I eat crow.

Alright, I'm finally ready to apologize to John McCain for kicking him out of the presidential race all that time ago. (See my John McCain Retrospective.) So, Mr. McCain. I'm sorry. You were right, and I was wrong. When I said that thing about 'Nam vets not knowing the meaning of "exit strategy," well, I guess I was right about that. But I was wrong in that it actually paid off for you. Also, I'm sorry for saying that your only future is NASCAR commercials. Oh, and I'm sorry for saying that thing about how watching your YouTube videos makes people dumber. And for calling you John "I-lived-in-a-cage-but-now-crack-bad-jokes" McCain. Ya. Especially sorry for that last thing. That wasn't nice. And I'm not just saying this because you're gonna be the next president since you're the only white male left in the race. I genuinely mean it. Sorry. Okay. I feel better now.

How To Get Your Hick Town On Drudge

Sometimes, a snarky post title is all the commentary required. The rest of the work is already done for me:

Brattleboro residents will vote at town meeting on whether President George Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney should be indicted and arrested for war crimes, perjury or obstruction of justice if they ever step foot in Vermont.

Continue: Brattleboro to vote on arresting Bush, Cheney

I'm sure our favorite reader Mary will have something to say about this.

Breaking: Elizabeth Kucinich Drops Out Of Presidential Race

This just in. Elizabeth Kucinich has dropped her bid for president. As disheartening as this may be, it should free up her schedule for Maxim and Details. I'm looking forward to her in a bikini doing 20Qs.

The story via Reuters.

John Kerry: Your identity has been stolen.

Okay, this is really low. The folks at the Barack Obama camp have sent out an email pretending to be John Kerry. Shock and awe, I tell you! Look at the image below. You can clearly see that the name in the FROM line is "John Kerry" but the email address says "info@barackobama.com". They're not even trying to bullshit us anymore. How hard would it have been to at least make a new email address. You know, something as simple as "johnkerry@barackobama.com". I definitely would have fallen for that. But this? This is almost criminal. Oh well. I guess it doesn't really matter. I mean, who would read an email from John Kerry anyway?

John McCain: The Age Factor

It's not currently a headline story like Barack Obama's skin color or Hillary Clinton's gender, but I contend that John McCain's age is going to come to the forefront of the debates soon. I've been thinking about it for awhile, but held off on writing about this, cause... well, I thought McCain was going to go away. But alas, it seems like our favorite veteran is here to stay - to the dismay of Huckabee, Romney and Guiliani (now, he may be gone soon).

In my humble opinion, paramount to the discussion of an individual candidate's ability to run the White House, should be the question of whether or not he or she can actually endure this undeniably and incredibly stressful job of running the country. I'll refrain from making jokes about senior citizens and the deterioration of one's body, but I think I raise a valid question. And while I want to put this as respectfully and delicately as possible, I also want to cut to the chase: Would John McCain actually live through 4 to 8 years of serving in the White House?

McCain was born August 29th, 1936 - which puts him at the slight ol' age of 71. (Life expectancy is right around 78 here in the US.) To be clear on this...I certainly hope that McCain lives a long and healthy life, BUT I can't help wonder if his body will hold up. What if a Ronald Reagan-esqe situation occurs? -There was considerable speculation over whether he had demonstrated symptoms of mental degeneration (Alzheimer's disease) while still in office. What if McCain's physical body begins to deteriorate and he needs an organ transplant? (This is not so absurd a notion) Does anyone else worry about this? Am I crazy for thinking that this should be a consideration?

As a point of reference, the other candidates ages are as follows: Guiliani 64, Romney 61, Clinton 61, Edwards 55, Huckabee 53, Obama 47.

And, just for sport...the year McCain was born (1936), other notable events that occurred were:

March 1- Hoover Dam completed

March 7- Germany violates Treaty of Versailles and occupies the Rhineland

June 30 - Margaret Mitchell's novel Gone with the Wind is first published

August 1 - Summer Olympics open in Berlin, Germany, and mark the first live television coverage of a sports event in world history

November 3 - Franklin D. Roosevelt is reelected to a second term

Fred Thompson Campaign: R.I.P.

Thompson's campaign was like a comet, it burned bright, it burned fast and it was gone in a flash. Well, maybe it didn't burn that bright...but its now definitely gone.

I don't think I have the patience to thoroughly evaluate his campaign's highlights, not that there were many, but I would like to note the loss of another fantastic spouse. We'll miss you Jeri!

Thompson in general, failed to gain enough momentum within the crowded GOP field and the loss in South Carolina sounded his death knell. Attempting to play the role of the Southern conservative, yet only able to round up 16% of the votes in South Carolina, meant the end to our favorite Actor-turned-policitian's campaign. (And by 'favorite' I mean, you know...behind Ronald Reagan, Arnold Alois Schwarzenegger, Jesse 'The Body' Ventura and George Clooney.)

You can read more on the news of Fred Thompson's demise here or here.

Viral Video Of The Week

Okay, you know I've maintained a policy of not using news clips for Viral Video Of The Week, but "Romney in Heated Exchange with AP Reporter" is just too good. Glen Johnson clearly doesn't come across as the most professional or controlled reporter, but that doesn't change the fact that Mitt Romney comes across as slime. Super slime. The slimiest. In the below video, Mitt Romney eloquently explains the fundamental difference between lobbyists running his campaign and lobbyists just being senior advisers. See, if they "ran" his campaign, that would be bad. But senior advisers are okay. ya dig?

Republicans Have All The Fun

Does anyone else agree? The boring old party is proving quite the pony race. I'm sick and tired of watching three Democrats argue over who cares more about America, who can "help" more, who can "deliver more change". My favorite quote from last night's Democratic debate courtesy Hillary Clinton:

So I have tried to create opportunities, both on an individual basis, intervening to help people who have no where else to turn, to be their champion. And then to make those changes. And I think I can deliver change. I think I understand how to make it possible for more people to live up to their God-given potential.

I get impatient. I get, you know, really frustrated when people don’t seem to understand that we can do so much more to help each other. Sometimes I come across that way. I admit that. I get very concerned about, you know, pushing further and faster than perhaps people are ready to go.

I challenge anyone to use more words to say less. Hillary Clinton reigns supreme over the art of talking without saying a goddamn thing.

Meanwhile, by some bizarre twist of fate, the Republican pool is starting to look like an Aryan Ocean's Eleven. There's the smooth talker in Romney. The evangelical, Huckabee. The commander, McCain. The movie star, Thompson. The liberal, Giuliani. The freewheelin' Paul. And it's anyone's game. We had thought Huckabee gets the evangelical vote. Well, last night Romney did, according to exit polls. So far each front runner has either had a first place finish or is projected to have one soon. Even Rudy. It's the more interesting race. And it's going to require boatloads of creativity. Ya, I mean trumping Chuck Norris. How? With Charles Logan. Ok, Republicans: Who has the balls to start that smear campaign?

Oh, and this is worth the read: Tin Foil Hat Alert: Paypal Messes With Ron Paul Campaign

Ron Paul, Bigot or Victim?

One of the age old questions posed to Libertarians and ACLUers alike is, do you let nazi's march in front of the courthouse? If you answer yes, you're a bigot. If you answer no, you're a fascist. Lose-lose. So while that question is hypothetical and often rhetorical, I ask one that requires answers: Is Ron Paul an evil bigot, or has he merely fallen on the wrong side of the above question? Seriously. I want your thoughts and links. Because honestly, I don't know what to think. The Daily Paul has come out saying that Paul is merely a victim of smear tactics as corroborated by Austin NAACP President Nelson Linder. Below is a fun little poll put together by Pajamas Media that let's Ron Paul speak for himself. And he sounds like a racist. I look forward to your comments.


Poll Answers

Inevitable: Long Fight For Clinton And Obama

How's this for a headline:

Hillary Rodham Clinton and Barack Obama dug in Wednesday for a campaign unlike any other, a woman and a black man drawing record voter turnout in an unpredictable race for the Democratic presidential nomination.[AP via Yahoo]

That just about sums it up. One thing is certain. The agenda of the next American President will be the agenda of America. Finally, things have gotten interesting.

And now just for lols, a picture of John McCain's fairly hot, very disney channel, daughter:

Where I've Been.

Hello all, if any of you are left. After ramping up several months ago for big new things for Viralroots.com, I completely crashed and burned. To be perfectly honest, I was depressed. As a lifelong student of politics, I have always believed in the power of Democracy and the free market (save for a brief stint with Socialism when I was 14). After spending quite some time racking my brain for interesting things to write about day after day, it occurred to me that no matter how much I discussed this vast pool of interesting candidates, nothing would change the fact that America would be doomed to more status quo. I began to feel like I was banging my head against the wall. The deeper I became invested in these candidates, the more I realized that Hillary Clinton really is inevitable and John McCain's message will be lost behind his less-than-inspiring image and Dennis Kucinich is just plain crazy. So what's the point? The existence of Viralroots is predicated on the notion that it doesn't take money and influence to be successful in politics. It takes popular, bright ideas and the use of technology to spread them. In net politics, anyone can get out there and tell their story. But this seemed so far from the truth. That is, until the Iowa Caucus. I'm gonna say it: Barack Obama gave me hope. Obama proved that it's not always about experience. It's not always about someone's proven ability to lead. It's not always about the "inevitable." In certain times, all one must do is encapsulate the emotions and dreams of a majority looking for a fresh start, looking for a fresh face to trust, looking for change. And for the first time since this race began, speculation became fact. Fresh vision can beat out status quo. And we'll be here watching it happen. Tonight we'll see how New Hampshire shapes up, but beyond that we'll continue this little journey into all the wonderful ideas that spread like lightning through this series of tubes.

Oh and in case you've missed the snark, let's talk about Ron Paul. Can some please explain to me how I missed this whole black-hating bigot thing? Is there any truth to this article?