HILLARY'S MELTDOWN

The first votes in New Hampshire are in! Dixville Notch. Hillary bombs. Not one vote. OK ... so there were only about 11 votes cast, but who's counting. Well, they were, actually ... and McCain got 4 to Obama's 7.

Not a great start.

Yesterday's show quickly went from "Obama is leading the NH polls" to "Hillary may drop out if she loses in New Hampshire." Well the day has come, and Hillary will still most likely lose here in New Hampshire. But her staff maintains that she is in it until the convention. After all, what else are they going to say?

So you can look for a few things from Hillary between now and February 5th - Super Tuesday. Look for some firing and hiring ... soon. Mark Penn had better have his resume in order. One can only guess whether or not she's going to use the same phraseology when the order comes down to get rid of Penn that she used with the White House travel office; to wit: "Fire his ass." We also presume that Penn will be allowed to leave on his own, and not loaded into a van with his stuff and dumped on a curb somewhere.

Hillary's campaign also promises to be more aggressive and more open ... whatever that translates into. Aggressive, I can buy. Open? Yeah, we'll believe that one when we see it. "Open" is now a word you use to describe Hillary, unless its accompanied by the word "sore."

This is where I earn more of those "you're a woman-hater" emails. The media has been filling with this story of Hillary getting emotional at a coffee shop with New Hampshire voters ... she was on the verge of tears ... she says this is very personal ... she doesn't want to see us fall backwards ... it's hard to look this good day in and day out for reporters. Tough luck. In this field, I don't see any of the boys crying. Well ... wait a minute. Didn't George W. Bush break down at a dinner honoring his son, Jeb? OK, that was about his son, not him. There's a difference there. Is a good cry a way to connect with woman voters? After all, even they are deserting her for Barack Obama.

Hillary's tears were certainly the big topic of conversation wherever the media hounds gathered yesterday. Were they sincere? Was it staged? Watch the video here.

I'm weighing in on the sincere side. I think that she actually found herself unexpectedly tearing up at that restaurant yesterday. But why? Because she's nearing meltdown, that's why. She just can't believe that she's getting her butt whipped like this. Don't these people realize that this presidential election was supposed to be hers? This was supposed to be a coronation, not an election. This was supposed to be inevitable! How dare these voters reject her? Who in the hell do they think they are?

I feel that after she choked back the first tears she realized that she might have a real campaign moment going here. Then she switched into high gear ... time to come out with just the right words to go along with the visual.

"I've been someone who gets up every day and tries to think about what I can do for other people."

Yeah, sure. This is a woman who gets up every day and tries to think about how she can absorb more power.

"We should all ask what we have done for other people. What changes have we made in their lives."

The best thing we can do for this country every day is to take care of our needs; to keep our own house in order, and to try not to become a burden either on others or on the government. The best a citizen can do for his or her country is to live their life in a responsible manner. A lot of Americans need to concentrate on making needed changes in their own lives ... then they can go on a Clintonesque campaign to fix other people's lives.

"I set these big goals for America."

You bet she has. Nationalized health care. Nationalized education. Shifting more power from local governments to the Imperial Federal Government. Raising taxes on virtually every business owner in the country. Big goals indeed!

What utter nonsense. Now I know that many of you are going to listen to these Hillaryisms and just melt. Oh my, what a wonderful, kind and compassionate woman this is. If you want to buy into all of this, do so at your peril. Every word this woman speaks is scripted by political experts who have spent nauseating eons before focus groups. These handlers hear "I want someone who cares about my problems," and in the next breath Hillary is telling us how much she wants to do for other people.

THE EXALTED MIDDLE CLASS

Another Hillary ad telling us about how she is dedicated to "keeping the tax burden off the middle class."

Aren't you wondering why Hillary just wants to get the tax burden off the middle class and not the poor? Well, Einstein, that would be because the left has already succeeded in getting the tax burden off the poor. You'll be pleased to know that the bottom 50 percent of income earners in this country - and that would be one-half of all people with income - pay a bit less than four percent of all income taxes. When you get to the bottom 40 percent of income earners that figures goes to zip. Nothing. But, you say, what about their payroll taxes? Fair enough. Various tax credits, including the hideous Earned Income Tax Credit, is pretty much taking care of that situation.

So ... with the poor already exempted from income taxes, who would be next? Why the middle class, of course! And once Hillary and the MoveOn Democrats succeeded in, as she says, "keeping the tax burden off the middle class," who's left? The evil, putrid, filthy rich ... that's who! Once the MoveOn Democrats manage to shift the entire federal tax burden off to the evil rich, how in the world are they ever going to lose another election? All they have to do is just tell the voters "If you vote for my opponent, he's going to make you pay taxes." Now if that message wouldn't sell, I don't know what would.

Why do you think there is so much left wing opposition to the FairTax? When every single household in this country is protected from paying federal taxes right up to the poverty level, and when the tax code treats each and every person in this country exactly alike ... how do you play the demagogue game during an election?

You're seeing one of the principal reasons some politicians and tax policy wonks are fighting the FairTax. They view a tax code as not simply a way to raise revenue for the necessary functions of government. They also look at the tax code as a tool for social engineering and a way to manipulate voters. These are tools many politicians don't want to loose. It's really up to you to take them away.

Now ... about that magic middle class. You've certainly heard these Democrats talking about the "disappearing middle class," haven't you? Well ... truth is these politicians have a point. Pay attention, this is important. Stephen Rose is an economist. Rose isn't just any economist; he's a labor economist working for a "progressive" (that means liberal) think tank. Rose defines middle class as households earning between $30,000 and $100,000 a year. He admits that there are fewer people in the middle class today than there were 30 years ago. Reason? That would be because the percentage of Americans who earn more than $100,000 a year has doubled .. from 12 percent in 1979 to 24 percent now. And how about those ranked below the middle class? The percentage of people earning less than $30,000 a year has remained unchanged. So .. .the Democrats are right. The middle class is shrinking. What they're not telling you is that the people who are disappearing from the middle class are headed where? To upper and high income categories, that's where. Isn't it rather odd that you never hear this interesting little factoid in the media?

Damn. The truth can be painful, can't it?

THE STREETS OF NEW HAMPSHIRE

One real treat is just walking up and down Elm Street, the main drag in Manchester. On virtually every corner, and especially in front of the Merrimack Restaurant, the demonstrators are out waving their signs. I would say that about 80 percent of the sign-wavers on the streets, and would you like to take a guess as to who the rudest and most abusive demonstrators are? You got it ... the Paulistas. The Ron Paul supporters. I've come to the conclusion that many of these Paul demonstrators come from the same ranks as those people who get out there and march whenever the world's leading economic powers get together to talk trade and economic cooperation. Thank goodness they don't recognize me as we walk buy. They spotted Hannity earlier this week and followed him down the street shouting obscenities. Nice folks.

Embarrassing moment? Well, that might be when Belinda actually walked up to Tucker Carlson in a restaurant and said "I think you're soooooooo hot!" Unbelievable.

Our thanks to Ellen Ratner and the Talk Radio News Service for the excellent job they did with the Radio Row at the Radisson Hotel in Manchester. If I'm still around when the next presidential election comes along, and not sitting in Prevost in Palm Desert, California ... we'll be right back here again.

Next stop? Who knows? We'll see how this plays out.

THE DETERIORATION OF JOURNALISM

Anyone who has been alive for the past 100 years knows Helen Thomas. Well Helen is almost 90 years old, but she's still our dear, sweet Helen. Can't help it .. I like her, but any pretense that she is an objective journalist was abandoned sometime around the Harding administration. Aunt Helen is now telling us that bloggers are causing the "deterioration" of journalism. Furthermore, these nasty bloggers got us into the Iraq war.

Well there ya go. No wonder Bush wanted to move her to the back row. Helen says that everyone with a laptop thinks that he/she is a journalist. Well maybe that is true for some. I know my role though. No pretext at objectivity here. I'm just a puddin' stirrer.

This is where Helen shows that she is part of the old guard. She says that bloggers "certainly don't have our standards and they don't have our ethics ..." OK ... fine. Maybe so, maybe not. I'll tell you what they do have, Aunt Helen. They have the freedom to put their thoughts down on paper and to publish them for the world to read if they chose to do so. We have not reached the point where we are going to established some government agency to decide who can express their thoughts and opinions in writing, and who cannot. Maybe after Hillary moves into the White House .. but not yet.

How old is blogging? It's been around since the very beginning days of this country, and before. Perhaps, in spite of your government educations, you've heard of something called "The Federalist Papers." These were a series of essays written by Alexander Hamilton, James Madison and John Jay. These men were not journalists. They were citizens writing essays --- blogging, if you will --- in support of ratification of our Constitution. If the technology had been around you can rest assured that they would have posted their writings on the Internet .. .and there would be Helen Thomas deriding them for their efforts and their contributions to the "deterioration" of journalism.

Thank God we live in a country where anyone can express their opinion on any subject .. and then share those opinions with millions by simply posting them on the Internet. We read every day of totalitarian countries - China would be a good example - taking actions to suppress these expressions of private opinion. Come on, Aunt Helen ... maybe you might want to rethink your support of suppression rather than freedom of speech and the press.

EVERYONE IS A DOCTOR

We've been so busy with the presidential race ... but not busy enough to dwell on one of our favorite subjects: government-run healthcare. Universal healthcare. Socialized medicine. Whatever the candidates want to call it.

In Great Britain, the government has devised a brilliant plan to save billions of dollars from the NHS budget ... if you have a health problem, just take care of it yourself! That's right. Instead of going to the hospital or consulting a doctor, patients in Britain's government-run healthcare system will be encouraged to carry out "self-care." But don't worry ... this is just until the Treasury figures out a way to curb spending.

The NHS wants to get rid of those "frivolous visits" ... you know, all the ones dealing with arthritis, asthma or even heart failure! That's right. Heart failure. These types of patients will be encouraged to treat themselves.

Prime Minister Gordon Brown explains that this is a good improvement because it allows patients to "play a far more active role in managing their own condition." I've got an idea on how individuals can manage their own condition ... it's called private healthcare. It's called letting market forces determine where people can get the best care and for what price. How's that for managing your own condition.

The idea of the government controlling our health care not only gives me heartburn .. .but some rather potent gas as well. Excuse me while I go manage the situation.

REDNECK SCRAP BOOK

Why even use a rod and reel here?  I think a net would do the job. More in the Redneck Scrap Book.

READING ASSIGNMENTS

Our photo gallery from New Hampshire.

Iranian speedboats threatened to blow up US navy ships passing through the Strait of Hormuz. Naturally, it would have been a suicide attack. Why the hell didn't we shoot? It would have made for some incredible video on the evening news.

John McCain and Barack Obama are vying for independent swing voters ... and those voters are likely to swing their way. A one and a two .....

Where are the presidential candidates headed after New Hampshire? They will all eventually make it to South Carolina. Now that's getting a bit too close for comfort.

Even Bill Clinton called Ron Paul supporters "nuts." Now I'm sure he didn't mean ALL Paulistas ... just the ones who vehemently spout that 9/11 was an inside job. You know -- all the Alex Jones types. You ought to see them on the streets of Manchester. What a sideshow.

The Justice Department is investigating the Port of Seattle after finding that it wasted $97.2 million in taxpayer money. Are we supposed to believe that this makes Seattle special?

With everything else currently happening in the world, and environmentalists want Congress to focus on saving urban trees.

North Dakota is getting federal money (that means your tax dollars) to fund a heating aid program for low income households. The program costs $12.7 million a year. Give them luggage instead .. and a ticket to a warmer climate.

A mayor in Great Britain is the most insensitive man in town because he said that Muslims "cause mayhem with explosives".

Three inmates in Illinois are suing the Illinois sheriff for $2 million, complaining that the cookies and cakes are served soggy.

Sex offenders in prison are still managing to get their hands on thousands of images of child pornography.

One third of people in the Arab world can't read a darn thing. And women? Half of Arab women are illiterate.

Have you gotten your Dr. Hillcare doll yet? They'll probably be a collector's item after she loses today in New Hampshire.

Girls in Denver who get pregnant while they are in high school are asking for at least four weeks of maternity leave, and they do not want the school to count these four weeks as unexcused absences. No, we're not making this up.

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