Well folks, it’s almost here. With the General Election less than six months away, the campaign’s are gearing up in anticipation of this summer’s non-stop electioneering. As you all know, because it’s already started: the phones will ring every night at dinnertime, the mailbox will be stuffed with campaign mailings, and the TV commercials make it easy to take a bathroom break in the middle of your favorite show. In Albany, the mud-slinging is usually kept to a minimum. Not so, however, in the race to be the next President of the United States. This one is going to be ugly. Real ugly. Only last night I saw how Mitt Romney had to distance himself from an add that a PAC had put together ripping President Obama. A PAC can raise incredible amounts of money, and can spend it anyway they please. They have nothing to do with the national campaigns, so they don’t have to get permission from the candidates, not even the President before they run them. Used to be the candidates took the $85 million that the fed’s gave them to run their campaigns. Now they can raise that much money with four dinners at George Clooney’s house. Romney is going to rip Obama; Obama rips back. Non-stop. These campaigns get personal, and by the time they’re through, we will have no better understanding of how they stand on the issues than we do now. I wonder how Abe Lincoln and George McClellan did things back in 1864.…….The “Dirtbag of the Week” has two winners. The first is Pedro Espada. He being the former Senate Majority Leader who stole half a million dollars from the health clinic he started and ran. He was also one of the “Four Amigos” who basically sent the legislative process to a grinding halt in the summer of 2009; and made New York State look ridiculous in the eyes of the nation. Bye-bye Pedro.…….The second is former candidate John Edwards. His lawyer said that his client was guilty of nothing but being a bad husband. A bad husband doesn’t have access to millions of dollars in campaign cash to hide a mistress, all the while his wife was dying of cancer. His actions are so reprehensible, it fails the imagination. Where did you think the money was going John? My favorite part: he was going to tell everyone when his wife died and the election was over. Weren’t you even thinking about your family at all when you started all of this?……. My pick is number two. What’s yours?
And that is “The Daily Take”