POLITICAL TRIVIAL -- the smiling kind.

One of Washington's most feared columnists and top journalists, Dana Milbank, has written a new book on the government called Homo Politicus. In it he recounts President Bush’s October 2006 visit to the city of La Plume in Northeastern Pennsylvania. Bush was there to campaign for Rep. Don Sherwood (R-PA) during the week Bush proclaimed, “National Character Counts Week.”

"I'm pleased to be here with Don Sherwood," said a smiling president pictured in the S. John Wilkin Associated Press picture above. Bush told the congressman's loyal but dispirited supporters at a luncheon fundraiser, "He has got a record of accomplishment."

Why were the supporters dispirited? President Bush failed to mention that Rep. Sherwood had acknowledged having an "extramarital affair,” or that he had "repeatedly chok[ed]" and "attempt[ed] to strangle" Cynthia Ore, his former mistress, 35 years his junior.

In court Sherwood admitted to the five-year extramarital affair and settled a 5.5 million dollar lawsuit in which he did, indeed, admit to choking her. He denied he abused her and aired a campaign commercial asking his constituents to forgive his infidelity!

I wonder, just wonder, what just what is Mr. Bush's defination of: "character"?

NEGATIVES ...

I have finally figured out what the pollsters mean by “high negatives.” And it’s something that is missing from the objective commentary on the Clinton/Obama race. As much as I admire them, a lot of ordinary “yaller dog” Democrats simply do not what to relive the disappointments, frustrations and imagined scandals of the Clinton era.

Now I want to be very clear, I cried when President Clinton took that long drive away from the White House ... but in the back of my mind I kept thinking, “Why didn't he keep his pants up?” And I have a few Republican friends who have an irrational hatred for anything "Clinton" ... it is part of their DNA.

Early on in this campaign season I caught a glimpse of what it would be like to have a woman as President ... and that is a wonderful thing. But that excitement just does not get me beyond the fear of having to relive the negatives that the Clinton's bring with them this election season.

When the Republican attack dogs seek to destroy Obama, as they undoubtedly will, the "victim" in Obama is young, energetic, passionate, and principled and has already layout a response. “There they go again." Isn't that old? Isn't that tired? Is that what America is about? That is in the past.

And there are no old memories, no disappointments.

XENOPHOBIA & The Papal Ring

There is so much political commentary this election season. One sticks in my mind; it will not go away; it ties together two of my passions, history and politics. Let's call it “The Papal Ring” comment.

So first a question: Who was the Democratic candidate for President in 1928? And what is the common reason given for his loss?

The answer is New York Governor Alfred E. Smith. In Associated Press picture (above) at the National Archives he appears every bit “the happy warrior” that was his nickname. And the reason attributed to his defeat is his Roman Catholic faith. Latter historians have said it was lucky for him, and his faith, that he lost; otherwise they both might have been blamed for the Great Depression. And I will add, it was lucky for his party as well.

But clearly Governor Smith’s lost was due to an irrational distrust of the immigrants, most of whom were Catholic, who arrived in this country at the end of the 19th and 20th centuries. When they arrived those newcomers discovered a white, Anglo-Saxon, Protestant establishment that was Republican, anti-immigrant and anti-Catholic.

Those “establishment” attitudes overwhelmingly denied Smith the 1928 election. Perhaps nothing typifies the culture of the time more than a remark by the nationally know Methodist Bishop, Adna Wright Leonard. “No Governor,” he said, “can kiss the papal ring and get within gunshot of the White House.”

It can be said that the implications of that remark remade American political history. It firmly drove immigrant Roman Catholic communities into the Democratic column for the following 70 years.

That same xenophobic political and social phenomenon drove Governor Pete Wilson of California (R) to push a 1994 anti-immigration ballot measure that sought to deny state assistance to undocumented immigrants. In 2002 GOP national Chairman Marc Racicot called the initiative, Proposition 187, a mistake that portrayed Republicans as "not as sensitive" as they should be toward Hispanics.

After listening to this year’s Republican debates, it seems they have learned nothing from long or short term political history. And in fact, I am willing to bet that Republican xenophobia will cause them to lose the bulk of the Hispanic vote not only this election cycle but for the next 70 years.

DOG LESSONS

Lessons we can learn from a dog - from an emai...

Live simply.
Love generously.
Care deeply.
Speak kindly.
When loved ones come home, always run to greet them.
Never pass up the opportunity to go for a joyride.
Allow the experience of fresh air and the wind in your face to be pure ecstasy.
Take naps.
Stretch before rising.
Run, romp, and play daily.
Thrive on attention and let people touch you.
Avoid biting when a simple growl will do.
On warm days, stop to lie on your back on the grass.
On hot days, drink lots of water and lie under a shady tree.
When you're happy, dance around and wag your entire body.
Delight in the simple joy of a long walk.
Be loyal.
Never pretend to be something you're not.
If what you want lies buried, dig until you find it.
When someone is having a bad day, be silent, sit close by and nuzzle them gently.

OBAMA - A SECOND LOOK

Karl Rove is warning the Republican base that his political creation of religious anti-gay bigots, Southern racists, and riffle totting NRA Westerners should not crackup; that they should “calm down.” The GOP's demise isn’t imminent; after all now the anti-immigrant group has joined us. The race has only begun, he says.

My great hope for our country is that Mr. Rove’s deeply flawed view of America and her people will once and for all be proved wrong and that he and others like him will become just a bad memory; relegated to history’s dust bin.

There is a better America, one that welcomes the stranger, whose laws are just and revered by the world, that cares for the poor, that educates all its children and seeks peace as its number one objective. And there is an America that seeks to include all of its citizens not just a few, not just the wealthy.

I can not say I know which of the Democratic Parties candidates is better. I just know that one of them has a vision of moving us beyond the internecine atmosphere of the last 35 years. And that vision alone is enough for me to vote for Barack Obama.