Dirty Work... Second Try

Well… I’ve been wondering, ya know. I’ve asked the question from time to time and have never really gotten an answer. Why? Because there is no answer. Michael Kinsley, writing in the WaPo (“Let the Guy Smoke”):

Obama has never denied that he was a smoker for much of his adult life. He said as early as February 2007 that he had promised his wife he would quit in order to run for president. He also admitted as recently as this June -- when his presidential campaign was about three-quarters over -- that he hadn't done so. In May the Obama campaign released a carefully worded letter from his doctor, who wrote that Obama's "own history included intermittent cigarette smoking. He has quit this practice on several occasions and is currently using Nicorette gum with success." Obama has declined to amplify.

The instructions on Nicorette say to stop smoking before starting with the gum and to stop using the gum after 12 weeks. We know, because he has said as much, that Obama was still smoking the month after his doctor said he was using the gum. And even if he smoked his last cigarette on May 28, the day before his doctor said he was on gum therapy, the 12 weeks would have elapsed Aug. 20. Wouldn't you think that some reporter since then would have asked Obama whether the gum had worked? Yet no one seems to have asked.

“No one seems to have asked.” Dang, I may have heard that line before… somewhere. Ya think? This issue is a nit, to be sure, but it’s also symptomatic of the general lack of curiosity on the part of The Media where The One is concerned, innit? I’m also somewhat taken aback at Kinsley’s last word on this subject:

Obama's steely calm is now one of our country's major assets. If he needs an occasional cigarette to preserve it, let's hand him an ashtray, offer him a light and look the other way.

An Über-Lib offering apologies for the nasty habit, including a suggestion we just look the other way or even facilitate this deviant behavior? Well, now! Who’d a thunk it? No one gave ME that option back in the day when I still indulged. Nope… I had to go huddle in the doorway down on the street along with the rest of the degenerates to get my fix, all the while subjected to hard looks, glares, and the not-at-all-well-concealed opprobrium of passers by. One wonders if there will be ashtrays in the Oval Office or if Barack will have to step outside into the Rose Garden to quiet his Jones. Ditto for Air Force One, where I’m sure smoking is banned. Oh, well. We must be tolerant now, mustn’t we?

―:☺:―

Blown opportunity… That would be yesterday. I was up until the crack o’ dawn yesterday morning, going to bed somewhere around 0600 and staying that way until 1300 hrs. This sort of behavior always leaves me with something akin to a hangover, minus the throbbing pain. Nope… it’s just that left-of-center, out of sorts feeling that hangs on most of the day before we finally get back to what passes for “normal” here at El Casa Móvil De Pennington. So… why is this a blown opportunity, you ask? The weather, Gentle Reader… the weather. Yesterday was just flat frickin’ gorgeous. Bright sunshine, 72 degrees (at 1400 hrs, an hour after I woke up), and no wind. Perfect Happy Hour weather, in other words. I blew if off.

And I have regrets:

Today is NOT a nice day here on The High Plains of New Mexico. We will defer Happy Hour until sometime this weekend, as it were. More’s the pity.

―:☺:―

Finally… here’s some Steely Dan for ya. There’s no point at all to the Clintonista imagery, although it IS entertaining in a retro kinda way. Sorta. Nope… what we’re on about here is Dirty Work’s superb music and lyrics, as the song happens to be one of my all-time favorite Steely Dan tunes.

Good, innit? I'd tell ya why this song (ahem) strikes a lot of different chords with me... but I don't want to shatter any illusions you may hold about my...umm... moral values (and those of certain women in my past, as well). I leave you to wonder, Gentle Reader.

(You may ask what this "Second Try" is all about... I originally published this piece at 0942 hrs this morning. Blog-Bud Barry e-mailed me a few minutes ago to let me know the post was showing up in his RSS reader, but NOT in his browser. Sho 'nuff... IE couldn't see it, but all was well in FireFox. I cut and pasted the post into a NEW post, written in Blogger's "Compose" window, but the cut 'n' pasted bits didn't show up when I hit "publish." BOTH offending pieces have been removed... and I'm left looking a lil bit like the Verizon Guy... which is to say, wondering: "Can you see me NOW?")