Send in the Clowns

First Lady Laura Bush will be in Pleasanton Friday stumping for her husband's pal, "Marlboro Man" Richard Pombo. One reporter, Hank Shaw of the Stockton Record, titled his blog entry on the visit, "Send in the Librarian!". But I think a more apt title is "Send in the Clowns". I don't mean to be overly disparaging of Laura Bush -- she just strikes me as a classic Stepford wife. I mean it for Pombo's campaign, where it is truly time to "Send in the Clowns":

The title refers to a phrase reputedly used in a circus when an unforeseen disaster had occurred, with the clowns being sent in to distract the audience from the problem. Alternatively, the title could refer to the practice in vaudeville theatre of sending the clowns on to the stage to distract the audience after a particularly bad act

That about hits the nail on the head -- Laura Bush "being sent in to distract the audience" from Pombo's problems. And as far as Pombo's record in Congress, "particularly bad act" barely comes close to describing it.

That is what we have with the Republicans -- a second-rate circus, where the clowns work overtime to keep the audience distracted from one disaster after another. In Pombo's case, we already had Cheney, Hastert, and Bush pass through town riding their tricycles and honking their horns. Now it is Laura's turn.

The clowns just keep coming, but we can all hope the voters won't be distracted by the sideshow The Pombo circus should have left town a long time ago.

Tags: CA-11, Richard Pombo, Laura Bush, Jerry McNerney