like it or not....we live in a pretty conservative country here in the U.S by and large the herd instinct is to go with the guy with the right wing attitude, law and order, etc etc.

my take on recent presidential history is that 1)clinton was more of a rock star personality than a "democratic presidential candidate. 2)clinton was not all that progressive in the final analysis no matter what his ideology might have once been..he did not win because of progressive thought. 3)the low bush ratings are NOT the result of a backlash against conservatism in general...they are a backlash against complete and obvious incompetence (not to mention they are bored with hearing about iraq on the news and bush=iraq). bush is not even a real conservative.

and

4)it does not surprise me that the "tough cop", "been there on 9/11" rudy outpolls any of the dems. there is a progressive populace in america....but it is not the majority. i wish it were otherwise...but what can you do.

so i think this poll, as early as it is DOES tell a certain story.

that said, i think that when rudy is more in the spotlight the real reactionaries in the primary voting will really cringe at his cross dressing and family history among other things. this may be the only hope for a democratic president in '08.

quote:

In America, if a Democrat even thinks you're calling him a liberal he immediately grabs an orange vest and a rifle and heads into the woods to kill something.

me: thank you. i needed that.

sign of the coming apocalypse. i would almost suspect that it was a late april fools joke.

seriously.

for how many years has one been able to turn on fox news and hear some non journalists not just disputing evidence of global warming and other environmental problem but openly mocking those who were saying what murdoch is now say?

we are now in a different flavor of bizzaro world.

but

bottom line: i cannot see how this is not good news, no matter WHAT exactly his motive is (including a desperate attempt to somehow retain fox news' credibility after the fact).

will tony be hamlet and procrastinate or do what he knows needs to be done?

it is obvious that phil is now showing open contempt for him. there is no respect and he is ready to kill tony or at least one of his direct underlings at any moment. tony pretty much realizes this. that was why he was so quick to walk away from that last would be meeting with phil--he realized the time for talk was over(followed by that truly creepy "invisible phil talking from inside the darkened window" scene).

the only "for sure" solution for tony is to wipe out phil and his crew. he has never done anything that drastic....but he has never been treated the way he is being treated. there is no reasoning with phil who is not acting logically...and tony has now seen just how precarious his position is in other areas with meadow being threatened in public, AJ coming unhinged, christopher dead, and his remaining "friends" seeming more untrustworthy than ever.

so there is only ONE over the top and yet logical thing for tony to do: he must kill both phil and his number two (at the very least). there is no time for denial or thought as there was with big pussy. but he will not indulge in that because he already hates phil, whereas he had love both for his cousin (buscemi) AND pussy (both of whom he killed even after agonizing over it). so since he has less than no love for phil it will be all logistics. could he pull off killing phil in such a way as to not end up in prison or otherwise destroy his whole operation?

if he pulls a hamlet and puts it off even a little....he will pay dearly, either with his own death....or that of someone within his nuclear family. either way...it is going to be bloody and harsh. that much is inevitable. as it should be. i suspect that he will survive and if he hesitates to kill phil he may lose AJ, Meadow, or Carmela. he really does love all three of them, whatever his faults. and i can absolutely see an ending which features tony, having killed phil and others, standing at the grave of his wife or child. that would be quite powerful and Shakespearean. not a dry eye in the house.

for whatever reason....i see also see bobby as getting killed by phil....although that is kind of a shot in the dark and with the story so chock full of red herrings...who the hell knows?

man, next week is going to be suspenseful with no ep. we'll have to wait 2 weeks to get a look at the penultimate link in the chain....

greatest thing ever put on TV. thank you mr. chase. as far as how HE views tony....i think he seems him as a metaphor for the now darkened and corrupted american dream...hence the title of the final episode and the pics of tony with the statue of liberty behind him. so tony is not "a sociopath" or "a criminal" or "other". he is us. and yes...chase strikes me as a very depressed and pessimistic guy. look at that mug!