According to My Wife: Tim Russert is a Big Bully

Russert: Off our Christmas List

According to my wife Tim Russert is a big bully for bodyslamming fun-sized FLILF-mate Dennis Kucinich at last night's Democratic Presidential debate. Scrappy Kucinich was feeding the party base red meat all night, clearly hoping to get some headlines with his impeach Bush and Cheney message. Then Russert fixed his beady stare on amiable Kucinich and went in for the kill. You know a question is going to be trouble when it starts with the name "Shirley MacLaine", a convenient shorthand for "crazy batshit nuts". Here's the full question:

"The godmother of your daughter, Shirley MacLaine, writes in her new book that you sighted a UFO over her home in Washington state...

(Laughter)

... that you found the encounter extremely moving, that it was a "triangular craft, silent and hovering," that you "felt a connection to your heart and heard directions in your mind."
Now, did you see a UFO? "

Kucinich seemed taken aback and his answer was a little jumbled as a result. He didn't get to the real heart of the question which was "Are you some kind of lunatic?" But was this really a necessary question to pose to a decent man of integrity who doesn't stand a chance of winning the White House? Or just a great way to kill a nascent impeachment movement that leaders of both parties would like to see go away? The softball question the usually irascible Russert tossed Obama afterwards suggests that at least subconsciously, he would like to see the field thinned to the "real" candidates and perhaps this was his way of helping to thin it. Still, that's no way to treat a guy who has run a brave and honest campaign... according to my wife.

Politics: FLILFs -- Who are They? Are They Dangerous? The Daily Show Investigates

The Kucinichs: Potential POTUS and FLILF

The Daily Show's Jason Jones looks into the phenomenon of FLILFs, "...like a MILF but in the White House..." Check out the enlightening clip below in which Jones probes Elizabeth Kucinich, wife of Democratic hopeful Dennis Kucinich:

Politics: SCHIP Hits the Fan

Wisconsin's Jim Sensenbrenner (R) could be targeted for his vote. "Why can't the little buggers just use emergency rooms?" *Not an actual quote.

The House voted in favor of the new State Children's Health Insurance Program, setting up a veto showdown President Bush. Bush, who opposes the program on "philosophical" grounds, seems to feel that think-tank bromides trump sick kids. Though 45 Republicans sided with the Democratic majority on the bill, 151 Republican lemmings marched off this particular cliff -- allowing Bush's veto to stand and giving Democrats a prime election year cudgel in 2008. 8 Democrats also voted against the bill, among them Dennis Kucinich. Here are the full yeas and nays.