From outside the box

The primaries have begun. Now we get to look forward to 10 months of politics dominating every newscast, every minute, on every possible news outlet. Yippie! I already miss my Brittany Spears scandals. I'm sure it will get a lot worse in early February as the traveling primary show makes a quick stop in California. I can't wait for the commercials.

I watched the debates of both parties Sunday night. Everybody is saying wonderful things but nobody is giving any specifics. Indeed , the devil is in the details. I would love to hear these folks just get a little real. When the republicans say the democrats are going to raise taxes, they always leave out one little fact....the democrats have all said that the only taxes that will be raised are the ones on the rich and the corporations that George Bush lowered. But it's a great sound bite. And when the democrats talk about health care for everyone, I would like to hear how they are going to do this. I have said before and I honestly believe that we can never have national health care in America because we spend too much money on the military....30% of our budget! I'm not making a judgement about that, it's just a fact, and nobody, not even Michael Moore in his movie "Sicko", addresses that fact. Canada and Cuba can have health care for everybody because they do not spend that much on their military. It's all about priorities and we made ours a long time ago. And the democrats who are for having health care via insurance companies, paid for by employers, have never operated a small business. Non of these ideas are going to work. Keep it real.

Speaking of the tax cuts that were given to the rich and the corporations, why shouldn't they be rescinded? They were given at a time when the economy was working. Why did we need to mess with that? And they were given when we were going to go into war, which is unheard of in history. Now we are facing a possible recession. Are the tax cuts at least partially to blame? Did the tax cuts really work when we had to barrow trillions to cover our expenses over the last seven years? Keep it real.

The one thing I honestly hope that neither side does this election year is to swift boat anybody on any issue. That's when you just make something up and say it enough to at least create a little doubt, knowing that what you are saying is based on....nothing! Will Obama be made to appear that he may or may not be a Muslim? Will Hillary be made to look week because she got choked up and almost cried yesterday? Will Edwards be made to look greedy because he made millions by suing large companies? I hope not....just keep it real.

There is something else I've noticed that makes no sense. All of the candidates will talk about how smart the average American voter is. They will tell you that the people understand the issues, that they "get it". Then they turn around and use stupid negative campaign adds, adds that are riddled with personality attacks and spin because polls show that they work. If negative campaigning works, then the people are idiots. You can't have it both ways. Personally, I think a good portion of the people are idiots....keep it real.

All of the candidates are talking about change, like change is a new concept in elections. As far back as I can remember, change is what every election is about....always has been, always will be. If we didn't need change, we wouldn't be having elections. Now Hillary and Obama shouldn't even have to use the word "change". Their very existence is about change. What would be more changing than a black man or a woman as president? Personally, I like John Edwards. But I don't think he has a chance in hell. It just seems like the Obama machinery is in motion and it is going to roll over everything and everybody. My 14 year old son, who has a very dry sense of humor, maintains that somehow George Bush is going to win the election. I tell him that's impossible, but then I have to stop and think about it. Truth is, if Carl Rove was still around, somehow he probably would win!