2008 – An Unforgettable Year!

 Recently our 2008 eight-medal winning Olympic swimming champion smoked pot for the first time at a Michigan hotel.  His reaction was a bit boisterous – the stoned Phelps broke all the televisions in his room, but later bought exact replicas so he could replace them before anybody at the hotel was the wiser.  But we have to forgive Mr. Phelps since he’s been in training for most of his 23 years and this is the first time he has let loose.

Not too long ago we learned that Martha Stewart used a hand model for close-up shots in her latest book since she deemed her own hands too wrinkled. 

 Last week the still very, very sexy Susan Sarandon had her first face-lift. Susan is the mother of the statuesque and stunning 23 year old Eva Amurri.

We can’t speak of 2008 without talking politics, politics and more politics.  This year was filled with characters, clichés and catchphrases!

 It started early when Governor Spitzer of New York was identified as ‘Client # 9’ and ended in November when Jesse Jackson Jr. was identified as ‘Candidate # 5’ in the Governor Blagojevich investigation – you can’t make this stuff up!

 The year also started with a no drama Obama campaign and came full circle with an all drama Rahm Emanuel for Obama’s White House Chief-of-Staff.  Rahm gets the job done and that’s huge. It will be good to have a little ‘safe’ drama in the White House.  It’s only fair since Obama doesn’t give the late shows and comedians food for fodder – Rahm will.

 Hillary Clinton was labeled the “inevitable” democratic nominee even though Obama’s team was “fired up and ready to go”.  By early-summer Team Clinton said that Obama wasn’t ready for the “3 a.m. wake-up call”.  By the end of summer it seemed that there was “Clinton fatigue” while “Obamamania” was taking over the US and we heard loud chants of “Yes we can, yes we can”!

When it seemed that John McCain’s campaign had peaked and pooped Sarah Palin entered the playing field and Viagraized McCain’s campaign.

 The hockey mom from Alaska said at the RNC that the only difference between pit bulls and hockey Moms was lipstick – the ‘crowd’ cheered and chanted “Sarah, Sarah!” A couple of weeks later the ‘maverick’ Palin said: “They’re our next-door neighbors, and you can actually see Russia from land here in Alaska, from an island in Alaska.”

Tina Fey took that quote and ran with it, paraphrased Palin in a parody on SNL and said:  “I can see Russia from my house!” And the perception of Palin changed forever. 

Before Palin went ‘rogue’ she went on to say (not paraphrased): “As Putin rears his head and comes into the air space of the United States of America, where– where do they go? It’s Alaska. It’s just right over the border.” This was how Palin explained why Alaska’s proximity to Russia gives her foreign policy experience during an interview with CBS’s Katie Couric on Sept. 24, 2008.

In a deep, sad and sobering manner, it was declared that America was in a recession. Traditional and investment banks needed ‘bailouts’ and we heard about ‘Wall Street vs. Main Street’ soon thereafter we heard that ‘Detroit’s big three’ needed loans to stay afloat.

 Senator Barack Obama won the general election and became President-elect Obama. The ‘Change’ candidate named his cabinet and created a ‘team of rivals’ aka ‘the great team’.

Now as the sun sets on 2008 we have to wait to see if 2009 will be filled with more characters, clichés and catchphrases!

Ho, Ho, Ho!!!

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