I’ve been a loyal viewer of MSNBC and Meet The Press for a few years now and I have always said that Tim Russert is the man. As much as that saying is a cliché and dates me back to my coming of age in the 90’s; it is a very true statement about Tim Russert.
Tim was a one man institution, a pillar in the US political system and if you ask anyone that knew him an extraordinary human being.
I am deeply saddened by this and have been glued to MSNBC to watch all the coverage of his life.
Rest in Peace – Tim Russert
I know a lot of people are speculating about whether or not Barack should pick Hillary as his VP candidate. There are good arguments for both sides so I thought I would voice my opinion about this matter.
I really feel that it is inevitable that they come together and make up the powerhouse ticket. They both know that this election is far too important and the Dems need to do everything possible to beat McCain in November.
This primary has been so close and has divided supporters sharply by demographic groups. Barack is very strong within a few pockets of supporters particularly black, young and college educated voters. Hillary is very strong with the white working class voters. All of those demographic groups are needed for the Dems to take the White House and that is the objective.
It just makes sense and I really do not think either of them would allow personal feelings to come in the way of taking back the White House and in turn changing the country.
So my girlfriend has a six year old son named Eli who seems to always have to poop every time we go anywhere. Restaurants, stores or wherever, he has to poop and guess who always has to go with him, me.
The experience of waiting in a bathroom for him to go (and he takes like 20 mins) has been stranger and stranger. Guys come in and out and I just stand there like I am waiting for Senator Larry Craig to tap his feet and hum. I try to make sure that Eli talks to me so it is not like I am just hanging out in the bathroom but he likes to concentrate on his pooping.
The last time this happened I got to thinking about how I do everything possible to not have to poop when I am in public. I really think most guys do this because there is just something about your own toilet. I tried to teach Eli a life lesson about timing it right so you do not have to go in public but he was not buying it. When he has to go, he has to go.
Tonight during the CNN debate when Hillary was trying to say that Barack has been plagiarizing speeches (which is complete bullshit) she said if you look at " the YouTube" of these videos it does raise questions.
I love when old people put the in front of anything technology related; "the internets", "the MySpace". It is so funny and Hillary really dated herself with that comment.
I spent a few hours yesterday (and that was a quick visit) in the new IKEA store here in Orlando. I have been there 4 times since it opened in November and each time it gets more and more painful. If anyone is not familiar with the store think of a cross between Disney World and a furniture store. It is pure insanity, people everywhere and long lines of miserable men trying to digest Swedish meatballs.
During my journey through this cheap furniture amusement park I could not help but to think about their business model. The general idea is they sell low quality furniture that looks good and is stylish. Thing is they are able to sell stuff so cheap because they require the customers to do a lot of their own work. They don't have a lot of staff to help while you are shopping and you have to write down what you want and get it out of the warehouse yourself.
I am not opposed to this process because it helps drive the price down and that is a good thing. I actually think it is a great idea and obviously works because they have 231 stores in 24 countries and did over 29 billion dollars in revenue in fiscal year 07.
My point is the process works, I just hate shopping and that is an extreme overload for me.
I have been thinking a lot about what issues will take paramount during the general election. I think Barack and Hillary will have different approaches to where they push the debate. If Barack wins the nomination he will stick to his standard change message especially being that at the time of the election he will be 47 years old and McCain will be 72. Hillary will most likely push healthcare and the economy but what direction does John McCain take? His strongest area is foreign policy so naturally that is where he will push the debate. There is no way he wants anything to do with discussions about the economy.
So when he pushes his foreign policy experience it will bring the war in Iraq to the forefront. He will stress the fact that he supported the troop surge and his opponent did not. He will say that the surge has been successful but his opponent wants to pull troops out as soon as possible and that will basically mean we lost the war. I really don’t think he understands the fact that the majority of Americans want us out of Iraq as soon as possible and understand that there is no victory there. What does it mean that the surge is working? What does that mean other than the fact that we have more troops away from their families and in harm’s way!? I just don’t think he gets it and that will be a fatal mistake on his part.
So Willard Mitt Romney is set to endorse GOP front-runner (nominee) John McCain. All I have to say is who cares. Everyone knows these guys hate each other and the only reason Romney is doing this is to stay in the news and set himself up for a 2012 run. I hate when politicians go against what they supposedly believe in to take sides with other politicians. It's like McCain endorsing Bush in 2000 and 04 after Bush's campaign orchestrated one of the worst smear campaigns ever against McCain in 2000. Did McCain not remember "Would you be more likely or less likely to vote for John McCain for president if you knew he had fathered an illegitimate black child?".
My point is these people have no morals and backbone. They go against what they believe and support someone just to advance themselves.
Either way it does not matter McCain is the nominee.
