'I never vote; it only encourages them!'

We are all abuzz here by the comments made by the round heeled Carla Bruni Sarkozi about Michelle Obama. Evidently, Carla is one to kiss and tell. Her reputed statements about Mrs. O are easily being dealt with and its business as usual at the white house. This Marie Antoinette reincarnate is making husband Nicholas look smaller every day; and he already has a handicap in that direction. I seriously doubt there will be another gala in DC featuring the King and Queen of France at the head table. Pity, O needs friends badly. I believe the diminutive frog realized from the start that our Commander in Chief was all boots and no cattle as he uttered words to that effect early on during O's Washington honeymoon with the presidency.

Jeff Randall's column today on UK government spending being actually more than last year and indeed more than any of the labor years is an eye opener. His analogies to Sweeny Todd added a touch of humor and reality. Better still was Janet Daley's recent column on the insanity of one man's ability to hold America hostage while he decides whether or not to burn a Koran. The depth of her article lies in her explanation of why common American's have such an intimate relationship with our constitution. The reasons behind the constant and frequent talk in the street about human rights, individual rights, and the freedoms so covetously espoused in our Declaration of Independence by the founding fathers is extremely well articulated. The backup material in her article is far more interesting that the burning Koran lead.

Preliminary elections leading up to the mid-term elections in November are dynamite. A huge rift is evolving on the political right between republicans and conservatives. So much so, that the bitter attack against O and co. from the political right has weakened in intensity. The primary gripe among those who call themselves Conservatives is their disaffection with the middle of the road tendencies associated with many republicans. The conservative mantra is individual freedoms, guns, pro life, small government, capitalism and God. Vote getting efforts on the part of many rinos (republicans in name only) violate the mantra and therefore grate on conservative principles. We could easily have a third party in the US what with the large numbers of conservatives and allied libertarians gaining in political strength. Witness their efforts to create and populate the tea party movement. Tea party candidates are winning in enough preliminaries to take heed of their burgeoning power.

The ultimate test, however, will come in November when the grit of the conservatives elected over republican rivals will be put to the test against democrat rivals. There is another trend that is partly fogging the issues. Namely, that of ousting incumbents in favor of new blood. As I have noted earlier, the American public is becoming more and more fed up with senators and representatives who appear to have life-long sinecures and who behave as if they were royalty. In particular, the cozy relationships between elected officials and large political campaign donors such as corporate America and lobbyists, compel growing numbers of the public to believe that their interests have been ignored. The public is voting for new candidates in a decidedly anti-incumbent movement. To what extent the new candidates are elected because they are new or because they are promoted by the tea party movement remains to be seen.

The tea party is a basically conservative power play that has capitalized on the frustration of politically active right wing voters who feel they are no longer represented by elected officials. In particular, and as their name indicates, they complain bitterly about having been Taxed Enough Already. This complaint is mirrored in the public at large and I am quite sure the tea party movement will attract many center and left wing activists who also believe we are being taxed to the extreme. As I write, there is a major debate over extending the Bush administration tax cuts to higher income earners. You know the arguments and particularly so because a very similar debate is going on in the UK over tax rates and national debt reduction. As the tax cuts enacted by W are due to expire at the end of 2010, a sense of urgency prevails; but urgent to some means tax the rich while to others it means extend incentives to job creators to create more jobs.