mikemcgann.org

I‘m tan, rested and, surprisingly blond. In theory, I’m enjoying my retirement…I’ve done a little quiet consulting for a couple of campaigns here and there, but nothing wildly intense, working to keep an arm’s distance from politics. And with the way things have been going for the HDCC, avoid getting indicted — which seems increasingly like the fate of anyone who’s even been in contact with them over the last four years.

So why keep away from politics — especially when it’s clear it is something I have a lot of passion about? Up until yesterday, while sipping a Corona in the pool with my lovely bride, I thought I had a pretty good reason. You see, my lovely wife, professed a passionate hatred for politics and was unequivocally against my running for office again. Ever. Which, from my rather simple understanding of time, is a really, really long time. ‘Cause, you know, she hates the whole political thing.

That made the idea of working with other candidates, well, just a tad bit frustrating, to say the least. Finally, to preserve what little was left of my sanity, I walked away. I bailed on the county party committees and left my campaign management post (in the hands of someone with a lot more patience — and who, frankly, was a much better fit) and retired. No Brett Favre-like tears, mind you, but I kind of made it clear what the deal was.

So, I hunkered down, worked on writing (not that you’d know from reading here, but I’m working on three books right now) and Web projects, building my company — and yes, working out (I’m down 110 pounds and doing — you’ll want to take a deep breath or swallow if you’ve been drinking — yoga on a daily basis). I’ve been spending quality time with the wife and kids — and getting the final details of the giant pool project from hell (hint for those of you keeping score at home: Carlton Pools isn’t the company to hire to build your pool — it’s easier, cheaper and less painful to just stab yourself in the eye and be done with it).

So, I’m sitting in the pool, enjoying my Corona and she drops the bombshell on me: She’s going to volunteer one day a week for Obama.

Imagine for yourself, the spit take. Hey, hey…I’m thinner than that now…scale it back from grossly fat to normal middle-aged guy pudgy. And blond. Don’t forget that (and you’re welcome for whatever nightmares all this engenders).

You see, her son, Eddy is working field for Obama — that’s Eddy, the same stepson/U. Vermont BMOC who alternately drives me nuts and makes me proud — and somehow, he roped her into volunteering. I’m guessing Satan, tequila and a lot of whining were involved. You can imagine how I began to foam at the mouth a bit when I heard this, followed by the usual incoherent sputtering.

Incredulously (and frankly, how many bloggers know how and when to use that word? Aren’t you really better off reading a trained professional like myself?) I said, "You’re working on a campaign?" Really dripping with incredulousness. And of course, Corona, from the spit-take."You hate politics. What the heck?"

She mumbled something meekly about not allowing McCain to win (although McCain seems to be doing a pretty good job of that himself, but I digress). "So you’re working on a campaign, then?" I asked again, running out of good adjectives for surprised. " ‘Ms. I hate politics.’ Fabulous."

I took a swing of what little was left of my beer, "well, you know, this kind of makes me look like a doofus. So, you know, the whole ban on me running for office is pretty much out the window, now, you know?" She nodded, "I’m kind of in a different place, now," she said. Yeah, running through my mind, right there and then was "Yeah…" and suddenly I hear Jackie Gleason as Ralph Kramden saying "…to, the moon, Alice. Bang, zoom."

So apparently, I’m unretired. That’s right, I will be returning as the starting quarterback of the Green Bay Packers….oh, wait, that’s Brett, not me. So, I guess I’m back in politics. I’m not sure if or when I’ll be running for something…heck I’d challenge my old buddy Steve Barrar to a 100-yard dash, except he’d have to stop partway to ask for directions.

Of course, the big worry is that, like Brett, I might get traded. And I have to be honest: if I get traded to the Republicans, I won’t report. I mean, sure, the money from all the corruption is nice and all, and they do know how to throw a bash; but there’s just too much baggage there. If I get dealt to the Greens, well, I’m going to need a Toyota Prius (I’ve always thought it would carbon ironic to burn one) and a CD of Ralph Nader singing the greatest hits of the Ramones. Everything else is negotiable.

Aren’t you glad you chose to surf the Internet today?

I admit with some shame that I was a Boy Scout. And frankly, I’m kind of angry that I have to be ashamed — and that I feel even more ashamed today to have worn the uniform.

Certainly, the Boy Scouts of America (BSA) have given many of us alums something to be shamed about. Their open and institutional discrimination against gay troop leaders/volunteers is pretty pathetic. They claim, does BSA, that they do so to "protect" their scouts from pedophiles. Of course, since gays are no more likely to be pedophiles than straights — or conservative radio talk show hosts (and frankly, based on Rush Limbaugh’s body of work, I’m thinking gays are probably less likely to be pedophiles — and yes, by all means, Rush, please — PLEASE — sue me for holding that opinion, so we can finally burn the last vestiges of the U.S. Constitution and any remaining pretense to citizen rights). But no matter, BSA is free to make that choice and, as they teach their scouts, Be Prepared to live with the consequences.

Oooops. Except for this one thing: BSA seems only prepared to call their lawyer to demand a taxpayer freebie.

The BSA today filed suit in federal court to stop the City of Philadelphia from charging it rent. The city previously had been giving the local BSA regional HQ its offices for $1 a year. But the city passed a wide-ranging anti-discrimination law, which meant the city could no longer subsidize groups in violation of said law. So then the city said, "get out or pay $200,000 a year for rent" which is about fair market value.

Aside from teaching an awful lesson to our youth — imagine the KKK suing a city for free rent to subsidize discrimination against black people — it further proves that conservatives don’t really believe the crap they spew. They vilify trial lawyers and litigation — and then run right to court to get free rent for a bunch of avowed bigots. It’s hypocritical, of course, but frankly, kind of pathetic.

Frankly, with this sort of management, one has to wonder what lessons are being taught to today’s scouts and whether the leadership of the organization is, in fact, nearly as dangerous as letting pedophiles run loose (interestingly, consider for a moment, the irony of how many troops meet in Catholic Churches — and I’ll note the BSA doesn’t prevent Catholic priests from being leaders). The BSA is teaching kids to discriminate on the basis of label, embrace junk science, disrespect the rule of law, and demand taxpayer welfare. I can only imagine the wing-nut reaction if some left-wing group tried something as lame-brained as this.

From my perspective one thing is clear: the average gay person is a much better, much more responsible role model than the average BSA honcho. And maybe that’s the saddest thing about this in the final analysis, because these are people helping shape another generation of hate.

If you’re reading this, there’s a 50-50 chance you know that there’s a new front end for this site, and this blog has been relegated to the back corner, where it is supposed to behave (at least for the time being).

As a Web development guy, I think my site is pretty sharp…and I hope that people find it easy to use and find the content worthwhile. I’d like to point you to another site I just finished, www.timtrott.com

Tim is running for Chester County District Attorney and is one of the sharpest, most talented guys I’ve ever worked with — in or out of politics. I’m hoping the people of Chester County take a close look at this race — and all of the others — and not just vote out of habit.

In another of the races I’m working on, Kevin Fitzpatrick is running for Recorder of Deeds and he has a very nice Website of his own. His opponent is Ryan Costello and I’ve been working on opposition research on him — and some of the stuff that’s coming up, police reports and all, is, well, a little concerning. While I can’t go into detail at this point — I’m trying to firm up all of the details — you have to wonder what Joseph "Skip" Brion was thinking when he decided the Chester County GOP would support Costello over David Jenkins, the former deputy in the office. Sure, Costello appears to have a ton of money and is spending it like water, I’m hearing — but you have to hope that at the end of the day, it wasn’t just about the Benjamins for ol’ Skip.

Of course, with the way Brion has comported himself, attacking freshly-minted widows for daring to take off a few days, to well, grieve, and the way he totally tap-danced around the whole "selling off the county pension plan to the highest campaign donator thingy," you wonder whether estimable Mr. Brion is sharing tips on denial with our beloved President.

Makes you think, though, doesn’t it? Wait, wasn’t I supposed to be behaving? Darn. Gotta work on that.

Having spent most of the summer either working feverishly on getting a book out the door or away on vacation, finally, I can say I’m back. Mildly sunburned, of course, as I remain the world’s whitest man (even with SPF 50, I burn like a marshmallow kissin’ a blowtorch) , but I’m back and ready for action.

And I have a bit of news: in addition to running for Township Supervisor, I’ve been asked to help out on the Democratic Row Office races. While I have a new front end of this site coming for election purposes (look for it at the end of next week) I’ll be discussing some of the county-wide issues here (and the new site has link to this blog, so it won’t be much harder to find my crazed rants), albeit less like the cranky old journalist I was and more like the cranky old political operative that I am.

I’ve promised to be nice to my fellow Democrats (for now) and if I don’t have something nice to say, I won’t be saying it. Which means you probably won’t be seeing references to Gov. Ed Rendell or State Rep. Bill DeWeese until sometime in January. Thankfully, I will be able to honestly write lots of nice things about all of the Chester County Democratic Candidates for 2007 — the single best, most qualified slate of candidates this party has put up in decades and maybe longer.

Credit for that must go to party chair Michele Vaughn. While I’ve had my issues with her (and it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to look back through here and see those issues) in the past, since becoming chair, she’s worked to unify the party, get things organized and she’s been highly supportive of party candidates. Vaughn has helped to create an atmosphere were we can finally run real and competitive county-wide races and she deserves the credit for it. Obviously, she’s not alone in doing this work, but I think it merits mentioning in this space.

I’m not going to discuss our plans for the fall because I know how much GOP County Chair "Skip" Brion enjoys surprises and I’d hate to ruin some good ones.

So stay tuned.

It was a gorgeous day at the Pocopson poll yesterday and although the numbers have to be certified and made official — a bit more complicated when dealing with write-ins — it appears I pulled out a narrow win in a unique three-way race, facing one other Democrat and a Republican.

While other the Democratic candidate appears to have run her race entirely by email — she was only at the poll for a few minutes in the morning and evening, the Republican, Steven Conary, already on the ballot for the Republican, was hoping to avoid a November election. The other day, I noted that I hadn’t met him before, but I’m pretty sure I have, between the prison expansion issue and the Olmsted battle.

Mr. Conary and I both spent the entire day at the poll…often alone with no other voters or party officials around. We had a wide-ranging discussion about the township and the issues that face it and from that, it’s clear that whatever else this race ends up being about, it’s going to focus on those issues and an intelligent discussion about future of the township — and not the usual lowest-common denominator races so often in politics these days. I’m looking forward to it.

On a personal note, Steve Conary is clearly a class act, an experienced and intelligent person. I will have to work hard to prove myself a worthy competitor for the people of the township.

Elsewhere, congratulations to my friends, Bill Scott and Kathi Cozzone, who won the Democratic nomination for County Commissioner. For Democrats — and all Chester County residents — this coupled with the Carol Aichele and Terrence Farrell winning the GOP primary over Sandy Moser, should mean the end of “Pay For Play” government in Chester County. From my standpoint, this was the best possible scenario and one that will drive independents and moderate Republicans to the Scott/Cozzone banner.

We’re going to win this one in November, folks. I predict a new commission of Scott, Cozzone and Farrell.

And you have to like Jennifer Levy-Tatum’s chances for Judge, court of Common Pleas, after she nearly beat David Bortner on the GOP side and crushed him on the Democratic side, netting a total of more than 3,000 votes more, county-wide, than Bortner. Wow.

This, friends, is a good day.

Look, I know I’m going to get in trouble for revealing this, but here’s the scoop:

Ann Coulter is a liberal plant. And by that, I don’t mean she’s a fern.

I remember attending the meeting of the vast liberal conspiracy (and don’t forget to buy your tickets to the Vast Liberal Conspiracy On Ice, coming soon to the Wachovia Center) and kicking around ideas to make the right-wing types look nuts.

Coulter was there, wearing her Birkenstocks, eating grilled tofu, when she volunteered. I remember it like it was yesterday, she was wearing her Che Gueverra beret, had her hair pulled into a pony tail and was wearing an old jacket with a half dozen buttons, such as "I love cats" and "Honk, if you’re Nuke-Free!" and so on.

Nobody really thought she could pull it off. What she had in mind, we thought, no one would take seriously. It was too over the top — like an aging actress chewing the scenery in a dinner theater performance.

But damned if it didn’t work and work great.

But then, somehow, we lost control of her. I don’t know if it was the drugs, the all-night orgies at the Republican National Committee offices or just the lure of quick money. Somewhere along the line, she started believing the things she said and wrote. Her handlers, despite having lost control of her, were perfectly fine with it — she was much more credible if it seemed like she really bought into all this stuff.

And the cruel leaders of the left-wing cabal just left her there, her soul rotting like Anna Nicole Smith’s remains and the rest of us were sworn to secrecy.

But this latest affair, with her calling John Edwards "a faggot" is nothing more than a plea, really a shriek, for help.

So I can’t hold my tongue any longer.

Come home, Ann honey. We still have your Volvo but maybe we can get you a hybrid. You can get some cats and we’ll get you all the West Wing DVDs. You don’t have to feel so dirty anymore. Come home, some of us still care.

We hate to see you like this.

I find it interesting how easily people are willing to throw other people’s lives away.

Sure, about 70 percent of people in the U.S oppose sending more troops to Iraq, or starting a new war with Syria and/or Iran. But that means about 90 million Americans fall into the pro-surge category. Sorting out children, old people and the infirm, that means there’s somewhere between 10 and 20 million Americans of military age should be available for military service.

Yet, I note no "surge" in enlistments. How can this be?

During World War II, people lied, cheated and scammed their way into the military — underage, with health issues — because they believed in the mission. Hitler was evil and World War II was probably the closest thing to a "just war" in the 20th Century. So where are those who believe in the Iraq mission? Granted, some number of them are in uniform, fighting and maybe even dying, so God bless them.

But since we know the full military these days is only a little more than a million, where is everyone else? I see a lot of right-wing bloggers busy rousting up posts. I don’t see them putting of the uniform and deploying to Baghdad.

And I think that tells you a lot. My time in politics taught me a couple of things, the most important being to judge people only by what they do, not what they say. Talk is cheap. If I believed in this war, which I’ve opposed since the fall of 2002, you can be damn sure I’d be doing something to support it. I’m too old, fat and banged up to serve in uniform, you can bet I’d find a way to have a role, much as my grandfather did in World War II: he served on a New York City defense council having been rejected for military service because of age.

So where are all you guys?

Belief isn’t allowing someone else or someone else’s son or daughter die for your cause, it’s being willing to die or allowing your son or daughter to die for it.

Nothing is more cynical than supporting a war as long as only other people die or other people’s kids die.

I used to laugh at the prospect of impeachment, thinking it was the goal of far-flung lunatic-fringe groups like the folks at democrats.com (not the party, mind you). I thought it would be bad for the left to pursue such a measure, equally pathetic as it was when the Republicans went after Bill Clinton over a minor, stupid issue.

But now, it seems like it might happen. Congress is dead-set against adding more troops to Iraq, with good reason. Bush won’t compromise and had spent the better part of the last six years usurping the power of the Congress with things like "signing statements" and so on. While the previous lapdog Congresses had little choice but to shut up and take it, this Congress doesn’t. With Bush a lame duck and the Congress controlled by the Democrats, we could be headed for a Constitutional crisis, as both branches fight over separation of powers.

Bush and his people seem accustomed to fighting against people unwilling to fight back (see: media, the) and seem confused that recent attempts to cow the Congress and Federal Judges seem to be backfiring. Instead of compromise, they dig their heels in deeper.

That’s where I see a crisis starting to build. Congress is prepared to fight over the surge and can tie the pursestrings of the president (which was intended by the framers to prevent any president from having dictatorial power) to stop the troop surge and force a gradual withdrawl. Furthermore, there might be enough votes in Congress to deauthorize the war in Iraq, which could then provoke a Constitutional crisis, as it is plainly spelled out that only Congress has to power to declare war.

I do think there is broad and popular support for the war to end. Anger at Bush and his unwillingness to face facts is growing among average people (I’m praying that the Secret Service has increased its protection of the man by a factor of 10, only because I’m very worried that some nut job will make an attempt — and while I very much disagree with him, I do not want to see anything happen to the man outside the legal system) so Congress, Democrats and Republicans, will feel emboldened to stand its ground and fight the president on the grounds of separation of powers and ultimately, as with Andrew Johnson, be willing to impeach him for ignoring the will of the Congress.

I fear very much for that and the impact it will have on our nation, but it seems almost inevitable.

I was tipped off to Wonkette’s abuse of Rep. David Wu (D-Washington) and to me, this was a perfect moment of blogging. A chick I wouldn’t have hired to write obits back in my newspaper days goes to great length to show how little she gets it by making fun of some relatively cogent comments by Wu on the house floor.

If you’ve missed the video which can be seen here, Wu talked about the "Vulcans" (the self-styled name of some of the let’s-invade-Iraq-for-fun-and-profit NeoCons in the White House, including the lovable Condi Rice). And suggested that instead these Neo-Cons are a bit more like  Klingons, because they are so blood thirsty. Yeah, a bit of a stretch, granted, but considering how boring and pointless most house speeches are, give the guy credit for reaching out. Wonky can’t help herself but run off the "we’re too cool for school" type of riff that makes people love folks inside the beltway so much.

OK, a bit of good-natured ribbing might be in order, if only because Klingons, as portrayed in the Star Trek universe had honor after a fashion, which the Neo-Cons do not, and technically, those Vulcans weren’t the pointy-eared variety like Mr. Spock (although there has been some debate about that, as a number of members of the original group saw themselves as logical), the official story claims that the name comes from a statue in Birmingham, Ala. (Rice’s hometown).

But here’s the problem, Wonkette gets all high and mighty and then proves she doesn’t know what the hell she’s talking about.  She tries to explain the Klingons as representing the Vietcong on TV, wanders through some vaguely anti-semitic remarks and largely makes herself look stupid.

C’mon Wonky. Ever heard of Wikipedia? The Romulans represented China, while the Klingons were supposed to be Soviet Russia. If you’re going to be smart-ass and snarky, do a little fact-checking.

See, this is problem with self-styled journalists becoming famous bloggers. What we’ve created here is the media version of the high school cafeteria cool kids table where’s it’s more important to have the cool put down than to get the facts right.

Edit: I failed to add a link to the original post out of, well, snarkiness. However, it was pointed out that this is probably poor form. So have at it.

I‘ve been surprised and delighted how my screed about striking for peace seems to be popping out around the Internet and that most of the reaction has been positive.

Of course, in strolling around the blogosphere (a dangerous thing for a professionally trained journalist to do) I see there are some people blindly supporting the president’s recommendations to escalate (yeah, Condi, like it or not, that’s what you’re doing) the war.

Let me spend a few moments of time then, to enrage you right-wing, Kool Aid ™ drinking fascists (which, by the way, is what I usually do to my fellow Democrats, who continue to lack a spine and/or morals in all too many cases). And no, I’m not speaking to the vast majority of Republicans, many of whom are just as disturbed about what’s going on. No, I’m speaking to the few of you who religiously still watch Fox News Channel (which has even added a political twist to the weather reports).

George W. Bush is a criminal.

I put it big, red type, because I know how much you like that and it makes it easier for you to understand and all.

In fairness, though, I probably shouldn’t have written it that way. To be accurate, it’s more like:

George W. Bush is a criminal, who is either delusional, moronic or suffering from an extreme chemical dependency.

See, isn’t that better?

Sorry folks, but Bush makes Nixon look like a piker. The guy is responsible for the deaths of thousands of people for no good reason. None. The guy flat-out lied repeatedly. And now he plans to kill some more and we’re supposed to line America’s streets and hold a parade or something, right?

Look at the guy….tell me he’s not drinking again. His face was flushed, he was slurring words…it wasn’t pretty.

He continues to ignore Congress, not just on the war, but with these pithy signing statements that are a clear violation of the U.S. Constitution and the separation of powers. If he doesn’t like legislation, he has a constitutional method to make a "statement." It’s called a veto.

But the question we all need to ask is this: Why does George W. Bush hate America? Why does he hate our fighting men and women? And why aren’t we doing something about it?