Christmas… the Season of Santa, Gift Giving and… No Politicians.

Christmas is the worst of all times for we political junkies. Politicians and journalists are on holidays and nothing’s happening. It’s… well, there’s this tic I’ve developed, and I’m beginning to listen to kids quarreling to give myself a small fix.

It’s gotten so bad that this year I’ve been forced to follow the Ohio and New Hampshire GOP primaries in the US. Although one good thing did come out of that; I’ve discovered that Australian politicians could be worse. Some of them could be, at any rate.

Rick Perry says he’ll send the troops back into Iraq. Now there’s a vote winner if ever I heard one.

Jon Huntsman tried to connect with ordinary Americans during a debate by speaking in Mandarin. Oh yeah, that’ll go over great with the Hatfields and the McCoys in Ozark, Missouri. On the other hand, maybe they just thought he was using English words they’d never heard before.

And then there’s Willard Mitt Romney, Mister Stands For Everything. He keeps winning primaries but every poll shows that most Americans can’t stand him, with good reason. There’s even an ABM movement – Anybody But Mitt.

In between primaries, and to help with the withdrawal symptoms, I’ve taken to talking politics with people I know, (and in some cases, don’t). Oh, and in a few instances, used to know.

Anyway, one of the things I’ve discovered is that folks have the damndest reasons for not liking a politician. One of my neighbours will never vote for Tony because he exersizes too much.

My dentist is offended by the size of Jule’s, ahem, derriere, vis a vis the rest of her anatomy. By the way, a word of advice. Never get into a political discussion with someone into who’s mouth you’re going to put your fingers every few minutes.

I really did think he told me to bite down hard. Honestly!

Turns out that some of my friends hold passionate views about what needs to be done to save the country from impending disaster, yet they can’t name their local state or federal member.

Anyway, here’s a couple of things the experience has taught me:

• Many folk still believe what they see on the news. This is often a bad idea. A recent study in the US showed that people who primarily watched Fox for their news were less well informed than people who never watched any news at all. I’m guessing they were considerably angrier too;
• Everything on the internet or TV news is taken as apocalyptic for at least 24 hours, after which it becomes ancient history, and therefore irrelevent.

Anyway, just a few more weeks. Parliament will be sitting again and this will all be just water under the fridge.

I’ve really got to get a life.