With much regret, I report that I am back in Connecticut. In many respects, I may just as well have spent the last two weeks in space. In fact, had I been in space I might have been more connected with events in the wider world, as I most likely would have had internet access. As it was I had only sporadic access to the net. I did have access to television, but I have grown so accustomed to not watching TV news (Daily Show and Colbert excepted) that it never entered my mind to turn to that medium for information, and it was too inconvenient to get newspapers to bother with them. So, I was more or less blissfully unaware of events in the wider world, though I have gleaned the following from random scraps of information.
First, the most serious crisis (according to John McCain) since the end of the cold war erupted in Georgia. It is now over, so far as I can see, with the Russians pretty much getting everything they wanted, except that the tacitly agreed not to say that they got everything they wanted. A week and a half ago we were all Georgians, but I understand we are now all back to being Americans, with some of us still more American than others.
Michael Phelps won eight gold medals, but I liked the little girl, Shawn Johnson, the gold medal winner in the balance beam, who showed up for her interview with the inevitable Brian Costas (is he the reincarnation of Dick Clark? He never gets old) wearing great big earrings with peace signs on them.
John McCain was unable to answer when asked how many houses he had. For some strange reason this caused the media to tumble to the fact that he is a very rich man with a very rich wife who is seriously out of touch with the world in which the rest of us live. Apparently, when it comes to Republicans, all the media needs to get clued in on this sort of thing is to be hit on the head with a two by four. Repeatedly.
Truth be told, given the number of houses McCain does own, it’s not clear that any answer was the right answer. If he’d known the answer the effect wouldn’t have been much better. In any event, it was a hard question, since all that can be known with certainty is that he owns between 7 and 11, depending on how you define “own” and how you define “house”.
Meanwhile, in a stunning development, the Democrats actually appear to be turning the issue to their advantage.
In more McCain news the myth that he prefers not to mention his POW experience appears to be dissolving. In fact, the press is now beginning to notice that he prefers to mention it at every opportunity, and uses it as a universal excuse for every screw up, and an all purpose credential for the presidency.
Finally, we can all stop holding our breath. Joe Biden is the vice presidential nominee. I’m underwhelmed, but I honestly can’t think of anyone who would have whelmed me.
I’m sure other things have happened, but I’m ignorant of them. I realize that as an all purpose pundit I have to get back in the flow and will be attempting to do so in the next few days as the reality of being back in the workaday world sinks in.
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