Quote of the Day
Blessed is he who carries within himself a God, an ideal, and obeys it.
Louis Pasteur
My Most Important Vote Today: Jackie Evancho in AGT 2010 Finals
This 10-year-old angelic blonde sings an exquisite version of "Ave Maria". She has captured my heart and vote in tonight's America's Got Talent Final 4 finale.
The Maryland Vote and Other Races
Any faithful reader knows that I am not a fan of Sarah Palin. I have waited four years for former Governor Bob Ehrlich's rematch against former Baltimore Mayor Martin O'Malley. So imagine how I felt to hear Sarah Palin's robocall on my home voice mail promoting Ehrlich's GOP opponent. Ehrlich easily won with my enthusiastic support, but as for Ms. Palin: she may think she's a mama grizzly, but I'm Texas-born and raised, and we know better than to poke at a rattlesnake. (In fact, rather than wait for the school bus, I often cut through ranch land between my high school in the Laredo suburbs and the Air Force base and used to hear rattler warnings along the way.) Let's just say if Ms. Palin gets into the Presidential race, this blog will respond in an unambiguous manner.
Dr. Eric Wargotz (I featured his tongue-in-cheek web video in a recent post and also supported him) won the right to face the incumbent US Senator Barbara Mikulski.
One odd thing about my vote this morning: apparently the voting systems have some kinks to work on. I attempted to vote for the unopposed GOP delegate to the state legislature, but the vote summary indicated that I didn't vote for the delegate. I made 2 more attempts to vote the race to no avail. I finally motioned over one of the election personnel, and she seemed to be aware of the problem and said she decided to submit her own ballot as is. Presumably the delegate won the race, but this sort of thing should never have happened.
In other races, it looks like ethics-challenged Charlie Rangel won renomination from his NY district (thumbs DOWN!) Hoffman, who lost to Owens in a close election last year in NY-23, lost his bid for renomination, and Kelly Ayotte (R-NH), who has polled strongly against her Democratic rival, looks like she'll pull out the nomination although trailing through most of the late evening.
Christine O'Donnell Over Mike Castle? Thumbs DOWN!
It isn't often that one sees a political movement like the Tea Party completely shoot itself in both feet in what should be a sweeping election this fall for the GOP. The GOP coaxed Mike Castle, an unlikely popular incumbent moderate GOP Congressman into giving up his safe Congressional seat to compete for Joe Biden's old seat. Mike Castle has led prospective defending Democratic contenders by double-digits from the get-go; it has been one of the few safe turnover seats for the GOP--until tonight. Mike Castle has been opposed by conservative activists because of his so-called RINO credentials (a lifetime American Conservative Union rating of about 52.5%--which, incidentally, is higher than the Maine senators.)
So, congratulations, Tea Party activists and Sarah Palin: you have snatched defeat out of the jaws of victory. Your meddling has now all but guaranteed which was a sure pickup for the GOP, where the current Delaware senators have lifetime ACU ratings of below 15%, to an almost certain victory for the likewise-minded Chris Coons, whom leads Ms. O'Donnell by double-digits, even by the usually more favorable Rasmussen ratings, which have shown her support deteriorating against Coons. In the meanwhile, Castle's House seat will almost certainly be picked up by the Democrats this fall.
I would encourage Mike Castle to consider a bid as an independent whom would caucus with the Republicans. In fact, at least some media sources in Delaware expected that O'Donnell was likely to go independent if she lost. I, as an unmitigated conservative, have no problem supporting Castle. I would have continued to support Crist as an independent against Rubio, until he started hinting he would caucus with the Dems, vetoed much-needed education reform (openly pandering to teacher unions), and started backing off his support of Gulf oil exploration soon after the Deepwater Horizon incident. If Castle doesn't run independent, I may have to hold my nose and support O'Donnell as I now have to do with Sharron Angle in Nevada.
Most conservatives will not empathize with my supporting what they call RINO's (Republicans/conservatives in name only). There are a few factors that enter into my assessment. First, I want a legislator or public sector executive to be practical and not an idealist. For instance, Ronald Reagan entered into an agreement with the Democrats on social security reform including higher payroll taxes, but that didn't mean he was a closet "tax-and-spender". Second, I am looking for leadership or influence. This may sound contradictory; after all, in a past post, I mentioned I was on many occasions a solitary voter on an MBA Admissions committee. But I wasn't making policy and I had a moral obligation to act consistently across applicants. I have a great deal of respect for Ron Paul (R-TX), but his views have little influence. Paul Ryan, on the other hand, isn't in the House leadership, but his famous conservative roadmap has been widely discussed. Third, I'm looking at regional/local fit of the legislator and a general political orientation vs. a litmus test approach. The fact is that almost any Republican other than Sharron Angle would be beating Harry Reid by a large margin while polls over the past few weeks show Reid with a consistent slight edge over Angle. O'Donnell can't win the general election in Delaware. There is no virtue or honor in running a political kamikaze mission.
Political Humor
"This whole thing with Iran, it's amazing how different our cultures are. In Iran a woman can get stoned for committing adultery. See, here in America, women commit adultery while getting stoned." –Jay Leno
[Not just that, but in America, but if you're a Latino hiking in northern Mexico and accidentally enter the United States, the Obama Administration detains you with free unmonitored phone calls, fresh carrot sticks, cooking classes, self-service beverage stations, and hanging plants; they'll even let you go home if you want.]
"It was reported that President Obama wasn't wearing his wedding ring at a press conference. I guess that makes the press conference the second-most difficult speech he'll give this week." –Jimmy Fallon
[Now you know the real reason Michelle Obama didn't want Hillary Clinton on the ticket: she didn't like the idea of Barack spending that much time around Bubba.]
Musical Interlude: The American Songbook
Dianne Reeves*, "Love for Sale" (another Cole Porter classic!)
(* I couldn't find a decent video with Dinah Washington's performance.)
