Happy Birthday, Meg!

It's hard to believe it was 18 years ago when you came to join us at Stanford Hospital. Things were quite a bit different back in 1986; I was working as an editor/colmunist at the Palo Alto Times Tribune, now dearly departed; Mom was in her second full year as wedding hostess at the church; Ryan was 8, Courtney was only 4, and Andrew wasn't even around yet. We were living at the little three-BR house on Roosevelt and Windsor Way in Redwood City. Nice neighborhood, though. The county sheriff, Brendan Maguire, lived right across the street. We used to watch him water his lawn in the afternoon and wave to almost every car that went by. Nice guy. They named the San Mateo County jail after him.

In any case, have a good one, Meg! And don't let all those Bush-types razz you about the election. We'll have our day.

Fighting the good fight

Four more years of Dubya. Jeez, what a letdown. The guy is Alfred E. Newman, only unfunny.

Mr. Kerry, you did your best, fought the good fight, but it wasn't enough in the eyes of simpler-minded voters around the country. Chris Matthews of MSNBC said it best on the Today Show this morning: "People across Middle America and in the South tend to be believers, rather than analyzers. That's the way they voted. It all came back to the perceived 'moral values,' not the big issues of the day." And Graydon Carter, editor of Vanity Fair, told the BCC News later today that voters in the Bush states "voted with their Bible books instead of their pocketbooks."

Amen to that. God help us over the four years. If possible, let's just look the other way and pretend it didn't happen. Maybe he'll just go away.

An election night to remember

Cheers for our longtime friend and colleague Ira Ruskin, who beat the political crap out of Republican pretender Steve Poizner in our local state Assembly election this evening! This despite Poizner spending $5.8 million of his own money to try and buy the seat. Sorry, Steve. Does the term "loser" mean anything to you, buddy? At last we're free of those insipid television ads, and we have an honest, intelligent representative in Sacro-mental! Good going, Ira, and good luck against the Governator!

Cheers also for Sen. Barbara Boxer, who flattened a hapless Bill Jones in her race. Rep. Tom Lantos also won big. A good night for Peninsula Democrats.

But the night is not complete. We're still awaiting the final totals in the Kerry-Bush race. As of this writing, it's still up in the air. Back with commentary when it's all over.