ONE MORE TIME.

OK, Obama's back in the saddle again, and Republicans, still raw from losing from what they thought was a sure win, are talking about working with the president this time around. The party of "NO!" is now the party of "Maybe." Because you can't trust them to actually buckle down and think outside the conservative box. They can't do it. They're conservatives. They're the prisoners of their own politics. The Democrats are just as adamant. They want the social services to continue unhampered. Social Services have had a gradual evolution. It's interesting to note that during the major depression of the 1870's charity workers believed that direct relief would lead to the moral demise of the poor by encouraging dependency. Sound familiar? Yeah, the Republicans are a hoary bunch. By the 1890's there was a slight shift, but it wasn't until Franklin D. Roosevelt's New Deal that social services truly blossomed. The 1940's were devoured by World War II, and the 50's found conservatism putting the brakes on any further services. Then came the social  idealism of Kennedy's New Frontier, which didn't accomplish much until it segued into Lyndon B. Johnson's Great Society and War on Poverty. Notice it's Democrats advancing these programs, the Republicans are grinding their teeth in the background. Then came Reagan and the New Right. Which is now the Old Right but espousing the same thing: Change is the responsibility of individuals and businesses.  And that's been the Republican mantra ever since.

When Reagan was president, Cheney, his vice president, said, "Reagan proved deficits don't matter." He did? Somehow Republicans didn't get the memo. They're now horrified by the deficit and must reduce it at all costs, even though they helped cause it. You have to admire how Republicans take their failures and turn them into new issues. Wait, it's no longer an issue, it's a cause! It's like the murderer coming in to solve the case. He can't tell you who did it, duh, but he can tell you how to stop it from happening again. Uh huh. The real reason Republicans are focusing on the deficit is that it gives them the excuse to reduce, destroy, or corrupt, the social services they've always hated. It's that simple. They still believe that these programs lead to the moral demise of the poor by encouraging dependency. Mitt Romney said as much. We can't let Republicans lead. They have their heads on backwards. Obama has to lead us in the direction he promised-Forward. This isn't about the deficit, it's about continuing to evolve towards a country that helps its people to prosper during the good times, but also, survive during the bad. Democrats have to win this battle.  The Republicans can't envision the future, they're still wallowing in the past. Let's leave them behind, where they belong.

THE MIGHTY ROMNEY HAS STRUCK OUT.

Karl Rove, who dreams of a one party system, spent millions of dollars trying to catapult Republicans into a ruling majority, and left the casino with empty pockets and not much else.  Mitt Romney, buoyed by that first debate, took his geegaw to the masses and saw the seas parting, and the sirens call. He discovered what the sailors in Greek Mythology ignored at their peril, that sirens lead to shipwrecks. He fought the good fight. Made the most out of spinning facts and banging the drum for a fiscal plan that was the equivalent of the Emperor's New Clothes. People seemed to feel that money is attracted to money, and saw him shining golden in the gloomy landscape of a crummy economy. But in the end Obama evaluated the game and figured out the best way to win. All the pundits spewed gobbledygook about the lack of energy behind his candidacy, how he was losing the women's vote, the latino vote, and on and on, like old crones at a funeral. But in the end, intelligence won over money. I wish I could say intelligence always wins over money, but we all know better. Yet I'm glad it did this time. The Republicans are back in the huddle trying to decipher what happened. Hopefully, they'll start doing the job we pay them for, the job of governing, for the people. Yeah, the people. All of us. Every one of us constitutes the United in United States. Obama said it, let the Republicans begin to recognize it. As Lincoln did. A government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth. Lead on, Mr. President.

WHY HAS "LIBERAL" BECOME A DIRTY WORD?

In my dictionary the word liberal means "Open to new behavior or opinions and willing to discard traditional values." I like the word "open." Open, to me, means alive. Open to new ideas, new feelings, new knowledge. Open means you're not stuck, you're free-flowing, if something seems better that what you've been doing, you're willing to try it out. You're open. Openness leads to evolution. Yeah, Mother Nature is a liberal. How do you think we crawled out of the ocean, out into the land, and into the present? Openness. Openness leads to learning, which leads to advancement, which leads to things moving forward. Mistakes are made, that's part of the learning, but being open you learn from those mistakes. Someone who's liberal becomes wiser, more experienced, more open. What's wrong with that?

Conservative on the other hand, according to my dictionary, means, "Holding to traditional values and cautious about change or innovation, typically in relation to politics or religion." Holding. Not letting go. Stuck in the same place and locking all the doors. Repeating the same things over and over again because it's what you've always done, and, if it's up to you, what you'll always do. Boring. Playing it safe. Frightened of change. Changes makes conservatives nervous that they'll discover something that contradicts their precious traditional values. Conservative thinking is a coffin where the only innovation is the amazing amount of dust it collects. If nature was a conservative we'd still be breathing water.

So, how did liberal become a dirty word, while the word conservative is waved like a flag of honor? Why have the dust-gatherers been allowed to intimidate those in tune with true evolution? Why let the zombies rule the living?

               ROMNEY KNOWS THE MIDDLE, BUT NOT THE MIDDLE EAST.  

We're back in Bush country. During the third debate Romney basically agreed with President Obama, and when he strayed, his ignorance of the region was obvious. With sweeping generalities he sketched an administration that would mediate and soon have every Mullah yearning for Democracy. It's the Bush/Cheney daydream. They jumped into Iraq with fire in their eyes, but nothing between their ears. They pictured a people freed from a vile dictator embracing democracy with the zeal of the starving getting their first meal after a long drout. They had seen those John Wayne movies. The ones where people freed from tyranny come running out of their houses bearing flowers and kisses for the conquering troops. Well, they toppled Sadam, captured him and killed him. It was a victory for brute force, only the bombs were smart. After winning, the White House had no plan. John Wayne war movies usually end after the effusive greeting of the natives. There was total confusion. No translators, soldiers weren't told what the looter policy was, nobody knew who was in charge, and everything ran amok. Soldiers who were part of Sadams army, were fired and became insurgents. We had stumbled into a tribal society and watched helplessly as old rivalries erupted anew. Bush made a big to-do over Iraq's first election. Democracy in action. And the end result? A corrupt government, with the people still not getting what they need, and the killing hasn't stopped yet. We won Afghanistan. We drove the Taliban out. We should've stopped there. But we abandoned Afghanistan to invade Iraq, for no good reason. You can sneak up on a tiger and slap it on the ass, but you'd better have you're escape route carefully plotted. Are you listening, Mitt? Democracy is a good thing. But it's not a one-size-fits-all thing.

ROMNEY UNDER THE BUSH.

The Bush tax cuts for the wealthy were initiated in 2001. At the time President Bush pledged "tax relief will create new jobs, tax relief will create new wealth, and tax relief will open new opportunities." Sound familiar? Romney is saying the same thing. But these tax cuts have had ten years to bear fruit. Shouldn't the Republicans be criticized for championing a policy that has obviously failed? Ten years, guys. And no results. You're criticizing Obama for not succeeding in changing things in four. And Romney is running on this failed policy saying it holds the promise of the future. How can that be? It's been ten years and what has it done for us except to give the Republicans another dead horse to beat. It's crazy. I mean it. I'm beginning to believe the Republicans have totally lost it. Failure is success, lies are the truth if you repeat them often enough, these are words the Republicans now live by. I'm convinced they no longer think they're mortal. They think they're gods. And anything thing they do is holy and right. Even when it's wrong. God help us.

ROMNEY-OH, OH, ROMNEY-OH.

The problem with Romney, for me. is that he's too much like that guy at the bar who's so hungry to get laid it's pathetic. You know the guy, his eyes are popping at the women who pass, he can hardly contain the drool, and when a woman sits next to him he will say anything, absolutely anything, to get her to bed. That's Romney for me. Watch him walk. He looks like he has a boner. He really does. That stiff gait is stiff for a reason. In the political pool he started with a belly wop for the Tea Party. Swam with the conservatives. But now, he's trying for the Big One. He's out to seduce the moderates. He's diving into the middle of the pool and doing the backstroke. He's good at the backstroke. He's a player. He's plowed through the right and now he'll plow right through the middle. Like the guy at the bar though, he's trying too hard. And if America the Beautiful has any brains, he won't get what he wants.

DON'T BAIT ME, JUST DEBATE ME.

The three presidential debates were fascinating for their mano-a-mano aspects. These weren't debates,  these were dog fights, and were reported as such. "He looked like he was going to hit him at one point!" said one excited TV commentator. The first debate had Romney as a yard dog. Snapping and growling at poor Obama who seemed to have left his fight at home. He kept looking down as if trying to remember why he was there. He got off a few good shots, but all in all, he was down for the count when the match finished. The next debate had both candidates moving and jabbing, moving and jabbing. The President was awake, present, and gave as good as he got. Romney is a mauler, and at one point while spewing facts and figures as if he actually understood the math behind them, the president tried to point out a few discrepancies, and Romney told him to back off "you'll get your turn." Hey Mitt, that's not just another guy, that's the President of these United States! I shouted at my TV. Have a little respect. But Mitt was out for blood, and like a hungry vampire, he had no other focus. Obama came off a classier fighter. Sugar Ray Robinson in his prime. The last debate found Mitt Romney more subdued. His handlers had obviously told him he was looking like a brute in a suit. That doesn't win over moderates. So Mitt shifted gears for the last debate determined to look presidential. We saw a calmer, more reasonable Romney. Not trying to bite off Obama's ear this time. In fact he agreed with the President a good part of the time. Obama poked and punched this new cutout of Mitt Romney and won the match. So, it's pretty much a tie. It was good theater but not a good debate. We learned nothing new. Each man repeated his basic stump speech. Next time just put on the damn gloves. If your going to give us a blood match, just do it, for real, and save us from having to listen to campaign speeches that we're already tired of hearing.

MR. COOL VS MR. KOOL AID. THE RACE IS ON!

"Only Pres Obama could prevent a depression, end a war, get bin Laden, bring unemployment below 8 percent, then be told he can't run on his record."
     A recent tweet by Chris Rock.

OBAMA IS COOL. ROMNEY IS KOOL AID. Obama's main problem is that four years ago he was seen as the Messiah. People wanted miracles. The economy was to be turned instantly to gold just as Jesus turned water into wine. It didn't happen. He turned out to be an ordinary man. A good, hard working, dedicated President, but not the messiah everyone expected. And so now, the fickle populace is ready for the new messiah. Mitt Romney. He promises to do what Obama hasn't been able to do, turn the economy to gold. He speaks gold. Has a personal relationship with it, and now, he will share his golden touch with the general public. Just bring your tattered lives to him, and receive the blessings of the rich. How can you doubt that he is the true Messiah. His personal wealth speaks for itself. Listen. The cash registers are lined up behind him in a heavenly choir of chi-ching! Can you hear it? Of course, you can. Oh, yeah, this time it's real! The Second Coming.

CH-CH-CH-CHANGES. When he was Governor of Massachusetts, Romney was a moderate, then at the beginning of his race for the presidency he became a right winger, and now, he's a moderate again. You can't blame the man, he's a Mormon. I know you're not supposed to mention a man's religion in politics. I'm just saying as a true Mormon he has known that things can change, even the word of God. Polygamy was once an integral part of Mormonism, but no more. If you were black you were evil, your skin color was all a Mormon needed to cast you out. It meant you were in cahoots with the Devil. But wait, then came Civil Rights and changes that made us all equal, and the Mormons met the challenge by changing their precepts again. And there were other changes. But I don't want to make this a religious tract. I just want to point out that Romney just seems to change with the tide, he's actually just being Mormon. God Bless him.

OBAMACARE AND ROMNEYCARE ARE FRATERNAL TWINS. MITT WHY HAVE YOU ABANDONED YOUR OWN CHILD? SHAME ON YOU!