Friday Funday: Autumn, Again!

As the weekend approaches, and we look forward to time away from the keyboards and the drawing board, we noticed a small note on our calendars that gave us some extra reasons to smile today.

Saturday is the official start to the fall season, one of our favorite times of the year.

Our staff generally enjoys autumn, and the many changes that come with it. The weather finally welcomes football season, even as it begins to say goodbye to baseball. A chill has already begun slipping into the air - especially in the evenings - which means we finally can dig out some of our favorite clothes.

The colors change in the trees too - at least outside our Nebraska and Washington, DC offices. There often seem to be autumn surprises too, like the great news late last night that all 33,000 U.S. troops originally sent to Afghanistan for the surge strategy have now left that nation. Hopefully, some of those service members will be welcomed home with a fall harvest feast.

Unfortunately, thanks to one of the most worthless sessions of Congress in history, millions of Americans won't be celebrating with them. They'll be going hungry instead.

The reason they'll still be hungry boils down to Senate Republicans abandoning their duty to the American people by putting off until after the November election the passage of the Farm Bill. As today is Friday, and we traditionally try to keep things positive, we won't delve too deeply into the reasons House Republicans have held up a bill that not only helps farmers but controls the food stamp program, and other food assistance measures for millions of poor and working poor Americans.

Suffice it to say, those members of Congress are headed home to campaign - and we hope some of them get what's coming to them from their constituents.

All things considered, we're glad that it's fall. Political debates have begun in earnest, like the one in Massachusetts last night, where Democratic candidate Elizabeth Warren wiped the floor with Republican incumbent Scott Brown. More debates in Nebraska, Virginia, Maryland and Florida between other candidates are coming up too.

For many of the candidates we support, the most recent polling has been looking positive too, headed into fall.

Summer isn't quite done yet though, with Major League Baseball still going strong. There's a distinct chance this year for the Washington Nationals to go to the World Series - the Nats did clinch a plyoff spot last night -  so we may be paying attention to baseball well into the heart of the fall season.

In short, it's autumn again - a great reason for us to look forward, and smile.

Marching Off The Cliff

There are times in life when - no matter how much you'd rather be focusing on something else - you have to push ahead. That may even require holding your hand up to your face and looking between your fingers, as you cringe and look forward.

It's especially hard when the view you're seeing includes people you care about marching right off the cliff of political extremism.

We're not just talking about the Romney campaign, though.

Republicans in Congress - many of whom are headed home this Friday for a week of campaigning - will have few successes and many failures to answer for these past two years. You can include in that list the GOP Senate filibuster Wednesday that killed a jobs bill for veterans.

Worse than that, Senate Minority leader Mitch McConnell - the same man who said the Republican Party's top priority was to make Barack Obama a one term President -  admitted Wednesday that he wished Congressional Republicans could have obstructed the President and Democrats more these past four years.

No one can say we haven't been ringing the bell and banging the drum about the fractures in the GOP. We've been talking with each other about an  internal Republican Party "civil war" for much of the last ten years, even before we began this publication. Mitt Romney, with his pompous fundraising speech about the 47%, may have done what all our warnings never could - namely force the Republican Party to deal with its incompatible divisions.

As usual, Mitt's methods have created more destruction in their wake than he'll ever take responsibility for. According to Gallup, voter reactions to Mr. Romney's "47%" comments have been overwhelmingly negative.

In newspapers across the country, in stereotypical "red" regions, as well as "blue", Mitt Romney writing off half the nation has been devastating to Republicans. Romney's hubris this election season has forced many so-called "down ballot" candidates to run not just against their opponent, but also away from Mr. Romney, and even the Republican brand. Even Fox News is desperately trying to bail Mr. Romney out of his mess.

Voters and candidates aren't the only ones running away from the effects of Mitt Romney's extreme arrogance. On Wednesday, Senate Republicans delivered their prepared remarks, and then bolted for the doors, like they were jumping off their own cliff. It was obvious the Republican Senators were trying to avoid questions about Romney's 47% comments, as well as their own vote against jobs for veterans.

The scattering of Congressional Republicans at their own press conference doesn't surprise us, either. According to a slew of polls, at both the state and national levels, things are not looking good for the GOP.

Even Republican Senator Tom Coburn - a longtime veteran of political battles on Capitol Hill - admitted he's so tired of the gridlock and short-term focus on elections, he can't stand the lack of progress in any direction by Congress.

Meanwhile, the extremists in the Republican Party keep banging their drums, forcing Mitt Romney and many Congressional Republicans to march right off the edge of the political cliff.

You can't say we didn't warn you.

It's time to face the music, Republicans.

Forty-seven days and counting...

Blowout

To say the last 72 hours has been bad for Mitt Romney's presidential campaign would be an understatement of monumental proportions. Mitt Romney's comments at a private fundraiser, captured on secret video, prove that the Republican candidate for President has effectively written off nearly half of all Americans - many of whom might vote for him under other circumstances.

Pundits and politicians alike from Bill Kristol to David Brooks, from Ramesh Ponnuru to Sen. Scott Brown to David Frum have all distanced themselves from Romney, like townspeople in an Old West movie, fleeing Main Street right before the big shootout scene. And those are just the conservatives and Republicans.

This massive mistake was far more than just Mitt Romney shooting himself in the foot. This was Mitt Romney taking a pair of big guns and completely blowing his political feet off.

There are plenty of dissections in the media of all the massive issues exposed by this 49 minute video, including the previously released five minutes of lowlights. From writing off all Palestinians, to characterizing anyone who benefits from the U.S. government as a freeloader, the list of pandering, gaffes, and arrogance is enough by itself to cause Mr. Romney scattered issues for the rest of his campaign, and possibly the rest of his life.

What almost everyone seems to have missed about the video that exposed to the world the person that Mitt Romney is behind closed doors, is one of the most basic features of being an American politician - or really any American who serves others.

If you've ever worked in a restaurant, you'll know exactly what we mean.

When a waiter or waitress works in a restaurant for a while, they get to recognize the type of customers that come in; the regular customers, the visiting high rollers, the parents escaping for a night without kids - and of course, the bad tippers.

Some servers will try and avoid the bad tippers, or treat them poorly, hoping to get them to leave right away - which is exactly the wrong thing to do.

The best wait staff knows that you treat each customer with respect, with courtesy, and with top-quality service, even those you are most certain will tip you poorly. Why? Because sometimes, you are pleasantly surprised. Sometimes, you win them over, even the ones you were most certain would never like you. Because, as we've said here for years, anything worth doing is worth doing well.

For example, being the President of the United States.

Americans are rapidly heading towards the day they choose who they want to be in the White House. To us, the choice is simple.

Should it be this man, who said to half of America, "To those Americans whose support I have yet to earn - I may not have won your vote, but I hear your voices, I need your help, and I will be your President too."

Or this man, who said about half of America, "I'll never convince them they should take personal responsibility and care for their lives."

Who do you want leading your nation for the next four years?