Lead Balloons and Hot Air

When listening to Newt Gingrich, or just about any other conservative talking head, I am reminded of the physical contradiction they personify: they produce a lot of hot air, but nothing rises.

Not a single constructive word comes from their mouths, at least while in front of the cameras, though they say they have answers to all our problems. Of course, the answers they most often give are 'dump the current administration', and 'start over - with us'.

But what, you should ask of them, will you do when you are back in power? What miracles will you work to save us?

So far, I haven't heard an answer from any conservative pundit or politician interviewed on TV, in the print, or on the web. Nothing except the usual talking points, dumbed down to provide no detail: Cut spending, Cut taxes, Keep America Strong, Save the Family. Ok, but please tell us: Where, For Whom, How Will We Pay For It, and Whose Family?

Their words are just pumping Hot Air into Lead Balloons, with the hope those blunt and heavy objects will roll over enough Democrats to get the Job Done in the midterm elections.

To be brutally fair, there's been an excess of heated air escaping from a few liberal pundits too, but they get less TV exposure, so have a far weaker physical impact: a limpid wind furling cardboard sails.

But two wrongs don't make a Right, my mother always told me, and I'll bet two wrongs don't make a decent Left, either. In the end, nothing rises ...