It took this long, but...

Is it possible that, after many years of calling the guy a kook, I might actually come around and give in to the RƎVO˩UTION?  It's too early to tell, but I'm not immune to the 'anyone but Romney' syndrome that appears to be afflicting quite a few Americans these days.  Unlike most of the bandwagon-jumping wannabe pundits chiming in on the current race, however, I have a long history of backing losers.  Add one more pelt to the collection, apparently, since ole Mr. Cain managed to flame out in spectacular fashion.  I still happen to think Ron Paul is a kook, but it might be time to pull a Lee Corso and say, "Ahh fuck it."

As I look at the remaining Republican field, I can only conclude that Mr. Corso's three words summarize things pretty succinctly.  I'm not going to delve into a dissection of each candidate's pros and cons here.  That would take a long time, would bore the hell out of me, and would break no new ground for anyone.  These people have been debating for what seems like ten years now.  If you care to know where they stand, then you know where they stand. 

What I am going to do is take a second to quote a bartender that I met in Manhattan several years ago.  I was visiting New York with my then-girlfriend and we were having a very good time.  After watching the Radio City Christmas Spectacular (at Radio City Music Hall, natch) we went for a carriage ride in the park.  I had checked all of the 'romantic' boxes on my end so I knew how the night was bound to wrap up.  We wanted to grab a few drinks before heading back to the hotel though.

We wound up at a bar on the East Side.  There were only a few people inside.  One was our chubby Hispanic waiter.  One was the cross-dressing piano player.  The rest were local residents who liked the friendly atmosphere.  Everybody was really nice to us and we enjoyed an hour or two.

Upon waking in our hotel room the next day, we discovered that something was missing.  We had bought a nutcracker doll for the aforementioned girlfriend's little daughter while we were at Radio City.  The nutcracker was nowhere to be found.  Normally I'd just chalk it up as another $20 down the drain, but we were absolutely certain that the kid would absolutely love that nutcracker.  We needed to find it.  Re-tracing our steps from the previous night led us to the conclusion that we had the doll during the cab ride to the bar.  We had the doll at the bar.  We couldn't recall whether or not we had it in the cab on the way back to the hotel.

Given that we didn't know where the bar was, we were facing a bit of a challenge.  We caught a train over to Second Avenue and started walking.  It didn't take as long as we had feared to find the bar.  We walked inside and found a weathered woman in her early fifties tending the bar.  My companion eagerly explained our predicament.  The image of that woman's expression is seared into my memory forever, and it emerges every time I read a news article about Newt Gingrich leading in the polls.

She gave us a summary about how she comes into work every day and finds things that people left behind.  If they go unclaimed, she or someone else at the bar get to keep the items.  Fur coats, Rolex watches, you name it.  On this particular morning she came in and saw our nutcracker doll.  Her first thought then - my first thought now - was expressed with a classic New York flourish.  She threw her hands in the air and said, "HERE I AM THINKING - WHAT THE FUCK IS WRONG WITH THESE PEOPLE!?!"

Yep.  That's about where I am right now.  She was exasperated to find that people would be dumb enough to leave behind what was an obvious gift for a child.  I'm exasperated to find that people would be dumb enough to back the fat white Republican version of everything that is wrong with American politics.

I'm not entirely past the kook thing yet, but it might be time to embrace Mr. Reagan's 80% rule and also acknowledge the fact that Mr. Paul wouldn't actually have the power to do most of the shit that he says he would do anyway.  He would have the power to veto reckless spending and I'm pretty sure he would use it.  That might be a start.  Somebody get him squared away regarding the Middle East though.  He's dead wrong.