Think, dammit.

One of my composition professors, Jeffrey Mumford, has come up with the best metaphor I've ever heard regarding the possible second term of George W. Bush.  It goes like this...

Let's say you were going on vacation and needed a house sitter.  You hire this guy, let's call him 'George,' to come over and take care of your pets, plants, financial assets, and in general watch over your belongings.

But when you return home, everything is in disarray: 

-The money's all gone.
-The plants are all dead.
-Your neighbors hate you.

To top it off, George tells you that while he was sleeping, somebody burned down part of the house, so he sent your dog out after him. Unfortunately, the culprit escaped. But then, George decides to sic your dog on this random, unrelated other guy that he's had a grudge against for years, and now your dog is dead as well!

So here's the thing: if this were really about house-sitting, is there any way in hell that George would ever get asked to come back? Not on your life. Which begs the obvious question: why would anyone even entertain such a thought when it comes to our commander in chief?

From the O'Reilly section on the Fox News website:

Time now for the "Most Ridiculous Item Of The Day." I have to tell you that most Democrats have treated me and The Factor personnel here very nicely, with one exception. Howard Dean has been disrespectful, and he, as we say in my old neighborhood, is a genuinely bad guy. He's repeatedly declined to speak with us. Producer Rich McHugh tried to find out why.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RICH MCHUGH, PRODUCER: Governor Dean, Mr. O'Reilly wants to know why you won't come on The Factor. Is that a no comment?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

Now, at this juncture, I didn't want to talk to the guy. But I will say this — Democrats are very smart at not selecting this man as their candidate. To have done so would have been beyond ridiculous. I don't know what's his problem, I really don't.

Gosh...I wonder why Howard Dean is being so disrespectful as to decline an invitation by The Great Bill O'Reilly to appear on "The Factor" (which, as we all know is the pinnacle of modern journalism)? What a missed opportunity to be sure.

Actually, I sincerely hope that Howard Dean does decide to appear on "The Factor." There's nothing I'd enjoy watching better than Howard Dean ripping O'Reilly a new one.

// posted by Tom @ 11:46 AM

A recent poll, conducted by BET/CBS finds that African American voters overwhelmingly prefer Kerry to Bush. In other news, Duh.

Here's one of my favorite questions though, ironically appearing by itself in the middle of otherwise serious questions about whether people think Kerry or Bush is likely to lie to them:

Q34: Regardless of how you intend to vote, which candidate do you think has more soul -- John Kerry or George W. Bush?

** REGISTERED VOTERS **

(numbers refer to Total, Men, Women)

John Kerry 64 68 61
George W. Bush 11 9 12
Both equally (vol.) 2 3 1
Neither (vol.) 12 12 11
DK/NA 11 8 15