A bad penny always turns up. Call it fate. Call it a certain predictability. I was reminded of that a few times this week. The first was when I got a phone call from my exwife, Old Blister. These calls are predictable. Whenever something bad happens to her, she will call and the first things our of her mouth are “Well, I hope you’re happy now.” Logic was never one of her strong points.
Three “bad pennies” were in the news this week. The fate of two of them did make Old Blister’s lament, “I hope you’re happy now” ring true. The first one was the imprisonment of O.J. Simpson who had besmirched the otherwise fine reputation of Las Vegas in a failed sports memorabilia robbery bid. Sentenced to a minimum of 9 years in prison, finally. Unfortunately he doesn’t have to worry about dropping the soap in the shower, since he is going to be isolated from the other prisoners. Rumors are that O.J. has almost finished his second book, How I Would Have Robbed The Bastards Who Stole My Stuff and is looking for a publisher. Yes, justice has been served.
The second bad-penny story was that the perennially juvenile and emotionally disturbed Ann Coulter is now allegedly sipping soup through a soda straw., since her jaw has been wired shut. Apparently she had a bit of an accident -- the details aren’t clear. She either, and take your pick on these, (a) fell down and broke her jaw; (b) was in an accident of some undefined sort; or (c) accidentally ran into someone's fist. All that is really known for sure is that Annie isn’t saying anything about it, for now. The good news for her fans (those whom you can hear the wind whistling through their heads) is that her hands and fingers are fine. This is a case where the silence is not deafening; it is golden.
The third bad penny to show up in the news is “Caribou Barbie” -- the almost inimitable Sarah “Pig in Lipstick” Palin. Almost inimitable because she and President Bush share many of the same qualities, and everyone thought he was inimitable.
Palin made it back into the news on a number of different occasions. One was the revival of the “theory” that her daughter is actually the mother of Twig or Trig, or whatever. That story actually has little consequence for The Old Codger, just as long as he isn’t named in any paternity suits.
Another one was how Palin was in Georgia. It reportedly took her advisers only three days to convince her that she didn’t need her passport to go there, and that this Georgia was not in Eastern Europe and at war with Russia. She was there campaigning for Sen. Saxby Chambliss -- once she learned that his name was not pronounced “Sexbee.” He was re-elected, and this made Sarah believe that she is now, once again, indispensable to the Republican party and deserving to be called a “Rising Star.”
Of course scandals are still dogging Sarah. Some delayed revelations of free trips she accepted. Additional reports that an additional $30,000 was spent by the Republican party for Palin’s makeup artist and hair stylist. That brought the grand total to $68,400 over a two-month period to “fix up” Sarah.
Down in Texas, we call a woman that needs that much “fixin’ up” an “Old Hide.” Any woman that needs $1,140 worth of makeup and hair styling work a day has what we could call a real “image” problem. Ugly as a mud fence comes to mind, and it does give a certain amount of credibility to the term “a pig in lipstick.” Damned expensive lipstick at that.
Despite the logic of some of President Elect Obama’s appointments to his Administration, Palin poses the biggest threat to the Democrats. Obama, it seems is not going to be able to deliver on his campaign promises for change, which is understandable. Realistic people know that campaign trail promises are to be taken with a pound of salt. Unfortunately, a lot of unrealistic people voted in thie last election. That reduces the possibility of their voting in 2012.
No matter what happens to the economy, Obama will be vulnerable in 2012. If the economy improves in two or three years, it will come with a tax increase, not only for the rich, but also for the middle class. That will be an instant trip to unpopularity.
Palin is the best option for the Republicans right now. She is going to capitalize on it. Her obvious lapses of ethics have been swept under the rug with minimal to zero impact on her. No matter what she does wrong, it doesn’t end up being wrong somehow. She can even turn the slaughter of turkeys into a non-news event.
Three bad pennies for the week. One we won’t see or hear much from after this week. One, we will be hearing from again once the wires are removed from her jaw. And the third, the most dangerous of them all, we still keep hearing from and about. Things are going from bright to a very dull, dark copper color.
