Diddakoi Walt Whitman
Take me home...St EmilionHey, what's a Diddakoi??Cast of CharactersThe Saga Continues...  kay@diddakoi.com

Updated: 03/07/02



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Thursday, 7 March, 2002

POLITICAL RANT WARNING. I've been watching with interest as the Washington politicos try to figure out a way to stop us all from being so darned happy and supportive of our government and the war effort so that they can get back to their real jobs of fomenting partisanship and cheap, ineffective sniping to garner headlines. The Democrats are scrambling as the once-stagnant economy - the lynch-pin of their 2002 campaign platform - is now said to be in recovery.

[Oh, the horror.]

Senator Majority Leader Tom Daschle (Jellyfish - S. Dakota) took a bold step last week by criticizing President Bush and the war in Afghanistan as being too open-ended and lacking direction. Earlier this month, Mr. Daschle said Mr. Bush was wrong to label Iran, Iraq and North Korea as an "axis of evil." He later backpedaled by saying, "What I said was that I think it is important for us to stand united in our determination to reduce the tension and to deal directly with these three countries."

True to form, Mr. Daschle has now retreated again from his war criticism, declaring that the Senate "stands united with the president in the ongoing effort to destroy al Qaeda." He also offered condolences to the families of U.S. troops killed in action.

[Ah, that explains it.]

In my opinion, politicians are hard enough to take when they actually have beliefs, but listening to the wishy-washy babble from a Senator who is looking for any issue he can upon which to hang his campaign hat is ten times worse. In October, Sen. Joseph R. Biden Jr. (Marshmallow - Delaware), said America risked looking like a "high-tech bully" in the bombing of Afghanistan. I mean, I personally think his statement is ludicrous - what are we supposed to do? Let these monsters fly planes into our buildings, kill and terrorize our citizens and then politely ask them not to do that again? Or is it the "high-tech" part that troubles him? Perhaps we should go into their country on foot, and let them kill off several thousand ground troops just to make sure that we don't have the unfair advantage that our bombs and missiles would give us. Joe, buddy, we did that before someplace in Southeast Asia - didn't work.

But I digress. So even though I do not agree with his view, at least Mr. Biden has a opinion that he seems to stick to longer than two days. The ability and the right to freely state an opinion - even if it is not popular - is one of the things that this "open-ended" war is preserving. It is one of the things that the al-Qaeda and the Taliban and the countries Bush labeled as the Axis of Evil do not allow. Mr. Daschle's behavior of trying to find contrarian issues to voice for the sake of publicity - while not rocking the boat - is one of the worst faces of our political animals. If you want to take issue with the policies of the administration, go ahead. Just don't cower and deny your comments when Main Street America frowns at you for slamming the war just as the casualties start arriving home.

OK, well that's enough on the political front for now. I'll leave Mr. Daschle alone until the next time he tries to have an opinion and then take it back.

Let's see, a lighter topic . . . ah, I have it. Do you know what the number one city is in terms of meeting single men? Ah, come on . . . guess!

[EHHHH!]

No, according to Ladies' Home Journal, it's Santa Ana, California. Really. New York City was number 162.

It's always interesting to read studies by people who have apparently never visited the places they are studying.

~ ~ ~

Quote du jour:

"A politician will do anything to keep his job
-- even become a patriot."

-- William Randolph Hearst (1863 - 1951)

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