As the candidates come and go, I watch with amusement and consternation.  John Edwards and Rudy Giuliani drew my interest this week.
  When John Edwards dropped out of the race, the acid in my stomach receded a bit.  Of all the candidates this cycle, he was the most galling. (Yes, even more than Hillary.  More on her another day)  His stance on issues was secondary to me.  It wasn't any different than Hillary or Obama, or at least not enough that you could tell the difference between them.  It's all the same "tax the rich" BS, regardless of the fact that THEY are part of the rich.  That stance has always come off as disingenuous to me.  It wasn't the fact that he was a trial lawyer who did nothing but drive up the cost of medical services with lawsuits based on junk science, in other words, an ambulance chaser.  With Edwards, the really damning thing was that HIS need to be POTUS superseded the well being of his family. His wife has incurable cancer, which means that she IS going to die from it. Not today, but I remember reading that her life expectancy was about 5 years. He is going to have to be there for her and his kids when this starts going downhill, when the treatments aren’t stemming the mounting cancer cells anymore, or when they are starting to reproduce at the rate that it’s debilitating. I've been through this, I know of what I speak. That would be while he was in the White House if he’d won the nomination and election. How can the people of America count on him to do the right thing for THEM if he won’t do the right thing for HIS FAMILY? He’s one of the all time narcissists, ranking right up there with megalomaniacs like Hitler and Stalin. I'm not saying that he'd be a dictator like those two, evil to the core willing to kill anyone and everyone who opposed him, so don't think I'm drawing that conclusion.  I'm talking about the inside man, his basic character.  It’s all about HIM.  This was quite possibly the most selfish behavior I've ever seen in my life.  Good riddance to bad rubbish.  Now go take care of your wife and kids, John.  Don't make the servants do it, YOU do it.  You'll be a better person for it.   More importantly, your wife and kids will appreciate it.
  Giuliani's departure was not unexpected from the beginning, despite his high poll numbers.  I like to think that I'm a decent barometer of the way Americans think, and my impression of him has always been that he is indeed a good leader.  No questions, bust balls do as I say kind of guy to the max.  That's important in a leader, but so is having a moral compass.  He cheated on two wives, showing himself to be a serial cheater.  That's a severe character flaw.   Haven't we had enough of this particular affliction in the past 20 years?  
  These exits were greeted with glee on my part.  I didn't care for either one of them, and we're better off in not electing them.  Now if we could only get Hillary out of it......