It is more than a little amazing to realize eight months have passed since the list time I visited here. I certainly thought about it regularly, but always found something more important - or at least pressing - to do with the time. Here lays down one more well intentioned brick.
Tonight was the first Republican debate of the 2008 election cycle. Yes, flipping through the dial I was snagged by the Democrats last week. This week I quite intentionally sought out the Republicans. It is far too early to pay any attention to the polls or even manage to work up the slightest bit of real emotion about this election. Even with every state trying to snag February 5, and no doubt preferably figure out a way to get January 1 without tipping their hand, the truth is that what is important today will for the most part not even be discussed nine months from now. Iraq is one glaring exception to that - but doesn't an exception need to exist to prove the rule? My reason for watching was simple: I unashamedly admit that I'm a junkie. Thank you MSNBC for two fixes in two weeks, and only seven months after the last general election. I'm almost over withdrawal!
One observation: The Republicans as a group were for less interesting to look in on than the Democrats were. Who would have thought that Joe Biden would stand out as a rock star compared to the men from the Red State world, or that Ron Paul would be the closest thing to a counter punch Mike Gravel would face?
At least with this absurdly extended campaign season we can count on plenty more opportunities to enjoy these theaters of irrelevancy.
One sad note for me came during the "pre-game show". Nancy Reagan first posed for a picture with the debaters in the mock-up of Ronald Reagan's Oval Office. Later, she was escorted to her seat on the arm of Arnold Schwarzenegger. Both instances served to define what a frail, tired looking old Lady she has become. Nearly all vestiges of the fashion plate we remember from the White House years have been erased by time. It was a kick in the gut on a par with watching Ronald Reagan give his address to the 1992 nominating convention. No one knew yet of the Alzheimer's that would soon be disclosed, but even so it was painfully obvious that something was terribly wrong with The Great Communicator.
Without question she was not always loved, or lovable. But Nancy Reagan was every bit as important to the success of the Reagan Era as Ronald himself. Be well, Mrs. Reagan.
