The Next Two Weeks

Originally, before Sage's surgery and all the other things that happened this summer, I was supposed to be hiking in some Montana wilderness, fly fishing with friends, during the political conventions.  Ignoring the world for awhile sounded really nice.  But, it was not to be.  So the trick is figuring out how to read only the arts and sports pages of the NY Times, ignore the front page of the Wall Street Journal, and focus on the US Open (tennis)!  It's a going to be hard.  The rock star speeches, the tear-jerking videos, the "I'm more patriotic" than the other guy brou-haha.  Ah, to be in the wilderness!

For better or worse, I have been involved either as a "student," or working in or on the fringes of politics for over 30 years.  And I will say this, the parallels between politics and the Olympic Games are enormous.  Both have become BIG, and corporate, and totally outside the realm of normal, Joe Dokes people.  As much as the US Olympic Organizing Committee wants us to believe athletes really do work at Home Depot, most of them live in contained bubbles of corporate sponsorship making a lot more money than the lumber guy at Home Depot will in his wildest dreams.  And every single one of the politicians we'll see on the stages of the two conventions these next two weeks haven't a clue, and haven't had a clue, how the lumberman at Home Depot even can make ends meet.  

So, how does this get around to Murphy?  Hmmm.  Murphy's breeder, a wonderful woman who actually worked in the Clinton Administration, was the daughter of a US Senator and the granddaughter of a US Senator (she knows a thing or two about "good breeding!").  Her grandfather was the first Senator to take on Joe McCarthy.  And he was voted out of office because of a before Photoshop doctored photo that circulated showing him shaking the hand of a prominent communist organizer.  That was over 50 years ago, and not much has changed in how folks run for office.  As we watch each politician try to "out Joe Sixpack" each other, just remember, not one of them, not one of them, worries about how to pay the heating bill, or whether they can afford gas, or whether the government will fix the pot hole out in front of their home, or....

Politics has become a big business.  Just like the Olympics.  But I guess I would much rather watch Michael Phelps and the volleyball teams, than a bunch of guys trying to Photoshop in cheap shots.

Murphy's day.