Let's Talk Politics.

Back when the earliest Americans were trying to figure out how to keep the infantile US together and shape it's government during it's most formative of years, there were two parties. They were the Federalists and the Republicans. Republicans, like Thomas Jefferson, were for more power at the state and local level. The Federalists wanted a powerful, centralized government. Some thought the Federalist idea of the power of the Executive Branch was too much like that of the English monarchy that the Revolution was fought to free us from. President bush jr. is set to give the (modern day) Federalist Society's keynote address this year. The strong central government movement has certainly gained a lot during the failure-in-chief's tenure, especially when it comes to the power of the Executive. With his refusals to answer for his actions or his statements under oath, his signing statements on laws that he reserves the right to deem below him, and his unilateral war without a Congressional Declaration of War are just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to how this little prince has taken the president's power to new levels. I wonder if his minions will have a problem with this power when a Democrat is sitting in the Oval Office.

Speaking of a Democratic president, the Iowa primary is less than 50 days away, and the Democratic field (at least the top of it) is "deadlocked". And at this point in the discussion it seems as though the gloves have finally come off, both when it comes to hitting the reds and hitting the Democratic front runner, Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton. My favorite line so far has to be Senator Biden's shot at rudy, saying "there's only three things he mentions in a sentence, a noun, a verb, and 9/11" Though Congressman Kucinich's answer to tim russert's question on the important issue of UFOs was pretty good too. In redville, the desperation and splintering has become even more apparent, with pat "9/11 was the gay abortionists of America's fault" robertson endorsing rudy "there Must be public funding of abortion" guiliani. To be fair, that's not an exact quote from robertson. What front runner robertson probably didn't expect was the "right to life" endorsement of fred "hollywood knows best" thompson (alternative nicknames for Thompson: that old guy or the savings and loan lobbyist). The former "laziest Senator in the room" is running as reagan. Problem is he's more like old bewildered reagan, than young, republican party leading, governor of California gipper.

It's starting to get interesting. As most of you already know, I'm an Obama man (see left column). Best case scenario for me, and in my opinion the Country, would be an Obama/Biden ticket. That being said, all of the Candidates for the Democratic nomination to be a Candidate for the President of the United States have their red counterparts beat on everything, except maybe fear. Though a Hillary Clinton versus Ron Paul contest in 2008 might see me vote for my first red. His social views are the opposite of mine, but his policy making and government philosophies may make that fact irrelevant. And wouldn't it be better to elect the monkey wrench to the machine than another cog? It is Country before party, isn't it?

Who knows? Maybe bushco. is watching coup d'etat general/"coalition" ally musharaff's "state of emergency" in Pakistan delaying elections, silencing dissent and jailing opposition. I can almost hear cheney asking bush to ask his new "it depends on what your definition of torture is" attorney general "how can we make this legal enough to do here?" Ah the march to freedom and democracy...