Short Takes

Well, the whole Chris Christie thing actually gets interesting. Nancy Reagan told him to run, Barbara Bush called his wife to get him to run and George Pataki asked him to run. Not the run-of-the-mill conservatives. The GOP establishment, which George Will said died when Barry Goldwater ran, is still pumping along and they are not happy with the Romney camp and the rest of the field. Apparently, the big donors have suspended making any more donations for a month, looking to find Mr. Right.

Lawrence O'Donnell had a fascinating take on the Sarah Palin imbroglio. Apparently, Sister Sarah has been criticizing Fox News personalities on her interviews with Greta Van Sistern. This, O'Donnell, spells doom for her and Roger Ailes. He points out--as he did in the past--that Ailes won't tolerate divergence from the party line as in the case of Glenn Beck, who met his demise at the network. The Drop Dead Date for Palin is the last week of October, which is the deadline for filing for New Hampshire. Once she doesn't file, then she is yesterday's news and her stock as a political celebrity crumbles. O'Donnell has been right about this stuff before.

The Mike Huckabee rumor is precisely that. He's not going anywhere, which will send the GOP scrambling around for someone else.

The RNC doesn't know what to do with Florida's renegade move to change their primary. This has set off a stampede of other states jiggling their calenders, which could move New Hampshire to December. Now the RNC is threatening to penalize miscreant states. Stay tuned.

A millionaire cashmere rancher (is there such a thing?) from Montana wants to open investigations into wastes of government funding for school lunches. I guess this is another great idea to create jobs. Why doesn't the GOP demand that the IG report on the $80 billion wasted in Afghanistan and Iraq during the last administration be open to the public? The report has been sealed until 2036.

Sometime, someday The Detroit Tigers and the New York Yankees will actually play a game. I love it when baseball is played in rainy Fall days. Maybe the series will end before Thanksgiving.

Meanwhile it looks like my Lakers will lose the services of Kobe Bryant to Europe. Bring back Magic!