The Political Whore

Will Farrell turned up on the Thursday edition of SNL, reprising his role as the strategerizer in chief. In this clip, Dubya meets with Tina Fey’s Sarah Palin and gives John McCain an uncomfortable endorsement. Interesting how with less than two weeks to go until the election, SNL is really out of material on the subject. Though amusing, this is the least of the Fey-Palin appearances. Still, it has its moments. Enjoy.

• Sarah Palin in Tampa on Sunday.
• What’s it sound like when you are a Congressman who is firing his mistress? Take a listen.
• Here’s the GOP death list, as obtained by DailyKos.
• You’d think that opponents of the anti-gay Amendment 2 could muster just over 4 in 10 voters to defeat the measure, but it is starting to look like you would be wrong…
• … and you can blame Obama and African-American voters.
• Regarding one Tampa neighborhood association: “Never have I observed the viciousness, sneakiness, name calling and just plain ugliness”
• AP giving in on its new, higher rates.
• The Rays win game two 4-2, even the World Series at one game a piece.
• Obama up seven in Florida.
• Alan Greenspan’s mea culpa.
• The Old Gray Lady squeezes in an endorsement of Barack Obama for President.
• Bullish on Bloomberg: NYC mayor wins right to run for third term.
• And today’s Florida teacher convicted of gettin’ it on with the kids hails from … Tampa!
• Bill Shatner unleashed.
• Those cutting edge antibiotics your doctor just gave you? They might be sugar pills.
• Going to Clearwater Saturday night? Beware the DUI checkpoint.

As Big Media looks again to swallow the process of choosing a president in our nation, John McCain and Barack Obama are taking a unified stance against letting media companies sponsor or moderate their future joint appearances.

From NYT website:

Bill Burton, a spokesman for the Obama campaign said, “Both campaigns have indicated that any additional appearances will be open to all networks for broadcast on TV or Internet like the presidential commission debates rather than sponsored by a single network or news organization.”

Both candidates had been invited to a town hall session being put together by ABC News and NYC Mayor Michael Bloomberg (a potential veep candidate in either party) that was to be moderated by the highly annoying Diane Sawyer.

Of course. That is (and here comes the really big caveat) if he gets the match-up he needs in the election, the right Democratic and Republican candidates who leave a big enough hole in the middle for him to drive his personal fortune through.

New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg yesterday severed his membership in the GOP (stop laughing, my Republican friends who insist Bloomberg was never a real Republican anyway) and declared himself a free agent, an Independent. As he met Tuesday with another politically confused creature (the Govinator), the billionaire swore he wasn’t running for president. But speculation ran rampant.

Bloomberg is clearly positioning himself for an independent run if the right situation occurs, and if polling next year shows there is an opportunity. I don’t see either of those scenarios coming to pass, however. The most likely nominees — Hillary Clinton and Fred Thompson — don’t seem to leave a lot of room in the middle, even thought Hillary is very liberal and the Rear Admiral is very conservative. Their personalities (and acting career, in Thompson’s case) transcend the polarization that you would normally find with their political resumes. And even though people are unhappy with Congress, President Bush, politics and the system in general, Bloomberg doesn’t seem to be the answer to those dissatisfactions. When was the last time you heard anyone say to you, “Ya know, I really wish the munchkin mayor of New York would throw his hat in the ring”? Or “God I wish we had a centrist problem-solver and not just some egotist career politician running things in Washington”?

As this assessment points out, what would his platform be? I got things done in NYC? Rudy is playing that card to the hilt and is about to be passed by Fred Thompson anyway.

What’s more likely at play here is a very smart politician (with beaucoups bucks) who now can either run for president or become a player outside and above the system, much like Arnold Schwarzenegger has done in California. Bloomberg can work outside the existing confines on issues he cares about (immigration) just as Ah-nold has with his issues (the environment).