O'Malley: Iraq and Hard Place

Maryland Governor Martin O'Malley just visited occupied Iraq claiming it was to visit Maryland National Guard troops. While there he held up the Maryland flag for a photo-op, ate some barbecue, put on his fake smile, thanked the soldiers, and left.

I don't have a problem with the spirit of the visit. We all want to thank our troops for putting their lives on the line. Many of us actually do things like coordinate gift packs, books, magazines, etc. for the soldiers. Marty had to do something so that he didn't look like an callous fool come election day.

But you must ask yourself - how much money did it cost the state of Maryland to fly him there and how much did we have to foot for his protection? God help us if Marty got blowed up. (I heard students from Baltimore City saying 'blowed-up', and since B-more City teachers and elected officials say that the students have made great strides, then 'blowed-up' it is!)

However, like Ehrlich, I question the true reasons for the visit. You know he has an ulterior motive for going there. Now he can go to the military voters (overwhelmingly Republican) and say, "I support the troops! I went to Iraq!!! Go America!!!"

We all know Marty is going to run for Gov'nah again and it's probably safe to say (God help us) that he will win again. But he's clearly lining himself up for a run at Senator. If Babsy runs again, it is probably safe to say (God help us) that she'll win again, she'll finish her term and be done, leaving her seat wide-open for him. John Sarbanes - there ain't no way in H-E-double hockey stick you're going to get that U.S. Senate seat if you run against Marty (God help us).

So on top of Ehrlich doing the mandatory criticism of O'Malley taking this trip during an state-wide economic crisis (which may be to redirect the attention of our short-minded voters), Tony Brown immediately responds by saying that Ehrlich's criticism is irresponsible. I was hoping that Ehrlich would respond to Tony's criticism by saying it was partisan, to which Tony could have replied that Erhlich's rebuttal was inappropriate, to which Ehrlich could have responded that Tony's rebuttal was immature. And so on. And so on.

I love the juvenile nature of politics!!!