From The Republican Temple to all of you, we wish the very best for you in the year 2009.  2008 was an interesting year, to say the least; lots of happenings, including an election of our next president, the economy going south, some political shenanigans in Illinois, plus much more.

But here is in the hopes that 2009 will bring much happiness, peace and prosperity to all of you who frequent The Republican Temple.  May God bless all of you and may 2009 become an even better yera than 2008.  Also – have a safe and happy New Year.  The Republican Temple will be here on January 1 as it is business as usual; I hope to see you here!!

Stephen Rhodes, Editor, The Republican Temple

Every month, The Republican Temple bestows upon a worthy recipient its Goober of the Month Award; they receive the award based upon doing something really bone-headed and dumb – and it doesn’t matter what their political stripe is, because at the end of the day, dumb is dumb.

Having said that and without further adieu, The Republican Temple presents the nominees for The Goober of the Year award…and they are:

• Rod Blagojevich, Governor of Illinois.  Anyone who has been following him already know about him.  The Midwest’s undisputed king of graft, he has been charged with attempting to sell President-elect Barack Obama’s Senate seat.
• Harry Reid, Democratic Senator (NV).  Let’s see.  He had the audacity to blast the visitors to the U.S. Capitol, saying that when they didn’t have air conditioning on the premises, you could “literally smell the tourists”.  But what did you expect from a condescending Democrat?
• William Jefferson, former Senator from Mississippi.  He went beyond the call of duty to get here.  It was bad enough when he tried to bribe officials from overseas to get their business over here in the States.  What really makes him special here is that he hid some money in his freezer.  His freezer, for Pete’s sake!!
• Bernard Madoff, former head of NASDAQ.  I have no idea what he was thinking, but although the “ponzi scheme” has been around for awhile, he managed to make it an art form (and I am sure he had some help along the way).  He was so good at it that he managed to bleed $50 billion out of unsuspecting investors utilizing the “Scheme”.
• Al Franken, candidate for Senator of Minnesota.  He normally wouldn’t be here except for the fact that he has to date been crying, whining, threatening and whatever else it takes to try to steal the election from his opponent, incumbent Norm Coleman.
• William Ayers, professor/co-founder of The Weather Underground.  Just the fact that he had recently as this year stated that he doesn’t regret anything that he did in the past (bombings of the Pentagon and other venues w/a loss of life) speaks volumes about his mindset. 

And the winner of The Republican Temple’s Goober of the Year Award is…..

Way to go champ!!  You bled people out of their life savings along with raping non-profit organizations and corporations out of their assets.  Nothing wrong with making money Bernard, but your bloodlust for money got you into real trouble.  You lost my respect by you making people’s – and corporations and institutions’ – lives miserable.  I typically do not wish bad upon anyone, but in your case, may the justice system toss you into jail and throw away the key.

This is a special New Year’s edition of The Morning/Afternoon Briefing, courtesy of The Washington Times.

Admit it. You know that hearing Caroline Kennedy speak beats having to listen to Keith Olbermann or any of those idiots at BSNBC…errr…MSNBC.

If we all had a dollar for all of the “Ums” amd “You Knows” that have been uttered by both President-elect Barack Obama and Caroline Kennedy, we would be able to keep our mortgages current even in these difficult financial times. A big thanks to COPIOUS DISSENT for the find.

Dear Ms. Kennedy,

It has come to my – and the general public’s – attention that you want to take sole possession of the New York Senate seat once held by Hillary Clinton.  I will assume that you already know that there are other “qualified” individuals that want the very seat that you’re campaigning for.

Having said that, I am just curious as to the real reason(s) as to why you want the…you know…Senate seat; perhaps you can tell us about your…you know…”qualifications” that make you qualified to become Senator of the state of New York.

I understand that you are a non-practicing lawyer, an education advocate, an author of books on constitutional law and other subjects and…you know…using the Kennedy name to emphasize their dedication to public service.  I also know that your defining moment as to why you want to run for the Senate seat is because of 9/11 and the election of Barack Obama to the presidency.

Is it possible that you have other motives that drive you to campaign for this seat that we aren’t aware of?  Oh, by the way Ms. Kennedy – you do indeed have to divulge your financial dealings prior to being comfirmed for a seat in the Senate.  This is a time where you cannot pawn off the Kennedy name to your advantage.  Also realize that as opposed to raising funds for the New York City public education system, being a Senator is not a part-time position.

You have to be available to your constituency nearly 24/7, something that you’ve never had to deal with during your lifetime.  After all, being a socialite/social volunteer must truly be mind-numbing work in order for you to try to escape from that humdrum existence in order to be able to obtain your “dream job” of being a U.S. Senator.

On a side-note Ms. Kennedy, you really need to work on your speaking manner; when you incorporate every fifth word word with “you know”, that gives the general public the impression that you’re not very bright.  I am certain that you’re very intelligent, having graduated from Harvard.  But believe it or not, part of being a Senator is being able to speak in front of an audience – and using the term “you know” freely will not serve you well, you know.

I also am beginning to think that you, like your beloved mother Jackie Bouvier Kennedy, want to hang on to the opulent socialite lifestyle that you have been accustomed to; after all, should you become Senator, you’d have to give up the plum gig of hosting the Kennedy Honors program that comes on network television once a year.  And you really do not want to give that up, do you?

So in closing, I highly recommend that you stick to what you do best – hanging around New York society (what would Mr. Schlossenberg think if you gave that up?) and doing your charitable/volunteer work in the Big Apple.  Believe it or not, you would be doing the citizens of the state of New York and quite possibly the general public nationwide a big favor by giving up your dream of being a U.S. senator.  The Camelot era is for all intents and purposes over, and the only Camelot that I want to see is the play with Robert Goulet in it.

Sincerely,

Stephen G. Rhodes

P.S. If it is any consolation to you, your uncle Ted and cousin Joseph had the same speaking issues that are well-documented.  That’s something that you can do – go to Toastmasters and get speechmaking lessons.  That should be a New Year’s resolution you should embark upon.

The Tuesday edition of The Afternoon Briefing, courtesy of The Washington Times. Check back tomorrow morning for The Morning Briefing.