Back to School

As Governor Sarah Palin moves full throttle in to being VP candidate Sarah Palin, there is still one thing we are waiting for her to do:

Be interviewed on any of the network news shows. It is one thing to thrill the hometown crowds, it is another to be drilled by the news people at the networks. This is where I will miss Tim Russert the most.

She holds her child, Trig, in her arms at rallies and the Republican-spin meisters and radio right-wing talking heads chatter on about how her family life should be private. Her daughter is pregnant at 17, but Palin opposes real sex education in schools, preferring 'abstinence only' education. Now she opposes 'earmarks' or pork barrel spending, but when she was mayor, she spent millions on lobbyists for 'earmarks' for her town of Wasilla.

These are minor points. The real questions will come on whether she can name the current president of Geoegia [Mikheil Saakashvili]; knows what the trade deficit is with China [117, 462,900,000 dollars in deficit trade imbalance as of June of this year]; or know what has been spent, for example, by the state of New Jersey on the Iraq War [$25,229,435,556, as of this writing].

And these questions will come not from the fellow Republican fans at the Convention, but from Charles Gibson, George Stephanopoulos or Katie Couric et al.

I am sure that all this week, the Governor is being grilled by the best tutors that the Republicans have to offer on a wide range of international issues. Thus far, her answers to questions about international issues have had little smore ubstance than the standard beauty contest refrain of "I want world peace."

Oh, boy how I will miss Tim Russert grilling the candidates on Sunday morning this campaign season.

Tribute to Tim Russert

Eight years ago, I was up in New Hampshire for about a week volunteering for the Bill Bradley for President campaign. Working some media for the campaign, I found myself at a local TV station, where I ran in to an old political comedian friend of mine, Will Durst.

Will invited me to attend a big bash being hosted by the fine folks of Comedy Central being held at the Hilton Hotel in downtown Manchester. There, I ran in to many Democratic politicos I knew from around the country, as well as fellow comedian Jon Stewart [who had recently graduated from the comedy club circuit, and inherited The Daily Show]. This was a room filled with about a thousand people, eating, drinking and schmoozing.

In pretty much the center of this noisy hectic room, I happen to come together at the same time with Jon Stewart, Congressman Jerry Nadler of the 8th district in New York, and Tim Russert.
The meeting was brief, but serendipitous. I was introduced to Mr. Russert by Jon Stewart, and it was then I found out he had gone to law school. I was impressed.

Flash forward to 2006, where for my birthday my brother, Paul, buys me a copy of Mr. Russert's book, "Wisdom of Our Fathers". We had lost our own dad two years earlier, and I very much enjoyed the gift. I read the book from cover to cover, laughing sometimes, crying other times. It was a good read.

I will miss Mr. Russert's intelligence and well placed questions each and every Sunday morning on "Meet The Press". It just won't seem like a real presidential political season without him.

My condolences to the Russert family, and especially to his son, Luke.

Space: The Final Frontier for Kucinich

Ever wonder how many electoral votes the folks on Vulcan or a Klingon Starship might award a presidential candidate? We might have to start wondering.

During the Democratic presidential debate in Philadelphia, moderator Tim Russert asked Dennis Kucinich to shed some light on the recent claim that he had a close encounter with a UFO.

Seems that according to Shirley MacLaine in her new book, "Sage-Ing While Age-Ing", Kucinich has claimed to have seen a UFO.

Kucinich "had a close sighting over my home in Graham, Washington, when I lived there," MacLaine, wrote. "Dennis found his encounter extremely moving. The smell of roses drew him out to my balcony where, when he looked up, he saw a gigantic triangular craft, silent, and observing him.” Kucinich and MacLaine have been close friends.

So is Congressman Kucinich making a pitch for a new constituency in his run for the presidency? Americans who believe in UFOs may be a new voting block for the candidate to consider.

He should seriously increase his standing in the Presidential race considering that right now an astounding 34% of Americans believe in UFOs. Getting all those folks to support him should put him closer to the top of the heap. Considering that Chimpy McFlightsuit’s approval rating is hovering lower than a UFO making passes over Roswell, New Mexico, 34% is not bad for Dennis.

Now, according to polls conducted by the American Research Group, Inc. Kucinich has remained at a steady 1% since last March. The latest poll was conducted October 9-12, 2007. The theoretical margin of error for each sample is plus or minus 4 percentage points, 95% of the time. So, theoretically, at least Rep. Kucinich could be as high as 5% or as low as -3%. Candidate ‘less than Zero’.

So, the 34% plus his own committed troops of 1% could place him as high as 35%.

That constituency may not make Kucinich boldly go where no man has gone before. But, it would place him below Hillary Clinton [45%], but above Obama at 20%.