Who Let HillDawg Out?

I realize that Barack Obama is a personable man, an educated and gifted orator, and one of the few dedicated AND so-far-honest pols America has produced. Yes, we should get down and kiss the boots he pulled up himself with by their well-worn bootstraps.

But I gotta give a shout out to the HillDawg’s press secretary/speechwriters for the punchlines she was delivering during the last debate. “This pantsuit is asbestos” and the very best “They aren’t attacking me because I’m a woman, they’re attacking me because I’m ahead”. I think Bill wrote that one.

I didn’t get to see it of course, because I don’t have cable. IMHO, there’s something very wrong about restricting the electoral process to those who can afford the monthly bill from your choice of craptastic cable giants. It would be different if there were a “good” company, but all I have noticed is that perhaps one of them sucks slightly less than gravity. But I digress.

I know, I know, I’ve heard it all. She’s too corporate, she’s a liar, we don’t need a dynasty (she’s the son of which hereditary king, again?), she’s more of the same.

You know what? I remember what “the same” was when her hubby was in power. “The same” meant raising taxes to….pay our bills! What a thought! Fiscal conservatism from a Democrat, and frankly the only fiscal conservatism we’ve had for the last 16 years.

Let’s dust off Ronald Reagan’s (anybody remember him?) famous question, “Are you better off than you were ten years ago?” Did you cringe? Think HARD about that.

Rather than whining and playing the feminazi card, she got down in the mud with her pink Tonka truck and moved some dirt. Her timing was impeccable, her delivery was on the mark, and the applause, cheers and laughter were well deserved.

She is standing under the door marked DNC Leader over which is poised a tipping bucket of D-challenger mud; there are several slings hanging from the door handle. I like a good fight as well as the next person, but shouldn’t we be honing the messages that will differentiate the parties from each other? I just see the “kill her with fire” approach as being ultimately unuseful and yet another example of how internecine division tends to equal conquering by the other side.

By all means, differentiate yourselves by policy, by wonkery, by shoe color if you have to (oops, that will give women an edge, won’t it?) but differentiating yourselves by how loudly you can scream at the front-runner seems self-defeating. After all, the only reason to engage in such behavior is to BECOME the front-runner, right? If the only way you can “win” is to be a bigger asshole than the next three guys, well, you know what that will ensure us as an electorate? That we elect the person capable of the most assholery.

I don’t think that’s a direction in which we want to go any further. In fact, it’s how we got Luke Dumbwaiter and Darth Cheney.

I think it’s time for a change, don’t you?