McCain-Gramm???

Just thinking out loud here. Since the blogs are practically on fire both for and against John McCain, I wonder if one of McCain's old Senate buddies, Phil Gramm, would do anything to assuage the angst of both me and my true-blue conservative brethren.

I used to work for Phil Gramm and truly, the man is stone cold brilliant. We could frankly use an Economics PhD as a Veep. The beauty of Phil Gramm is also that he is that miraculous blend between the fiscal and social conservative -- like the mythical beast....the unicorn....they truly do exist! Gramm actually introduced a Constitutional Amendment every year to protect the unborn. He is a top notch conservative. Usually mentioned for Treasury Secretary or even laughably as a Chief of Staff. (Edit: Please understand that whatever job Phil Gramm would obtain....he would do remarkable things and be extraordinarily successful. But Chief of Staff just isn't a big enough job for that monumental brain!)

Nope. I figure if the trend is going toward McCain.....at least put someone in the understudy chair that would truly fire up conservatives.

I dunno. What do you think?

Florida. Yawn.

Those who know me will truly find this jaw-dropping.

I am so detached from politics that I didn't watch one microsecond of the Florida results. And since we are confessing here....I didn't watch the results in South Carolina, New Hampshire, Iowa or even Wyoming.

For me, this whole election is sort of like watching the Super Bowl without a team on the field -- semi-interesting from a historical point of view but my heart just isn't thumping as the decisive moment of victory or defeat takes shape.

Watching the debates has been infuriating. Not an unscripted, unrehearsed-t0-death moment yet. While that hasn't bothered me in political years of the past, it bothers me to the point of rage this year.

Here's the cold reality of the situation -- if the best conservative portions of the Republican candidates could be blended together, then I wouldn't be so horrified at what we are facing this fall. Last year I walked away from this process not only because of a new baby in our lives but also because I was truly disgusted by all things political.

It wasn't the ugliness of politics -- heaven knows I am unfortunately used to that unsavory part of the business. Perhaps it was being too close for too long to watching the sausage being made......needed a break from the sausage factory.

(Note: Truth? I'm being coy. I know pretty precisely why I took the year off. After all, I had some time to think about it. I'll let the reasons why come out when the time is right. In the meantime, speculate away. The sausage factory theory is pretty close, though.)

The situation is truly impossible. There is the correct political thing to do and then, there is the correct moral thing to do and frankly, for the first time in my voting life, those two things have not converged in the slightest. In fact, in the past, we have faced Presidential choices that we have "settled for" but at least at the margins, the political and the moral edges touched, even if it was ever so slightly. There was hope and at least a passing aquaintence with conservatism that didn't smack of political expedience and a fist full of talking points.

There are reasons to vote for and against each and every one of the Republican candidates and each case is compelling. I have friends involved in all of the races and the divisions run along the fault lines of the Republican Party itself.

There have been columns and blog postings by the dozens predicting the demise of the Party. While I wouldn't ever wish for the demise of the Party, I do not believe that change is a bad thing. Perhaps some really blunt conversations can take place now. There have been several factions within the Party that sit around tables in Washington and throughout the nation that smile at each other across the room and as soon as they are out of earshot from each other, plot to get the upper hand. The minefields and fault lines are exhausting to navigate.

Family fights can be cathartic. Even purifying. There may not be a resolution that everyone likes, but at least things can finally be truly discussed. Social conservatives have felt like red-headed stepchildren of the Party and fiscal conservatives have felt as though social conservatives never stop whining and demanding. Then there are some other factions running about that are also part of the family and have their list of complaints as well.

Growing pains can hurt, but they aren't always a bad thing. Some good things can come out of them even though the changes might seem drastic at the time.

Watching all of this, popcorn in hand, I try to keep the adage that my wise mother used to tell me about elections....."No matter who is elected President, we'll be washing the same dishes the next day..."

Did you ever think you'd actually long for a Bob Dole candidacy again?

Beware the Ides of January....

It is January the 15Th.....a day that many of us have been waiting for....

It is a veritable fun-fest of narcissism and an overload of self-esteem gone wild. Some have arrived with an entourage of supporters and well-wishers and some who are particularly desperate for attention show up in the wildest of costumes. Some have talent and others have unbelievably never been told that they haven't got a speck of it. They all have strong beliefs and are not afraid to tell you all about them. The scariest place on the planet is between them and a television camera (or a free plane ticket). Some are certifiably, over the top, little-men-in-the-white-coats nuts.

Some do have genuine talent and deserve our attention, even if it is just for a moment. But for others, this may be the last stop.

So once the freaks in the costumes are weeded out and the nuts finally are convinced that they really aren't going to make it and give up and go home, then America finally weigh in and vote.

And America has been voting in droves! Some have claimed that it is rigged but the winners have claimed their titles unmolested.

That's right....it is time for another season of AMERICAN IDOL!!!!

(What....did you think we were talking about Michigan or something???? )

My 500th post -- appropriately dedicated to Ronald Reagan.

500 posts! Woo-hoo!

"A political party cannot be all things to all people. It must represent certain fundamental beliefs which must not be compromised to political expediency or simply to swell its numbers."
- President Ronald Reagan at CPAC, 2/15/75

So sayeth the Book of Gipper. Amen.

My husband's right foot.

Remember the movie "My Left Foot"? Well, my husband's right foot has dominated my existence since last Thursday night.

He was taking out the Christmas tree. Our beautiful, 12-foot Christmas tree. The children were mourning its passing, but it was well past Twelfth Night and it was starting to look like procrastination on our parts!

Truly, it was a beautiful tree, loaded with tiny white lights and ornaments that echoed Christmas' past. But that tree also will forever be linked to my husband's misstep that cracked one of the multitude of bones that are in the foot.

At first, he sucked it up and limped through a meeting with his boss. But upon awaking on Friday morning, he fell back onto the bed with a yelp that signalled pain and shock. I looked at the foot, which now was a rainbow of colors and realized quickly that we needed to get to the emergency room.

So that is my excuse for not blogging on Friday. A day filled with x-rays, splints, runs to the drug store and full kid duties. The doctor's orders clearly said for him to stay off the foot and keep it elevated. Monday will be "permanent cast" day at the orthopedic surgeon's office and I'm truly hoping that surgery isn't in his future. My husband does many things well -- but staying down for any length of time or anything to do with hospitals, doctors, etc. and he is completely out of his element.

The kids are excited about the possibilities of drawing on his cast.

Man. It is going to be a LONG six weeks.

Unimpressive.

When I first saw this, I thought it had to be a joke.

http://www.menshealth.com/cda/article.do?site=
MensHealth&channel=guy.wisdom&category
=career.money&conitem=5d4f6063304d6110
VgnVCM10000013281eac____

But it isn't.

This is the most pathetic thing I have ever read. Literally, this chick makes me want to apologize for my entire gender. Where are the feminists to slap her upside her coifed hairdo? Oh, that's right. They support a woman's right to choose prostitution as a profession.

In all seriousness, check out any reality show and you will see women saying precisely this sort of thing. They all have the "what have you bought for me/done for me lately" attitude. Ladies, if this is what you are telling the man in your life, you needn't wonder why he hasn't popped the question.

Feminism has done such a disservice to women. They haven't taught women where their true power lies. It isn't in getting stuff from men or going to work and leaving their children to be raised by someone else or even in their ultimate Nirvana of "equality." All women have done is debase themselves by trying to be "equal". They have sunk to "equality" and in the process have orphaned a generation of children, gotten the privilege of getting themselves killed in the line of duty, found out that men really don't call back when you sleep with them, and spawned entirely new strains of the most virulent STDs the world has ever known. Congratulations.

Exactly what part of "equal" is defined by filling the empty soul one has created through meaningless liaisons with material possessions. We have now established what this woman clearly is, it is now just a matter of price. She wants to travel, have her parents travel and herself and her friends all treated to spa days and expensive shopping trips.

Apparently what this gal doesn't get is that when a man is truly committed to you -- I mean down to the bone marrow -- and you are equally committed to him......amazing, wonderful things happen without you even having to ask. But all of it -- the trips, the money, the material possessions, the jewelry, the gifts -- pale in comparison to the importance of the little moments that love creates.

Truly, I can't tell you what my husband got me for our last anniversary or even Christmas. It was spectacular, I'm sure. But the thoughtful things he does for me every day and the considerate, sweet, loving things he does for his family constantly, mean more than all the trinkets in the world. Frankly, I don't even think in terms of "what can I get from him next?" Instead, my concern at the moment is how his sprained ankle is. (He sprained his ankle badly this morning taking our 12-foot Christmas tree out to the curb.....a 12-foot tree, by the way, that the children still talk about going to get with him. Far more important than the fact that the tree was 12 feet was the time he spent with his children. They will always remember that.)

I don't know. It just seems like women today are more interested in the temporal things rather than the permanent and it is so sad.

This article didn't impress me in the least. In fact, it impressed upon me the amount of work that truly has to be done to reverse this sad state of mind that seems to have permeated women's psyches.

An Alzheimer's miracle drug?

What a blessing this drug would have been in the case of my mother:

http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/news/article-23431610-details/Drug%20'can%20reverse%20Alzheimer's%20symptoms%20in%20minutes'/article.do

Just about two decades ago, when my mother started down the pathway to Alzheimer's, it wasn't much discussed. It was happening to my friends' grandparents, but not many of my friends had mothers in their sixties. Early fifties, maybe.

At any rate, my mother started down the pathway of dementia in her early sixties. She had me at age 40 and there was some part of me that felt a little cheated. I didn't get to pick out my wedding dress with my mother. I didn't get to share the ups and downs of pregnancies with her or get that valuable advice on mothering that one can only get from a mother.

I did get to realize a few things earlier than others my age who didn't lose their parents in their 20s or 30s. When my mother first forgot my birthday, I discovered that a birthday isn't just about you....but your mother marks it as a terribly special day in her consciousness as well....losing that bond....that annual phone call that you know you are going to get and roll your eyes about.....when that goes away somehow the birthday is never quite complete again.

Many friends of mine who are having babies in their late 30s and early 40s may not have considered the cost of late parenthood. You have to raise your children a wee bit differently -- ready to take on significant responsibilities and able to handle things at a far younger age. And you might be around for a very short time so it is incredibly important that you be there. Nannies, night nurses, etc., are wonderful, but the fact is, an older mom should know that the clock is ticking. Not trying to be morbid here, but friends, no one knows the cost of having older parents better than I do. I wouldn't trade it for the world, and the benefits outweigh the costs by a long shot, but there are costs that one cannot deny.

And then there are the fiscal costs. At the time my mother was ill, my father took care of her until his health finally gave out. Health insurance wouldn't cover her costs at the nursing home and in the early 1990s, the nursing home we found for her cost $10K a month and that didn't include a host of extras.....like diapers. You haven't lived until you have changed your own mother's diapers. Frankly, it was a privilege and I wish I had the opportunity to do so again if it meant I could have her back for just a little while longer.

When someone you love is in the throes of dementia, you keep hoping to see some sign of clarity, a flicker of recognition or just some measure of hope that your loved one has somehow done the impossible with the irreversible.

It is different than any other kind of death. When my father died, he was clear as a bell until the day he died. The lymphoma had devoured his frame down to 140 pounds from a strapping 200, but he was actually doing laundry and running errands until he finally laid down for his final sleep that night. They are there, eyes still somehow twinkling with the history of your relationship with them, no matter how ill they are. Then when death comes upon them, the soul is just gone in an instant.

But when you are dealing with dementia, the person that your loved one once slips away very slowly, chipping off memories and personality, scarcely allowing you to acclimate to the "new" person they have become before they slide completely into a hollow shell with vacant eyes.

You want to will it to stop. You want them to fight against it. But there is no "raging against the dying of the light" because they truly do not know or understand what is happening. So you are left, hoping for a miracle but trying to come to grips with the fact that there is simply nothing you can do but make them absolutely comfortable as possible.

That, friends, is a lot for a 20-something to take in. And I wonder, given the state of young folks today, if they are prepared to handle the reality that could come crashing into their world? Currently, it would seem that they are overdosing on self-esteem but don't seem to have a lot of self-reliance and more importantly, they seem completely engrossed in the temporal rather than the permanent. Instant gratification and acquisition of the material seems to make America hum on all engines, but when the chips are down, what spiritual strength do they have to draw upon?

Children are not Pomeranians and having them later in life does not make them accessories or fashion statements. They require a concentrated dose of parenting to withstand what life will throw at them. And for heaven's sake, prepare them for responsibility.

So......this miracle drug sounds great. God bless the scientists who have discovered it and I pray that it will be the miracle that people have been praying for. But at the risk of sounding skeptical, at the time my mother was "diagnosed" (true diagnosis doesn't come until the demise), I believe the treatment of the day was some other miracle drug combined with some super doses of vitamins. Didn't work.

So rather than counting on a miracle, I'm going to do my job and raise my children to be outstanding human beings, godly to the core and tough as a boot (as my grandfather would say! :) ) Standing at the foot of your mother's grave can be very clarifying. It brings life's priorities into crystal clear focus. And like my mother before me, my gravestone will say "wife and mother." No other job will be more important than that. Miracles are the cherry on top.

Quoteapalooza

"That's what a Congressman or a Senator is for---to see that too much money don't accumulate in the national Treasury." ---Will Rogers

"Freedom was given to humanity by God. But, governments, if they can help it, never give freedom. They just hand out slavery with slogans." ---Taylor Caldwell

"To prevent inquiry is among the worst of evils." ---Thomas Holcroft

"The titans of the major media don't see themselves as in need of reform. They think the voters have to be reformed, not the media." ---Brent Bozell

"The question of what kind of President each candidate would makeis infinitely more important than all the 'horse race' handicapping that dominates the media." ---Thomas Sowell

"Liberal voters want desperately to cast a history-making vote and, if that's your priority, Barack Obama is a much more appealing way to cast it than Hillary. Don't worry about this 'Change You Can Believe In' shtick. Obama doesn't believe in it, and neither should you. He's a fresh face on the same-old-same-old---which is the only change Democrats are looking for." ---Mark Steyn

Live Free or Die

That's always been the greatest state motto of all time. I have heard liberals state that they either don't like it -- too violent -- or they don't "get it." It strikes me that perhaps the only thing they want to die for is in the realm of self-interest. Now that certainly doesn't go for all liberals, of course, but there are an awful lot of liberals who are terrified of death. Perhaps they are scared of death since their religion is science. I cannot imagine facing this second half of my life thinking that this is all there is. What a deary existence.

But I digress.

New Hampshire sure did put a bunch of pundits and pollsters in their places, didn't it? And what did I say yesterday? That wins and losses would be misinterpreted and outcomes are not all they appear to be......remember?

New Hampshire is one bizarre state. Lovely place, but virtually unpredictable when it comes to voting patterns. Remember Bill Clinton's results there? And John McCain's victory in the last round? Fact is, a victory or a defeat in New Hampshire is not dispositive, it is merely an indicator of what messages are resonating with the "I vote for the person, not the party" crowd.

There was no one more surprised than Hillary Clinton last night, unless it was Barack Obama. The problem with believing punditry or your own press releases is the subjective nature of both. Now there is no doubt in the world that Barack Obama has a charisma that is astounding and he brings tons of otherwise apathetic young folks into the process, but perhaps those folks are there for the free eats rather than the loftier goals of the democratic process.

Now perhaps Hillary did know that there was going to be quite an upset because Sean Hannity called Mary Matalin to find out if the headlines of the day were true. According to Mary, her Ragin' Cajun hubby was not going to this Clinton campaign to film "War Room: The Reunion."
It is sort of a shame, too, because James would be the second most interesting person on that campaign team. Bill takes first place by far. He sure does want a second crack at that intern pool, now doesn't he?

Barack Hussein Obama, the Left's idea of Ronald Wilson Reagan but without the clear moral compass and the concise ideas that penetrated even the most cynical political animal and the overwhelming passion for the goodness of America and her people.......was supposed to put the stake in heart of the Clinton campaign. Based upon faulty polling, panting reporters who breathlessly reported from Obama campaign events and a whole lot of wishful thinking, it is clear that the graphics guys at the mainstream news departments had some scrambling to do to change their mistaken headlines reminiscent of "Dewey vs. Truman" quickly.

As for the Republicans, it was pretty clear that McCain had things sown up, but this is a really weird year and heaven knows that it is a pretty flawed field of players. Every one of them has problems that makes them less than ideal candidates despite their fervent desire to claim the "Reagan conservative" mantle.

Truth is, I am already popping popcorn for what is probably going to be a brokered convention. It would actually be kind of nice to have a bit of intrigue rather than the sappy, tired, trite, worn, dull speeches that make up conventions on both sides of the aisle. Is it any wonder that broadcast channels hesitate to change their regular programming for the dry, dull, boring, sing-song speeches that no one, not even the convention participants, actually listen to?

Injecting a bit of passion into things would be nice. A bit unscripted. A bit of humor, for once, people! Political types take themselves far, FAR too seriously.

So now we go to South Carolina where everyone claims an edge. Poll numbers I saw today go something like this........

Huckabee is way ahead of everyone else, much to the horror of anyone who is not a Christian conservative. Big debate in Myrtle Beach, S.C. tomorrow night.
Huckabee: 32%
McCain: 19%
Romney: 16%
Thompson: 9%
Giuliani: 9%

So here are a couple of questions. Was it really wise for Guiliani to sit out these past few rounds? How does one win a Republican primary with just New York and Los Angeles? Does McCain always poll at 19% in South Carolina (same number post NH against Bush 43, actually) despite spending lots of time hanging out in South Carolina with his number one lapdog, Lindsey Graham? How energized are the Huckabelievers and are those numbers solid? Is this Fred's last campaign effort or is he really planning to continue to stick it out?

So everyone chant with me now "Brokered convention, brokered convention, brokered convention, brokered convention..."

Not really a catchy beat, is it? Got to think of something clever for that....

So, I'm back.

After a year long haitus, a self-imposed sabbatical, a contemplative pause........I'm back.

Truthfully, I never meant for it to be close to a year before I wrote again but having my daughter changed something for me. It is my third child and possibly my last and so, I decided that absolutely nothing would divert my attention from this new, challenging arrangement of three children under the age of six running underfoot in the Daly household.

We've gone from a man-on-man defense to a zone defense, truth be told, and some things just simply had to be let go. Since I don't employ a battalion of nannies, night nurses, assistants and maids, the housework and child duties really did triple. I also duly took note of the extremely hurt look of son #2 as he realized he was no longer the baby. We guided him gently through "middle child syndrome" (or at least we hope that is over.....).

This precious baby girl has brought an entirely new dimension to our family and despite a few bumps in the road, the boys have taken to her with their whole hearts. She is sweet and delicate, but also determined and tough and is doing everything she can to blow the development charts right out of the window and catch up to her big brothers as fast as possible. Babyhood is far behind us now as we are fully into toddler mode now.

I am my mother's age when she had me and I wonder if she had the same feelings that I do. Baby book entries shed some light onto her psyche, but I'm wondering if she had a wholescale change of heart as I have had.

As more and more of my departed parents' friends take their final journeys into nursing homes and assisted living facilities, I realize just how short life truly is. I recognized the phenomenon, of course, when my parents passed away, but now that I have had a baby in my fortieth year just as my mother did, there is some kind of time clock that has kicked in and I realize with absolute clarity that there is only so much time left and the list of things I would like to accomplish does not seem to be getting any shorter. Diversions, however tempting, should not keep goals distant.

So the new me has gone from blond to brunette and has zeroed in on those things that truly matter. Regularly writing -- be it columns or this blog -- will be one of those things. Family will always be the top priority and if it overtakes the efforts here or elsewhere, so be it, but I will certainly make the effort and I hope you will make the effort to visit here often.

I will comment daily on things -- sometimes political, sometimes not. But even that has changed. I am not interested in the least in spin or anything slightly less than the truth. And sometimes the truth hurts. So be it.

It strikes me that both Democrats and Republicans have screwed things up to a point where I truly wonder if the pendulum will ever swing back to sanity again. The depth of the "malaise" among conservatives is deeper than most folks know, write about or are willing to even admit.

Even those who have extensive experience in elections, etc. haven't seen it this bad before. Those of us still looking for a saviour are wondering about the cost of settling yet again for a candidate who will yet again disappoint. More disturbingly, the true nature of conservatism strays from the original definition as additional adjectives are added to the word "conservative". There are now "economic" conservatives, "Christian" conservatives, "compassionate" conservatives, "South Park" conservatives, black conservatives, conservative women, "Reagan conservatives" (which truth be told incorporated ALL of those things....).....and the list goes on and on as we Balkanize into an untenable Tower of Babel, losing what we really are over the pathetic desire to win an election at all costs.

Oh sure, they say, but then, once we have the Oval Office, we can do those conservative things that matter! But somehow, the price for selling one's soul to get into the Oval Office is, in fact, selling one's soul. And that leaves us, as conservatives, out in the cold as everyone but conservatives are embraced and a new patchwork quilt of socialism, liberalism and every other "ism" are thrown into the pot to create a new definition of "conservatism."

Here's the thing.....there is no doubt that the President has an obligation to listen to all points of view. But does he have to embrace whatever theory was the last one in the room? Or the one that some biased poll question says is the way to go? Why should Ted Kennedy, or a bunch of feminists or union thugs ever get to dictate policy to a Republican President? Will the Family Research Council, Tom Coburn, home schoolers and free marketeers get to even meet with a Democratic President? Doubtful, but I'm willing to hold out hope.

They say that the Reagan coalition is dead. I don't think so. Open up a Supreme Court vacancy and watch it come together pretty quickly. Everyone in this so-called Reagan coalition is either attached to a candidate based upon that one thing that appeals to them, or because ambition and opportunity collided or they are sitting out this round, horrified at everything they see.

I found it fascinating that the one guy who uses the best email list of evangelicals, Huckabee, becomes the big winner in Iowa. Then, of course, every "economic" conservative had kittens over the victory, not comprehending in the least the power of email among Christian conservatives. Christian conservatives don't watch TV very much. They are with their families. Traditional methods of reaching them don't work. Economic conservatives are more likely to watch commercials and having been subjected to the barrage of Romney ads probably thought he was a done deal.

New Hampshire is a whole other story, as many candidates have found out. Predictions are all over the place for both Republicans AND Democrats as the independents have a blast playing independent reindeer games. The analysis is sure to be slightly off as they fail to realize the gamesmanship of independent voters. They actually take a huge amount of pride in "voting for the person, not the party" and spend an enormous amount of time in the details -- either the details of the positions of the candidates or the sheer strategy of voting for one person in a primary over another.

Oh what fun this year is going to be, friends.