"PARDON" MY THOUGHT

The reason that alleged $50 billion Ponzi schemer Bernard Madoff should be in jail instead of under house arrest can be summed up in two words: MARC RICH.

CAROLINE IN D.City

The abject questioning by New York Democrats concerning Caroline Kennedy's credentials to serve as junior senator in their state lies in any number of areas ranging from laughable to pathetic. It is laughable because Caroline Kennedy probably garnered more experience about navigating through the politics of Washington, DC sitting around the dinner table at the Kennedy compound in Hyannisport than most other DC politicians in their first terms - or perhaps their entire life. It is pathetic because many of her detractors were Hillary for President supporters who also supported the carpet-bagging Mrs. Clinton's 2000 Senate run, the totality of her political experience amounting to "talking with her husband about everything."

And somewhere between laughable and pathetic is the hypocrisy of the New York Democrats who, in the past, were encouraging Caroline's brother, the late John F. Kennedy Jr., to run for the Senate, sans previous political experience. Also, somewhere between laughable and pathetic is the audacity of those politically elected Democrats feeling slighted because they feel their service to New York does not deserve to be overlooked for consideration although they were willing to cede that very position to accomodate the aforementioned Mrs. Clinton who became a New Yorker via an opportunistic endeavor - whereas Caroline Kennedy became a New Yorker as the result of a national tragedy, and stayed. And while raising her daughters, Mrs. Kennedy has quietly and without fanfare spent considerable parts of her adult life aiding the State of New York and advancing American ideals.

Those elected officials who berate her possible ascension to the US Senate would be wise to reflect on how we often arrive at these dilemmas. The former Lt. Governor of New York will make the gubernatorial decision because his predecessor resigned under allegations of illegality. A New York Congressman/DC committee chairman is shrouded in billowing clouds of ethical misconduct, and the Illinois Lt. Governor may eventually choose the successor to the senate seat vacated by the 2008 President-elect after the arrest of the sitting Illinois Governor. And on the subject of Illinois, it would behoove us to remember that Caroline Kennedy would have merely been the unassuming daughter of a Massachusetts senator had not Chicago Mayor Richard Daley strategically placed voting booths throughout Illinois cemeteries in 1960.

It is no accident that many voters in America are screaming "term limits" a lot louder than they are crying for "elected experience." Voters are growing tired of having elected experience declare criminality, dishonesty and ethically challenged behavior paraded before them as merely 'inappropriate.'

Caroline Kennedy and her years long commitment to New York would provide a fresh, clean and honest perspective as the US Senator from New York. And we can be sure that it would be decades before she becomes as corrupt and unethical as Ted Stevens, Charles Rangel, William Jefferson, Spiro Agnew, Rod Blagojevich, (insert corrupt official's name here).....

KEEP ON PLUMBING

Unable to utter the words "middle class" throughout an entire presidential debate, GOP presidential hopeful, Sen. John McCain, managed to regurgitate the words 'Joe the Plumber' almost two dozen times in the final debate. In his long, harried and haphazard campaign without a theme, or coherent message, Joe the Plumber became John McCain's standard-bearer.

In an economy wherein retirement investments have withered away, high and low income jobs have gone kaput, foreclosure has become the latest four letter word, and usurious credit card companies are on the verge of driving a stake through the middle class heart, John McCain chose a man looking to purchase a $250,000 company to deliver his message. Having flushed that message down the toilet, it is doubtful that the American voters will be calling Joe the Plumber to unclog the drain. And having finally achieved the sought after title of GOP presidential nominee, the real John McCain finally showed up on the evening of Nov. 4th - to deliver a concession speech.

Media proclaimed "maverick," John McCain, became a weekly walking contradiction seemingly unsure of what constituency he needed to speak to. And being totally unsure of his Republican/Conservative base, his VP choice was made, not with the careful consideration, insight and unquestionable qualities of competence and readiness, but by throwing a wobbly, 80 yard Hail Mary pass to Wasilla, Alaska. The extremely likable and drop-dead charming Gov. Sarah Palin did indeed shore up McCain's base. However, the moderates and independents that were always a solid, unwavering contingent of the Arizona Senator's support abandoned him in droves after much maligned CBS News anchor, but reliably solid interviewer, Katie Couric, asked what periodicals the governor read and Mrs. Palin was loath to mention whatever newspaper most Wasilla residents read with their morning toast and coffee. Add to that, a simple question about Supreme Court cases, other than Roe v. Wade, and it is difficult to imagine a presidential ready conservative not mentioning the Miranda decision. But then, maybe the governor's cable service does not get three different versions of LAW & ORDER, CSI, or reruns of HILL STREET BLUES. Subsequently, Senator McCain's message, whatever it happened to be at the time, was repeatedly muddled by having to answer questions about his VP choice. Even with his VP's gaffe of the week firmly on display, Sen. Obama never had to answer questions concerning Joe Biden's competence and readiness. And by labelling her inability to answer the simplest questions as "gotcha journalism," Sarah Palin exposed a public distrust in her ability.

The irony of McCain's choices to appeal to the more conservative wings of the Republican Party is that they had soundly and repeatedly vilified him all throughout the primaries as though he was a moose in Sarah Palin's crosshairs.

Sadly, when asked about Osama bin Laden by a late night TV host, Sen. McCain displayed a false bravado in declaring, "I will get him, my friends." But if there is one example that proves Sen. Obama's campaign theme that Washington does not work to benefit what is important to the American people it is the very threat of Al Qaeda and it's waves of international terrorism. During the Clinton administration, the Senate Intelligence Committee, on which McCain sits, should have been intimately involved in White House meetings with the CIA regarding Al Qaeda. Also, the Armed Services Committee, on which Sen. McCain also sits, should have been heavily involved with the White House and the Defense Department on how best to exterminate the terrorist threat when the opportunity became available. Instead, we saw the irresponsible decimation of the military at a period when American interests were repeatedly under deadly attack, and we saw the endless stroking of Bill Clinton's ego after eulogizing the Americans returned in flag-draped coffins. If true to his word, President Obama, will gather these factions and compel a sensible and responsible strategy.

As the sun sets on Election Day 2008, and America prepares for a most historic transition, one can't help but imagine the ghost of the late Timothy J. Russert hovering over one specific domicile in Chappaqua, New York. After months of insisting to neutral and Democratic Party fence-sitters that "Obama can't win," presidential candidate Hillary Clinton was confronted by Russert on national TV on whether she really believed Obama could not win - she responded, "Yes, he can!"

TERRORISTS AND TAILHOOK

Since Sen. John McCain and his supporters have seen fit to inject the Rev. Jeremiah Wright and William Ayers into the presidential campaign to engage in guilt by association, by all means, let's engage. Sen. McCain was a career US naval officer. Therefore, it stands to reason that Sen. McCain was privy to the degrading, abusive and humiliating treatment accorded women during the naval officer's annual Tailhook "Conventions."

Why didn't McCain ever report this behavior - or did he find it perfectly acceptable? Having indulged in an extramarital liaison, did McCain ever take part in those Tailhook activities? What relationship(s), if any, did McCain have with the officers involved in wrongdoing when the abuses of Tailhook came to light?

We need to know the full extent of John McCain's knowledge about the US Navy officer's annual Tailhook "Conventions," what he knows, when he knew it and why he never tried to stop it.

MOURNING JOE

It didn't take long, post IMUS IN THE MORNING on MSNBC, for former Republican Congressman Joe Scarborough to become infected with the Democrat leaning bias that permeates that cable news network. In a post convention opine this past week, Morning Joe cited a Gloria Steinem column wherein he absurdly claims that Steinem "was right" in declaring that a woman with Barack Obama's resume could not have gotten the presidential nomination.

Exactly what is it about her resume that placed Hillary Rodham Clinton above Sen. Obama and all of the other Democrat's presidential candidates? While citing his brief tenure in the US Senate, Obama opponents and Clinton supporters, ignore the fact that he has been a public official longer than she has. Much of Mrs. Clinton's experience was spent during her husband's political career working in private industry, some with and some without much legitimate success. The very successful heir to Fortune Magazine, Steve Forbes, was not politically aided by his "experience" in the private sector. And while Clinton advocates are quick to acknowledge her years working with the Children's Defense Fund, they are also quick to be dismissive of Mr. Obama's years working as a community organizer. Apparently sexism is an unacknowledged two-way street.

In their zeal to promote Sen. Clinton as something that she is not, Mr. Steinborough and the widow Steinem are conveniently forgetting that a host of women with paper thin resumes, or none at all, launched themselves into political careers as a result of the Clarence Thomas hearings. New York Representative Carolyn McCarthy came to that congressional title after the brutal murder of her husband and maiming of her son on the Long Island Railroad. And, lest we forget, Gloria Steinem wrote an op-ed piece virtually excusing Bill Clinton for the forcible fondling and invasive tonguing alleged by the widowed Kathleen Willey because Clinton stopped when she told him to. That was not her position when the suspect was Sen. Bob Packwood. And cries of sexism were non-existent when Senate Democrats refused to allow victimized women to testify against Bill Clinton during his impeachment.

At some point Mr. Scarborough should realize that faux feminist, Gloria Steinem, is merely the wolfette who cries sexism based primarily on ideology.

HERE'S WHAT I THINK - Volume -#7

Senator Barack Obama's "problem" with white working class and white female voters is a media created phenomenon courtesy of guilt by association. By the time Obama ran off the last of his 11 consecutive primary victories, specifically the so-called Potomac primaries, he had bested Sen. Clinton in virtually every category of white voters where she was alleged to be stronger. Enter Rev. Wright! Suddenly the words of someone else are falsely attributed to Senator Obama's "true nature" even though none of the Senator's past rhetoric points to any such expressions made by Rev. Wright.


A brief scan through the crowds of the multi-thousand person rallies and post primary speeches of Sen. Obama reveals vast amounts of diverse white voters and supporters. They can't all be prominent, high earning, Ivy League "elitists."

HERE'S WHAT I THINK - Volume #6

The media are astounded at how the vaunted "Clinton political machine" failed to secure the Democratic nomination for the 2008 presidential election. As they attempt to try to comprehend the poor organization, the financial extravagance and the repeated bouts of foot-in-mouth disease, they fail to extrapolate that the "machine" they have heralded was vastly overrated.

The Clintons got to the White House in 1992 on only 43% of the vote of barely 1/2 of the eligible electorate. Apparently the media punditry thinks a lot more of the Clinton's political ability than the public does. That Mrs. Clinton failed to reduce her 47-50% negatives over the course of her 18 month campaign is evidence of that.