IRON PANTS

My friend from Wyoming writes: “Well, I may have to vote for Hillary.  First, she is tough; second, she wears iron pants, and rarely takes them off; third, she ain't no socialist, or religious nut; fourth, she will do what she has to do to earn a positive legacy while president.  These things are more than I can say for John McCain. I am not voting for him, period.  He is and always will be a slime bag in my book.” Whoa. My friend is a Christian conservative, retired senior budget officer who served for more than three decades at the Agriculture Department and National Science Foundation. But when one thinks about it, Mr. Friendly has hit it on the head again as he always has throughout the four decades I’ve known him. Iron pants Hillary, I believe, is the reason Bill got together with Monica Lewinsky. Hillary is not a fem-fem but an iron-pants man in drag. Hillary would be an iron ruler like former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, who they did call “the Iron Lady.” As we know, however, Hillary also is a hard leftist socialist at heart, pragmatic to the core, as is her chief Democratic presidential rival Senator Barack Obama from Illinois. However, Congress, as presently constituted, would hold either Hillary or Barack at bay. Neither would have a veto-proof Congress, while Senator John McCain of Arizona, a true military hero who has served in both the House and Senate, would have a friendly Congress, depending on his vice-presidential running-mate who would preside over the Senate and run appropriations for all federal government departments and agencies. And as former New York mayor Rudy Giuliani is out of the picture, a proven leader in charge at the time of 9/11 and thereafter, and with the current situation in Irag, the threats from Iran and Syria, it is clear the American people want a leader in charge and vice-president who will continue to protect the United States and our interests around the world againt global terrorism and anarchy. Say what you will about President George W. Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney. They have been true and valiant leaders in charge. The team that succeeds them must be equally strong and resilient in the war against terror, and also restore our economy –-not with tax and government spending increases, but measures to restore our economy’s competitive energy and vitality. Hillary Clinton had eight of the most important years for global issues beside Bill Clinton, with Secretary of State Madalyn Albright -- a superb person -- and others. But they dropped the ball when it came to the economy by raising taxes too much and having the federal government spend too much on socialist programs, and signing trade agreements that tied the hands of the Treasury, State, and Defense Departments in dealings around the world. As an aside, I shall never forget the time Madalyn Albright was accosted at a Washington D.C. ATM machine by a robber, heroically dropped to the ground in a fetal position and started screaming. The robber ran away, scared to death, without a penny. Madalyn Albright, another liberal-left lady with iron pants. She was a great Secretary of State for Bill Clinton ala Condoleezza Wright for President George W. Bush. What is it about these women with iron pants? It's interesting that the right-wing evangelical types are often a bunch of cry-baby wimps, and the liberal-left socialist types have iron pants and know how to play the political game better and how to govern. My only concern about John McCain -- whose values, principles and views are good -- is that I remember him as former chief-of-staff for fellow Arizona congressman Eldon Rudd, as ill-tempered and mean to his staff. Maybe McCain has mellowed. As I’ve previously written, a lower-tier Republican presidential candidate, General Jerry Ralph Curry of Virginia, would be a marvelous vice-presidential running mate for McCain. Curry has Cherokee Indian, African-American, and Irish blood in his veins, was cief Army adviser to the South Koreans and South Vietnamese, ran bases in Europe and the United States, and moved up from private to general, so became a leader in charge the hard way, from his boot-straps up. I know both McCain and Curry, good men, and believe they would complement each other well as a Republican ticket and ultimately as president and vice president.