First I must apologize for the deception in getting your attention since none of us common folks are actually invited to the parties. In reality it should read:

Hey America… are you ready to watch the political elite party?

And at the taxpayers’ expense.

On Monday the Democratic National Convention in Denver kicks off the two biggest political busts this side of Congress and the White House. Then on the following Monday it’s the GOP’s turn. The total expenses for these two political hullabaloos will exceed three hundred million dollars. Now think about that for a moment as you try to balance your household budget this month. Then add in the fact that all of this cold cash will be spent just to tell all us what we already know, as in who is going to run for President in November and what these candidates stand for. As if by now we haven’t been battered with all of this hot air long enough. The extravagance by our political leaders to put on these lavish spectacles to simply state the obvious sort of sums up all of our economic and social issues in a nutshell doesn’t it. Spending three hundred million dollars on something that solves none of our nations problems and adding no new information is exactly what our government does the best. That is, misuse of the taxpayers’ money and time.

But who am I, or we, to complain? After all, these politicians have worked so hard for us and they do deserve a break once in a while. Wait, they’re already on a break. Well… I’m sure that they made sure that at least all of the really important work was done before they left the office, right? We are now drilling for our own oil somewhere new aren’t we?

Well ready or not the conventions are starting and I just thought I would share with the few of you who do bother to read my ramblings some random thoughts about the conventions and what has been going on in general.

Just out of curiosity I tried to find out how much the 2004 national conventions cost. Using Google I typed in “cost 2004 national conventions.” The very first item listed was an article by my favorite rag The New York Times about how the 2004 GOP convention had cost a record setting 154 million bucks! Boy those Republicans really know how to party! This article said some group did a 2200 plus page study of the costs of this GOP convention. It went on to give a breakdown of many of the lavish expenses including security, limos and so on along with seven grand just for donuts. Folks, that’s a lot of donuts. Homer Simpson would be able to commit donut suicide if he were a delegate.

It also stated that the cost for the balloons that were dropped after President Bush’s speech was a whopping $207,000.00! Now that does take a lot of hot air.

A little over half of this 154 million was paid for by private donations. Of course The NY Times spent half a paragraph explaining how these private donations could lead to corruption and fraud in the GOP. As if the GOP wasn’t just like the Dems with these ‘private donations’ and somehow we are supposed to believe that the GOP has a monopoly on corruption and fraud.

You should know that U.S. taxpayers then paid the balance. The article went on to state that the city, in this case New York, would also be refunded by the Federal government for the extra costs it incurred, such as extra police, clean up, etc. Such refunds were given at 15 million; with the U.S. taxpayers again picking up the tab. Shocking isn’t it, sort of gets you right about… here. Well I suppose we can at least be happy that the illegal immigrants didn’t get it.

Now the 2004 Democratic National Convention could not be that far off the GOP in the total cost of their party time either. But the funny thing is, as hard as I tried, I could not find anything on what the Dems’ 2004 convention ended up costing. I even tried a number of more specific searches and got zilch. Perhaps one 2200 plus page report is too much so who needs another? I am confident that The NY Times certainly wouldn’t be interested in it. Still it puzzles me that it was so easy to find what the GOP spent but no one seems to know what the Dems laid out for their party time? It’s sort of like trying to find John Kerry’s real discharge papers.

All in all it has been an interesting and humorous week in politics. For one Old John couldn’t remember how many homes he and his wife own. For this B.O., who was still trying to digest a meal from yet another San Francisco $25,000.00 A PLATE! dinner in his honor called Old John an elitist. This is even funnier since it is coming from the same guy who at an earlier San Fran elitist dinner in his honor called Americans gun owning, bible clutching, jobless, deer hunters who are suspicious of anyone who isn’t just like them. Or something like that. Politics, man it is so ridiculous its funny, the elitist calling the other elitist “an elitist.” Do all politicians spit into the wind?

Let me put it this way, unless you or I are illegal immigrants and we don’t mind waiting on tables, none of us are even getting close to Obama and his San Francisco elitist dinners. Nor are we hanging out with Old John.

But of course the Main Stream Media runs with this McCain The Elitist slur like it was actually news. Does the MSM really believe that we Americans have not figured out that unless you are one of ‘The Elite’ in this goofier-by-the-day country then you are not ever going to get a chance to be the President?

However, in Old John’s defense, I’m a tad bit younger than he is but if I can remember what day it is and I can find my cell phone without calling it, I’m having a good day. Truth be told if most of us had a spouse who owned a beer distributorship like Old John we wouldn’t be able to remember our own names or how to find our one and only home! So leave Old John alone, he remembered that he did have more than one home, at his age that’s close enough. I also bet that Old John knows that we have only 50 states not 57. Where was the over-hyped criticism on that Obama guffaw?

I was able to spend a delightful hour one afternoon thanks to Keith Olbermann on MSNBC. I had never seen his news show. Olbermann’s delivery of his ‘news’ reminded me of those poor kids who were stuck on those very bad Saturday Night Live news shows back in the 80’s. The only difference was that those SNL actors always had a pained expression on their faces as they delivered their terrible punch lines because they were smart enough to know that the jokes stunk. But Olbermann actually thinks he is charming, witty and intellectual as he smirks into the camera and delivers his appalling wit. MSNBC calls this an opinion show but they should end the charade and simply admit that it is just another campaign office for Obama. The only things missing in Olbermann’s studio are the unexplained and so then meaningless “Change” sign, Olbermann wearing an ‘Obama ’08’ lapel pin, and a Cuban Che Guevara flag hanging on the wall along with Obama’s New World election symbol.

During this hour I was treated to yet again another prime example of the MSM’s selective hearing when Obama was given full credit for Secretary of State Rice and Iraqi leaders discussing a ‘timeline’ for troop withdrawal. According to Olbermann, Obama was the first and only candidate to mention a ‘timeline’ in this entire election. Later they showed a film clip of Obama repeating what Olbermann stated, and in the same sarcastic way, of how he, Obama, had been the one who had talked about a ‘timeline” for withdrawal. Talk about short-term memory loss, every candidate and politician since this war started has discussed timelines for our troops’ withdrawal.

The only reason Rice and the Iraqis can discuss this timeline now is because of the success of ‘The Surge’ which was planned and executed by General Petraeus. What has also conveniently escaped their memories is that the MSM, Obama and the rest of the Democratic Party soundly criticized both ‘The Surge’ and the General. Even after it became evident that The Surge had been successful. After seven long and trying years where our young men and women in our Armed forces have fought and died to insure stability in Iraq, Obama now steps forward and wants the credit for this timeline of withdrawal. This man who has not contributed one positive thing to our country’s success in Iraq now wants to be the hero. The audacity of this clown is mind blowing, even for a politician.

Later Olbermann showed a clip of a Town Hall Meeting held by Old John in which an older woman stood up and discussed a multitude of issues for over twenty minutes. One of these issues was the possibility of another draft. When the old lady finally sat back down Old John thanked her for coming and for bringing up these issues then simply stated, “I agree with most everything you have said.”

BAM!

Olbermann: “John McCain said that he wants a draft!”

Thus I came to understand that to a liberal the Draft is the boogieman hiding in the closet. Want to see a liberal male wet his pants? Sneak up behind him and yell, “Draft!” And apparently not being of draft age does not matter. Ironically it is the Obama campaign that alleges that McCain is using fear to get votes. Yet here is an obvious ploy to scare people into voting for Obama by stating that McCain wants the return of the draft. If Olbermann, the reporter and informer of the people, were telling the truth then he would add that last month, during a war, all five Armed Forces met or exceeded their enlistment quotas. I am proud to say that the Marine Corps exceeded their goal with 117%. So much for this supposed need or scare of a draft. As much as I found Olbermann’s show humorous I doubt I’ll be watching it again any time soon.

Friday was a very silly day. Just when did America become so inane and superficial? Obama announces that he has made his choice for Vice President but that he will not tell us who it is until Saturday. All of a sudden we are a nation of giddy high school girls wondering whom that cute boy is taking to the prom? God help us. People watched their cell phones for Obama messages with the hope that they would be among the first that would know who their Messiah had Chosen. Did anyone actually sit for hours watching a split screen of the three front doors of the most likely ‘winner’ in this asinine contest? This country needs to grow up and start acting like we have some sense and maturity. It is an election campaign not ‘Who Wants To Marry A Millionaire.’

On Saturday Joe Biden was announced as Obama’s VP. Yes, the same Joe Biden who during the primaries expounded on how little experience Obama had and how the White House was “not the place for on the job training.” Yet on Saturday Biden was more than confident that Obama was the best choice to run our nation. Now do you understand just how disingenuous these politicians are?

The first question that came to my mind was: If Biden had not dropped out after his poor showing in Iowa and had won the Democratic nomination, would he have chosen Obama as his VP? The answer is absolutely not. Why would he? Obama lacks the experience to make a Biden ticket stronger. For the young or Black vote you say? No again because Biden is already a Democrat and young people and Blacks mostly vote Democratic anyway. So no, if the roles were reversed and Biden was the Democratic nominee for President, Obama would not even be in the picture. This makes the Democratic ticket the way it stands now and the Democratic nomination of Barrack Hussein Obama even stranger than it seemed before.

I looked up Biden on Wikipedia and they describe him as a moderate liberal. After reading further about his positions on abortion, gun control, reforming criminals, amnesty and social security for illegal immigrants and so on I wondered that if this guy is a moderate liberal, just what is a radical liberal? Oh yes, that would Barrack Obama.

Well, enjoy the conventions. Enjoy this short time when our politicians are in a positive state of mind. After all during election campaigns are the only times we hear our politicians say that they CAN do something, although usually it is stated as, “We can…” For the next two weeks we will hear them all proclaim that:

We can stop illegal immigration and protect our borders!

We can and must find alternate sources of energy while gathering our already abundant natural resources here at home!

We can stop our dependence on foreign oil!

We can and will provide health care for every American!

We can fix our social security!

We can improve our educational system!

And so on…

But when the last of those half a million dollars of balloons hit the floor at the GOP convention, the lights go out, the party’s finally over, and a new President takes office, it will be right back to, “We can’t…”

Four years ago at the close of these parties the cost of the balloons at those two 2004 conventions would have bought you a four-bedroom home in an upscale neighborhood here in Phoenix. Now after four years of a GOP White House and a Democratic Congress you can get that same house for the cost of just the 2004 GOP balloons alone. Another four years like the last four and none of that will matter because we’ll all be living out in our cars with no gas in the tanks. Way to go guys. Keep up the good work. Have a great time at your parties and please, don’t worry about us.

We’ll be just fine.

So… send in the clowns… don’t bother they’re here.

God Bless America

Semper Fi,
Mike

"Copyright 2008.  Michael E. Tank.  All rights reserved. No part of this document may be copied, faxed, electronically transmitted, or in any other manner duplicated without express written permission of the author."