My Days As A Single Parent . . .

are over!!!!!

For almost three months, my wife has been living in Virginia while my daughter and I live in Illinois. Today, my wife moves permanently to Virginia. Allelujia!

Now a social comment: Anyone who wants to criticize single parents has to go through me first. I have a good, secure, well-paying job, with health-care. My daughter is going to a good school, with very attentive teachers. I don't have to worry about how I'm going to pay my bills. And after three months of single parenting I AM EXHAUSTED!!! The stress of being solely responsibled for a child is immense. I get home at 6, pick up my daughter from After-School Care, walk the dog, make dinner, get my daughter to do her homework, do laundry, wash dishes, feed the dog, eat dinner, get my daughter to bed, and then ... go to bed myself. Then, in the morning I walk the dog, get my daughter ready for school and get to work. I haven't watched a full grown-up tv show in three months. I actually have favorite kids shows (Avatar, ICarly, Phineas and Ferb). Adult conversation? Dream on. It is extremely hard, and I have all the advantages. Single parents are doing something almost impossible. They have my enduring respect and sympathy.

My Message to McCain Supporters

Congratulations to all. Now we have to do something with this opportunity. Let me say something to all those people who are terrified about where our country is heading. First, I encourage you to look at this. It might seem a bit schmaltzy, but, hey, we're liberals, that is how we think. I also want to let you know that I know exactly how you are feeling. We might never agree on the merits of the issues facing this country, but I have felt that same fear you now feel. In 2000 and 2004, I had to wonder whether I knew what my country was, and fear where it was heading. And you know what happened? We survived. What is a rocky road? Sure it was. And I say to you now, my McCain supporting friends, this country is strong. Even if Obama is everything some of you think he is (a white-hating, socialist, closet terrorist) this country will survive. It might be a rocky road, but it will be just fine. I've been where you are. Looking down a dark tunnel wondering if it will end. It will. Either Obama is what you fear he is, and he will be rejected four years hence, or he is not, and your choice will be a little harder in 2012. Either way, we move on.

Think About It

I saw this video on Ta-Nehisi Coates' blog at the Atlantic and got teary-eyed. Not because of the dancing, but becasue I started to think about who those women are. They are apparently African-American women born in the 1940s or thereabouts. They were teenagers before the civil Rights Act of 1964, and before the Voting Rights Act 0f 1965. They were forced to the back of buses because Rosa Parks hadn't demanded the right to sit wherever she damn well pleased. They had never heard of Martin Luther King. I'll bet those teenagers could not even imagine an African-American would even be considered for President. Now they are dancing to support Obama. They are in almost perfect sync. and I think its because the dance is not just a dance. It is more important to them then just a dance. It is their way of celebrating the unthinkably glorious. They have to be perfect, their teenage souls demand it. I, a 40-year old white man, say to those ladies: DANCE AWAY!!!! You have earned it! I have but one request - can I join in the second time around. I haven't earned the right to do it the first time.

False Equivalency

I recently saw an MSNBC spot on its morning show "Morning Joe" with Joe Scarborough and others. One of the hosts, Willie Geist, went out in the upper west side of Manhattan with a McCain/Palin t-shirt, trying to find McCain/Palin supporters. Here is the video. Most importantly, watch the commentators' discussion at the end. They act as if the reactions were far out of bounds because they don't like what McCain stands for and refused to talk about it while they were living their lives. One host called it "troubling." Mike Barnicle called the people "closed minded" and insinuated it was "loathsome." Joe Scarborough called it "hostile." Later, one called the reaction of the Manhattanites "venom" (although it is not on the video - I saw it live). Geist says at the end that Republicans in Nashville would have disagreed "in a polite way" if he did the same thing there with an Obama/Biden t-shirt. I don't think this video shows much rudeness to be honest. Everyone seemed relatively polite. They just chose not to speak to Geist for very long if at all.

Compare that to videos such as this, this, and this.

Oh, how I long for Republican kindness and politeness. Those Democrats are so rude.

NOTE: I especially love the McCain supporters who yell at the Obama supporters to "Get a Job!" As if people going to a McCain rally have jobs, but those protesting at the same McCain rally must not.

Don't Panic

Democrats and other Obama supporters are a skittish bunch. Every time a tracking poll shows Obama's lead down a point, we are sure it is a trend. If his lead goes up a point, we are sure it is just staistical noise. As a Red Sox fan, I had many years of experience in this area of emotional masochism. The latest point on my graph of pessimism would have to be FoxNews new poll, which showed Obama's lead down to three from his nine point lead only a week before. Panic set in.

But then I, and others, checked the internal numbers, and discovered that the later poll had a much smaller democrat to republican ratio than the earlier poll. Doing some basic math shows that if they had used the ration from the earlier poll, Obama's lead would have been seven points (50-43) instead of three.

Now many of us would like to believe this is another example of Fox bias (as if we needed another one). But as Nate Silver at www.fivethirtyeight.com correctly points out: Fox News has never weighted for party identification, so this is simply the luck of the draw. The fact that Fox hasn't pointed out the difference is, however, the example we are looking for.

Since I've Been Gone

I have found a couple of new blogs to enjoy. The entire stable of bloggers at The Atlantic is good. I've read Andrew Sullivan for years now. And recently, I have become hooked on Marc Ambinder for good and fair election news, and Ta-Nehisi Coates for a true heartfelt liberalism from an entirely different perspective than my own. Another good site for liberal perspective is Matt Yglesias' at Think Progress. I'm sure I'll think of more after I sign off, but those will do for now.

Seuss Meets Palin

To very funny results.

Desperation!

You want some evidence of McCain supporter desparation? Look no further than The Corner. Here is the full quote from the National Review's On-line editor, Kathryn Jean Lopez, speaking of the new arrow in John McCain's quiver:

You know, he could bring out some crowds in some battleground states. If I were the McCain campaign, I'd beg him to campaign all next week.

Who is this rallying savior of the McCain campaign? It is too obvious: It is Fred Thompson. Fred Thompson? Yes. Fred Thompson. He who received 13% of the Republican vote in Iowa, and reached his peak at 25% of the REpublican vote in Wyoming.

I'm Back and Better than Ever

It's Better Left Said went unattended for too long. Now I'm back and re-energized to help (in the last few days) make Barak Obama our next President. After that, I'll just be spewing my thoughts on whatever catches my fancy. But most importantly, we now have to win an election. So let's go!

Pot, Have You Met Kettle?

Geraldine Ferraro said about Barack Obama:

If Obama was a white man, he would not be in this position . . . And if he was a woman (of any color) he would not be in this position. He happens to be very lucky to be who he is. And the country is caught up in the concept.

Lest you forget, Geraldine Ferraro was the 3-term congresswoman from New York who Walter Mondale chose as his running mate in 1984. Does she really think she would have been in that position if one of her X chromosomes had been a Y? Please. In politics, who one's parents are and various other factors totally out of one's control are extremely significant. Would Hillary be Senator from New York if she had not been First Lady? Would George W. Bush, John F. Kennedy, or Al Gore reached their political heights if they did not have their parents? Probably not. So get over it Gerry.

Even A Stopped Clock . . .

Not long ago, I said that maybe there wasn't much dirt on Obama. Well, I'm not as stupid as I might sound.

David A. Paterson

Who, you say? Probably a very happy man today. Even if he says otherwise. And if Fox News can be trusted. Oh. Never mind.

Blithering Idiocy

How exactly does one pass the "National Security Threshold?" If you are the VP nominee, does the Presidential nominee have to physically carry you over it when the convention is over?

Teen Freedom of Speech

To all teenagers, if this is not reversed on appeal, you should all walk out of school. What the hell was the District Court Jusge thinking?

Obama On Education

If you care about education, I think this tells you why Barack Obama should be President. Man, he is good. Can I get an Amen!