Sigh.

That’s about all I can do after reading the story in today’s Waukesha Freeman that Paul Bucher filed for divorce from Jessica McBride (Yeah, Bice has something, too). And it’s not a sigh of exasperation, but one of sadness.

It was inevitable, I suppose, once word got out that Ms. McBride had an affair with Milwaukee police chief, Edward Flynn. Mr. Bucher doesn’t appear to be the kind of guy who would tolerate that, even though reports are he and McBride had an affair while he was still married. But then again what man would tolerate it?

I like Ms. McBride. I feel I could call her Jessica, even though we never really met, and she wouldn’t mind. Although a little strident in her opinions (and as anyone who has ever read me and talked to me know, strident I am not), she had good thoughts aplenty. Perhaps, like Ann Coulter, couching her good thoughts in sometimes over-the-top rhetoric hides from the world opinions that should be heard.

And she liked me; at least, she used to like me–haven’t heard anything recent, but one post recommended me to take Laurel Walker’s place in the Journal Sentinel Waukesha section. I was honored to be so highly thought of.

And I like Mr. Bucher. I liked the way he stuck to his guns, even when he disagreed with his wife or the conservative wing of the southeastern Wisconsin blogosphere. I voted for him in the AG primary. Why not?

The last thing I want to do is engage in anything that comes close to schadenfreude, but maybe I already have. My hope is that maybe in the cacophony of faux outrage from the left (she has always been a lightning rod for the left in south east Wisconsin, probably because of her strong opinions) and silence or counter outrage on the right, my small voice will still be heard.

I ache for them both and I pray for them both. Divorce is messy, even if we think it’s unavoidable. And there’s a child involved which never makes it easier.

Marriage is sacred and marriage is work. Defending marriage is more than keeping homosexuals from marrying. It’s staying committed to what you’ve vowed (in most cases before God) to do. “As long as we both shall live,” are not just some beautiful words; they’re a commitment to each other. That commitment was broken and now both McBride and Bucher as well as their little girl, will pay the price for that.

At the same time, and at the risk of sounding like a raving lunatic, as a Christian, I believe as well as good, personified by God, there is evil, personified by Satan, Lucifer, the Devil or whatever you want to call him. He is not as powerful as God, but he certainly has power and does not us to live as we should. He certainly doesn’t want folks to stand up for godly values (such as marriage, pro-life, fill in your value) and will fight against it.

This doesn’t mean we don’t have a choice. But it does mean we have to be wary. Satan will make it harder, but we must depend on God more to resist temptation.

Most of these people who appear to be strong for family values are Republicans so the Left points with glee whenever one falls.

Perhaps some of that is our fault by being just a little too, for lack of a better phrase, “holier-than-thou” when we talk about family values issues. Maybe a little more understanding, a little more latitude, a little more grace would go further. But that doesn’t sell newspapers and it doesn’t get folks elected.

Jessica McBride, John Edwards, or pick your own. I’m acquainted enough with my own frailties to know, “There, but for the grace of God, go I.” One stumble, one lax moment and it could be me.

Maybe that’s why I don’t gleefully jump on the bandwagons. It just leaves me sad.

[This is cross-posted at Fairly Conservative. Thanks to Cindy for trusting me to allow me to post it there before she even read it.]

“RiNO’s are NOT the Enemy”

John Brodigan has some good thoughts but the best is in the update,

Point of Fact, thirty-four people who voted against Tim Geithner include Sens. McCain, Specter, and Collins…three people that are frequently accused of being RiNO’s, and Specter is the one most holding up Eric Holder. The R’s who voted for him include Sens. Corker, Shelby, and Ensign…three cats we were singing the praises of for holding up Grand Theft Auto Bailout. It’s ain’t all black and white, folks. [Emphases mine]

Obama picks leave openings for the GOP

At least that’s the headline on USATODAY.com.

But looking at the nifty chart they included (Obama, Biden, Clinton, Salazar, Napolitano, Richardson and Solis) only Napolitano would be replaced by a Republican and only Salazar’s seat has a reasonable chance of being picked up by Republicans.

So I’m not sure what openings they’re talking about.

Colin Powell takes on Rush Limbaugh

Tim Cuprisin on his blog links to a CNN report on an interview with Colin Powell to be aired Sunday at 1pm ET, in which he talks about what Republicans need to do and wonders whether Rush Limbaugh serves the party well.

Cuprisin doesn’t much go for the “sqwakers” anyway, so this fits in his meme.

Powell, of course, supported Obama over McCain, whom I suppose was too conservative for him.

There is nothing wrong with being conservative. There is nothing wrong with having socially conservative views — I don’t object to that. But if the party wants to have a future in this country, it has to face some realities. In another 20 years, the majority in this country will be the minority.

The thing that surprised me was that Powell considers himself a Republican. I must have missed that.

Any way here’s what he said about Limbaugh,

“Can we continue to listen to Rush Limbaugh?” Powell asked. “Is this really the kind of party that we want to be when these kinds of spokespersons seem to appeal to our lesser instincts rather than our better instincts?”

I’m not a big fan of talk radio and hardly listen to it, unless I’m in the car, but doesn’t Air America do the same kind of thing? It didn’t seem to hurt the Democrats.

But I guess he’s saying Republicans should become Democrats.

That should give the country a choice.

I guess some Republicans feel like Powell and Emil W. Henry Jr.

who wrote in the Washington Post about infrastructure spending, which was not bad, but he started with this,

In the wake of the recent electoral rout, we conservatives must redefine ourselves in a world that has changed since the birth of the Reagan Doctrine.

Rout? Oh, it was a convincing victory and we should learn some lessons from it, but a rout? I guess his definition of a rout is different from mine. And Republicans have won twice since the election–hardly what you would expect from a rout.

Youth vote: Democratic movement, or fad?

At Stateline.org, Louis Jacobsen’s “Out There” column has this

In a normal election year, the two precincts serving the bulk of students at California University of Pennsylvania attract a total of about 400 voters, according to election watchers here. But on Election Day 2008, that number more than quadrupled to a combined total of more than 1,700. And in those precincts, Obama crushed Republican nominee John McCain by margins of between 2 to1 and 3 to1.

[snip]

Obama managed to sweep the 18-to-29 vote in some of the most deeply Republican states in the union. They include not just North Dakota but also Alabama (50 percent), Kansas (51), Kentucky (51), Mississippi (56), South Carolina (55), Tennessee (55) and Texas (54).

Should the GOP be worried? Sure. But note,

Overall, the trendlines for young voters do not look good for the GOP. As political journalist Ron Brownstein has noted, 2004 Democratic presidential nominee John Kerry carried 54 percent of voters younger than 30. In the 2006 midterms, 60 percent voted Democratic in House races. This year, Obama trounced McCain among voters under 30 by a 2-to-1 margin.

As some contacted by Jacobson admitted, the GOP needs to be concerned that their message is not getting across (or, perhaps, getting lost in the static?) But is this insurmountable? No. He noted these things:

1. Many Republican candidates in red states did well on Election Day. We have no further to look than Wisconsin’s Paul Ryan, whose district went for Obama.

2. State Democratic parties are not always able to take advantage of the opportunities presented to them.

3. Are Democrats winning future loyalists to the party as a whole, or are young newcomers mostly attracted to the new president?

Time will tell.

Get a spine

GOP Senators Uneasy With Ejecting Stevens from Caucus

Many of Stevens’ Republican colleagues fretted Monday that DeMint’s motion is premature, given that the outcome of Stevens’ re-election bid remains uncertain.

Vote the bum out already.