After having had the entire holiday season off work, I convinced myself that Monday through Thursday of last week was merely a four day "work break" before my vacation resumed. But here we are on Sunday already, and my fantasy is about over. With the still reduced work schedule in place though, the four-on, three off rhythm is still pretty tolerable. What is nearly intolerable is my regular Sunday morning routine of watching the political chat fests.It's getting pretty tedious. For the third weekend in a row, one of the primary topics was still the failed underpants bomber and "what it all means." Worse, on at least two of the shows, the leaders of both political parties, Tim Kaine and Michael Steele, were yapping and yapping, mostly about inconsequential stuff. I've always detested these sorts of politicians, regardless of party. The only one I could really stomach was Howard Dean. Mostly, they're smarmy and calculating, and nothing they say can be viewed as 100% true. . .it's all through a political lens, all of it.
The big deal this morning somehow became Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid's ill-advised choice of words about Sen. Barack Obama as he was campaigning for President. What Reid said was correct, that Obama had a great shot at the job (he won it, after all), because he wasn't "too black" for a majority of America to vote for him. That may not be politically correct--or even very nice--but it's true. If Obama's manner was like that of Kat Williams or Martin Lawrence, there is zero chance he'd have won. But it's not a smart thing to say, and of course he used the incredibly old-school word "negro" while doing it. Still, Reid apologized and Obama accepted uncategorically. That should be that.
Still, Michael Steele--who has his own very full slate of problems--tried his Muppet-headed best to turn this into a white-hot issue. His call for Reid to step down as Leader struck me as a desperate attempt to take the shame spotlight off of Steele (who had his own stupid "racist comment" moment just this week).
I thought that This Week with George Stephanopoulos was going to be a step up, when I saw that there was no Kaine or Steele on that one. Then I heard the dreaded words, "Liz Cheney." Enough! I'm taking The Other Half's advice, and I'm bailing on the political shows for the week!
