If the Obama 2012 Campaign turns out to be honest, we'll see more of this . . .

I've got a pool table Albert, you're welcome in my basement anytime.

Onion SportsDome

Obama loses his base

Link to story here.

Equal time for the Carnahans

Chuckles from 24th State .

Happy Birthday Barack and Robin!

Did you know today was Barack Obama's birthday?  And Robin Carnahan's?  Both are 49 years old today.

With only the best of intentions (and not to not-so-subtly highlight that Obama and Carnahan are two peas in the same pod), the Missouri Republican Party delivered a birthday cake to Robin Carnahan's Clayton office today.  (As reported by Jake Wagman at stltoday.com - link here.)

Separated at birth?

With apologies to lawyers everywhere . . .

I'm going to adapt my favorite old lawyer joke.  Here's the old version:

How can you tell if a lawyer is lying to you?  Look to see if his lips are moving.

Here's the 2010 version:

How can you tell if the president of the United States is lying to you?  Look to see if his lips are moving.

Link to the latest whopper here.

iPad

Random thoughts on the State of the Union

To any of you who want my exhaustive opinion of the State of the Union address delivered earlier this evening by Barack Obama, I am sorry.  I can't oblige.  I can't stomach the soaring oratory - soaring over the truth that is.

I did tune in long enough (during a commercial break from Friends re-run on TBS) to see Obama blaming George W. Bush for all our woes, even though the deficit more than tripled in the first year of Obama's presidency.  But, of course, we should all know, sayeth the president, things would be so much worse if he (and the Congress - with its big Democrat majorities) hadn't spent all our money.

Now, after the speech, I'm seeing the headlines that Obama declared, "I don't quit."  My first reaction . . . darn, that's too bad.  My second reaction . . . even if he did, would Joe Biden be any better.  I can't imagine he'd be worse.  But better?  My third reaction . . . it is amazing that the thought of quitting the presidency could appear in a man's first State of the Union address.  I don't think things have worked out quite like Barry thought they would.

But, by far, the most noteworthy thing from my, admittedly limited, viewing of tonight's speech was Joe Biden's persistent practice of nodding in agreement after nearly every sentence uttered.  I swear I saw the man nod his head in the background more times than I saw him blink!  I hope he didn't get a concussion.

Democrats nominate tax delinquent with bad grammar for General Assembly

Talibdin El-Amin, a Democrat, plead guilty in September to federal bribery charges and resigned his seat in the Missouri House of Representatives.  (Link to prior post here.)

Wouldn't you think that the Democrat power-brokers in the City of St. Louis who met yesterday to pick a replacement candidate would choose somebody without baggage?

Instead, they nominated Hope Whitehead, who had to rush to City Hall on Friday "to pay hundreds of dollars in outstanding taxes."  (Link to Jake Wagman's story in the Post-Dispatch here.)  Apparently, she was delinquent in paying her personal $1,155 in property taxes and only paid because tax delinquents are not eligible for election ballots in Missouri.

Whitehead acknowledged that since she'll be in the public eye she needs to do a better of paying her taxes.  She's quoted as saying "I've got to do that different now."  First of all, note that she's only going to bother paying her taxes when they're due because she's "got to" and, second, instead of doing it "different," shouldn't she be doing it "differently?"

My kingdom for a grammarian.

Oprah . . . Sarah. Sarah . . . Oprah.

Sarah Palin will be on the Oprah Winfrey show November 16, 2009.  (Link to story here.)

(David Letterman link here.)

"Medical" Marijuana Supporters ready to thank Obama for his support

(Link to related story here.)

Clearly . . .

Fun piece by Ben Feller of the Associate Press (link here) analyzing the public speech patterns of Barack Obama.  Feller found that Obama falls back on the phrase "let me be clear:" time and time again.

This reminded me of a college professor of mine who enjoyed using the word "clearly" in lectures far too often.  The word itself became a running joke.

Clearly, using the word "clearly" or the phrase "let me be clear" adds nothing to the statement that follows.  That statement is either clear or it is not.  And the self-proclaimed announcement of clarity is, of course, nothing but a naked attempt to add some gravitas to one's speech.  Nobody in the audience wants to doubt what is proclaimed to be clear.

It surprises me that the AP has run a story poking some fun at Obama.  Either Ben Feller is trying to make the president look more human, or he's joined the crowd jumping off the Obama bandwagon.

Come on off everybody, the weather is fine down here where our feet are planted on the ground.

Was Muammar Qaddafi's speech to the United Nations yesterday the longest since . . .

somebody took the microphone away from Bill Clinton?

Obama honors NASCAR

"While President Obama is meeting with some of NASCAR's greatest drivers, he may come to find out that the only think he has in common with NASCAR Nation is a shared love for steering hard to the left."       

-Ken Spain, National Republican Congressional Committee

A bumper sticker recently observed in St. Louis County:

Is Claire McCaskill becoming Jean Carnahan?

Does anybody else think that Claire McCaskill is looking more and more like Jean Carnahan lately?

Maybe the Missouri GOP should line up Jim Talent to run against McCaskill in 2012.  It would be like deja vu all over again.

What's the key to happiness? Apparently being me.

According to this piece from Robert Roy Britt, "happiness is being old, male and Republican."

Folks, of course, don't have much control over their age or their gender but political affiliation is voluntary.  That's the piece most interesting to me.  Why are Republican's happier than Democrats?  Even these days when our party has virtually no power in American politics?

Casual readers may, at first, answer that Republicans are "the rich" so, of course, they are happier because they have more money.  Not so.  The survey behind Britt's piece adjusted for income and found that poor Republicans are happier than poor Democrats; rich Republicans are happier than rich Democrats; and everything in between.

So, what gives?

I think religion might be a factor.  I think that Christians are more likely to be happy than non-Christians for obvious reasons like hope of eternal salvation, etc.  (Reasons obvious enough to Christians anyway.)

I also think that Republicans are more likely to be self-reliant.  Republicans aren't typically looking to others - like government - to provide them with anything, happiness included.

Any other theories out there?  Why are Republicans happier than Democrats?

Now that's a stimulus plan

Pfizer announced today that it will provide free Viagra to men who lose their jobs and health insurance.  (Link to story here.)

The itsy-bitsy spider went up the water spout. . .

A children's classic, performed here by Missouri Governor Matt Blunt.