I'll have to takes me a break, but have to take time to admire the master. I chose a diary to elaborate the details about Hillary's 5%, but what I'm really doing is saying Drudge rocks my world, and probably yours too. I know, we hate to admit it - we're fans of Bob Somersby or Keith Olbermann or whoever the jammin' female reporter off in Iraq doing an admirable job of anti-press release reporting, sorry Google is failing me right now, or a host of indie bloggers. But Drudge is the master. Because we've all accepted his terms. Right now people are seriously upset that a campaign in debt has not paid some people. I mean, it'd be a pretty piss poor "greatest campaign debt ever" if they'd paid everybody, wouldn't it? I mean, if you think about - what does debt mean? "Didn't pay someone". But the Drudge effect is insidious - we take the most mundane things and get highly irritated by them. Admit it - it rules your world as much as mine. Here's another great headline: "Obama acts like politician, cites need to win". I keep waiting to write my upstart "Sun rises in east, spurning western states. North and south ambivalent". But I'm only halfway there - as much as I try, I can't match the spitefulness, such as the class warfare that Drudge can get with "Hillary campaign leaves small vendors out in cold; tosses wet puppy out for company". It's one thing to be Maureen Dowd writing banal acid socialite filler, but it's another to be Matt Drudge making a bereaved and offended policy wonk out of each and every one of us, however post-political we might think we are. So your assignment, since I have to step out a bit, is to produce the most surprising stunningly amoral character in movies and somehow tie it to a horribly misunderstood and forgotten director. In this case, I'm obviously referring to Marlon Brando in Arthur Penn's classic "Missouri Breaks". But it doesn't have to be high brow - it could be Richard Gere (oh how I usually hate him) in Mike Figgis' "Internal Affairs". Or Robert Mitchum in Charles Laughton's "The Night of the Hunter". Maybe Yves Montand in Clouzot's "Wages of Fear" if you want to go international. Anyway, you have the idea - efficiently evil role combined with genius director no one can remember. Oh, last bit - I've given you a break with Salo - instead of 120 days of Salome, you need only 8. But that's 8 days of heavy lifting, Sisyphus up the mountain with boulder type effort. THIS THREAD MAY NOT DIE!!! You have been warned. And if you think this is tough, imagine if I'd given you "Think in a post-FISA sellout world, what will Obama healthcare look like?" Yep, now that boulder doesn't look so tough, does it? Go for the easy movie question, we need some light summer fun around here. The heavy stuff can wait for September. Surf's up.

What would you say if I told you I made $240K last year but spent $260K, taking $10K out of savings and putting $10K on my credit card. Extravagant living? Or a little bit of excess? Trust me, I had a lot of fun with that $260K, so that's not the issue. And I figure I took on less than 5% debt from that. Let's look at another aspect - I ordered a lot of wine last year. A lot. Perhaps $30K worth. But I only paid the shop $28K so far. Of course they know I'm good for it - I've been going to them for years, but had a small cash flow problem, so I told them I'd pay them the rest when I got my next paycheck. Now, let's look at it from their perspective - they already made about $14K off me if we assume that wine cost them 50%, so even if I never pay them (trust me, I will), they still have a clear profit of $12K. So now let's think about the Clintons. How worried should we be about her debt? The lady generated a quarter billion dollars worth of business (actually much more - there are multipliers involved), raised almost a quarter billion in donations, came out only $20 million shy (and is taking care of half that herself) while running the closest primary race in memory (a 50-state race that will pay off in excitement come November). So that leaves her with about 5% of her campaign expenses to worry about. To put it in perspective it's just over double her and her husband's debts when he left office. And about 30-35 speeches from Bill with his typical fee. (She'll likely pull down something close once she leaves the Senate). Of course some people think Hillary should pay off all the debt. Like every wealthy candidate should pay all their own expenses? That's a pretty hefty tax on the rich. She got 18 million people excited enough to vote for her and made it a contest, and is paying off half her debt herself. Seems pretty fair, 50% tax rate. The last funny thing to point out is how little people have ever worried about campaign debts. What did John Edwards owe? Twice? Bill Bradley? John McCain was over $4 million in debt in February. Barack Obama put his failed House bid on his credit card. Chris Dodd still has over a million he has to pay somehow (anybody worried about his small vendor debts?) How is it that every little thing Hillary does creates a swirl of alarm and hysteria and good ol' concern? I guess some people have it and some people don't. But I have 3 words of advice from someone wise: "Get Over It".

Alright, I call uncle, Obama won - he can do what he wants. His VP selection committee - Jim Johnson, Eric Holder and Caroline (Change?) Kennedy - a 3-fer - brings up Fannie Mae, Marc Rich, the Weather Underground and the Kennedy's all in one go. I'm in pain. Patti Solis-Doyle to be Obama's VP's Chief of Staff whenever he selects one - okay, I tried to explain it away, but yes, I get it - after misplacing $25 million intended to use after Iowa and getting fired from H's campaign, who's the one person least likely to be on Hillary's VP house warming committee. Ouch! Good thing she was planning on curling her hair and reading a good book that evening. Then there's Stephanie Cutter, former comm director for Ted Kennedy and campaign spokesman for John "Swift Boated" Kerry - now to be Michelle's chief of staff. Why not Sandra Bullock in the excruciating "Speed 2: Cruise Control"? Followed by Obama's appearing at AIPAC (tough-on-Iran statement) and statement on FISA (appearing weak on immunity). Yeah, I know, first priority in politics is to get elected, then we'll say we're sorry. Sure. Think we can get the burnt rubber marks washed out of the pavement? Now for the rest of the month of the June and early July will be the continual speculation of who's still on Obama's shortlist after outright rejection (Warner, Strickland), scandal (Dodd), basic acceptance of reality (Nunn, Richardson), don't you even dare (Sebelius, Webb). Hearing Hagel today saying he'd accept the Democratic Veep slot if offered gives me the heebie-jeebies - who let this guy get his hopes up enough to release such a statement? Don't you know encouraging people with no chance in hell brings resentment later? And why is Colin Powell hanging around outside the door? So here's my post-FISA sellout endorsement: Russ Feingold. The guy who tried to censure Bush for FISA violations four years ago and voted against the PATRIOT act. A guy who's continually pushed finance reform and ethics, even while pointedly making life difficult for himself. And young enough to be a successor in 2016. Okay, he's Jewish and twice divorced, might make that racist white vote a bit harder to manage, but he's from Wisconsin, not New York, and has promoted some distinctively Midwestern values and defended some pretty principled unpopular positions. Okay, never mind, I shouldn't even be asking. Please, just choose already and put me out of my misery. All my bases are belong to you.