Hamilton Jordan, Ted Kennedy, American Idol, Dancing with the Stars & Hillary

Once again this morning I was freshly reminded that I am old. I was surprised to learn Jimmy Carter's chief of staff and long time aide, Hamilton Jordan, was dead after a long battle against lymphoma and prostate cancer. He was 63.

When Hamilton Jordan was in the national spotlight he was a young guy, in his early 30s, which is how I still remembered him. The Carter years don't seem all that long ago. But they were.

And then we have Ted Kennedy's Saturday's hospitalization for a suspected stroke turn into him having the worst type of brain cancer, that being malignant glioma, with a very bleak prognosis and limited treatment options. Some are lamenting this being the latest case of the Kennedy curse. I think not. Teddy Kennedy has lived a long life. It is a sad thing though. I hope he bucks the odds.

Moving to the frivolous. Last night I managed to watch pretty much the entire hour of the American Idol semi-finale. I don't care who wins, either David, Archeletta or Cook. I don't think I can make it through the 2 hour finale tonight. I don't think I could make it through it even if I cared who won. Or if I thought it mattered.

Kristi Yamaguchi won Dancing with the Stars last night. I did not watch it, though I sort of like that show. I like watching people do something that I'm pretty sure I could not do, no matter how much training or practice I put in. But there was no way I was going to watch that show's inflated 2 hour finale.

Moving from the ridiculous to the semi-sublime. Hillary beat Obama badly in Kentucky. While Obama beat Hillary not so badly in Oregon. Obama is very near having enough delegates to win the nomination, needing about 77 more. Hillary vowed last night to continue til every possible voter, of the remaining few, has the chance to vote for her.

I wish Hillary as good a luck as she deserves. Same to Ted Kennedy. Lesser so to the 2 finalists on American Idol, I just don't care this year. Did I care other years? I don't remember.

The State of Hillary's Union

Time flies way too fast. Seems like only yesterday millions of Americans were shocked we had a new president who won with a couple million votes less than the popular vote winner. And now tonight we get to watch the last State of the Union address of Bush II.

Speaking of ruling dynasties. Each day seems to bring more bad news for Hillary. Over the weekend Caroline Kennedy endorsed Barack Obama. Saying all her life people had told her how they'd been inspired by her father, but til now she'd never felt inspired by a presidential candidate. (go here to go to Dallas 40 years after Caroline's dad's assassination)

And then, as if that was not bad enough news for Hillary, over the weekend her first husband Bill got a rather heated call from Caroline's Uncle Teddy. Apparently Uncle Ted objected to Bill's ever more strident attacks and misrepresentations.

Ted told the Clintons he was going to also endorse Obama. This means America's top 2 Democrat family dynasties, the Clintons and the Kennedys, are now at odds with one another and Hillary has lost another key piece of support.

It sort of seems things have begun to spin out of control for Hillary. It was also in the news this morning that meetings were held with Hillary advisers this weekend in which it was decided they needed to reign Bill in, that he was doing more harm than good.

Mitt Romney had an amusing line at the last Republican debate, something along the lines of "Do we really want Bill Clinton back in the White House, with no job and too much time on his hands?"

I hope Mr. Bush doesn't come up with anything scary tonight. No 2008 version of "Axis of Evil". No new threats of imaginary weapons. Maybe he'll just tell is about his retirement plans, part of which became known this weekend with the news that he plans to buy a house in Dallas. That can't be good for property values in whatever neighborhood he lands in. I hope it isn't mine.