In the wake of Bridgegate it appears that January is off to a great start for political shenanigans as former Virginia Governor Bob McDonnell and his wife were indicted on federal corruption charges. McDonnell has been touted as a possible Vice-Presidential candidate for Mittens in the 2012 Election, but apparently Mittens has good instincts: he dodged not one, but two bullets so far now that Governor Christie is in a mess and McDonnell is indicted.
It's easy to wallow in a wee bit of schaudenfreude at the travails of Republican officials but as an independent voter, who shops around and looks for the best possible candidate to hand my vote off too in every election I can, I'd prefer it if both parties got their shit together and brought their A-game to the table.
(The Quiet Man and I actually touched on this a little when last we spoke: for all the hatred of The Moustache in certain parts of the state, he belongs to a slightly older generation of Republicans. GOPers who were tight with a buck, talked a little too much about morality/family values but were more or less tolerable. And if any GOPers readings this want to try and insist that a more ideologically pure party is the key to success, keep in mind that LBJ once said that it's better to be inside the tent pissing out than outside the tent pissing in and trying to shrink your tent ensures the latter outcome instead of the much preferable former.)
It's messy and delightfully irritable, watching the process of evolution and change. If I'm a betting man though, I'd say a Clinton Presidency and a Republican Congress in 2016 might be the best possible solution for all concerned when it comes to holding down the crazies at either end of the spectrum. (Which is something I'd like to see... oddly enough of all the probable GOPers mentioned for 2016, I wouldn't count Rand Paul out yet. The media will undoubtedly dig up every 'kooky', 'weird' (i.e. libertarian and perfectly sensible) thing he's ever said but he could go deep in any GOPer field.)
While corruption charges might actually be a for real type of thing, the other end of the spectrum finds the interwebs abuzz with charges that TX Gubernatorial Candidate Wendy Davis took liberties with her biography and had a real d'oh sort of moment. I'm really not sure what to think about this stuff yet... lefties are already screaming sexism which is the reaction that you sort of have to expect with this stuff.
Mainly, it's just bad optics. The piece in the Dallas Morning News doesn't really indicate that her ex-husband or her daughters have any hard feelings, but the fact that her ex-husband cashed out his 401K to pay of her Harvard Law Degree and she divorced him the day after the last payment was made will raise eyebrows. The fact she pretty much gave him full custody of the kids, saying 'it's not a good time for me right now' could also raise eyebrows- either way, it's ammunition for the right (and yeah, there's probably some sexism thrown in there, because as much as I hate to admit it, that's the country we live in) and seeds of doubt for independent voters. Maybe.
As for her d'oh moment, could I just suggest that even if you're running against a tinfoil hat wearing, misognystic, 'checks every box on worst stereotypes the media can come up with' type of GOPer, inviting your opponent to 'walk a day in your shoes' might not be the best thing to say when the dude's a paraplegic. #justsaying
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