walmart for president!

I, Erin, hereby swear to stop watching news conferences of G.W.B. It is completely unnecessary for me to watch that lying son of bitch smirk into the camera, lie to the American people, and attempt to remain credible internationally because I can very easily read the transcript online later in the day. It's not good for my mental health. It's not good for my blood pressure. And it is not good for my cat who ends up huddled in a corner cringing whilst I throw whatever is within reach at the tv. I watched him tell the American people that we have the mastermind of 9-11 in our custody. Really? Huh. Funny, I think I would remember you putting on a big God Bless America Show if we caught bin Laden. I watched him point to Afghanistan pre-"liberation" under the Taliban rule as an example of why securing Iraq is so important. George, I'm not sure if you just haven't been paying attention to your briefings or if there's no one around to read them to you anymore but things aren't really going so well in Afghanistan right now. Here's one of my favorite quotes:

"We must not fall prey to the sophisticated propaganda by the enemy, who is trying to undermine our confidence and make us believe that our presence in Iraq is the cause of all its problems."

George? Our presence in Iraq is the cause of all its problems. That's reality. The majority of the violence that exists in Iraq is sectarian. These are not terrorists. These are warring religious groups who spent the last 24 years being tamed by a dictator. When we invaded Iraq without a clear understanding of the culture of that country we unleashed this disaster. When we removed the "evil" dictator we opened up a conflict that has been brewing for centuries. A military solution to this problem is not going to work. Nor will attempting to unify the Shias and Sunnis with a "government." You.cannot.impose.democracy. And that is why no matter how many benchmarks and timelines and adjustments in strategy you make, this occupation will ultimately fail.

I know I'm not the only one, but man oh man have I got me some serious election fatigue. I cannot wait until this is finished. It's one of the downfalls of getting psyched about midterms so early in the game. And living in a state where one of the candidates for governor starts campaigning in April. Of course I care about the outcome, but I'm starting to feel a little more removed from it all. The Dems should take back the House. The Senate is going to be little tougher as we're looking at traditionally Republican states Missouri, Tennessee, and Virginia where we have to win 2 of the 3 to have a chance. What might save the Dems is the Republicans choice to use their formerly tried and true strategy of leaning on Christian conservatives for the votes. Though people aren't giving the Foley scandal the weight some thought they might (and rightly so, I say, though the hypocrisy still makes me crazy), Christian conservatives have been fucked over so many times by this administration they might go elsewhere. Or nowhere at all.

Yeah, I'm so clearly over the midterms!

David Brooks, one of my all time favorite conservatives, wrote a nice little piece for the NYT about Barak Obama and why he should run for president. It's worth a read. Though it's been discussed that mayhaps the young Obama is actually more interested in the #2 spot. How's about an Edwards/Obama ticket to give you a nice political hard-on?

I cannot believe Zumaya threw to 3rd last night. I can't believe it. It was Carpenter's night. Fine. Tonight we've got Bonderman.

One game. We just need one game away.