GRASPING AT STRAWS

Really? That's what The Republican party is going to go after? Scrambling for scraps like junk yard dogs McCain's campaign runners and spin doctors believe that because Obama referred to a great uncle as 'uncle' and confused the names of 2 concentration camps from over 60 years ago that he is somehow unqualified to be President? Walk through this with me... Your father's brother is your uncle, right? Your great grandfather's brother would be your...? Did you say 'great uncle'? Okay, then what is your grandfather's brother to you? That would be your 'grand uncle' yes? Has anyone reading this ever used the term 'grand uncle' before? Likely not. Isn't the term 'uncle' commonly used as a generic relationship title for anyone who is an uncle to you? I have always referred to my grandmother's sister as 'Aunt Edna' just as I have always called my mother's sister 'Aunt Shirley'. I use the same title for 2 different generations. Am I unqualified for public office? Because of that fact I mean! I don't refer to my second cousin twice removed as 'Second Cousin Twice Removed Shane'. Nope, a simple 'Cousin Shane' has always seemed to be adequate and kept us quite comfortably knowledgeable about our true relationship ties. I promise you this: When Obama is done with his first term, opportunist humorists/authors will be frustrated because they will have collected maybe at best 1 page of speech foibles he will have made over that time. As it stands now the book of 'Bushisms' has to be published in a series volumed I - IX which will have more passages than the old and new testaments combined. McCain and The Republican's would do well to focus on important issues (the falling U.S. dollar, deteriorating U.S. relations/image around the globe, an energy policy that includes something other than drilling for oil in Alaska, an abysmal infrastructure, alarming illegal immigration numbers...) rather than if a candidate used the qualifier 'great' before the word 'uncle' when referring to a family member. In case anyone in the Republican party hasn't figured it out, Obama is causing a stir because he speaks frankly about the issues rather than playing petty political games and spins. The people are clearly more interested in a candidate's intelligence, common sense, and moral fortitude than they are in one's experience or proper usage of adjectives (afterall, Bush lowered the bar pretty good on that one - and if Rumsfeld and Cheney are any indicator, experience doesn't mean shit).