Suburban Mom's Political Fix: Dave Barry's Laugh Out-Loud Year in Review

I know that year-in-reviews seem so five days ago, but you simply must check out humor columnist Dave Barry's 2008 retrospective. I stumbled upon it while reading the Sunday Boston Globe yesterday and couldn't stop laughing.

For example, while writing about the events in January, Barry said:

"The Iowa caucuses produce two surprises:

On the Republican side, the winner is Mike Huckabee, folksy former governor of Arkansas, or possibly Oklahoma, who vows to remain in the race until he gets a commentator gig with Fox. His win deals a severe blow to Mitt Romney and his bid to become the first president of the android persuasion. Not competing in Iowa are Rudy Giuliani, whose strategy is to stay out of the race until he is mathematically eliminated, and John McCain, who entered the caucus date incorrectly into his 1996 Palm Pilot.

On the Democratic side, the surprise winner is Barack Obama, who is running for president on a long and impressive record of running for president. A mesmerizing speaker, Obama electrifies voters with his exciting new ideas for change, although people have trouble remembering exactly what these ideas are because they are so darned mesmerized. Some people become so excited that they actually pass out. These are members of the press corps.

Obama's victory comes at the expense of former front-runner Hillary Clinton, who fails to ignite voter passion despite a rip-snorter of a stump speech in which she recites, without notes, all 17 points of her plan to streamline tuition-loan appliances."

Man, I miss Dave Barry's weekly columns. They provided me with at least one guaranteed laugh per week.

Happy New Year's: JibJab Takes on 2008

The animators at JibJab -- who first made national names for themselves with their satire of the 2004 presidential election -- have released their take on 2008's news events.

Earlier this year, they created a sharp video spoofing the presidential election and I've been a huge JibJab fan for years. But the 2008 wrap-up just didn't do it for me this time around, maybe it was the different style. Wish they'd done more with Sarah Palin and mentioned Joe the Plumber, Tina Fey, Joe the Gaffe Machine and other pop culture nuggets from 2008 besides Miley Cyrus in Vanity Fair and Daniel Radcliffe nude on stage.

The video (link here) is NOT work-safe and is inappropriate for the kiddos.

NYT's 2008 Buzzwords

When 2008 is but a mere memory, what buzzwords will it have yielded that actually last? The New York Times ran a lengthy piece this past weekend offering a list of 38 buzzwords and phrases the authors say were made popular this year, including many politically-oriented terms, given that we just experienced a historic presidential election season.

Among the political terms:

-- Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin spawned three on the list: Caribou Barbie, "hockey mom" and "lipstick on a pig." "Maverick" was also on the list, but mostly because John McCain used it liberally about himself and then applied it to Palin.

-- Barack Obama was credited with spawning a whole host of derivations of his name -- both positive and negative -- ranging from "Obamanation" to "Obamacize and "Obamafy." His playful gesture with his wife Michelle was called a potential "terrorist fist jab" by a Fox News Channel anchor, not in jest.

-- "Joe" was there for a multitude of reasons, from Joe the Plumber, to "Joe Six-Pack" and "Amtrak Joe" (as in Joe Biden who took Amtrak to and from work).

Apolitical buzzwords included:

-- "Phelpsian" as in something having to do with Olympic gold be-dazzled swimmer Michael Phelps, or his insanely calorie-ific diet of a bazillion calories.

-- "Sister Wife," first heard by many on HBO's Big Love, but mentioned on this list because of the news stories spawned by this year's raid on a Texas polygamous compound.

-- Any form of the word Twitter (tweet, Twittering), of which I'd never heard until this year, unless it had to do with a bird.

Any words or phrases you think should've been on their list but wasn't? I'd toss into the mix: "Bailout" (self-explanatory), "Sisterhood of the Traveling Pantsuits" (Hillary Clinton's nickname for her followers) and "bleep" in honor of the embattled Illinois governor, Rod Blagojevich.

Image credit: New York Times.

Confirmed: I'm a Shep Smith Fan

Fox News Channel's Shep Smith, who hosts The Fox Report, first gained my respect for his coverage of Hurricane Katrina when he witnessed, first-hand, the failure of the government's response on every level (local, state, federal) and called them all on it. Didn't play politics or file a "this person said this" and "this person said that" kind of report.

I cheered when he tried to hold Joe the Plumber accountable for an odious statement made during the presidential campaign.

I became even more enamored of the anchorman after reading this new Esquire piece, where he was provided the beginning of several sentences and asked to complete them.

For example, when given the words, "I didn't decide," Smith told Esquire:

"I didn't decide Joe the Plumber was going to go out on a tour for John McCain. They decided it. And once they made that decision, then it is my belief as a journalist that he deserves, now, more scrutiny. And one of my senior writers came over to where I sit and said, 'Joe the Plumber just agreed with a guy that a vote for Barack Obama is a vote for the death of Israel.' Okay, he needs to be asked why believes this. Well, he came on and he said it was up to our viewers to find out why it was that he would say such a thing. When a man representing the GOP says what he said and doesn't know why he said it, or, if he does, won't let us know, and then tells our audience to go troll the Internet for reasons he might think that, I don't think it's the job of a journalist to further that line of thinking."

My favorite answer? The one he offered following the words, "The way." "The way we elect a president is -- it's like nothing in the world, it's spectacular," Smith said. "But I hate the hate. I can't take it."

Sure, his news show may be, at times, dizzyingly jam-packed with flying graphics, a pounding bass and a recitation of news at such a fast clip that you might've thought that Smith just downed a case of Red Bull. But at least you get the feeling that he's trying to be fair and politely calling people out when it's necessary.

Suburban Mom's Political Fix: Joe the Plumber Feels Hosed, All I Want for Christmas is a Senate Seat

Report: Joe the Plumber Feels Hosed by Presidential Campaign

The famous plumber who has a book (!) coming out this month, told a radio talk show host that after campaigning with Arizona Senator John McCain he felt "appalled" by some things he heard from the senator and that being on the campaign trail left him feeling "dirty." Say it ain't so Joe!

According to Glenn Beck's radio show's web site, here's what Joe the Plumber (the star of a pivotal presidential debate even though he wasn't on stage or running for office) said:

"When I was on the bus with [McCain], I asked him a lot of questions about the bailout because most Americans did not want that to happen. Yet he voted for it . . . And I asked him some pretty direct questions. Some of the answers you guys are gonna receive; they appalled me, absolutely. I was angry. In fact, I wanted to get off the bus after I talked to him."

He added: "I honestly felt even more dirty after I had been on the campaign trail and seen some things that take place. It was scary, man."

But Joe maintained that the prospect of a McCain administration scared him less than an Obama administration.

All I Want for Christmas is a Senate Seat

Just in time for Christmas, Senate seats seem to be cropping up on a lot of Christmas wish lists.

In New York, there's strong lobbying going on to promote Caroline Kennedy -- the last living legacy of Camelot -- to fill incoming Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's post. Some folks are saying she's untested in the public arena and shouldn't ride in on the Kennedy name alone, as if she were entitled to the spot just because she wants it. Others point to her quiet grace, intellect and electability as a plus. As for me, I think that the Kennedy men have long profited from the Kennedy name, and if folks were willing to give those guys a pass regardless of their qualifications, the classiest of all the Kennedys should get a shot too. (PunditMom has an interesting take on the prospect of another Kennedy senator.)

Then, I'm not sure if you've heard, but there's a little dust-up going on over in the state of Illinois regarding the filling of President-Elect Barack Obama's Senate seat . . . something about the governor trying to sell it to the highest bidder, that is, when the gov wasn't extorting local news organizations.

When someone writes a definitive history of American politics, 2008, it will sound like something that emerged from Hollywood on the likes of The West Wing. The things that have happened this year are utterly unbelievable.

Suburban Mom's Political Fix: McCain/Obama Meeting, Obamas Charm '60 Minutes'

We're accustomed to hearing politicians promise that they'll be uniters, not dividers.

President-Elect Barack Obama made a similar vow during his presidential campaign, saying he'll reach across the partisan divide and welcome people of different beliefs into his administration because he doesn't want our nation to be divided into red states and blue states, but as simply be seen as united states.

So, as we read about potential Obama administration appointments (many of whom are from the Clinton administration -- Hello Senator Clinton! -- which isn't exactly reaching across the partisan aisle), Obama made at least one stride in a bipartisan direction by meeting with the man whom he defeated for the post of commander in chief less than two weeks ago. Arizona Senator John McCain gamely went to Chicago today and met with Obama. Hopefully both men will find a way to work together to solve serious problems and not just make photo ops.



Meanwhile, the 60 Minutes interview with Barack and Michelle Obama is creating some buzz today. I heard one radio talk show host complain that Michelle Obama was rudely interrupting Barack Obama too much. I watched it and don't agree at all. (See video below, or at this link.) When I watched them talk about the changes in their lives, their family and what Michelle will be doing as First Lady, I found their rapport to be charming. They are a real, post-Mad About You modern couple, complete with gentle teasing and not taking one another deadly seriously. Most couples I know who've been married as long as they have -- including The Spouse and I --often kid around with spouses like the Obamas did.


Watch CBS Videos Online

The First Couple-in-Waiting also fielded questions about the new puppy they promised their daughters, as well as the prospect of Michelle Obama's mother, Marian Robinson, moving into the White House with them. (Link to the video is here.)


Watch CBS Videos Online

Suburban Mom's Political Fix: Palin Denies Being Clothes Hog, Diva

Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin shot back at the unnamed McCain campaign staffers who've been painting an unflatteringly horrific portrait of her in leaked stories to the media, by telling Matt Lauer that she never saw $150,000 worth of clothes, didn't set foot in Neiman Marcus or Saks, that she and McCain are on friendly terms and that she's no diva.

Lauer's Today Show interview is being aired in two parts. Tomorrow's installment promises to look at the personal costs of the campaign and include Palin's response to the media coverage her family received.

Below is the portion of the interview where Palin talked about the election results, her relationship with McCain and the infamous clothing issue. (Link is here.)



Here's a video of the portion of the interview Lauer conducted in the Palin kitchen, as Sarah Palin prepared food and Todd Palin held baby Trig. This clip includes Lauer asking 7-year-old Piper what she thought of the campaign. (Link is here.)

Suburban Mom's Political Fix: Savaging Sarah

All this jumpin' ugly on Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin is unseemly and in seriously poor taste.

On Tuesday night, after the networks declared that Illinois Senator Barack Obama had won the presidency, Arizona Senator John McCain gave an eloquent, patriotic speech in which he reached out to Obama and said he'd do what he could to help the new president-elect. Class, all the way.

Twenty-four hours later, cowardly unnamed McCain staffers started dumping all manner of gossipy, trashy stories about Palin, calling Palin and her husband Todd "Wasilla hillbillies" and blaming her for the downfall of the McCain campaign.

Whatever one might think of Palin, one thing's clear: This whole thing is the campaign's fault. Palin didn't lobby the McCain people for the vice presidential post, as far as has been reported. The McCain campaign came to her. If you were the governor of Alaska of whom precious few people had ever heard and your party's presidential nominee offers to elevate you to a household name by putting you on a national ticket, who's going to turn that down?

When I read the stories from these anonymous sources saying that she didn't understand African geography, I thought, "Why did you pick someone you didn't know in the 11th hour without thorough vetting? Why didn't you use all the time you had in early spring after winning the GOP nomination -- while Obama was still battling Hillary Clinton -- to research and interview potential VPs? Why didn't you go with someone who's known on the national scene? Why didn't your campaign prep her?"

When you reach into Alaska and select someone who's an expert in Alaska politics as a vice presidential running mate and know she's not conversant about foreign policy and the ways of Washington, and you don't give her enough time to learn what she needs to know, what the heck do you expect?

All of this vicious backbiting is simply a diversion. A red herring. And really uncool.

Suburban Mom's Political Fix: A New Day

Phew! Anyone else feel as though you've been through a marathon? Two years of watching every debate in both parties, of reading online and in newspapers and magazines about the campaign, of watching YouTube videos, of following every detail of the race can take a lot out of a person. And I wasn't even a candidate, the spouse of a candidate, working for the campaign or covering it as an embedded reporter. Those folks must feel as though they've been run over by a truck right about now.

At 11 p.m. last night, after the networks officially called the entire presidential election for Illinois Senator Barack Obama, I ran upstairs and woke up my kids to tell them the news. They weren't completely awake though and didn't remember that I'd woken them up when I spoke with them this morning. However after learning of the results, along with the fact that 10-year-old Malia Obama and 7-year-old Sasha Obama were promised a puppy by their dad, I saw that puppy-gleam in their eyes too. (Sorry kids, you're not getting a puppy. Your parents didn't just complete a presidential campaign.)

Kudos are due to Arizona Senator John McCain, who was eloquent and gracious in making his concession speech. I felt badly for him while watching him, a former POW, tearing up as he acknowledged the historic nature of Obama's win. He's an honorable man who was saddled with a bad campaign that made bad choices. Had he won and a woman ascended to the vice presidency for the first time in our nation's history, I would like to think that people would've been moved to see a woman succeed.

And Obama's acceptance speech, in my humble opinion, will be one children will later read about in history books.

Suburban Mom's Political Fix: Notes from Election Day

Voting: I took the kids with me to vote in our small town in the western suburbs of Boston this morning at around 10. (There's no school today.)

We saw no lines as we entered the school gym and were greeted by a sweet Girl Scout. We waited patiently as she explained in a whisper-soft voice, where we needed to go first -- to check in by our street address. With my ballot in hand, the kids jockeyed for a good position in which to get a look at it as we crammed ourselves into the polling booth. They couldn't believe how many people were running for president. They thought it was just John McCain and Barack Obama.

"The Green-Rainbow Party?" my daughter asked incredulously.

"Yep," I said, as I read aloud all the different presidential/vice presidential candidates and their corresponding parties and the children shook their heads.

They were a bit dismayed when I wouldn't let them fill in the bubbles with the black pen provided -- there was no chance I was going to risk them filling in the wrong circle and ruin my opportunity to vote in this election -- but I did let them help me feed the paper ballot into the machine when we were done. The dullness of putting a ballot into a machine made me miss the time I voted in my first election in my hometown where they have actual levers to pull and a curtain that would dramatically open and record my choices when I was done. It's anti-climatic to fill in a bubble with a pen.

MSNBC All Day: I've had MSNBC on TV all day. I'm a sucker for their "Election Center" in Rockefeller Center and am a big crazy fan of the crew from Morning Joe.

Random Observations:

I thought Barack and Michelle Obama took a really long time filling out their ballots in Chicago. They must have a huge number of Illinois ballot questions or many contested races. (Massachusetts had three ballot questions.) Their 10-year-old daughter Malia, in her hoodie, looked thoroughly bored and yawned several times.

The first thing that came to my mind when I saw Sarah and Todd Palin leave the polls in Wasilla? Shamefully, it was that, as I looked at the vice presidential candidate, I wondered if she'd already given all the expensive campaign-funded duds away to charity.

Calling the Winner Early: I was disturbed by a piece I saw in today's New York Times about when the broadcast and cable news networks will project a winner tonight. I'm a big believer -- even in the age of the Internet, Twitter and Facebook -- of officially holding back on projecting a winner in the presidential race when people are still in the process of voting.

If a candidate concedes, then that person is affecting the voter turnout in places where the votes haven't yet been cast and it's not the media's doing.

But if a candidate hasn't yet conceded, the decent, patriotic thing to do is to wait until polls have closed before calling a state's results. If the networks call the entire election before the folks on the west coast have finished voting, that move would essentially tell people who haven't yet voted that their votes are irrelevant.

The viewers can wait. A little while anyway.

Suburban Mom's Political Fix: 'West Wing' Similarities, Political Fashion and Joe the Plumber as Joe the Crooner

Election Uncannily Similar to 'West Wing'

My gal pal Gayle and I both adored The West Wing, particularly its rejuvenated final season which focused on the fictional presidential campaign between Jimmy Smits, as an eloquent, young Democratic congressman with two young children, and Alan Alda, an older, bipartisan-esque Republican with an independent streak. During our conversations throughout the past year, we've often been thunderstruck at how that final season contained so many similarities with the real life campaign unfolding this year.

The New York Times has also noticed those similarities and has a piece today comparing the show with the current campaign:

"Certainly some of the parallels are coincidental. It is unlikely, for example, that the writers knew Mr. [Barack] Obama had an affection for Bob Dylan when they made [Smits' character] a Dylan fan. But it is the unintentional similarities that make the DVDs of the sixth and seventh seasons . . . so rewarding to watch now. In both The West Wing and in real life, for example, the Phillies played in the World Series during the election campaign."

Political Fashion . . . Continued

Today's Boston Globe has a top 10 list of political fashion moments from this never-ending presidential election including the flap over flag lapel pins, Hillary Clinton's pantsuits, who'll inherit the mantle of Jackie O's iconic fashion status and the post-Democratic primary season beard sported by New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson. (Doesn't it seem like he ran for president a lifetime ago?)

Joe the Plumber . . . to Become Joe the Crooner?

I kid you not.

Joe the Plumber, otherwise known as Samuel J. Wurzelbacher, has an agent and plans to become a "show business personality," might record some country music, according to today's NYT.

What the hell am I doing wrong?

Image credit: Mitchell Haddad/NBC via NYT.

Suburban Mom's Political Fix: More on Palin Clothes, EW on TV Presidents and Funny Video

I blogged in this space last week about how I didn't think it was fair play to attack GOP VP nominee Sarah Palin for the $150,000 of designer clothing that the Republican National Committee purchased on her behalf. In this week's Pop Culture and Politics column at Mommy Track'd I expounded on the issue saying that women politicians are in a no-win situation when it comes to how they're viewed fashion-wise, as the scrutiny they face about their appearance is much harsher than that of the male pols.


Meanwhile, in this week's Entertainment Weekly, the writers did what they do best: View the presidential election through the lens of TV. EW's Kate Ward examined TV presidents by how old or young they were (youngest, Patty Duke, 38, from Hail to the Chief; oldest, Martin Sheen, 59, from The West Wing). She also looked at the fictional presidents' screen time. Sheen logged the most time on TV with 154 hours of portraying President Jed Bartlet, and Duke had the least with only 210 minutes.

And with the election less than a week away, my gal pal Gayle e-mailed me a video, which she personalized for me, that looks like a cable news network segment which blamed me for failing to vote for Obama, thereby sealing a McCain victory. As I watched the video, I couldn't stop thinking about how shrewd a move it was for whichever Obama supporter created it, because it's spreading so virally. I also received it from a colleague of my husband's. (Link to the video here.) Will it prompt anyone to vote? Who knows? But it's very savvy.

Suburban Mom's Political Fix: Of Polls and Pricey Duds

About these polls -- most of which have Barack Obama ahead of John McCain -- I have this to say: Remember New Hampshire. Obama was supposed to crush Hillary Clinton, according to opinion polls. Only Clinton won. Also, it's important to note that by the mid-afternoon during the 2004 presidential election, web sites were reporting that exit polls indicated that John Kerry was going to beat George W. Bush.

No one knows what's really going to happen on election day until it finally does. While early voting is happening right now in some states, the vast majority of voters won't cast their ballots until Nov. 4. And when I hear pundits muse in print and on air that Obama's locked up this state or that one, I think: Some of the voters who responded to your poll may be a reflection of what some voters think, at the moment the poll is taken. But the results are not necessarily representative of the actual actions taken by the electorate on the big day. Anything can happen.

As for Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin's $150,000 clothing -- paid for by the Republican party, purchased by handlers and stylists on her behalf, with the clothing all going to charity after the election -- a woman on the national stage, being interviewed on national TV, being photographed and videotaped at every moment, has to dress for the job. She has to look like she's ready to take over the presidency at a moment's notice, not like she's ready to skin a moose.

Yes, she's being marketed as an Alaskan hockey mom. Yes, she's trying to appeal to a working class demographic. Yes, I think spending vastly more than the average American family pulls in in an entire year in a toxic economic climate looks bad. But what the heck do people expect from a vice presidential candidate, particularly one who's a woman and whose every accessory is analyzed? If Palin showed up in her own clothes, in fleece and denim, do you mean to tell me she would not be ridiculed as a hick from the hinterlands? You mean to tell me people wouldn't be snide about the Wal-Mart demographic and fashion sense?

While I personally cannot imagine spending that much on clothing -- seriously, I'm a bargain kinda gal -- I'm not a vice presidential candidate. I'm not on the national stage. I can't even begin to compare what I spend on makeup and clothing to what a national figure spends. It's not even in the ballpark.

With pressing issues like the collapsing economy and fresh chatter from and about al Qaeda threats in the news, certainly there are more important issues than Palin's clothing.

Image credit: AP/Boston Globe.

Suburban Mom's Political Fix: I Feel Sorry for Joe the Plumber & Candidates Get Funny

I Feel Sorry for Joe the Plumber

Really.

This single dad -- who most of America is already sick of -- didn't ask to be propelled into the national spotlight, didn't ask for folks to dig through his personal affairs. It's horribly unfortunate that he first entered the public domain when he questioned Barack Obama about how his tax plan would affect his plumbing business' growth, and has now come to the media digging up info about how Joe owes back taxes, has a lean on his holdings, isn't a registered plumber and whose first name is Samuel.

Maybe Joe the Plumber could use a little help from Joe Six-Pack about now. Poor guy.

Yesterday morning -- before any real info about Joe Wurzelbacher hit the internet -- my kids asked me if I wished I'd been the one about whom the presidential candidates discussed (25 mentions!) during a debate. I said, "No. No way." I would never want that kind of scrutiny, with folks using me for political gain.

Candidates Get Funny

The last presidential debate was feistier than the previous two. The candidates were asked tough questions and addressed hot button topics. Most pundits are giving John McCain the edge on content, Obama on style. How the debate may or may not have affected the decisions of undecided voters in swing states is an open question.

When it comes to the public opinion polls on who's leading, just 19 days before the election, it's still too early to tell. If last night's stunning Red Sox come-from-behind win against the Tampa Bay Rays in the American League Championship Series (the Sox were down 7-0 in the the 7th then staged the biggest playoff comeback since 1929) is any indication, you can't assume you know who's going to win. Obama may be ahead in the polls at this moment in time, but he only has a narrow lead. Anything can happen. Last week we didn't know about Joe the Plumber. Around Labor Day, we didn't know we were headed for a stock market crash. Remember, Obama was expected to crush Hillary Clinton in the New Hampshire primary. And lost.

What was refreshing, though, was last night's Al Smith dinner in New York where McCain and Obama let loose their sarcasm and their wit. And were sharply entertaining. If only the debates could be like this.

Suburban Mom's Political Fix: Joe the Plumber, I'm Already Tired of His Name

The last presidential debate of the 2008 election season just ended and already, I'm sick of the phrase, "Joe the Plumber." If the debate had been a drinking game and "Joe the Plumber" was the cue to take a sip, I would've been smashed a long time ago.

Immediately after the debate, Matt Drudge dubbed this, "Joe the Plumber's Election."

What about Joe makes him the centerpiece? He went up to Barack Obama at an event telling him that Obama's tax plan would cost him more money. The exchange was captured by the media.

Joe the Plumber (Joe Wurzelbacher) -- from Toledo, Ohio -- was later quoted by the Associated Press as saying that while he wouldn't disclose for whom he's planning to vote, that John McCain's " got it right as far as I go."

See the exchange that started a "Joe the Plumber" revolution:

Suburban Mom's Political Fix: Blowing the Ref's Whistle

There are occasions when the ref has to step in and blow the whistle because a foul has been committed. And on the heels of yesterday's post where I called for civility from both presidential campaigns, less character assassination and more issue-oriented discourse, things have only gotten worse. From the John McCain campaign.

After reading several accounts of recent McCain/Palin rallies from a number of news organizations, I learned that a handful of nitwits in attendance shouted things such as, "Kill him," "treason" and "terrorist" when Barack Obama's name was invoked by McCain or Palin. One rally attendee reportedly told an African-American TV network cameraman, "Sit down boy." The McCain campaign has said that neither the senator nor Gov. Sarah Palin heard these shouts from the crowd and I'm willing to give them the benefit of the doubt that they did not, in fact, hear the reprehensible utterances. But given that they've been widely reported, why haven't McCain or Palin explicitly and prominently said that there's no place in this campaign for that kind of rhetoric and vileness?

The campaign instead, has only revved up the personal attacks by releasing a statement from a man whose father was, 40 years ago, targeted by the group of domestic terrorists, a member of which is now a university professor, associates with the mayor of Chicago and held a fundraiser many years ago for Obama. "Barack Obama's friend tried to kill my family," the man said in a McCain press release as the campaign has also unveiled another online ad on the same topic.

Cindy McCain also amped up the attacks by taking to a podium and saying when Obama didn't vote for a defense funding bill -- which did not contain a timeline to withdraw troops from Iraq -- she was offended. ". . . [T]he day Senator Obama decided to cast a vote to not fund my son when he was serving sent a cold chill through my body." What she did not say was that Obama did vote for a different version of the funding bill which contained a timetable and that he wasn't against giving the troops the materials they need.

Certainly John McCain does not believe his Senate colleague is a terrorist or supports terrorists. Certainly Cindy McCain doesn't believe that Obama wants U.S. troops to not receive the funding they need to keep them safe. (Given that Obama's running mate Sen. Joe Biden -- like McCain and Palin -- also has a son serving in Iraq, this is ridiculous.)

Likewise, I don't see the Obama campaign out there saying that McCain hates Jews and Catholics simply because a reverend whose support McCain actively sought this spring espoused hate-filled rhetoric reminiscent to the ugliness that came out of the mouth of the preacher from Obama's church. I also don't think that people could reasonably suggest that McCain doesn't support the troops because he once voted against a bill whose provisions included funding efforts in Iraq and Afghanistan. McCain had principled reasons to vote against it, just like Obama did for his vote.

John McCain is an American hero and should be admired for his noble service to our country. And it's a tragedy that this once principled pol and his campaign are tarnishing that image with such despicable attacks which they know, in their hearts, are disingenuous. They're becoming precariously close to becoming the embodiment of the Saturday Night Live satire that aired a few weeks ago. What a damned shame.

Suburban Mom's Political Fix: Sewer Madness

One has admitted to trying drugs when he was a youth, attended a church where the head pastor had spouted hate-filled rhetoric, and attended charity board meetings and a fundraiser at the home of a person -- now a professor whose associates include the mayor of Chicago -- who did horrific things 40 years ago.

One was considered a hell raiser when he was young, left his first wife after she had a car accident that left her disfigured and coping with disabilities and married a younger, richer woman, and was later caught up in a savings and loan scandal.

Another cheated on his wife with, according to media reports, several women, and tried to get out of being sent to fight in Vietnam when he was a college student.

Another used to drink too much alcohol, had a hell raiser past and had his military service in Vietnam was questioned.

The aforementioned men -- Barack Obama, John McCain, Bill Clinton and George Bush -- have flaws. We all have flaws. And histories. And lessons learned. Name a person who doesn't have some kind of story in his or her past that raises eyebrows or never made some bad decisions, and I'll show you someone who hasn't lived life or gleaned any wisdome from it. People grow and evolve and are distinctly imperfect. Expecting people, especially our elected officials, to have flawless lives is unreasonable and inadvisable (who wants someone holding office who's never learned from her mistakes?).

As we enter the last month of the presidential campaign, the sewage has starting flooding the airwaves in earnest. The U.S. and world economies are in crisis. People's confidence has been shaken as they worry about whether they'll still have their jobs by Christmas and whether they'll be able to pay for their retirement. Meanwhile, the presidential campaigns -- for two men who, under normal circumstances, are honorable people with interesting life stories -- have turned negative because negative sells and sways voters. Back when I was doing graduate work in political science in D.C., I took a course on campaign management run by veterans of several major political campaigns. When we came to the unit on campaign advertising, the message was loud and clear: Negative works.

That doesn't mean, however, that we, the voters, have to like the big nasty turn this presidential campaign has taken. Not from McCain. Not from Obama. Words and phrases like "liar," "pal around with terrorists" and "dishonorable" shouldn't be thrown into the mix at a time when the economy is tanking, our country is at war on two fronts and some of the folks at AIG who received $85 billion from the taxpayers in an attempt to help jump-start the economy, days after getting federal approval, blew $440,000 on a week-long retreat "at a luxury resort and spa," spending $150,000 on meals and $23,000 on spa services, according to ABC News. This, as ordinary New Englanders are talking about how they'll pile on blankets and sweaters this winter and not turn on the heat often because home heating oil is so expensive.

Republican California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger -- who, because of the tightening of credit right now, is asking the federal government for an emergency loan to keep his state afloat -- has had enough. "Look at what the presidential campaign has reduced down to: They now are accusing each other of things that have nothing to do with the economy, that have nothing to do with health care, that have nothing to do with the environment, that have nothing to do with, you know, how we deal with foreign countries," Schwarzenegger said, according to the Associated Press.

Over on The View -- which is quickly devolving from smart, quirky, real gal commentary to a caricature -- Barbara Walters has been likewise pleading for civility, both in the campaign and during her own show's "Hot Topics" discussion.



McCain and Obama are better than the campaigns they're running in these last days of the presidential race. The win-at-all-costs political consultants are doing us no favors by taking their clients' campaigns and running them through the gutter in order to get to the White House. But I suppose, the campaign team that wins in the end will feel as though all the mud-slinging was worth it. For the rest of Americans who are witnessing character assassination, smears involving old scandals that have no relevance to voters' lives today or on what kind of job either man will do in office, they are the ones who lose.

Suburban Mom's Political Fix: No Bailout Deal, Post-Debate Analysis, SNL Skits

No Bailout Deal

I, along with the rest of the world, thought for sure that there'd be a bailout deal approved by the House of Representatives today. Certainly John McCain and Barack Obama thought there'd be one. McCain -- who "suspended" (only not so much suspended) his presidential campaign and said he wouldn't attend last Friday's presidential debate until there was a deal in place to avert an economic catastrophe -- must be in need of a cloth to wipe that egg off his face right now in the face of the House shooting down a bailout package today in dramatic fashion. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi certainly didn't help advance the delicate negotiations by wielding a stick in the form of some highly partisan remarks on the House floor for what was supposed to be a bipartisan, castor oil-like proposal. (See an NBC video about the House talks, including an excerpt of Pelosi's actual speech -- versus the text of her remarks -- here.)

An NBC analyst said that those who voted against the measure -- which they said their constituents opposed -- are in tough re-election fights. If there's anyway to come up with a temporary stop-gap measure until after the election (if that's even possible), that might be the only way something's going to get the green light in the face of such fierce public backlash.

So the Dow plunged and Capitol Hill is in an uproar. What will this mean politics-wise? A big, fat mess, although the folks in the cable news business will likely score better ratings. Well, one thing's for sure . . . Hank Paulson is rapidly becoming a household name.

Post-Debate Analysis

I think McCain and Obama fared about even on Friday night. There were no knock-out blows. No memorable lines. No awful gaffes. But I must say, I'm already sick of hearing the words "naive" and "he doesn't understand" being worked into numerous McCain responses to questions. I kept waiting for both candidates to get all fired up or do something we'd all remember, like sigh, glance at a wristwatch, walk menacingly toward one other, or quip, "There you go again." Alas, I was disappointed, though, substantively, I felt I gained insight into the specific foreign policy positions of both candidates.

As the pundits tended to agree that the candidates fared equally well, a USA Today/Gallup poll found that 46 percent of debate-watchers thought Obama emerged the winner, while 34 percent thought McCain got the better of his Democratic counterpart. A CNN poll had similar results, with 51 percent saying Obama was the winner, 38 percent saying McCain was the winner.

SNL Skits

No ill-advised, offensive incest jokes were featured during this past weekend's Saturday Night Live, but there were several political skits that accurately hit their targets, including Tina Fey reprising her role as Sarah Palin. The News Update nailed Bill Clinton's ambivalence toward Obama's campaign, as Fey captured the wretched awkwardness of the real Palin-Katie Couric interview from last week that was, I'm sorry to say, painful to watch. Fey's finger-in-the-air bit: Priceless. (Watch the three political SNL skits here.)

Question: Do you think SNL has gone too far in parodying Palin? Think such satire will create backlash and sympathy for Palin?

Introducing: The Suburban Mom's Political Fix

Only fortysomething days remain until Americans head to the polls to elect a new president. And this year, moms who vote are getting a lot of attention from pollsters and the media, even though moms (like dads) don't vote in lockstep and in fact have views the encompass all ends of the political spectrum, as I wrote in yesterday's blog entry.

Given the unprecedented level of attention this election has been receiving, I've decided that a weekly, bipartisan round-up of election news, called the Suburban Mom's Political Fix is in order. I'm planning to write quirky posts at least once a week, more frequently as news events dictate.

To Debate or Not Debate. That is, apparently, the big question hovering over the presidential campaign right now. Sen. John McCain stunned everyone yesterday with his announcement that because the federal Wall Street bailout proposal was on the verge of falling apart, he was going to suspend his presidential campaign, blow off David Letterman (and piss off the late night talk show host because McCain didn't cancel his Katie Couric interview), and possibly skip Friday night's presidential debate in Mississippi until some sort of deal to prop up the U.S. economy is struck in Washington.

Yet today, word is that there's a tentative, bipartisan agreement on the table, despite what the folks back home may think about a bailout. So does this mean that Mac will show up on Friday night as planned and as Democratic nominee, Sen. Barack Obama has already said he would? Your guess is as good as mine.

CNN Anchor Calls Campaign Treatment of Palin 'Sexist.' CNN's Campbell Brown is ticked off at the McCain campaign for keeping what she sees as too tight a grip on how and when Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin fields questions from the media. Brown said it's "sexist" to not allow Palin to face the media like all the other major candidates are doing, including Obama's running mate, Sen. Joe Biden.

I personally think this is just a strategy devised to avoid gaffes, like the whoppers Biden's been making lately (there've been some ugly ones too). But as the only female candidate for national office left in the running, Palin's limited media availability does leave the campaign wide open to the charge that they're treating her with kid gloves. This is the big show, the big leagues. If she can't answer (or pretend not to hear) shouted questions from reporters who are hanging around the campaign trail, she's got no business being there.

Today, by the way, marked the first time that Palin actually answered a couple of inquiries from reporters. Maybe the McCain campaign took cues from Brown's "Free Sarah Palin" rant.

Why I love Entertainment Weekly. The magazine's writers and editors are smart and, for a publication focused on the entertainment industry, have a savvy way of delivering information and commentary on pop culture that doesn't patronize its readers. The cover of the new issue (see above), parodying the controversial New Yorker magazine cover with a photo of Stephen Colbert and Jon Stewart, is spot-on. THAT cover is funny, the New Yorker cover, not so much, in fact, not at all.

Be sure to read the interview with Colbert and Stewart.

Image credit: Entertainment Weekly.

Time Says 'Maxed-Out Moms' Key to Election Success

Move over "hockey moms." Apparently, according to Time Magazine, "maxed-out moms" are the new end-all, be-all voting bloc that John McCain or Barack Obama need to secure in order to win a four-year trip to 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, room and board included.

What the heck are "maxed-out moms?" Time Magazine defines them thusly:

"Meet the woman of the year: White, high school-educated and probably on the north side of age 50, she is getting the worst of the bad economy. She's worrying about whether her daughter will be able to afford college and her father his medicine. Her husband can barely afford the gasoline it takes to get back and forth from a job he's in danger of losing--and with it, their health insurance. She's getting her hair cut less often and sometimes has to put her utility bill on her Visa. She's the woman doing the laundry at 11 p.m. because it's the first chance she's had all day to do it."

These women are called "pragmatic," as opposed to partisan, and are considered by pundits to be "the ultimate swing voters and the ultimate late deciders."

Oy. I don't like this tendency to label of certain groups with the assumption that all or most of the folks who fit the above description would vote similarly. (I recently blogged on the Picket Fence Post about my distaste for focusing on a "[FILL IN THE BLANK] Mom" vote.)

I understand that the presidential campaigns internally have to figure out which voters are most likely to be persuaded to move into their column, mostly by where these undecided voters live and how their home state figures into the Electoral College equation. (Remember, national polls are meaningless, regardless of how many times and with how much fanfare the news networks rush to announce their fresh poll numbers. It's the polls in the so-called "swing states" -- those states where it's uncertain whether the majority of voters will go Democrat or Republican -- and how those states factor into the Electoral College numbers that matter in the end.) It's simply lazy on the part of the media to use gimmicky shortcuts in an attempt to try to make sense out of this election.

Do all women whose kids play soccer -- assigned the moniker "soccer moms" (a group to which I'd belong simply because my daughter plays soccer) -- vote similarly and hold the same views on public policies? No. Do all dads who follow NASCAR vote in the same fashion? Nope. So please, political media gurus, let's stop with the oversimplification. It's patronizing. Instead of trying to carve up the electorate into tidy little groups, why not spend time explaining, in plain language and with snazzy charts, what the heck this proposed $700 billion federal bailout actually means to the average American and how it would play into the presidential candidates' plans for either tax cuts or healthcare?

Image credit: Time Magazine/Brooks Craft/Corbis.