The big political news of the week was Ron Paul's surprisingly strong second place finish in the New Hampshire primary on Tuesday. Paul responded on election night with a fiery speech about the Federal Reserve. Let me tell you something. There's nothing that gets a crowd more fired up than a 76-year-old guy yelling about monetary policy.
The most disappointing showing came from Jon Huntsman, who matched Mitt Romney Eddie Bauer shirt for Eddie Bauer shirt right down the line, but still finished a distant third. Everyone seems to see the writing on the wall except Huntsman himself, who said that his 17% bought him a "ticket to ride" down to South Carolina. Sure, Jon, but you know what? South Carolina, she don't care.
On the sports pages, associate UW athletic director John Chadima resigned suddenly this week amid vague reports of some impropriety when the Badgers were in Los Angeles preparing for the Rose Bowl. The UW is being tight-lipped about what happened. He may have killed a man or he may have been caught wearing green (the color of the Oregon Ducks) or it may have been something in between. I'm betting on something in between. We'll know sooner or later, or it's possible the closed-door investigation will yield little, and we'll be told there's nothing to see here and we should all go on about our business.
Somebody that actually is being charged with something is a former top aide to then-Milwaukee County Executive Scott Walker. Tim Russell and his long-time partner apparently took trips to Hawaii and the Caribbean with funds that were intended for events honoring veterans who spent time in place like Iwo Jima, Iraq, and Afghanistan. I guess Russell and his pal wanted to honor them by spending time in places like Maui and St. Thomas. If that wasn't creepy enough, it turns out that investigators turned up child porn on the computer of Russell's companion.
There's no evidence that Walker knew about any of this, but if the shoe were on the other foot wouldn't Republicans be screaming that a Democratic governor was responsible for judging the character of the people he hired? If I were a member of an organized political party, they might be making that kind of not-altogether-unfair claim. But I'm not a member of any organized political party -- I'm a Democrat.
Finally, the "aw" story of the week was a mother and daughter being reunited after 77 years apart. The mother is 101 and the daughter is, well, 77. Reports indicate they started arguing immediately.
That's all I've got for now, kids. Have a good weekend.
