Different Day, Same Shit.

For your reading pleasure, the Washington Post has a transcript available of Chris Christie's "Bridgegate" conference. Just like the actual presser itself, the transcript is a long, winding read into Christie's inelegant maneuvering post-bridge controversy.

"The buck stops here." Except when you pass that buck onto your staffers. Who've you just fired to maintain a thin, crumbling veneer of plausible deniability:

So I had no reason to believe that she was telling me anything other than the truth, and that's why I used the phrase before that I was heartbroken, because I trusted that I was being told the truth, and I wasn't. And I wasn't by somebody who I had placed a significant amount of trust in.

So, yeah, did I miss it? We missed it. I mean, that's why we're here, right? We missed it. But then what do you do when you find out you missed it? I found out at 9 -- a little before 9 yesterday morning. By 9:00 this morning, her position was terminated. And I think that's swift, appropriate action that people would expect from the chief executive of the state.

Also:

Q: Governor, you said you didn't seek the mayor's endorsement -- (off mic). Just wondering, in the course of the campaign, you're having these meetings where you were actively seeking the support of many Democrats in the state. But when you have these meetings, and they say, you know, Governor's latest polling, here's your new ad, here's the update on the Democratic outreach -- did anyone say do you, well, the mayor of Fort Lee, he's -- (off mic)?

GOV. CHRISTIE: He never -- his name was never mentioned to me.

His position was never mentioned to me. When I say, John (sp), he was not on my radar screen, that means he was not on my radar screen. I never had Bill Stepien or anybody else connected with the campaign even mention to me, like even an update, like, hey, we've had two meetings with the mayor; we think things are going well or we think things are going poorly. I'd get those kind of updates. I never heard the Fort Lee mayor's name, Mark Sokolich, his name, until all this stuff happened.

And so he was not on my radar screen at all. Plenty of other mayors were. And a number of them wound up endorsing us, and a number of them, I wound up having meetings with like you're referencing. Mayor Sokolich -- not only did I never have a meeting with him, he was never mentioned to me. That's why -- you know, you go back to the question over here about, you know, making a joke about this. That's part of the reason I felt comfortable doing it. Like, this can't have anything to do with politics. I don't even know this guy. How could it be that someone would be doing something like this against a mayor that I never had any conversations with nor any sense that we were even seeking his endorsement?

And so, you know, that's why this is such -- that's part of the reason this is such a mystery to me, John (sp), and why I'm so upset about it.

Q: That's what I'm trying to -- (off mic) -- somebody said, screw him or to hell with him -- (off mic) --

GOV. CHRISTIE: I would have said, who's he?

Q: (Off mic) -- wasn't you?

GOV. CHRISTIE: No, I would have said, who's he? If somebody would have said something that to me I -- who's he and what did he do? I mean, I don't know this guy. Like I said, I may have met him in a greeting line or in a -- in a big Bergen County event or at a town hall meeting or something. But I'm telling you, like, until yesterday when I saw his picture on TV, I wouldn't have -- I -- if he walked in the room, I wouldn't have been able to pick him out.

So that's not to diminish him in any way. It's just that in this context, this is not a guy who was on my radar screen in any way, nor was his name ever brought up to my by Bill Stepien until after the story started to appear about the Fort Lee traffic problem.

And that's the first time that I heard about Mayor Sokolich. And so that's why, John (sp), it's such a mystery to me. And --

Q: (Off mic) -- with Democrats?

GOV. CHRISTIE: Sure. Of course I was, Kelly. But you know what? He wasn't one of them. He wasn't one of them. I mean, I'm happy to admit I that I was trying to run up the score, absolutely. That's what you do in a political campaign, try to get as many supporters, endorsers that turn into voters. That's part of your job.

Translation: "I never even met the guy. How I'm gonna muscle a guy I never even met? I didn't know my staffers were even messing with this guy, who I never met in my life."

No matter how many staffers you throw under the George Washington Bridge and no matter how many village idiots attempt to rework the narrative in your favor, this isn't going away, Chris.

Wanna know what might blow a hole in your political ambitions for 2016? It's not being seen palling around with the Socialist Marxist Kenyan in Chief. Or having a mouth that's just as wide as your own personal girth. Turns out it's having your minions gridlock one of the busiest thoroughfares in the nation just to get back at some Democrat mayor who wouldn't endorse your generously proportioned Republican ass so you could have bigger numbers to fuel your presidential campaign.

Screwing with poor welfare recipients and schoolteachers is one thing. But screwing with the ordinary motorist on one of the busiest commutes in the nation is just something you don't do, period.

Chris Christie figured he could escape the backlash and watch his minions take the hit, because that's what minions are supposed to be there for. And indeed they did. Sorta.



At least Mittens had the forethought to expunge any and all traces of impropriety on part of his staff. As far as pulling dirty tricks on political opponents, Christie still has a lot to learn from Richard Nixon, nevermind how his penchant for rigging the playing field even when handed sure-fire victory was driven by pathological paranoia, whereas Christie's own egomania was calling the shots.

Meanwhile, a lot of people are saying Christie's fucked. And he is. And in a way, he's always been fucked. He's not a fan favorite of the rabid GOP base, except when he's yelling and throwing his weight around. They liked how he pissed off liberals, but that's pretty much it. His penchant for maneuvering himself as the moderate choice works for grabbing moderate GOP voters, but it does him no favors for attracting conservative voters who like a little fire-breathing with their sermons.

Problem is, we're still at least a year away from presidential nominations and most people have short memory spans. Will this man still be fucked when it comes time to pick the next GOP candidate for president come 2016? That's anyone's guess and it all depends on how deep investigators dig and how much political gold gets unearthed.

Or perhaps how long ordinary motorists stay pissed at Christie's Soprano-esque move.

A jury convicted former Pennsylvania State University assistant football coach Jerry Sandusky on 45 counts related to child sex abuse, closing a dark chapter for Penn State that led to the ouster of a university president and icon Joe Paterno and cast a cloud over the rural center of this state.

He faces a maximum sentence of 442 years in prison and barring an appeal will spend the rest of his life in prison. Family members of victims in attendance wept and hugged one another after the verdict was read.

At trial, the prosecution's case centered on the often graphic and emotional testimony of eight young men, ages 18 to 28, who said Mr. Sandusky abused them as boys, and two witnesses who said they saw the former coach abuse two boys who were never identified.

The young men testified that Mr. Sandusky gave them clothes and other gifts and took them to football games after he met them through the Second Mile charity he founded in 1977.

Eventually, they testified, affectionate touching became sexual. Several young men said Mr. Sandusky engaged in oral sex with them in the basement of his home, in hotels and in athletic-facility showers on Penn State's campus.

A common theme in this and many other similar cases is how administrative officials, people with the power to do the right thing and put an end to the predation, instead chose to look the other way, pass the buck or keep the entire incident and the person behind it under wraps, usually to protect their own careers and the institution's reputation. There were many people who knew what Sandusky was doing and how it was hurting the young boys in his charge. Yet and still, administrators like Tim Curley chose to look the other way in the interests of preserving PSU's

Sometime before the Jerry Sandusky case broke wide open, there were similar goings-on at Grace Fellowship Christian School in Broken Arrow, Oklahoma. In Grace Fellowship's case, administrators chose to look the other way for a time and later on, dropped the ball when Aaron Thompson's actions and behavior became even more apparent. In the end, scores of victims were preyed upon and the school was practically buried underneath the publicity, outrage and legal action.

The Catholic Church could have cast out predators in their midst and left them to law enforcement to deal with. Instead, the church used its considerable wealth and size to shuffle clergy suspected of child sexual abuse from parish to parish as well as stymie investigations into their behavior. Doing so cost the Catholic Church its image, the well-being of scores of young children victimized by priests, bishops and other clergy and a generation of people who, as a result, are not inclined to set foot in another church, let alone a Catholic church, for the rest of their lives.

In short, it's always the cover-up that gets you. Not acting upon or dismissing allegations does more damage to an institution than stepping up and doing what needs to be done.

No bond. He's out on $100K UNSECURED. Granted by a judge who, get this, sits on the board of Second Mile.

That comes courtesy of commentator Plucky from Jack and Jill Politics. I wondered "WTF" and went searching for some answers.

When Jerry Sandusky was initially arraigned, as previously reported by Sara Ganim, prosecutors requested $500,000.00 bail and that Sandusky be required to wear a leg monitor. District Judge Leslie Dutchcot, however, ordered that Sandusky be freed on $100,000 unsecured bail. She ordered that Sandusky be freed and pay nothing unless he failed to show up for a court hearing.

Of course, also according to her profile, Judge Dutchcot is a volunteer for Sandusky's group, The Second Mile. Sandusky turned himself in the morning of Nov. 5, a Saturday, at Judge Dutchot's Centre County office. He was released, under the aforementioned terms, shortly thereafter.

Any judge worth their robe would have recused his or herself at this point. You have to wonder what kind of connections she had to Sandusky or how much she got paid to let him off so lightly. This is one of those things that are worthy of booting a judge off the bench for.

Meanwhile, Jerry Sandusky is facing a possible life sentence over the following charges:

• Seven counts of involuntary deviate sexual intercourse, all first-degree felonies which are each punishable by up to 20 years in prison and a $25,000 fine.
• One count of aggravated indecent assault, a second-degree felony punishable by up to ten years in prison and a $25,000 fine.
• Four counts of unlawful contact with a minor, all first-degree felonies which are each punishable by up to 20 years in prison and a $25,000 fine.
• Four counts of unlawful contact with a minor, all third-degree felonies which are each punishable by up to seven years in prison and a $15,000 fine.
• Four counts of endangering the welfare of a child, all third-degree felonies which are each punishable by up to seven years in prison and a $15,000 fine.
• Four counts of endangering the welfare of a child, all first-degree misdemeanors which are each punishable by up to five years in prison and a $10,000 fine.
• Eight counts of corruption of minors, all first-degree misdemeanors which are each punishable by up to five years in prison and a $10,000 fine.
• One count of indecent assault, a third-degree felony punishable by up to seven years in prison and a $15,000 fine.
• Four counts of indecent assault, all second-degree misdemeanors which are each punishable by up to two years in prison and a $5,000 fine.
• Two counts of indecent assault, all first-degree misdemeanors which are each punishable by up to five years in prison and a $10,000 fine.
• One count of attempt to commit indecent assault, a second-degree misdemeanor punishable by up to two years in prison and a $5,000 fine.

Given the proposition of living one's waning years in a jail cell, I figure Sandusky will use this opportunity to flee the country. I'm pretty sure he'll have a lot of supporters who are still in shock or denial help him out in that regard, too.

This is the type of stuff you'd expect from a bad Maury Povich episode:

A former employee of the United States Agency for International Development says Republican presidential candidate Herman Cain asked her to help arrange a dinner date for him with a female audience member following a speech he delivered nine years ago.

Donna Donella, 40, of Arlington, said the USAID paid Cain to deliver a speech to businessmen and women in Egypt in 2002, during which an Egyptian businesswoman in her 30s asked Cain a question.

"And after the seminar was over," Donella told The Washington Examiner, "Cain came over to me and a colleague and said, 'Could you put me in touch with that lovely young lady who asked the question, so I can give her a more thorough answer over dinner?'"

Donella, who no longer works for USAID, said they were suspicious of Cain's motives and declined to set up the date. Cain responded, "Then you and I can have dinner." That's when two female colleagues intervened and suggested they all go to dinner together, Donella said.

Ok, ok, so all Cain did was try to get you to be his wingwoman. Not necessarily in good taste, but...

Cain exhibited no inappropriate sexual behavior during the dinner, though he did order two $400 bottles of wine and stuck the women with the bill, she said.

Tsk, tsk. No wonder they didn't want to down your pepperoni or sample your special sauce.

Donella said she felt it was important to describe her encounter with Cain after hearing more serious allegations of sexual harassment brought by other women.

"I couldn't swear that he had some untoward intentions, but we all thought his tone was suspect and we didn't feel comfortable putting him in touch with that woman," Donella recalled.

"I think [Cain] should not be a serious candidate for the presidential nomination because of what I've seen," said Donella, an independent who said she voted for President Obama in 2008 and probably will again next year. "He's not a person I would want running the country."

Don't worry, Donna. By the end of this week, no one's gonna be taking Herman Cain seriously for much of anything anymore.

See folks, this is what I've been waiting on.


Hear that? That's the sound of the Cain Train rolling off a bridge and plummeting hundreds of feet into a jagged ravine. This makes accuser #4. In Chinese folklore, "4" represents death. So does the color white. You get what I'm saying.

It also helps the accuser happens to be a blonde woman of white American heritage. If a black woman was going through the same crap in the following, the MSM wouldn't be the least interested and Cain could have smothered this story with a pillow, a la Clarence Thomas.

Bialek described an incident in July 1997 where she and Cain were in a car and he offered to show her the trade group's headquarters. She had reached out to Cain at the behest of her boyfriend and came to Washington as part of the job search. She was surprised to find she had been upgraded at her hotel to a "palatial suite."

Cain took credit for that upgrade, she said.

"Instead of going into the offices, he suddenly reached over and … put his hand on my leg, under my skirt toward my genitals," Bialek said about the incident in the car.

"He also pushed my head toward his crotch," she said.

Herm, I don't think those nice Republican ladies you jigged around back in Huntsville are gonna appreciate these revelations, if they decided not to forget you ever existed.

Cain's campaign has been roiled for more than a week by the allegations. He is tied with Mitt Romney for the GOP presidential nomination in a new USA TODAY/Gallup Poll. But 53% of Republicans say they wouldn't vote for a candidate if accusations of sexual harassment by a candidate were proven.

Not anymore. If the GOP doesn't decide to toss ol' Newt Gingrich a little spotlight before Super Tuesday, expect Mitt Romney (the guy the GOP establishment really wanted all along) to step up and make himself known.

You're done, Herm. I hope you can make a decent living from tell-all books and the Fox News circuit.

EDIT: I guess poor Rushbo's having a hard time handling these new revelations:


Seriously, that's all he could muster. Sucks for him that Cain still has a coveted "(R)" next to his name, don't it?

Plenty has gone down surrounding Dr. Casey Wardynski, newly minted superintendent of Huntsville City Schools. If it isn't the parade of new $100k+ hires during a time of proration and teacher layoffs, the drop-kicking of several school principals and a $500k push to higher educators funneled through the Broad Institute network, it's the sudden proposal to change the name of the newly built Lee High School and the controversial move of the New Century Technology School magnet. Yeah, the man seems to be shaking things up, for better or worse.

Okay, folks. You need some background.

• Ever since Wardynski got on board, there's been the sense of unilateral decision-making on part of the superintendent on a variety of issues. Case in point, the firing of Fillis McGhee, Jo Ann Thompson and Keith Henderson. Each case has their merits, and they all reek of an underlying motive somewhere. These moves are being hailed as a shakedown in corruption within HCS, except any genuine shakedown would have to involve sawing off dead wood off the White Street tree.
• Meanwhile, Wardynski's made a few of his friends welcome at their new home by throwing a total of $641,000 their way. And now he's chasing around a $550,000 $850,000 $1,700,000 four-year contract with Teach for America.* Gee, Casey, I thought we didn't have all that money to throw around. The schools are broke, teachers are getting let go right and left, and parents are tired of sending their kids off with their own rolls of toilet paper.
• Then there's the ham-handed way Wardynski's handling the renaming of the new Lee High School. Pulling down the Lee name without consulting anyone about it is a bit of a dick move that suggests unilateral action, Casey.**
• Even more ham-handed is the proposed move of New Century Technology from its current location within the crowded Columbia High School, located smack dab in Research Park, to the new Lee High School several miles east. Keep in mind Lee had its own magnet program already in place. Also keep in mind that New Century wanted its own campus for years. Butler or Westlawn would fit the bill for a new campus, as both are a lot closer to Redstone Arsenal and Research Park than Lee is.

There's also a not-so-subtle push for the school system to gain "unitary status." In short, that means HCS can finally throw off that decades-old desegregation order and start building and zoning schools the way they want without asking the U.S. Justice Department for permission. That doesn't sound so bad until you find out how the school system and the city in general is effectively segregated via north and south sides. I'll explain.

Thanks to the desegregation order, HCS can't build any new schools in the heavily white southeastern portions of the city. That means the city can't build another school to relieve the rampant overcrowding of Grissom High School, the only public high school in that particular area. That means the Tigers will have to put up with those portable classrooms out front.

Meanwhile, you have the heavily black northwestern and north-central portions of the city. The houses are cheaper, the people are working class and the schools are majority black, and therefore assumed to be complete shit by the Weatherly/Whiteburg crowd. Schools like J.O. Johnson and S.R. Butler High are operating at way under capacity, for a number of reasons. In Butler's case, all of the Redstone Arsenal students were rezoned for Columbia High when it first opened, drop-kicking Butler's enrollment numbers. Majority-to-minority school transfers rule the roost (guess in which direction), thereby placing further strain on the already over-capacity southeastern schools.

Given the property values north of University Drive, east of Sparkman & Jordan Drive and west of the Parkway are a bit paltry, to say the least, the schools there don't get as much funding as the schools in the more affluent Whitesburg/Weatherly/Jones Farm/Lilly Flagg areas. Unfortunately, there seems to be an inclination to blame a lack of proper school funding and the education opportunities that are thereby stifled on the somehow natural inferiority of black minds and their criminal, trouble-making tendencies. And I speak as a survivor of a school system where the administration and teaching faculty have already assigned stereotypical notions of who you are supposed to be and thereby act accordingly.

The only way to get out from under the order is to find a way to bring the ethnic composition of the schools across the city to a desirable enough level for the Justice Department to give an okay. So far, that has not happened. And thanks to the screwed-up ethnic demographics of the city in general, it never will, at least not for the next decade or two.

And that's why I ask about the way Fillis McGhee was fired. Yes, it's generally not a good idea to try to use your position to get favors for your kid, no matter how well it would benefit them in the end. However, keep in mind this was a black principal of a majority-white school in a majority-white part of town. I hate to lace up  the "Air Rs," but if Wardynski's shakedown is actually the first salvo of many signifying a movement to...ah..."put things back to where they were" or "bring back neighborhood schools" or some such thing...

Better bloggers than I have covered the ongoing HCS saga in greater detail. I present to you links to Geek Palaver, Merts Center Monitor and Redeye. Go read them.

* EDIT: Per Geek Palaver, the four-year Teach for America contract actually totals to approximately $1,700,000. I keep that in mind next time I hear about yet another round of teacher layoffs.


** EDIT: Wardynski had the "Lee High School" motif put back up after student and community outcry.

Looks like your 15 minutes are finally up and there's no way for you to keep feeding the meter. Not with this on your plate:

Oklahoma political consultant Chris Wilson says if the woman behind the reported sexual harassment complaint against GOP Presidential hopeful Herman Cain is allowed to speak publicly, it'll be the end of Cain's run for the White House.

But you saw it coming. Everyone did.

Interviewed today on KTOK's Mullins in the Morning, Wilson, of Wilson-Perkins-Allen Opinion Research headquartered in Washington, D.C. explained he was a witness to the incident. "I was the pollster at the National Restaurant Association when Herman Cain was head of it and I was around a couple of times when this happened and anyone who was involved with the NRA at the time, knew that this was gonna come up."

Wilson described the woman as a low level staffer who was maybe two years out of college. "This occurred at a restaurant in Crystal City (Virginia) and everybody was aware of it," he continued. "It was only a matter of time because so many people were aware of what took place, so many people were aware of her situation, the fact she left---everybody knew with the campaign that this would eventually come up."

Wilson said for legal reasons, he can not discuss details of the incident. "But if she comes out and talks about it, like I said, it'll probably be the end of his campaign." The consultant said Cain is digging himself a deeper hole by challenging the woman. He also believes it has put the Restaurant Association in a position where it will have to release the woman from her confidentialilty agreement. "If she talks about it, I think it'll be the end of his campaign."

Sounds like a threat, Herm. A very clear one at that.

The GOP establishment didn't have you in mind for Super Tuesday, and they weren't going to let your special brand or hell, anyone else's special brand of Teabag bullcoonery screw up their plans. You can hope for this to somehow blow over, but I doubt it will play out that way. You can either back off now or let this all blow up in your face.

I mentioned something about the GOP burning through each and every one of their hopefuls so Mitt Romney can emerge just before the GOP convention and play the "Only Sane Man" role to the hilt. Michele Bachmann, Rick Perry, Dick Santorum and others flashed and fizzled out on the GOP stage, with Mittens puttering around in the background (nevermind Jon Huntsman. I doubt anyone even realizes he's campaigning at this point). I'm sure Newt Gingrich will get his shot at leading the polls and then fade out just like the rest of them. Romney's nomination was set in stone months ago.

The music's stopped and everyone's looking at you funny. Well, maybe just the crazy Christian cat lady and a trail of anal post-coital effluent:

Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.) last night joined Sen. Rick Santorum (R-Pa.) in questioning former Godfather’s Pizza CEO Herman Cain over recently-uncovered sexual harassment allegations from Cain’s time at the National Restaurant Association.

Texas Gov. Rick Perry and former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney have both completely ignored the harassment claims (and Cain’s odd responses).

Rep. Ron Paul (R-Texas), who can (and does) say whatever he wants, commented only to speculate about “who is making the charges and what the motivations are.” Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich dismissed the allegations as “gossip.”

If one of Cain’s accusers goes public and reveals damning details, the story might become so big that the top-tier candidates feel compelled to weigh in.

Even the DJ's looking at you with disbelief, Herm. There's no way you can get people back to doing the "Cain Train" again.

Meanwhile, you got not one, not two, but three women willing to speak out on your alleged sexual harassment. Damn, Herm, exactly how many women did you ask about the pubic hairs on your Coke can...wait, wrong guy.

A third former employee considered filing a workplace complaint against Herman Cain over what she deemed aggressive and unwanted behavior when she and Cain, now a Republican presidential candidate, worked together during the late 1990s, the woman told The Associated Press on Wednesday. She said the behavior included a private invitation to his corporate apartment.

The woman said he made sexually suggestive remarks or gestures about the same time that two co-workers had settled separate harassment complaints against Cain, who was then the head of the National Restaurant Association.

At least Clarence Thomas' sexual harassment of Anita Hill didn't hamper him any. Then again, he wasn't in the direct path of a candidate pre-picked by GOP establishment figures. It helped his victim wasn't a white woman, either.

People are leaving the party. Soon enough, you'll be the only one left in the room, aside from the DJ, but he's just waiting to get his pay for the evening.

Last person to leave the room, please cut off the lights.

During Herman Cain’s tenure as the head of the National Restaurant Association in the 1990s, at least two female employees complained to colleagues and senior association officials about inappropriate behavior by Cain, ultimately leaving their jobs at the trade group, multiple sources confirm to POLITICO.

The women complained of sexually suggestive behavior by Cain that made them angry and uncomfortable, the sources said, and they signed agreements with the restaurant group that gave them financial payouts to leave the association. The agreements also included language that bars the women from talking about their departures.

In a series of comments over the past 10 days, Cain and his campaign repeatedly declined to respond directly about whether he ever faced allegations of sexual harassment at the restaurant association. They have also declined to address questions about specific reporting confirming that there were financial settlements in two cases in which women leveled complaints.

Geez Herm, just as you were going neck and neck in the polls with Mitt Romney, the GOP's preferred candidate of choice, someone somewhere threw a curveball that dinged you straight in the chest. Now we all have to see if you manage to get up or if your hopes for the GOP nomination will fall dead from Sudden Campaign Failure. I guess the previous Planned Parenthood flub wasn't enough to knock you off your campaign hustle.

Behold the Cain Train's reaction to the above allegations:

“Fearing the message of Herman Cain who is shaking up the political landscape in Washington, Inside the Beltway media have begun to launch unsubstantiated personal attacks on Cain,” J.D. Gordon said in an e-mail message Sunday night. “Dredging up thinly sourced allegations stemming from Mr. Cain’s tenure as the Chief Executive Officer at the National Restaurant Association in the 1990s, political trade press are now casting aspersions on his character and spreading rumors that never stood up to the facts.”

Translation?


Yep. Sums it up just about.

To be honest, I was hoping the Cain Train would have enough steam to chug on until Super Tuesday, for laughs. And I also wanted him to grab the GOP nomination, so I could see the following happen:

• The GOP establishment being forced to get behind a Teabagger's candidate, thus validating the Tea Party and its assorted shenanigans.
• Deep South crackers coming to grips with either backing a black GOP candidate or staying at home and allowing a black Democrat president to remain in office.
• The GOP failing miserably at its gamble to "fight fire with fire," being left to wonder how come they couldn't at least split the black vote with Cain as a candidate. "Gee, I thought those blacks always supported blacks no matter what." (And for further evidence to the contrary, see Artur Davis.)

Either way, even with Mittens being pushed onto the stage while Cain gets yanked offstage with a shepherd's crook, the GOP still stands a huge chance of losing in 2012. I think I need another refill of this here popcorn...