Stupid is as Stupid Does

The video of Miss South Carolina/Teen America Lauren Caitlin Upton has been blasted over the web for the past several days.

I read somewhere that she has been seen by an astounding twenty million-plus people world-wide ---more people than who watched the actual Miss Teen America pageant itself.

A Republican elected official in Hunterdon County criticized me in an email for pointing out that Ms. Upton’s representative in Congress is a Republican. "What difference does that make?” he wrote. “Your always trying to prove that Republicans are stupid and Democrats are smart.”

I needn’t point out the irony of his spelling “you’re”, ‘Y-O-U-R’.
Indeed, a point well made.

However, I do think our presidents, by and large, are smarter than theirs.

We have Jimmy Carter (winner of the Nobel Peace prize and a guy who studied nuclear physics in his youth) and Bill Clinton (a guy who won a Rhodes Scholarship to attend Oxford and who attended Yale Law School). They have Ronald Reagan ("Trees cause more pollution than automobiles do,") and George W. Bush (too many to list here!).

You decide.

However, here is the real question:
Is President Bush smarter than a Miss Teen South Carolina? Again, you decide:



And finally, Ms. Upton quizzes YOU on geography, too.


Think you're so smart?

Maybe she cannot find the U.S.A. on a map of the world, but obviously her Press Agent was able to find a great connection at People Magazine.

Age before beauty

“Three out of five New Jersey voters are concerned about Sen. Frank Lautenberg's age and think it's about time for someone else to take his job, a new Rutgers-Eagleton poll released yesterday shows. It is the second poll this summer in which the incumbent's age emerged as a major issue with voters. Lautenberg (D-N.J.) would be 84 at the start of a new term.” (Donohue, Star-Ledger)

In the Senate race, 60% of the voters are concerned about Senator Lautenberg’s age [83]. Of course, he is more experienced, accomplished and energetic than people half his age. But the ‘age’ issue will weigh heavy in the election. For those on the Republican side of the aisle, who consider this an issue, here is your political doyen, Ronald Reagen on the issue of ‘age’:

In other news: Although the calendar reads 2007, 2008 is floating closer and closer in the minds of all New Jersey politicos, with 2009 not too far in the rear-view mirror.

The presidential races are in full swing and it is a two-horse race everywhere between Hillary and Obama, with John Edwards shouting “But what about me?” somewhere in the distance.

Me, I lean toward Bill Richardson, the candidate with the most experience in the race:
Clinton Administration Cabinet member. UN Ambassador. Governor. Congressman.

He does not have the best bank account or the best hair or was he the funniest on The Tonight Show. But he is the person I would like to see in charge on January 20th, 2009.

Heckuva job, Bloomie!

With Mr. 28% at lower than a 28% approval rating in New Jersey, Republican voters are leaving their party by the score. And this is especially true in the Big Apple, where Repubs are now taking smaller bites.

Across the river and through the tunnel, Mayor Michael Bloomberg has announced that he, too, is leaving the party of Lincoln, Teddy Roosevelt and Reagan to become an ‘independent’. Hell, if Lincoln and Teddy were around today, I am sure that would say good-bye to the GOP, too. If Reagan were around, I am not sure he would ever really know what was going on anyway.

Now, an argument can be made that Bloomberg was a lifelong Democrat, and never embraced the neo-con values of today's Repubs, anyway. However, he did stand shoulder to shoulder with Bush and other Republicans while in office and embraced their support and as well as their good will.

And that makes him the beneficiary of the Repubs in my book.
I guess when you have a couple of billion dollars, you can play fast and loose with your core values.

What does this mean for New Jersey? That Republican days are numbered here and they may very well become 'the third party' they were back in 1856.

Repub core values will be in the back of voters’ minds on Election Day, not helping Repubs in close races. While no doubt property taxes, auto insurance, sprawl, school funding, open space, etc. --- will always be the issues at the heart of every New Jersey voter ----Repub stands on national issues that reflect the core values of the Bush/Cheney regime in DC will be in the back of voters’ minds at the polls in November.

Voters will be lots smarter this year: The Repubs' stand on such issues as abortion, marriage equality, the war in Iraq, torture, spying on Americans, the suspension of habeas corpus, Alberto Gonzalez… [The list is endless!] will help the Democrats pick up seats in the NJ State Legislature.

This is at a time when the Party in power usually loses seats, during the mid-term election.

Two races to watch closely:

Senator Ellen Karcher vs. Assemblywoman Jen Beck in the 12th and Senator Tom Kean, Jr vs. Gina Genovese in the 21st. Both races will be very expensive and provide opportunities for the Democrats to solidify even more strength in the Senate.

Prediction:

Karcher, in a close race, will retain her seat.

Right now, an even money coin toss for Jr. He’s probably focusing too much on his Minority Senate Leadership race against Senator Leonard Lance, and not enough on his race in the 21st. I have met Gina and she is a contender.