Congrats to Stephanie, and to perfect little Samuel Eric. (as to my getting the name wrong pre-edit - he is perfect, not me.)

I spent the last couple of hours making vegan chili, and then promptly made it not vegan by topping it with goat cheese, sour cream, and avocado.

I always think stir-fried tofu tastes better with a little pork and shrimp.

I have such a visceral dislike for Newt. As in, why can't everyone see through him? It's all about him. He doesn't really give a shit about anything except him. He doesn't believe in anything except what sounds good and gets him attention. No principles, just what gets him the limelight. He really believes what he believes at that moment only, when it is convenient for him. He's the epitome of mob mentality, just a mob of one. FUCK YEAH I"M AWESOME!!!

Of course, conservatives were saying much the same thing about Obama last time around.

As a point of interest, who do people see as the least damaging Repub not-Romney option? I guess only Gingrich, Santorum and Paul are left in the running, which sounds like the most messed-up F, C, M ever. Maybe including the also-rans.

I guess only Gingrich, Santorum and Paul are left in the running, which sounds like the most messed-up F, C, M ever

OH GOD MY EYES MY EYES.

Honestly, though, Ron Paul would probably be the best case scenario. He's such a total nutjob that Congress would never work with him, so nothing would get done. As opposed to Newt, who knows how to get people to vote with him. He could do some real damage.

I think any of them would be a truly awful disaster. Even Romney would be. He has no convictions to prevent his appeasing the right. For that matter, Obama is pretty awful too, just not anything like as awful as the Republicans. He is the moderate Republican in the race, the non-Romney alternative. And I'll revive an old Buffista custom, and bet 50 Persian that Romney is the Republican nominee.

Just so you know:

My neighbor Brian (who I picked up from surgery last week) is taking me in first thing in the morning. He wanted to take me to the ER tonight, too, but I don't want to deal with an ER or ED tonight, and this can wait. That argument took a bit.

If your ER is anything like mine (which, maybe not, if it's not a level 1 trauma center), getting there before 8 or so can make a huge difference in wait time.

I actually think Gingrich might be the least damaging of the other three, as he strikes me as fairly smart and opportunistic, therefore more likely to be moderate rather than completely polarizing once in office. Ron Paul is one of the few politicians on the national level that I think has real integrity, but I also think his ideas about reducing government services would be disastrous if he were actually able to put them into practice. And Santorum is basically his Dan Savage-bestowed namesake as far as I'm concerned.

Creepy robot baby.