A View from South Carolina

As a new resident of SC, I get to vote in the upcoming Republican primary. It will be a new experience for me; this time my vote might actually make a difference. Not only is SC early in the calendar, but the race has not become a foregone conclusion. With that, several observations:

1. The political ads are entirely unhelpful. Totally. I am sure that there are boatloads of professionals thinking about them and designing them, but they help me not one whit. I get it that Rudy plans to stand tough on terrorism, but frankly, none of his opponents seem to really be soft on that. I admire McCain's early heroism, but so does everyone else. Basically, I have a hard time thinkng that many votes are being moved by these things.

2. Pretty much all the commentary boils down to "Buh?" No one knows what is going to happen. Everyone can make up some scenario that is as unlikely as any other. I understand most of these people feel compelled to appear on television all the time to keep up their street cred, but how many different ways are there to say "I got nothing"?

3. Everyone who covers politics on CNN needs to switch to decaf.

4. Why isn't there some way to say to Ron Paul and Dennis Kucinich that it was fun having them around but they have been voted off the island? It makes no sense that Biden, Dodd and Richardson are gone, and we still have to pay attention to the man Dennis Miller calls the "Travelocity Gnome" of politics. Ron Paul is simply deranged. Has anyone actually thought about what it would mean if we abolished the Federal Reserve? Who is this guy?

5. We see the Ron Paul blimp around Myrtle Beach a lot. I don't know why.

6. What sense does it make that SC has a Republican primary on the 19th, but the Democratic primary on the 26th? Why is that a good idea?

More news as it develops.

Where are the profiteers?

Particularly from the Edwards campaign, I keep hearing about these elusive profiteers. I have spent a long time as a lawyer in private practice representing corporations, and I am now an in-house general counsel, and I have yet to meet one of them. Instead, I keep meeting corporate officers who are trying to run their companies the best way they can, meet the competition, and give a decent return to their shareholders, most of whom are, directly or indirectly, the American people. Like any large group of people, some of those I have met are nice; some are not. Some seem more charitable or humane than others, but, as a group, they stack up pretty well against, say, lawyers or journalists or politicians.

So where are these evil profiteers? In fact, what does that even mean? The goal and purpose of a for-profit company is to make profits. When they continually lose money, corporate officers are criticized and fired, and rightly so. So are they somehow evil because they are just doing the very job for which they have been hired? Are they deficient because a free market system is driven by the profit motive?

Frankly, I have no idea.

New England Patriots

OK, but seriously now, is this a great team or what? Yes, I know it won't mean as much if they don't go all the way, but even so, there is something about this team that is special. And this comes from someone who rooted for, and won a certain amount of money on, the undefeated Dolphins team. That last pass play from Brady to Moss was an all-time highlight. Not just because it was a great play, but because it happened right after the very same play failed.

Brady is one of the great quarterbacks, not because he is flashy, but because he is so consistent. He is the perfect QB for his coach. I can't wait for the playoffs.