Time to stop playing games

I wonder if you happen to catch Jon Stewart's "Daily Show" monologue on the race in Massachusetts hours before the election where he practically predicted Scott Brown's defeat of Martha Coakley in the special election to fill the late Senator Edward "Ted" Kennedy's seat.

It was a very funny bit before even the first vote was cast, but it was a good prediction of what was to come the next day.

Coakley had everything one needs, a proven record having been state attorney-general, the support of the Kennedy family and the support of the National Democratic party. What she didn't have was a clue. She was like a female version of Dan Quayle. Obviously neither person was that inept or they would never have won elections, but when they reached they fell even though Quayle rode in on George H.W. Bush to be Vice President, not the most exciting job anyway.

Coakley was defeated by a Republican in a pickup truck who was a former male model. I didn't think politics could get that bizarre. Well, sometimes I wondered, but I never expected this to happen in a state where most of the country believed people were ingrained with D's at the end of their name. I guess it goes to show people who say dumb things don't always win elections, contrary to what Al Gore supporters out there think.

And what makes this even more ironic is the Democratic machine changed the very rules that allowed this to take place when they expected another Democrat named John Kerry to beat George W. Bush. They wanted to make sure a Republican governor didn't have the final say so they made sure an election would occur soon after. Now it turned the tables on them. Bright strategizing, isn't it?

Of course, some Democrats are in denial believing the ship isn't sinking yet. Take this comment from New Jersey Senator Robert Menendez who is the chairman of the Senatorial Campaign Election committee.

"I would caution against taking a single unique election and extrapolating what it means for the midterms 10 months away," he said.

Mr. Menendez, the last time President Bill Clinton believed he was on top of the world, he lost all of Congress' majority to the Republicans in 1994.

It is common knowledge that seats switch in mid-term elections to the party not in the White House. It happened to Clinton, both Bushes and most other Presidents. It's the nature of the beast, but I wouldn't just shrug it off and not consider that maybe all of us people have had enough of them the elite majority who salivated for an opportunity to do something so we have been told for years.

What have they done, even with their majority? A whole lot of nothing but business as usual. The exact same things the Republicans have done before them.

The Federal Congress needs to be overhauled altogether and at the same time. Everyone should be ousted and the common folks should run the show as it was meant to be. Our laws are incomprehensible and in some cases idiotic or designed for special interests and businesses and not the common folks. This needs to end.

Before you read this as a pro-Republican column, I'm sick of their shenanigans also. If you aren't willing to be a solution then you are part of the problem and many of the Republicans are as reprehensible as their Democratic counterparts.

Not all of them are bad though. I do admire Senator Joe Lieberman who stood up to the party machine and became an Independent instead of doing what he thought was wrong. There should be more legislators on both sides of the aisle who do the same thing and tell their party machines to shove it. The world would be a better place for it.

To Congress: We, the People, are tired of your bull and it's time to stop playing games and start doing things for the people and not those who line your pockets or you will become unemployed too.

That's the message that should be sent to all of our elected officials. If you don't represent us then you don't belong in power. From the President to the mayor of the smallest town. Elected officials are there to serve the people not themselves.

If that message wasn't clear on Tuesday in Massachusetts well hopefully the other 49 states will use the opportunity in November to make it clear to everyone else. If you don't want to serve the people, we can elect someone else who does.

Onto some lighter fare, I asked some trivia questions last week about the Tonight Show. Here are the answers. First the announcers for the respective hosts were as follows Steve Allen's was Gene Rayburn, Jack Paar's was Hugh Downs; Johnny Carson's was Ed McMahon; Jay Leno's was John Melendez and Conan O'Brien's was Andy Richter.

The first band leader was Lyle "Skitch" Henderson and his trumpeter who became the second leader was Doc Severinsen. Carson's last guests were Robin Williams and Bette Midler "One for My Baby (and One for the Road)", but his last show was done alone.

Til next time…