How strange

News item:
"Contrary to popular belief, not
a significant amount of research
goes into cockroach radiation."

Is it just me or is not the strangest political season ever. I am at a loss to explain what is going on. For example, Hillary Clinton is the leading Democratic candidate in the polls. She is known to be following fairly closely to Bush's agenda on Iraq, Iran, and Israel. Bush's poll ratings are absolutely dismal, his "war" is incredibly unpopular, as is he. So why, if Hillary is following so close to his policies is she leading in the polls? I can understand why she is receiving more money from lobbyists and the corporations, they seem to have anointed her a long time ago and she is following along with their Republican agenda even though she pretends to be a Democrat (remember, she started out in life as a conservative Republican). But this does not explain her leading in the polls, which presumably do not reflect only the views of corporations and the wealthy. She is Bush-lite, Bush is almost universally reviled, so what gives? She has a commanding lead in the polls. How so?

On the Republican side we have Giuliani leading. Here is a guy who is pro-abortion, pro-gay rights, pro-gun control, divorced, known to be an adulterer, has children that won't even talk to him, cross-dresses, lived with a gay couple, recommended his probably criminal chief of police for high office (had to be withdrawn as it was such a fiasco), and so on, and is the the leading Republican candidate for conservative Republicans. Incredible. His main claim to fame is how heroic he was during 9/11, but now it turns out he didn't know much of anything about what was going on and his credentials as a fighter of terrorism are not much more than a myth. On top of that he knows nothing about foreign relations and, much more than Hillary, is literally joined at the hip to Bush. If you boil it all down to its basics, he has virtually nothing to recommend him other than having been mayor of New York City where half the population despised him. He wants to continue Bush's asinine "war" in Iraq and even attack Iran, even though the American public is overwhelmingly opposed to that. So how do you explain his lead in the polls?

As in both cases their poll numbers do not exceed about 30%. Does this mean they are getting support mainly from a relatively small number of true believers and when the elections begin in earnest we will have very different results? I certainly hope so.

I confess this is an absolute mystery to me. If it plays out to the finish and the Presidency will be between Hillary and Giuliani, guess what. We will have a choice between two Republicans for one thing. And it will be another Hobson's choice, pick between two lousy possibilities. The powers that be must be loving this. We ordinary citizens will be screwed again. It's the American way!

LKBIQ:
"My parents never bought costumes for us. It doesn't have to be a scary thing to be original. You could tie an eggbeater to your head and go as a motorboat."
Alice Cooper