If you think us pigeons are bad about scratching around, you need to take a look at the Democratic candidates digging around for delegate votes.  Hillary is saying she ought to get the delegate votes from Florida and Michigan, and Obama is saying she shouldn't, and that deal might end up being a big mess.  As usual, the Democrats are making a race out of something that should be a cake walk.  They seem to have a talent for that.

Have you ever heard the term pigeonhole?  Yeah, it's a legislative term for sitting on a bill, or holding it in committee.  Some historians think it comes from the old days when pigeons, known to be frequent visitors to capitol buildings, pecked out the cracks in legislator's desks, enabling then to stick papers through them without lifting the desk top.  It seems like some states used the capitol buildings for storing grain between sessions, and this attracted the pigeons, and you know how we are about grain.  If that story is true, that's our contribution to American politics . . . well, other than crapping on the head of an occasional politician.

But back to the Dems and the chase for delegates.  From my bird's eye view of the thing, I think Obama has the upper hand here.  Hillary knew the rules before she went to Michigan and Florida and won both primaries.  She knew in advance that the votes were not supposed to count, that the decision not to count them had already been made.  But Hillary is a politician, and rules don't mean much to them . . . at least when they apply to the politician themselves.  She wants a rule change, in mid-stream, after the fact even, and Obama is saying no.  And guess who's really loving this?
You've got it - that tired old man running as the Republican.  The best thing for somebody who's looking like a worn out roadmap is to have the other side looking stupid.  Better to look old than stupid, you know.

But . . . then there's Johnny Bombemall going around telling the nation that he can win the war in Iraq, that the Bush Bunch bungled it, and that makes him look a little younger.  Dumber, of course, but younger.  We still have a nation full of people who can't stand losing, and if somebody can show them a way to win, even if it'll cost thousands more lives and many more dollars, the dumbasses will go for it.  You've got to remember, the same dumbass voters who put George Bush in office are still out there, lurking like a stupid fox trying to catch a banty chicken.  The only way they'll ever get their prey is . . . if the chicken gets stupid too.

So. . . wise up Dems, and quit giving the old man ammunition for his war talk.  Put the Bushy-tailed voters on notice that we've had enough of their dumb votes.  You can do that by giving them an alternative that's appealing even to a slow learner.  My suggestion is:  GIVE IT UP, HILLARY!  FORGET THE FLORIDA AND MICHIGAN DELEGATES!

Polly, 3/17/08