Although I dare not speak the words of a win lest I jinx it, I have been musing about the 2012 election. Things could go sour for a President Obama and there may be challenges from the democratic ranks (I can think of a few names). What may be marvelous for a liberal to behold will be the republican primary season. They were fairly fractionated this year but a loss, especially a "grand slam" will have the different factions finger pointing and blame laying so that when 2012 comes around, each will advance their own champion with the fervor...and rancor...of the Clinton/Obama race except that it won't be two way but 4 or 5 way. The hero of the evangelicals will take on the hero of the neo-neocons while fighting off the hero of the libertarian branch who isn't necessarily getting along with the hero of the market economists. The oil hero will take on the isolationist hero. Even the evangelicals could be split by the Huckabees and the Palinistas. And none will yield for the sake of party unity because it was the "other guy's fault" they lost in 2008. Could be fun and possibly one of the ugliest conventions ever. By "ugly" I mean "amusing".

Early voted two days ago. San Antonio has a bit over a million people and 150,000 have already voted. I'm sure it will stay red but a surprising number of Obama yard signs in my neighborhood, one where our taxes would, for the most part, go up. Maybe more voting for a country rather than their own bank account.

But I can't help myself.

A couple of decades ago I was delayed moving a sick airman out of King Salmon AFB because Stevens and a bunch of his cronies were busy loading fish into their airplane. Haven't been a fan of uncle Ted since.

I was plenty irritated at some of the tactics and when she made the statement that she and McCain were ready to lead but not Obama, I wanted her thrown out of the party. (I was right, it was used in RNC ads; fortunately McCain's toxic VP choice limited the use of that quote.) And I kept sending money to make up for the funds I felt he should not have to be spending fighting another democrat.

Ultimately, however, it meant he actually campaigned in all 50 states in the primary, something no candidate of either party has ever done. That he did it because he had to is moot now. That face time, early on, as well as the early unpacking of all the rezko/muslim/wright/neophyte slurs has done a lot to make people comfortable with someone who really doesn't look and sound like everyone else.

Hopefully we can find a nice supreme court bench to thank her.

Here in Texas (like that matters in any swing state sort of way), if you are in line at the "polls close" time, you get to vote. Any state like that, with the volume that's expected, it may be a very long night indeed without reported results for a couple of hours or more after closing.

Unless you will have the opportunity to sterilize your computer afterwards.

They are already yukking it up and/or calling conspiracy (he went to Hawaii to kill her or she died weeks ago and they saved the news till now.)

I thought of linking them to some of the recent discussions about the death of the RNC and traditional conservative movement because they have distilled all that was bad to an evil paste. Instead I bailed before my eyes started to bleed.

who I understand had a lot to do with Sarah Palin's ascendency to the VP slot. We owe you one, dude.

If he fails, anybody.

If he succeeds, nobody.

We need to make sure he succeeds.

Set up your organization. Fire up the outrage and paranoia. Start collecting donations to fight the battle. Don't fight the non-existtant battle. Have a party with your "left over" donations. Find a new cause and repeat, repeat, repeat...

And it's Houston water, no less.

Did my adolescence in Germany decades ago but even then: Gas is expensive, most cars are small, public transportation is great, people walk and bike where they can.

Here I've moved to be closer to work (driving same nissan sentra since July 2008 and just crossed 10K miles), combine my trips better, and hope that gas goes back to $3/gallon before they reopen the Hummer line.

I think that line all by itself illustrates the difference between #44 and all of his recent predecessors.

It's been a long time since there was a president that I actually felt was actually looking out for us rather than one who, in pursuit of their own personal or political agenda, might accidentally do us some good.

He's one of the folks responsible for the Sarah Palin phenomena. For that we owe him an eternal debt of gratitude.

On the other hand, if the tinafeyhag thing screen name is an alter ego of his, he can drop that one now. No imagination. Just typical righty rudeness.

The boy detective is starting to look an awful like like William Kristol.

Were Hitchcock still alive, he might use the detective/Kristol to do a third remake of "The Man Who Knew Too Much" entitled "The Man Who Was Always Wrong".

I wore my Obama inaugaration t-shirt to the shooting range the last week. Might have noticed a few stares but no one confronted me on it. Maybe it was the "Retired Air Force" cap I was wearing. Maybe it was the guns...

Don't threaten people; it makes you look small (if you know what I mean).