Usually I attempt to post a piece like this on Friday, but this week for some reason I cannot at this point remember, I simply did not get around to it.

Anyhow, here is the Friday fly-by on Sunday. Better late than never I guess.

This paragraph and the attached post dealing with the President’s position on Embryonic Stem Cell Research from The Anchoress was by far one of the best I had read all week:

It’s going to take a long time for all the good things Bush has done to be recognized - it may take generations. And those of you - and I’m talking to you folk on the hard right who have decided that because Bush is not “perfectly in line” with you, he cannot have been a good and effective president, those of you who have forgotten the “good” you have received and will thus be unlikely to receive another - will miss this guy when he’s out of office. That’s all I have to say about that.

I think so too Anchoress, I think so too.

Last Wednesday I had written a post about the Virginia GOP and their insane idea of having primary voters sign an oath to vote for whomever the GOP Presidential candidate is for 2008. While this update might not fit in the format of last weeks news, it is heartening to know these party bosses have retracted this ludicrous idea:

Virginia Republican leaders decided yesterday to scrap plans to require voters to sign a loyalty pledge before they cast their ballots in the Feb. 12 presidential primary.

The decision by the 86-member Virginia Republican State Central Committee, meeting in Crystal City, came after a public outcry over the pledge and mounting concern among party leaders that it could drive independents and moderate Republicans away from GOP candidates.

“We have heard the voice of the people,” said John H. Hager, the state party chairman. “It’s a new day, and our job has to be to build the party. We welcome new people into the party. We want as many people as possible participating if they share our principles and values.”

AJ Strata, a Virginia resident, adds his own thoughts in his post which includes the paragraphs above:

Share their principles and values? How about they work to respect our principles and values and stop this insane purity purge the GOP is all about these days. No more derogatory names like “RINO” or “traitor” or “el Presidente Jorge Bush”. If we need to be “good Republican” then forget it - the clique types can live in their little echo chambers for all I care.

When any organization within the GOP has the impression they can lead the voters around like herded sheep, there will be backlash. I am pleased the voters in Virginia made their sentiments heard and slapped down this unethical nonsense.

From the “who cares” category, this was the clear winner in my book:

Barbara Streisand’s endorsement of Hillary Clinton a day after word came that Oprah Winfrey would stump for Barack Obama made for delicious timing, and The New York Post, for one, couldn’t resist slapping together a battle-of-the-divas “tale of the tape,” stacking up Babs’s “71 million albums sold” against Oprah’s “9 million viewers.”

Entertainment over issues…wow what a way to select a President.

Replace the name Giuliani with your choice of republican nominee for the 2008 election and then read this piece by Matthew May.

You play to win the game.” The goal of conservatives, so-called moderates, Reagan Democrats, and every level-headed citizen of voting age in 2008 is electing a war time president capable of pressing on to victory. The times in which we live are too serious for a replay of more scandals than days each week, and for a president who openly states that power must be taken from the people “for the greater good.”

To paraphrase former Celtics coach Rick Pitino lecturing Boston fans that the days of Larry Bird, Kevin McHale, and Robert Parish were gone, “Ronald Reagan is not walking through that door.” Conservatives better realize it and get cracking on nominating the next-best thing if they want it so badly. In the meantime, stop clucking from the sidelines, keep your eye on the ball, and play to win for the sake of the nation.

“For the sake of the nation”, indeed.

I hope you found something here which gave a little food for thought or just a bit of enjoyment. Most of all, here’s hoping you had a great weekend.