For Carlene Balderamma, wife and mother, the pressure was too much to bear. Consumed by anxiety, hours away from home foreclosure, she chambered a round into her husband's 30.06 high powered rifle and wrapped her lips around it’s barrel.

Mrs. Balderramma’s plight, a crushing debt load and the disastrous disappearance of home equity, “our nest egg“, it was once referred to back in 20th century, is being recognized by more and more middle class Americans. Home foreclosure rates have……….

CUT! HOLD ON THERE!

What in God’s name am I writing about? Is anybody interested in nationwide financial collapse, or an unflinching look at the hideous ratcheting of the American psyche? Get real. Sheesh.

But it’s an easy error to make. When both presidential candidates repeatedly declared this election to be the most important decision in our nation’s history, my perception was, that in the raging face of social and economic cataclysm, they might actually be serious. That in this election, we’d tear some meat and hide from the bone, chew on it, drive this wagon train out of the ditch.

Nope. Silly me.

Honey, where’s that remote control?

Let’s see. Last week the McCain campaign released a video starring Paris Hilton and Britney Spears. Sweet. Good production values - get a better soundtrack and we’re talking MTV Music Awards. “Yo, yo , yo, …check it ya’ll, my man Johnny Mac is in da house!” McCain pogo-ing in the mosh pit up front, flashing signs to 50 Cent and Ludicris would be a nice moment.

After his team released the Obama bitch slap video, McCain said he liked to see a little humor in the campaign. Right on McC Daddy!

Humor, yeah, that’s the ticket. I thought it was really funny when congress passed the lender/borrower bailout legislation.... at almost the same moment Mr. Balderrama was scraping his wife’s splattered brains off the bathroom ceiling with a putty knife. Priceless irony. Hey irony’s funny stuff, ask Seinfeld.

However, one might assume Mr. McCain prefers his reality show’s a tad less ‘real.’ I’m pretty sure somebody in his staff T-Vo’ed a few episode’s of The Simple Life . The one with Nicole and Paris and the French fry machine is hoot!

But for all their representin’, giving the home girl props, McCain’s Posse didn’t go quite far enough for Ms. Hilton and she pounced; honed with the exploitive the instinct of an cheap attorney with a EMT scanner. Within days, she’d made her own video.

In this one she’s the candidate. A lumpy, pitiful dose of irony (there’s that word again) but seemingly lost completely on McCain. Because, with the laser sharp focus one expects from a major party in a heated horse race, just last night, The McCain Posse - yo, yo, yo , check it ya’ll - issued an official statement proclaiming Ms. Hilton’s video to be stridently on message. ( Here, I’m confused whether that was humor or irony, but no matter, important stuff just the same.)

Insider discussions concerning a cabinet position were neither confirmed or denied by The Posse.

With Ms. Hilton on board, the laughs keep on rollin‘.

Not wanting to confine themselves, stylistically that is, Mac Daddy’s Posse borrowed a few sight gags. You know, keeping’ it real.

For the past few days they have been handing out “Obama’s Energy Plan” tire gauges. Apparently the idea of saving over a million dollars a day in wasted petro-fuels is a mighty rich funny-field, ready to plow. "Did ya hear the one about the country that burned suitcases of twenty’s for no reason ?" Whoo-hoo..slap my knee and shut my mouth!

Just typing this out really dried up my wet blanket, lightened things up, I’m gonna have to agree with my man J-Mac. A little humor’s just the thing for this election. Why get all worked up?

But there are a couple of sticky bits Johnny M., if you could put down the rubber chicken just a sec.

I don’t think Ms. Hilton gets the joke, not really. Maybe have one of the boyz dial her down and explain, gently, that she doesn’t have a chance to win this election. "Hits" aren’t the same as real votes. Better yet, do it yourself. Explain you’re the one running for the most powerful position on the planet - just take off the big nose and glasses when you do.

And just one more thing.

Explain how what this election needs is a little humor, and that when you put it in the right light, the economy is pretty funny stuff - to Mr. Balderamma, and his kids.

Maybe he’ll let you joke around with his putty knife.

z

z

Wish I'd read this earlier.

Powerful screed, great writing, zuko, and thumbs-up from me.

at the risk of sounding like a back room writer from the John Stewart show, McCain wrote most of it...I just copied down the words.

I'm glad you enjoyed it.

z

Well, I'll say this for you Zuko, the Insane Kos Klown Posse gave you a pretty good reacharound on this post.."+8" and likely to climb. Hope my post about Truth didn't leave you too puckered to accept the courtesy.

BTW....Kathy Griffin is looking for writers for her show. Preferably ones with lots of knowledge about the gay community, which she seems to be hung up on. I thought you'd be the perfect candidate.

just knowing you're looking out for me makes me fuzzy all over. I like your posts. How else could a screaming lib like me manage to appear sane without some sort of reference point.

regards,

z

It took almost 4 years of Bush for me to get that bitter about him and his Presidency, and McCain hasn't even been elected yet!

Well done!!! You've summed up what I'm pretty sure will be History's own damning critique of a McCain Presidency, without the mess and bother of putting the whole country through it.

Attack ads and Jokes?

Forreal. Senator McCain is about as humorous as a corpse. He looks stiff and tired all the time. When he was shaking hands with the Dali Lama, he looked like he was constipated or lit on fire and smouldering. No idea how this campaign can radiate charm and charisma. Leadership and maverick new ideas from someone who doesn't know the first thing about a computer??

I'm not saying he's a dumb guy that can be easily led around and hates to admit he's wrong. ( Like our current President. ) I'm just saying I'd like a person more abreast of the times and not a relic of decades gone-by.

When his numbers are in a crunch, the Carl-Rove school of mud slinging turns on the steam. Blistering attacks linking the opponent to everything from the price of oil, to home prices, trouble in the middle east, and the jobless rate.

Racism? Check.

Elitism? Check.

Religous Fear? Check.

Ham-fisted stabs at satire? Check.

McCain isn't the average guy. The beer drinking truckdriver that works 60 hours a week to keep his modest home has nothing in common with this senator. He's rich. He's been rich for a long time and married into a richer family. He's 72 years old and firmly believes that we won Korea and the Vietnam war. The strategies that failed then are still not going to work in today's world. The experience he gained in those wars doesn't amount to much when it was all from the inside of a prison cell. I applaud his sacrifice for surviving as an American P.O.W. However, suffering does not = the Presidency. People buy into this charade and thinks McCain is somehow different from George Bush. He's lockstep with the guy and didn't bother to have Darth Cheney in his shadow. That's the big change. Amazing!

[to much when it was all from the inside of a prison cell. I applaud his sacrifice for surviving as an American P.O.W. However, suffering does not = the Presidency. ]

Let's see now, that's right. When Clinton (as in Bill) was running, military service was completely irrelevant to the job of CIC. Then when Kerry was serving, the fact that he actually went to Viet Nam while Bush only served in the National Guard made him the self-evidently better choice.

Now we're back to dismissing the military and military service as having any bearing on fitness to be president. I'm guessing you guys are much more comfortable touting that line anyway.