Recently in New Orleans, Barack Obama was asked by a fourth grader: “Why does everybody hate you?” His answer:

“Well, now, first of all, I did get elected president, so not everybody hates me …

But, you know, I’m a pretty tough guy. Are you a tough guy? You look like you’re pretty tough.”

Here’s the USA Today article. And don’t you love having an articulate president?

Edit: Here’s the YouTube…

Old-time Nevadans remember when our backwater state was a small player on the national political scene. Not so true now, especially in this day when we teeter on the red and blue edge of political leanings. This morning in the Las Vegas Sun, Jon Ralston parrotted the NBC political team’s list of election-related stories coming out of the Battle Born State (I numbered the list for readability):

*** States To Watch In 2010 — Nevada: The stories emerging out of this presidential battleground state are almost endless:

1. Another Democratic majority leader (Harry Reid) is in danger of losing his Senate seat;
2. His son (Rory Reid) is running for governor in a race that could go either way;
3. The incumbent GOP governor (Jim Gibbons) is going through a divorce over allegations of infidelity and even by a lawsuit by a woman claiming that he assaulted her in a parking garage;
4. There’s a competitive House race (freshman Democratic Rep. Dina Titus is one of the GOP’s top targets).
5. Speaking of sons, one of the top Republican contenders for Harry Reid’s Senate seat is Danny Tarkanian, a former secretary of state (sic) whose father is the towel-gnawing former famed UNLV Runnin’ Rebels basketball coach Jerry Tarkanian.
6. Both Danny Tarkanian and former state GOP chairwoman Sue Lowden — who’s exploring a bid — lead Reid in recent polls.
7. In the race for governor, Gibbons will face a tough challenge from [former federal] District Court judge Brian Sandoval, a former state attorney general, in the primary.
8. BTW, the Reid dynasty aspect is, perhaps, the single most under-examined aspect of 2010.

[Correction to #5: Danny Tarkanian has never been a Nevada Secretary of State.]

Beyond irritated at this cold or flu or whatever that’s got me on the disabled list. Will spare you the detail of the yuckiness but the fun part is my legs are trying to convince the rest of the body that it’s time to go outside and everything else is having none of that. As a timekiller, let’s peruse the headlines.

Much e-ink has been spilled on the Michael Vick thing and almost every printed opinion has a dog disclaimer: “I love the puppies.” Have yet to read an article where an author says he/she could live with or without them, so why waste our time with the disclaimer? Be original and say you hate the furry little maggots. (By the way, I love the puppies.)

(more…)

Did you ever have an unexcused absence from school? Maybe your parents could have saved you some hassles if they’d written you a note but they want to teach you a life lesson?

Maybe you asked the wrong people. Here’s the video and the story:

From CNN’s Political Ticker. It’s about the fourth or fifth story down so you’d think they would have fixed this by now…

Edit: the picture was changed to Jay Leno right after I grabbed this print screen.