Hail to the Blowhard Doofus and Other News from the Electoral Front

A new high was set in reasoned political discourse yesterday when former Bush political strategist Karl Rove referred to Democratic Vice-Presidential candidate Joe Biden as a "big blowhard doofus." Senator Biden, for his part, referred to Mr Rove as "a great American." For what it's worth, I thought that one of the qualifications to be a serving Member of Congress was to be a blowhard doofus, but a quick review of the Constitution (Article 1, Sections 2 and 3) reveals this not to be the case.

Senator McCain has surprised everyone by selecting the relatively unknown Governor Sarah Palin of Alaska as his running mate. As you might suspect, given the typically American high-minded approach to electing our leaders, people are very interested in learning more about Governor Palin. According to this Time Magazine article, the top internet search terms about the governor were:

1. Sarah Palin
2. Vogue Magazine
3. Photos
4. Beauty Pageant
5. Bio
6. Biography
7. Pictures
8. Scandal
9. Alaska Governor
10. Hot

And yes, the article contains a headshot of the glamorous Ms Palin from 1984.

The population of Alaska has gone up by approximately 15% as a result of the influx of two groups of new residents: news teams searching for more skeletons in Governor Palin's closet, and Republican operatives positioning themselves to spin anything that turns up. If the glaciers were in trouble before, this new blast of hot air will be their death knell.

As we get ready for the inevitable round of Presidential and Vice-Presidential "debates" (I put the term in quotes for the obvious reason that they aren't really debates in the classical sense), a little history may be of interest. The September issue of Smithsonian Magazine has a wonderful article on the greatest series of debates in American history: those between Abraham Lincoln and Stephen Douglas in 1858. It's a great warts-and-all look at a pivotal moment of our history.

In case you were wondering, at this juncture, I'm still supporting Nobody:

After all, if we're going to elect an empty suit, we may as well elect a real empty suit.

And that's all for today.

Have a good day. More thoughts tomorrow.

Bilbo