Of course I watched the debate at a watch party hosted by gracious Stewart Davis.  It was striking that the only remotely unpleasantness was Hillary’s criticism of Bernie’s gun control and Chaffee’s (good bye) remark about Hillary’s ethics.  Otherwise, there was nothing demeaning about his group who, compared to the Republicans, appeared to be the adults in the room.  Between the fiasco in the House of Representatives and the vile remarks oozing from the mouths of Trump, Carson, Cruz and Fiorina, the Democrats are on message and actually have realistic plans for the future.  Now you might not agree with the plans but it beats arming everyone to prevent the Holocaust, deporting 12 million immigrants, eliminating reproductive rights for women and it goes on and on.  (Lately, Trump sounds more grounded in reality that sleepy boy Ben Carson who looks like he can’t find his glasses.)  A great debate for the Dems and for Hillary and Bernie.  O’Malley was pretty good, too.  He seemed to do better as the night wore on.

Locally, I was first exposed to the GOP hatred at a Manassas GOP convention where I was, among other Democrats and friends of Hal Pal, recruited by Hal Pal to ensure his nomination for Mayor.  He was running against Andy Harrover.  Thinking that this was kind of a benign request, we listened to the speeches from the various candidates that focused pretty much on planning and vision, EXCEPT for Hal Pal.  Hal Pal got up and bad-mouthed Andy by criticizing his city council attendance as a councilman.  Of course, Andy has a real job (you know, he goes to work and has a family like real people).  How rich for Hal Pal to criticize Andy when Hal Pal is a professional politician!  What’s also galling is that he is a professional politician who takes credit for anything related to the city.  I’m surprised that he isn’t campaigning on that great job he does when the sun rises everyday.  Oh, Hal Pal, what a guy!!!  A ribbon cutter and tie-breaker with no vision other than to win.  Now that he has been bought by the big boys, if he’s elected you can say bye bye to anything remotely reasonable.  The movie “Shallow Hal” comes to mind.

And my apologies to Andy!