Brokeback Forum Part I

The word of the day in news commentary is nuance. Pundits in search of the truth, usually their own personal truth, study the shades, tones and context of every word uttered by the subjects they dissect daily, even hourly to enlighten their audience. Eventually, yes becomes no, right becomes left and inside is outside. That is, until someone leaves no doubt, no escape with a blindingly bright answer to a tough question. Last night, John McCain befuddled the talking heads, including Rick Warren, with concise answers to both difficult and stupid questions posed by the almost sainted head of Saddleback Church.

I'm not a big McCain fan. The guy absolutely infuriates me at times simply because his status as RINO-in-Chief of the Republican party has caused much division and little amalgamation of a fractured party, the party Conservatives, some reluctantly like yours truly, must vote for if we're to have even a small voice. To put it succinctly, like John McCain of last night, Mr. Maverick has been a pain in our right-wing asses for a long time.

That said, I have to give the old war-horse credit for his performance last night. He reminded me of Captain Kirk, (sans penis hanging out of his tunic), when he answered dangerous questions bluntly and forcefully, with little regard for the consequences because damnit, I'm right! Like it or not, we got the "Straight Talk Express" for one refreshing hour in this seemingly never-ending election cycle.

So without anything to parse other than McCain's silly assertion that five million dollars defines the rich, the focus shifts to Barry Obama's fabulously nuanced answers to the same questions old John buried. After watching analysts stick their fingers down their collective throats to retch out the same old "Obama seemed comfortable" comments, a couple of important points were made by the more worthy commentators.

Charles Krauthammer, reading between the lines of Obama's comments regarding Justice Clarence Thomas, pointed out that Obama seemed to suggest that Thomas didn't have the resume/experience or intellectual acumen to be a Supreme Court Justice. Here's the perfect example of a world-class cliche: The Jr. Senator POT calling the more senior Justice KETTLE black. (Save your "racist" comments for someone who cares. I didn't invent or conceive this line.)

Captain Push will study the transcripts later and further punish Obama and Warren but this initial review can't be published without asking the salient question: What other examples of issues "above the pay grade" can a man who has his finger on the nuclear button give us? Abortion may be a big deal but the annihilation of the human race altogether might be a tad bigger. Is Obama's answer when it comes to the really tough questions going to be, "That's not in my job description."

Advantage McCain.