Well, that was fast.
Here I was, having breakfast at the diner this very morning, reading an op-ed piece in the NY Post by John Podhoretz, whose current position as editor of Commentary has nothing whatsoever to do with his father having held the same position, nepotism playing no role in the plush career of this utterly mediocre mind and author.
So what was this soft-boiled egg so excited about in his column?
A manly new figure on the Republican stage who might be just the rock 'em sock 'em upper-cutter needed to knock Obama out of the ring in 2012.
Wis. Kid is GOP's sudden White House star
The "Wis.kid" whiz kid is, of course, Wisconsin governor Scott Walker, the Tea Party union buster whose hardball tactics have conservative hearts aflutter, from Genghis Khan to Mickey Kaus.
"This is great political drama, and Walker is its star. To triumph, he will have to win it and seem magnanimous in victory -- and show that his victory had positive results."
As a Tea Party Republican, there is zero chance Walker will be "magnanimous" whatever happens, because that would be interpreted as squishy in the macho masquerade that is modern conservatism.
Just look at the photo of Walker accompanying the op-ed--that is the dumb, subservient-to-power junior executive look of a man who will never be more than a low-level prick on the national stage.
But Podhoretz, caught up in his own form of Bieber-fever, actually thinks this guy could stand toe to toe with Obama.
"Yes, Walker (like [NJ Governor Chris] Christie) would present himself for the presidency with a brief electoral resume. But it'd be hard for one-term Sen. Barack Obama to make that argument."
In 2012, Obama won't be running as a one-term senator, he'll be running as the current President of the United States, a datum Podhoretz might want to input into his genius brain.
I suspect it's all academic now, because in a matter of mere hours, from the time it took me to return from the diner and park at my desk, it appears that the rising son of GOP hopes has been caught Koch-sucking.
Wonkette has a lovely article about how the embattled governor to time out from his busy primping to take a call from a prankster pretending to be billionaire Tea Party funder David Koch. Walker wasn't playing along with a gag; he got pwned, as they say, and revealed himself a politician eager to strap on the dog collar and follow the tug of the leash.
Walker: Oh yeah, but who watches that? I went on Morning Joe this morning. I like it because I just like being combative with those guys, but, uh. You know theyre off the deep end.
Koch: JoeJoes a good guy. Hes one of us.
Walker: Yeah, hes all right. He was fair to me
[bashes NY Senator Chuck Schumer, who was also on the program.]
Koch: Beautiful; beautiful. You gotta love that Mika Brzezinski; shes a real piece of ass.
Walker: Oh yeah.
Here comes the tug.
Koch: [Laughs] Well, I tell you what, Scott: once you crush these bastards Ill fly you out to Cali and really show you a good time.
Walker: All right, that would be outstanding.
This is like a trick Eddie Haskell would have played on Lumpy Rutherford, if I may make a historical analogy.
It's an analogy John Podhoretz can easily grasp, his father and Fred Rutherford being so much alike in so many ways.