in a tangible or observable way, is that they lack the right to make life decisions of lifelong partners in time of health problems or in death.  They lack the protections afforded of man woman couples with regard to assets, health benefits and retirement packages.  And maybe most importantly they lack acceptance from a certain percentage of people who are intolerant of their lifestyle.

            I have no way of knowing if condemning glances or looks of disapproval are noticed when a gay couple makes the slightest display of affection when nobody would give a second thought if a hetero-sexual couple did the same.  I see those looks from time to time from intolerant people see a mixed race couple, or heavily tattooed or pierced couples enter establishments.  I can’t imagine you wouldn’t notice peoples reactions if they were ugly like that.  One thing I do know.  The people I know who are gay, when they talk about intolerance from others with regard to their inability to enter into a civil union or marriage; I never hear them wish for the same pain of living without the benefits associated to man and woman couples should be felt by their detractors.

            But none of that has to do much with why I am asking you to go vote for Lori’s HahnAtHome.com for Lesbian Blog of the year.  Lori is my friend and she went through an extensive prequalification voting period to be chosen as one of the top 5 lesbian bloggers on the net.  Go vote for her!  Go here to cast your vote and then go vote for her on any computer you can get your hands on while the voting window is open.  You can vote from now until March 3^rd.  Get after it Red Hog Readers!  Let’s help Lori win this thing!

            So President Bush claims that he is willing to risk the lives of Americans from terrorist attack to protect the commercial interests of the big telecoms that violated our privacy while the president snooped into the private lives of American citizens.  All of the original provisions of the FISA Act remained in tact after yesterdays deadline of the provision which greatly expanded presidential powers expired.  The House voted down a bill that would have guaranteed that the telecoms complicit with his spy program and more importantly the government employees who directed them immunity from prosecution.  Three cheers for the Democratic controlled House for finally standing up to the worn out fear mongering tactics of the lying president.  The little cowboy isn’t happy about this.  Not one bit.

            Tom Scholz, songwriter and founder of the 70’s iconic band Boston has written to Mike Huckabee to tell him to quit using the songs smash hit, “More Than a Feeling” on the campaign trail.  “"Boston has never endorsed a political candidate, and with all due respect, would not start by endorsing a candidate who is the polar opposite of most everything Boston stands for," wrote Scholz, adding that he is supporting Democratic Sen. Barack Obama. "By using my song, and my band's name Boston, you have taken something of mine and used it to promote ideas to which I am opposed. In other words, I think I've been ripped off, dude!"”

            John McCain was recently rebuked by John Mellencamp for using his song, “Our Country” at campaign stops.  Mellencamp is a devoted progressive who has made a career out of writing songs that are pro labor and have a liberal populist theme.  In “Our Country” Mellencamp sings “There’s room enough here for science to live, and there’s room enough here for religion to forgive.”  The lyrics are hardly the iconic to the conservative base.

Hillary Clinton has been using Tom Petty’s “American Girl” on the campaign trail.  I wonder if she ever listened to the whole song.  The lyrics, "God, it's so painful/ Something that's so close / And still so far out of reach." Might not really be the message she wants to project at this time.  Or maybe it is.

And to be fair it maybe was premature for Obama to use Stevie Wonders “Signed Sealed Delivered” after winning Iowa.  Or was it?

            People are losing their homes due to a stagnant economy, soldiers are dying in Iraq, energy costs are through the roof, there is a spy bill in Congress that jeopardizes your right to privacy in your home that needs major revisions, the country is in an uproar about health care and immigration and what did our Congress devote their attention to today?  The alleged drug abuse of a baseball player and the destruction of a video tape that may have been evidence that the New England Patriots are cheaters.  I give up!

This is from one of my favorite organizations on the planet:  The ACLU

The Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA), born after the Watergate scandal, establishes how the government can secretly eavesdrop on Americans in their own country in intelligence investigations. It was originally passed to allow the government to collect foreign intelligence information involving communications with "agents of foreign powers."

Today, however, the federal government is exploiting this once-narrow exception to make an end-run around the Constitution. The USA Patriot Act, passed by Congress in 2001 and re-authorized in 2006, expanded FISA to allow the government to obtain the personal records of ordinary Americans from libraries and Internet Service Providers, even when they have no connection to terrorism. Recent amendments in the Protect America Act now authorize the government to use FISA to get around the constitutional requirement that it show a judge that it has probable cause of involvement with a foreign country or terror group before it eavesdrops on a communication.

Although the Patriot Act was rushed into law just weeks after 9/11, a congressional investigation into the attacks did not find that FISA's limits on government surveillance contributed to the government's failure to prevent the attacks. Instead, the investigation pointed to fundamental organizational breakdowns in the intelligence community and the government's failure to make effective use of the surveillance powers already at its disposal. Despite overwhelming evidence that FISA did not need to be expanded, Congress moved to broaden the reach of the law and weakened its protection of Americans' freedom and privacy.

Even as the White House lobbied to expand the scope of FISA, we now know that President Bush disregarded the rule of law when he authorized the National Security Agency to spy on ordinary Americans' phone calls and e-mails without the warrant FISA requires. Shockingly, Congress voted to temporarily condone this abuse of power in August 2007 with legislation sanctioning this illegal operation. This legislation is only temporary and will expire on February 15.

Through legislative advocacy and litigation, the ACLU actively opposes efforts in Congress to further broaden the government's power to spy on innocent Americans who are not conspiring with foreign powers, and support proposals to increase judicial and congressional oversight of FISA surveillance and restore much-needed checks and balances. We hope that you will join us in that effort.

MYTH: We need warrants to wiretap foreigners abroad.

FACT: Current law allows foreign-to-foreign communications to be intercepted without a warrant. What this proposal is really about is the right to wiretap Americans - without a warrant - who are speaking with people overseas.

            There are new initiatives to continue to maintain net neutrality and keep big business from controlling which sites receive top priority on the internet.  Watch the movie and take action!

Obama sweeps again!  Obama won all three primaries again last night: Virginia and Maryland by a 67% - 34% margin and in the District of Columbia by a 75% - 24% margin.  MSNBC reported on a new poll that 80% of Democrats would be satisfied with an Obama candidacy where only 67% of Democrats would be satisfied with a Clinton candidacy.  Question is; if you are unsatisfied with your candidate to you look to John McCain when you enter the voting booth?  And now Hillary has to win 56% of the remaining delegates to win the nomination.  That’s a tall order for a campaign that has lost the last eight contests by nearly a two to one margin.  The reality is that Clinton could win Ohio, Texas and Pennsylvania but she needs to win them big to remain in the hunt for delegates to win the nomination.  The only thing inevitable about the Clinton campaign now is that it has a lot of work to do to end up the Democratic representative in the general election.

John McCain swept the nights primaries as well.  It is significant that the Democrats had a nearly a 10 to 1 higher voter turn out than the Republicans did.  It is doubtful that this voter turnout will be mirrored in the general election but it does speak volumes for conservative lack of enthusiasm for more Bush/McCain politics.  I hope that if any conservative voters are out there taking the position of sitting this election out, in the hopes that they will sit back and watch the Democrats mess things up so they can come back in four years and say I told you so, will be willing to be objective when the Democrats are successful in meeting the problems that face our nation today.  More importantly I hope that they will not take that attitude and will vigorously support their candidate.  Not only to maintain the integrity of the democratic process but who the heck would they run in 2012?  And why didn’t they put that hero up for this election?  They had to know that if ever there was a time to put forth their best candidate 2008 would have been the time. 

I’m in need of a bit of a reality check here in Red Hog heaven.  Work is good, the family is content, I love my church, Obama is starting to look very presidential and my comedic aspirations and opportunities are on fire.  I’m not naïve enough to think that all of that couldn’t change in the blink of an eye but I am thinking it is all attributable to some good old fashioned hard work and the grace of God.  So what does all that mean?  No time to slow down now is what that means.  Happy Hump Day Red Hog Readers!  Don’t forget your sweetheart.  Tomorrow is Valentines Day!

            Hillary claims that her campaign is not in trouble in spite of losing her lead in remaining states and losing to Obama in every contest held over the weekend.  The need to infuse her campaign with personal cash last week not withstanding and the firing of her campaign manager this week Clinton said, "I'm still ahead in the popular vote and in delegates," which isn’t true.  Let’s hope that is the last time Hillary misleads us as her campaign continues to lose steam in the final months of primaries. 

            A friend of mine told me yesterday that she is supporting Hillary because she believes Hillary is more in touch with single moms.  It took everything I could do to not remind her that Obama’s campaign is the one that is financed by people and Hillary’s is the one financed by special interest groups.  To not assume that every move that Hillary makes and every word that comes out of her mouth has that ultimate prize of presidency in mind might be a mistake.  Establishment candidates like Clinton and McCain have chased elections for so long that I don’t believe a word they say.  In support of my skepticism is their triangulating and position changing that is demonstrated every time their campaigns face a little adversity.  The fact that George Bush has come out pimping for McCain should be reason enough to consider him a bad option for your vote. 

            NPR had a program on the role of conservative talk radio today.  The discussion was the treatment of John McCain by the neo-cons and whether their disdain of McCain was bad for the conservative movement or if it was merely a reflection of their frustration with the choice they have been given.  In the end I don’t much care because it is rather apparent that the hard core base of the Republican Party has to sit this election out.  And they did it to themselves by being loyal first and foremost to party while ignoring the better interests of the nation as a whole.  When party loyalty trumps bi-partisan efforts to move the country forward a true picture of a distorted brand of patriotism results.  Ann Coulter is a freak and even CPAC has rejected her rantings about voting for Hillary over McCain as a protest vote.  But what I found disturbing about the sound clips played on the program were when Hannity and Limbaugh referred to Democrats as “the enemy.” 

            I don’t suppose anything Limbaugh or Hannity has to say impacts my life in any appreciable way.  They are what they are: entertainment, for some.  I don’t often listen to them just as I don’t listen to the extremists on Air America.  Most of America has moved beyond the rantings of fringe talking heads.  While listenership is still strong for conservative talk radio I think that says more about the disgruntled nature of the lives of their listeners than it does about any legitimacy of their message.  I mean really; you need to have some very dissatisfied aspects of your life to listen to hateful messages of the lunatic fringe.  And when it comes to conservative talk radio, had they directed their hatred to those who attacked America and been a little more tolerant of their fellow Americans maybe their message would resonate with a little more relevance than it does today.

            I must have done a decent enough job emceeing the big show at Penguins last Saturday night because I have been invited back to do the Valentines Day show with Headliner Pat Godwin.  What a hoot!  I think what I am liking so much about this stand up comedy stuff is that in my real life, at home and at work, nobody ever listens to me.  Hell, even my dog won’t listen to me.  When I get up on stage for one reason or another, maybe mostly because they paid and are looking for some value, I seem to get peoples attention.  So I’ve got that going for me.  Then next week, my birthday week, I have taken vacation.  Clayton and I will head to Minneapolis on Monday so we are in good shape to make the audition for NBC’s Last Comic Standing at Acme Comedy Club on N. First Street.  If we make the cut you will all be the first to know.  Then we return home for our big Big Brothers and Big Sisters benefit show at Penguins on February 21^st.  Wednesday February 27^th we will be at Penguins in the Quad Cities, Thursday February 28^th we will be back at Penguins in Cedar Rapids and then Sunday night, March 2^nd we will be helping to launch a new venue for open mic opportunities at Tornado’s Bar in Cedar Rapids.  Where ever you are please support live comedy!  We would love it if you could pop in and catch one of our shows over the next couple of weeks.

            In the days leading up to yesterday’s primary in Maine polls projected Hillary Clinton as the winner.  Guess what?  With the votes all tallied Obama won 15 delegates to Clinton’s 9.  It was a great weekend for Obama supporters with a clean sweep of all contests.  Barack Obama has won nearly twice as many states as Hillary Clinton. He won a Red State, Purple State, and Blue States this weekend – showing he has broad national appeal and can win in every corner of this country. Obama has now won 20 contests to Clinton’s 11; he’s won a larger share of the popular vote and the more voters get to know Obama and his message the better his campaign has done.  Obama “is the candidate best suited to win Independents, play well in Red States, and beat John McCain in November. As the nominee, Obama will also help down-ballot Democrats get elected to Congress across the country, especially in those Red States where Democrats haven’t fared well for decades. So Obama won’t just win an election, he’ll win a new majority for change, so we can finally solve the problems we’ve been talking about for decades.”  Obama website.

I received this letter from Congressman Wexler's office today:

Dear Chris,

Our Constitution is under threat and the most basic principle of checks and balances is being undermined. Not since Watergate has a president so openly disregarded the will of Congress.

During hearings in the Judiciary Committee yesterday, I told Attorney General Michael Mukasey that I called for impeachment hearings because of the stonewalling and blatant abuses of the Bush Administration. He responded by stating that he will NOT enforce a contempt of Congress citation against Harriet Miers and White House Chief of Staff Josh Bolten for refusing to testify before Congress. The video is here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B7M9sjRLCtQ

Alberto Gonzales may be long gone, but the Bush Administration continues its executive overreach with the new Attorney General.

We can debate the need for Impeachment hearings. We can argue its effects on the election or our agenda. But one thing is abundantly clear:

If Congress' right to require testimony is undermined, then our country's leaders - Democrat, Republican, or Independent - will be immune from accountability.

The power of the subpoena - to call officials before us - is one of the most fundamental safeguards in our system of government. To have it effectively discarded - by virtue of the President instructing Administration officials to ignore a congressional subpoenas and not even appear before Congress - is unprecedented. The idea that the Attorney General would willingly defend this position - despite Congress' constitutional right to call such witnesses, is outrageous.

Impeachment hearings could render this moot: The President, Vice President, and all officials under them would no longer invoke executive privilege. There would be no more smokescreens.

In one week, I will be delivering my letter calling for impeachment hearings to Chairman John Conyers. Already, 16 Members of Congress have joined my call, including 3 Judiciary Committee members. I am hopeful for more in the coming days, but it is important for you to reach out to your representative in Congress to express how you feel. You can view the current list of signers, here: http://www.wexlerforcongress.com/news.asp?ItemID=230

I do not know how Congress will react, but I do know this: I will pursue this course aggressively. I will not compromise away the constitutional role of Congress. Your support is invaluable. Please know that I am working everyday to ensure that the Bush Administration is held accountable.

Please continue to support this movement at www.wexlerwantshearings.com.

Yours truly,

Congressman Robert Wexler

Obama's winning margins ranged from substantial to crushing as he swept last nights primary’s and caucuses in three states and the US Virgin Islands.  It is hard to imagine a more devastating defeat of Clinton when you consider the diversity of the states involved.  Progressive Northwest Washington, deep South Louisiana and heartland Nebraska combined with the tropical paradise Virgin Islands to show no limits to the support the Obama campaign has garnered. 

Comments:
The new site looks good, Chris. I think you should go with it.
 
Congrats on Obama's wins.  I am fed up with Hitlary and McCon's pandering. Is honesty too much to ask for in a politician?
Brother Tim

Here is a video to remind you of how trustworthy the Bush Administration is.

            McCain and Clinton have changed their message to be the candidates of change after they saw how responsive Americans are to Obama.  The further we go into this election the more McCain and Clinton realize that it is an unwinnable position to offer politics as usual.  So Hillary and McCain have simply resorted to rebranding their campaigns while not changing anything about what they stand for.  Two things happened this week that should show all Americans how ingenious and unworthy of your vote Clinton and McCain really are. 

            The Clinton campaign, seeing all her name recognition advantage slipping through her fingers, has opted to label Obama as the “establishment” candidate and hold their candidacy as the change candidate.  A chief strategist of the Clinton campaign said Obama is the campaign of big endorsements and money.  They described the Obama campaign as if broad based public support and the acknowledgement of sound policy by influential leaders is a bad thing.  And I suppose it is if you had hoped that the public and influential leaders would have rallied behind your message of politics as usual.  This latest strategy by the Clinton campaign comes off as playground desperation where a bully is convicted of being obnoxious and resorts to, “no I’m not, you are!” 

            The McCain campaign made a trip to the Conservative Political Action Committee (CPAC) to shore up support among the wing-nut arm of the Conservative movement.  That McCain would even pander to the most fervent of the radical right suggests how out of touch with America McCain really is.  Support for McCain that has seen him rise above and eventually cast to the wayside more conservative candidates is largely because America has rejected the ubber-conservative policies of Bush/Rove politics.  The methodology and platform of base GOP politics have been rejected out of hand by more than 70 percent of Americans and McCain has met with them to see how he can reposition himself to garner their support.  If McCain wants to abandon his more moderate stance on issues important to America he will do so at the cost of broad support by people ready for change. 

            The only candidate who has continued with a consistent message is Barrack Obama.  And the more people who hear his bold and unchanging positions the more support he gathers.  Our choice is fairly clear here for who will be the best and most sincere candidate to lead us into the troubling times that face this nation.  You can help put Obama over the top by sending a gift of support here.

            Since my post yesterday about Obama supports taking it upon themselves to nullify Hillary’s personal contribution of $5,000,000 to her campaign Obama supporters have contributed over $7,000,000 to his campaign.  So far in 2008 nearly 325,000 individuals have made contributions.  The campaign has set a goal for a half a million donations by March 4^th.  You can help!  Go here.  When asked if f the personal infusion of $5 million of personal money and her staff salary deferrals for the month of March were a sign of financial difficulties she replied, “No, not at all.”  LOL!  In the mean time the Clinton campaign has said they will scour their big donor lists to see if they can solicit additional funds from rich party insiders.

            I can’t believe that I actually stood up for Mitt Romney in yesterday’s post.  Here I went on the record and said he deserved to be treated a more fairly in the press and then he went and cut and run his bid for president.  I think the press should start being a lot more fair to John McCain, Mike Huckabee and Ron Paul!  Okay, now let’s just sit back and wait for it.  With any luck at all McCain and Huckabee, the Bush clones, will resign today!  I found it unforgivable that Mr. Romney tried to add some nobility to the business decision he made that he was unwilling to invest more of his personal fortune in his attempt to buy the presidency. I guess $60 million just doesn’t go as far as it used to these days.  And I found it a great relief that America spoke and said that they will not stand for someone to win the presidency simply because he could afford it. 

            In Romney’s surrender speech he said, “And Barack and Hillary have made their intentions clear regarding Iraq and the war on terror. They would retreat and declare defeat. And the consequence of that would be devastating. It would mean attacks on America, launched from safe havens that make Afghanistan under the Taliban look like child's play. About this, I have no doubt.”  Oh really Mr. Romney?  It’s no wonder we won’t trust you to lead our nation.  Romney believes, has no doubt what-so-ever, that if a Democrat wins the White House that Obama or Clinton would declare defeat and America will be attacked from safe havens.  Does Mitt know how to read a newspaper, a policy paper, or a speech transcript?  You know I would have a lot more respect for any conservative who would outline a different course of action in the war on terror that showed the application of some critical thinking.  To accept the status quo and hide behind the politics of fear is cowardly.

            Neither Clinton nor Obama have said they would unequivocally withdrawal our troops from the mess we have made in Iraq without ensuring that the Iraqi government could maintain a certain level of control of their country.  A focus on diplomacy, Iraqi accountability and the inclusion of neighboring countries in the stability of Iraq would become the priority under both Democratic candidates Iraq plans.  You would think that the conservatives could take a similar stand on Iraq.  You would hope that a conservative would be willing to do everything possible to bring stability in Iraq instead of supporting “stay the course” and warning us that if we don’t like it we will all die at the hands of terrorists.  Romney’s quote of “I simply cannot let my campaign, be a part of aiding a surrender to terror.” could prove to be the ultimate knife in the back of rational Americans.  If Romney had stood up and offered those of us who have grown weary of Bush’s war in Iraq something more concrete than sound bites he may not be on a flight back to Utah today.  Good-bye Mitt and good riddance.