The Old Prof Thinks Out Loud

For those of you in the other 49 states, let me inform you that many of us in Indiana were not that surprised when Evan Bayh wasn't picked to be Barack Obama's running mate. We already knew he was too bland, had no clear positions on many of the issues, and was more of a handsome face in an empty suit (unlike his more dynamic and decisive father, Birch).
And, despite all the reasons cited by the TV and Internet pundits, one of the factors -- maybe even the key factor -- for the non-selection had to have been the fact that the balance of power in the U.S. could have been at stake. If Bayh had been selected, then elected, his seat in the Senate would have become vacant. And anyone who knows just how red a state Indiana is -- can you say fire-engine red? -- would also know that a Republican probably would have been elected to fill Bayh's seat. With the narrow majority in the Senate right now, Democrats couldn't have afforded to let that happen.
Presumably, there would be a better chance that a Democrat could be elected to fill Biden's seat. And let Evan Bayh be content with being selected Miss Congeniality one more time.
And that's the rest of the story from here in the land of Danny Burton and Mitch Daniels.

OK, I was wrong about Obama's selection of a running mate. I said I'd take that post down immediately. But that is the coward's way out, so I didn't do that.
I will not venture a guess on McCain's selection, especially since his first two choices, Ronald Reagan and Jesse Helms, are both deceased, and his third, Ted Stevens, has his hands full of subpoenas right now. I will go out on a limb and say that the really juicy choice would be Condoleeza Rice. Won't happen, but think of the demographics of that pick, since she would cut across several of Obama's main contituencies. But McCain can't touch those groups, anyway, so it would be a futile, if somewhat intriguing choice.
By the way, is Strom Thurmond still alive? No? Well, there's another McCain choice down the drain.

I've said this from the very beginning (or at least since he wrapped up the nomination) that Barack Obama's pick for a running mate will be, must be, a (white) woman with some public association with Hillary Clinton. She also must not be Hillary Clinton (sorry, those of you who hoped otherwise, but it just isn't going to happen).
If I'm all wrong about this, at least the last part, you will see this post disappear as rapidly as Fred Thompson did from the primary races. We should know by this weekend.

Nothing says your days are numbered more than the bank's policy of limiting customers with one of their "50 Plus" checking accounts to purchasing just one box of checks at a time!
I'll try not to check out (pun intended) until I have finished up my last box of checks, OK, cynical bankers?

So the Chinese, in their ancient and infinite wisdom, decided the little girl with the real singing voice wasn't "cute" enough to present to the global viewing public for the Olympics? Despicable, not quite inscrutable, of course, but, in its way, it is just another lesson learned from America.
Perhaps more than any country in the world, the U.S. of A. has a long and embarrasing history of lip-synching (although usually to cover up the fact that the "singer" was made in the studio, not live on stage). At least as far back as American Bandstand, and almost every stop since, including the Super Bowl, the geniuses of American image-making have tried to put the best voice forward, even it means putting it forward on recording tape. (Hell, back in the day, one bubblegum-rock band, the Archies, couldn't even go on stage and sing live, since their hit records were made by forty-something studio musicians.)
The Chinese just made it putting the best face forward. America truly is a beacon to the rest of the world, and that isn't always a good thing.