Under the shoulder pads

Be prepared for a petty blog. Yes, there are some weighty issues out there on the political landscape at the moment and maybe this whole blog is silly but just where are John McCain's shoulders?

I get that since Richard Nixon went on television with five o'clock shadow to debate John Kennedy that making up your candidate to look good on television is a prime objective of any support team. And they clearly failed on covering the age spots on the back of his hand during his Viagra moment.

But for me the whole shoulder pad thing has been carried to the extreme and he is beginning to look like Tammy Faye minus the false eyelashes.

He doesn't have a neck to begin with and he already has the beginning of a stoop (early sign of prostrate cancer or just age), and I understand that he has issues with his arms because of what was done during his imprisonment as a POW. But he has big enough shoulder pads to serve as flotation devices should his plane go down over water. They are so big and stiff that it hinders natural movement. On a recent video of him in a town hall meeting predicting an up turn in terror attacks before the November elections (prediction or promise?) he looked like a robot in a suit of armor.

We are told he is very fit, but where are all the standard political campaign images of the candidates jogging past the capital building? We have Obama playing basketball. And blowing it on bowling but I want to see McCain in gym shorts. Does his workout suit have the same shoulder pads? I have seen women jogging outfits with shoulder pads. I imagine his campaign can rig up some for their candidate speed walking around the mall before the stores open.

Fibbing to the public about the health of our presidents is an old story. FDR made it a point to never appear in a wheel chair or even with crutches though he was severely crippled. We were kept from the truth about the severity of JFK's back issues. It was years after he left office that we discovered he had not drawn a sober breath for his last 13 months in office. And what is the truth about GW falling off the couch? Do you believe the pretzel story?

I am not looking for any national security information to be revealed here. I just want to know what is under that suit of iron he wears? Does he have shoulders at all? And how much bigger are those shoulder pads going to get as the campaign moves forward?

Just a Horse Race

My father always said it was the difference of opinion which made horse racing possible. I would think how boring it would be without horses. And horse races. Or contests of any kind. It only seems in politics that I am inclined to think, "How stupid are you to think your candidate is better than mine?"

I believe this thinking first was evident during the campaign of Richard M. Nixon. I recognized in him a certain insanity that seemed reflected in the people that fell into what I have come to think of as "mad dog" supporters. Those individuals who will absolutely no listen to reason or hear a single bad think about their candidate. It was shortly after he resigned from office and was pardoned that I fell into voting for the lessor of two evils. I have always voted. But I will admit I seem to vote for losers. Even with horses I might add.

I voted for Gore and for Kerry. I worked on McGovern's staff. Was clean for Gene. Frequently the candidate I most like is eliminated in the primaries like Biden or Richardson. Since I liked him I just knew Obama was going to lose the fight with Hillary. I was rather shocked that he didn't. So having learned something with age I didn't break up marriages or relationships or kiss off friendships over this primary. I have a few friends that are Hillary supporters. Fewer that believe in McCain. I admit I fall back to the, "How can you be so stupid?" gut reaction with avid McCainites.

A Hillary supporter friend of mine was half apologetic following Hillary's non-concession speech on June 3rd. I think she thought I would rub her nose in it. No, that was one horse race. Now we are on to the second horse race. Who do you like in his field? I am finding this rather refreshing actually. Because during the ten year campaign of G. W. Bush it was hostile and all about make wrong. After 9/11 you were either for the dictator or a traitor. We started whispering in corners. And by his second stolen election we were sure we were going to be burned at the stake or hung from the yardarm. I had anti-war friends during the Nixon years that vanished from the face of the earth. I fully expected it again.

So we have run a long and difficult horse race and we are all still here. Nobody has died or vanished yet. When you live through JFK, RFK and Martin Luther assassinations you start expecting the worst routinely. So far it is just a horse race. And that is good. Now on to the second horse race. Wouldn't it be nice if there was no bloodshed, no cheating, no name calling, nobody dying? Just a race for President of the free world. Wouldn't it be nice if the world was really free.