The GOP + Ron Paul Debate

I hope you all had the opportunity to watch that comedy show that was the GOP + Ron Paul Debate. It was refreshing to see Mitt Romney get called out on being a flip-flopper. Tancredo's quote of, "Lets make decisions on the road to Damascus rather than the road to Des Moines," was excellent. He called them all out saying that you should go with your heart rather than what you think will get votes.

Overall, it was a toss up between Huckabee and Giulliani on who I believe won the debate. Rudolph showed a lot of passion when he took Ron Paul's statement about America causing 911 to heart. Paul is a scary man and it was nice to see Rudolph throw him under the bus for a stupid, insensitive and ignorant statement. I would rather have any of the Democratic candidates in office than Ron Paul. Paul seems to have one goal - make America look stupid. He continues to make "Tee Ball" remarks that other candidates are smashing out of the park.

I thought Fox did an excellent job of giving everyone a fair shot at making statements. The broadcast was, as usual, fair and balanced.

Will Fred Thompson please step in and save the day!

Am I becoming a democrat?

No, but I'm pretty darn close. Liberals, you can call off the Jehovah's Witness-like brigade to my front door. I will ultimately do the right thing. However, I watched the Democratic Presidential Debate last week (thanks youtube.com) and one common theme reigned supreme and it wasn't liberal-whacko-baby-killing-pot-smoking-national-security-jeopardizing-tax-raising-lack of commonsense-alism, it was passion. When Barack Obama speaks, there is passion. The same goes for Senator Rodham-Tripp-Lewinski-Clinton.

The more and more I look at it, the closer and closer I get to being a democrat. If the democrats would relax thier positions on Roe v. Wade, Stem cell research, gay marriage and if their media would quit shoving their agenda's down my throat I would strongly consider moving parties. Here is a list of candidates and my impressions:

Democrats:
Joe Biden - Certainly more passionate than any Republican candidate.
Hillary Rodham Clinton - Might make me want to move to Fiji but I would hear her out.
Chris Dodd - Passionate but scary
John Edwards - If he would back down on being so darn liberal he might be a good option.
Al Gore - Show us you know about more than the environment... which you still don't know much about.
Mike Gravel - It would be entertaining... 4 years of an old guy getting angry and making us giggle.
Dennis Kucinich - What costs are associated with moving to Fiji?
Barack Obama - A little extreme but I would hear him out.
Bill Richardson - By FAR my favorite candidate in the entire election, republican or democrat. Our country would be safer and much better off with Richardson at the helm.

Republicans:
Sam Brownback - Nice views, gutless
Jim Gilmore - Who are you Jim Gilmore?
Newt Gingrich - If you don't have a problem electing a guy who has a checkered past then I don't either.
Rudy Giuliani - If street gangs and sewer systems were the major problem with our country, then Rudy would be the best man for the job. Unfortunately, those are not the problems. Every day live human beings are aborted and Giuliani has the gall to say that social issues are insignificant.
Chuck Hagel - I am from Nebraska, he is from Nebraska. I have guts, he is gutless.
Mike Huckabee/Duncan Hunter/Tommy Thompson - Not enough information to make a judgement
John McCain - laughable. More liberal than most of the Democrats.
Ron Paul - He would make us laugh a lot. Scary extremist.
Mitt Romney - Call me whatever you want to call me but I would never consider voting for a Mormon. It is a cult that I do not want any part of.
Tom Tancredo - Doesn't stand a chance, more guts than most.
Fred Thompson - If he stood a chance he would be my favorite

If there was a republican candidate that would just stand up and try to relate to the American people and show people their passion and strong stances on social issues, THEY WOULD WIN FOR SURE! Nobody is doing that and it is frustrating. The American people will be passionate right along with you. Look at the backs of mini-vans in this country and you will see American flags. This is what people want. They don't want a wealthy businessman. They want an honest man that stands by his word - a patriot for the American people. Vote for me in 2020 when I am old enough to run!

Sen. McCain, please run as something else

Well folks, Senator McCain has done it again. Now, instead of calling Christians "agents of intolerance" he is threatening to blow up TV host Jon Stewart with an IED under his desk.

It reflects a lot on his leadership ability that he can justify a joke like that a week after 34 people died at Virginia Tech and American soldiers are dying every day in Iraq. Rep. John Murtha, a Democrat from Pennsylvania (I probably only agree with him on this one thing, by the way) called out McCain on the House floor by saying, "Imagine a presidential candidate making a joke about IEDs when our kids are getting blown up."

McCain's dignified presidential response, "Lighten up and get a life."

Maybe if we elect him as our next president we can hear more of this kind of mature humor. If he is willing to make light of this, what else will he make light of? This is no different than the John Kerry "get an education or else" speech. However, Mr. Kerry was apologetic.

Sen. McCain has shown a disinterest in our border crisis, anger towards Evangelical leaders and has little appeal when it comes to conservative social issues stances. Sen. McCain, please find another political party to embarrass during the coming election.

Do we REALLY hate Barry?

Sitting in Dodger Stadium on Tuesday night as the Dodgers took the field against the Giants, I couldn't get something out of my mind. Do I really hate Barry Bonds?

When Bonds stepped foot onto the field at Chavez Ravine he was showered by boo's and possibly booze if a fan could get close enough. However, when he stepped to the plate the place went silent and everyone held their breath as the pitch was released from the pitchers hand. If contact was made and the ball did not travel over the wall, everyone in the stadium exhaled at once. It was the first time to my knowledge that I exhaled along with Paris Hilton - that is, of course, assuming she knows who Barry Bonds is. After he made contact, it was if everyone in the stadium wanted to watch the ball sail over the wall as a sort of guilty pleasure.

I am one of those people who says that they hate Barry Bonds and says that they hope he never breaks Humble Hammerin' Hank's rountripper record. Although another side of me thinks that I might like to be alive when that record is broken and can't wait for Alex Rodriguez to break it in 2012. It hurts to know that it will be the steroids breaking the record and not the player but we still hold Mark McGwire in such high regard and he was caught red handed with Andro.

I have also noticed another tradgedy within this comedy, We hate Bonds more on TV than we do in real life.

It is easy to sit at home and scream at the TV when Bonds comes up, but you want the Giants to be on TV every night. You want to know Bonds' line for the night. But, you see him step to the plate and waggle his bat with that arrogant look on his face and that fat chew in his mouth and he is much easier to hate than when you are sitting in the second deck of Dodger Stadium or Petco Park or Coors Field or Chase Field.

When you see Barry take the field and everyone is boo-ing and shouting profanities at him you have to feel for the guy. If you don't, you might lack a soul. People shout such off-the-wall dumb things as well. At Dodger Stadium I heard the following from fans:

1. "Barry Sucks, Barry Sucks, Barry Sucks" - Let's get serious. Does Barry really suck? If he sucks so bad why does Pedro Gomez from ESPN follow his every move? Does your neighbor who sucks at softball get stalked by the media?

2. One guy yelled, "Steroids". One word. Are you attempting to clarify the pronounciation of the word to Barry? At least make it a part of a sentence.

3. "BALCO Sucks" - If BALCO sucks than why did it make Barry hit so many home runs?

4. "Ba-rry Cheat-ed clap, clap, clap, clap, clap" (repeat) - Is it really cheating if your sport is too dumb to make it illegal? Putting weights in a Bobsled is cheating because it is against bobsledding rules. If nobody told Barry not to take roids (outside of the laws of this country of course) then why not?

Does it bother me that one of the biggest jerks in the league is going to be on top of the coveted all-time home run list? Of course. However, I do think that it is about time that we start ignoring Bonds distance from the record. Don't you see it? Barry wants you to boo him. Every time someone boos they are acknowledging that Barry might become the all-time leader in home runs. We need to be silent during Bonds' at bats so he gets to the point where he says, "Why doesn't anyone care that I am about to break the record?" If you REALLY hate Barry, that would be the best thing to do.

After this record is broken - and it WILL be broken - generation after generation will pass down the story of the great slugger who used drugs to become a superhero. Whether or not we give him an asterisk in the record books or deny him from the Hall of Fame he will never, ever feel like he has the record. He will always know how he got it. He has to live with that. What a depressing life this home run king leads.