The Czar finds himself in the Crossroads State today, but no matter—your mail finds him wherever. The Retired Spook wants to add one more thing to his observations on the 2008 election:

Your Czarosity;

As I recall, the NYT endorsed McCain while the primaries were still taking place; the Republican establishment managed to convince voters that McCain was the only viable candidate. (Still not sure what the logic was behind that particular stroke of genius.)

McCain got 12 votes in the 2008 election. All the others were for Sarah Palin, and were cast with a heartfelt prayer that McCain would wander off and get lost shortly after the inauguration. Unfortunately, “hope” is not a viable plan, so we got stuck with a Chicago thug who has never held a real job in his life. Not working out too good, is it?

The point is that if you are dumb enough to let the opposition party’s propaganda arm tell you who to run for the most important office in the country you should probably not be allowed outdoors without a keeper. And you shouldn’t act surprised when you get your ass handed to you in the election.

That has to be a point where “good candidate” and “electable” intersect. I really pray we find it before the 2016 elections.

Hey, it stopped raining! We’re heading back to the woods!

Enjoy

Retired Spook

The Czar is prompted to question whether “good” means “good enough.” For example, we were no fans of Sen. McCain, but had no issue voting for him over any Democratic candidate. Seriously, the last halfway decent Democrat was Harry Truman, and the last one the Czar almost voted for was Grover Cleveland. No candidate is ever perfect, as Retired Spook will assure you, but nearly all of the recent ones were “good enough,” had they been elected. Huntsman, for example, is why we say “almost.”

Given that the media was already spinning Republicans as disasters to the country as early as 2006, any Republican candidate run in 2008 was going to have a difficult time winning against a Democrat. The GOP decided to run, and get rid of, McCain as a periodic candidate, and the Democrats knew this was a great opportunity to get someone like Barack Obama elected. No, not black—radically liberal. Ultimately, Sarah Palin—whatever her strengths and faults—was a stunt because she was a woman, and the GOP was hopeful this would win enough women voters to ding the Democrats a bit.

That all aside, the Czar will object to the description of President Obama as a “Chicago thug.” As we explored in considerable depth, President Obama is not part of the Chicago machine, as much as conservatives outside Chicago prefer to think.

The Czar of Muscovy

Божію Поспѣшествующею Милостію Мы, Дима Грозный Императоръ и Самодержецъ Всероссiйскiй, цѣсарь Московскiй. The Czar was born in the steppes of Russia in 1267, and was cheated out of total control of all Russia upon the death of Boris Mikhailovich, who replaced Alexander Yaroslav Nevsky in 1263. However, in 1283, our Czar was passed over due to a clerical error and the rule of all Russia went to his second cousin Daniil (Даниил Александрович), whom Czar still resents. As a half-hearted apology, the Czar was awarded control over Muscovy, inconveniently located 5,000 miles away just outside Chicago. He now spends his time seething about this and writing about other stuff that bothers him.