Cheryl Hines Tells Letterman About Directing Her First Film, the Adrienne Shelly-Penned, Meg Ryan Dark Comedy "Serious Moonlight"

Cheryl Hines is a real sweetheart. One of the truly nicest people you'll ever meet. She's also wickedly funny, and a talented first-time director who stepped into a very challenging role two years ago in helming a deliciously dark comedy penned by my late wife Adrienne Shelly, who wrote, directed and co-starred in 2007's hit film Waitress. Adrienne wrote Serious Moonlight as her follow-up to Waitress, and was in development with it at the time of her tragic death November 1, 2006. I teamed with Waitress producer Michael Roiff to get the film made.

Serious Moonlight is about a troubled marriage on the precipice, centering on a high-powered female attorney who learns that her husband is about to leave her for a much younger woman, and holds him captive until he promises to stay with her and love her forever.

Taking on the role of director for this project would've been a daunting task for a seasoned director, let alone someone helming for the first time. But having worked with Adrienne in the past, Cheryl had a keen understanding of her humor and overall comedic sensibilities, and saw a unique opportunity to both honor Adrienne's work and make a truly entertaining film she would've been proud of. Having the chance to direct such a stellar cast was very appealing to her as well.

"Adrienne had an incredible talent for writing great comedy alongside heart-wrenching drama, which is not easy to pull off," said Cheryl. "So I felt very fortunate to have this amazing material to work with, and to have it brought to life by such great actors as Meg Ryan, Timothy Hutton, Justin Long and Kristen Bell. It's a story that I think many people will identify with in some very personal way."

Serious Moonlight will be released in theatres December 4th, and will be available on Video On Demand November 6th. Watch the trailer below:

On another note, the film I produced, SERIOUS MOONLIGHT, which was written by my late wife Adrienne Shelly (WAITRESS), will have its U.S. premiere and afterparty December 3rd in NYC. This event will also serve as the 2009 Adrienne Shelly Foundation fundraising gala, and proceeds will go towards helping ASF achieve its mission of supporting women filmmakers. Tickets are $150. Please join me, our stars Meg Ryan and Timothy Hutton, our director Cheryl Hines and others at this red-carpet event. Tickets are extremely limited. To purchase, please email ASFoundationOrg@aol.com or call 212-381-1716.

ASF is a 501 c 3 tax-exempt, non-profit organization which provides scholarships, grants, finishing funds, screenwriting fellowships and living stipends at NYU's Tisch School of the Arts/Kanbar Institute of Film; Columbia University; American Film Institute; Women in Film; IFP; the Nantucket Film Festival; the Tribeca Film Institute; and the Sundance Institute. Your generous contribution will go a long way towards helping us achieve this very important mission. Please click here to make a donation. Thank you.

The Bombings in Iraq: Mission Definitely Not Accomplished

Two massive explosions, the deadliest in over a year, erupted in Baghdad Sunday, killing over 130 people and wounding 520 more. The suicide bombings, just under a minute apart, decimated two critical government buildings, underscoring the fragile state of Iraq's nascent democracy, and serving as a powerful reminder of the extremist militant forces which seek to undermine it as it prepares for its January election.

But, isn't the war over? Haven't we won? Hasn't the United States tasted the sweet nectar of victory? Haven't we successfully liberated the Iraqi people? Try telling that to the families of those whose bloodied body parts have been strewn about the streets of Baghdad these past two months, or to the millions who still feel like they're living in an unsecure, violent war zone. As George W. Bush exited office last January, his administration unilaterally declared "Mission Accomplished" yet again, apparently failing to learn its embarrassing lesson from 2003. Republicans to this day still talk of the Iraq war as if it's a successful footnote in America's military history.

Just as they started this war on smoke and mirrors, Republicans have been trying to end it. But make no mistake: Sunday's bombings, and those in August at the Foreign and Finance Ministries which killed 122, prove that there is no victory in Iraq any more than there were WMD and ties to al Qaeda. We're simply not there. America will be victorious when its troops can come home, and when the Iraqi government and security forces have demonstrated that it can protect its citizens and preserve its Democracy without being propped up by 130,000 U.S. forces. Yet as the continuing and escalating violence there demonstrates, the Iraqi's clearly have a long way to go. If U.S. troops were pulled tomorrow, Iraq's Democracy would crumble.

To be sure, to say President Obama is in an unenviable position would be a colossal understatement. He inherited two difficult wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, and is faced with critical strategic decisions about the future direction of both as well as what to do with the growing terrorist threat from Pakistan. There's no simple fixes. But it's time for Republicans to stop the "victory" propaganda. No one's buying it anymore, and it's an insult to every American and Iraqi who wants a true and lasting peace.


On another note, the film I produced, SERIOUS MOONLIGHT, which was written by my late wife Adrienne Shelly (WAITRESS), will have its U.S. premiere and afterparty December 3rd in NYC. This event will also serve as the 2009 Adrienne Shelly Foundation fundraising gala, and proceeds will go towards helping ASF achieve its mission of supporting women filmmakers. Tickets are $150. Please join me, our stars Meg Ryan and Timothy Hutton, our director Cheryl Hines and others at this red-carpet event. Tickets are extremely limited. To purchase, please email ASFoundationOrg@aol.com or call 212-381-1716.

ASF is a 501 c 3 tax-exempt, non-profit organization which provides scholarships, grants, finishing funds, screenwriting fellowships and living stipends at NYU's Tisch School of the Arts/Kanbar Institute of Film; Columbia University; American Film Institute; Women in Film; IFP; the Nantucket Film Festival; the Tribeca Film Institute; and the Sundance Institute. Your generous contribution will go a long way towards helping us achieve this very important mission. Please click here to make a donation. Thank you.

Cheney Says Obama's "Dithering" Puts Our Troops in Danger. Last Time I Checked, it's Bush/Cheney's War Policies That Have Killed 5200 Soldiers. I'll Take Dithering

Former Vice President Dick "The Dick" Cheney is at it again, harshly criticizing President Obama for apparently taking more time than His Dickness would like to figure out whether or not to send more troops to Afghanistan:

"The White House must stop dithering while America’s armed forces are in danger," The Dick said Wednesday at black-tie awards ceremony at the conservative Center for Security Policy. "It’s time for President Obama to do what it takes to win a war he has repeatedly and rightly called a war of necessity....Make no mistake. Signals of indecision out of Washington hurt our allies and embolden our adversaries."

Of course, this irascible impatience is perfectly understandable given how reckless and irresponsible The Dick and his war-mongering sidekick George W. Bush were in sending 5200 U.S. troops to die in Iraq and Afghanistan. I guess when you're a couple of draft-dodging uber-chickenhawks, you loathe a U.S. president who actually thinks before he speaks, analyzes before he acts, takes war seriously and is firmly committed to using it as a last resort rather than as a masturbatory weapon-of-whimsy in the war against failed masculinity. What The Dick needs to understand and accept is that Obama doesn't need to kill U.S. troops in order to feel like a real man.


On another note, the film I produced, SERIOUS MOONLIGHT, which was written by my late wife Adrienne Shelly (WAITRESS), will have its U.S. premiere and afterparty December 3rd in NYC. This event will also serve as the 2009 Adrienne Shelly Foundation fundraising gala, and proceeds will go towards helping ASF achieve its mission of supporting women filmmakers. Tickets are $150. Please join me, our stars Meg Ryan and Timothy Hutton, our director Cheryl Hines and others at this red-carpet event. Tickets are extremely limited. To purchase, please email ASFoundationOrg@aol.com or call 212-381-1716.

ASF is a 501 c 3 tax-exempt, non-profit organization which provides scholarships, grants, finishing funds, screenwriting fellowships and living stipends at NYU's Tisch School of the Arts/Kanbar Institute of Film; Columbia University; American Film Institute; Women in Film; IFP; the Nantucket Film Festival; the Tribeca Film Institute; and the Sundance Institute. Your generous contribution will go a long way towards helping us achieve this very important mission. Please click here to make a donation. Thank you.

What Would George W. Bush's "Motivational Speaker" Salespitch Look Like?

The older and wiser I get the more I realize that anything in this world is possible. Anything. So it's no surprise that former President George W. Bush will headline a "Get Motivated" seminar next week in Fort Worth, Texas, followed up with another in San Antonio in December. Tony Robbins, watch out!

Got me wondering: how would Bush pitch these seminars?:

"My fellow Americans--I used to love sayin' that at my rare addresses to the nation--I'm excited to endeaverize on this new program of motivationness. Life can be very challenging. As I once famously said, it's hard. Hard bein' a workin' stiff. Hard bein' a mother, a father. I know how hard it is to put food on your family.

Hell, even bein' president was hard. Hard work. We all need to be motivation-ed. We all could use someone to help lift our spirits, provide inspiration and bring about many new accomplishables. My seminar will do just that.

Everyone knows my life ain't been easy. Done my fair share of boozin' and stickin' little spoons up my nose and just bein' an immature a-hole who made my pappy see red 80% of my life. Pretty humiliatable gettin' a "time-out" at White House State Dinners when you're 40...although it's pretty fun when you're sent to the Lincoln Bedroom to cool off.

What I'm tryin' to say here is...folks...my seminar will teach you never to lose hope that life will turn out okay. After all, I'm living proof of that. I lied through my Texas teeth, caused multiple wars, alientated our friends and enemies alike, pissed on the Constitution, illegally spied on and tortured people (not just those bad terrists), and virtually bankruptured the nation with an economic shitstorm that'd make FDR do 360's in his wheelchair. Yet here I am, getting paid six-figures to talk to you losers about how to make it in life as a loser. I'll show you the way! Teach ya all my tricks (my favorite is to act like you don't hear people when they ask ya really tough stuff). I'll help ya tap your inner superpowers, just like I did in making it all the way to the most important job in the world with no more credentiamables than a blind proofreader. I am the master of low expectations. Everyone misunderestimated me, and they were wrong. If I can overcome my shortcomings--and guess what, there's a whole heap of 'em--there's hope for all of you. So hurry up and reserve your seats in Forth Worth and San Antonio. That's where you'll find hope. Where wings take dream."

Reality TV Makes People Do the Darndest Things!

Mad-scientist/inventor/"Wife Swap" alumnus Richard Heene thought it was a great idea to send a giant flying-saucerish home-built helium balloon into the air and then tell authorities that his 6-year-old-boy Falcon was inside as it careened for hours and 60 miles across the bright blue Colorado skies to the horror of the entire nation. The following day, under the intense stress of TV lights and his dad's lies, poor little Falcon was reduced to vomiting during a "Today Show" interview. The family also appeared on CNN's "Larry King Show." Pressed for details by guest-host Wolf Blitzer, Heene asked his boy why he didn't come out of the attic he was hiding in when he heard them calling for him. "You guys said we did this for the show," he said. He was referring to the reality tv program his parents were aggressively pitching to producers. Blitzer had his now-famous "Aha!" moment, and the rest as they say is history. Heene and his partner in crime, wife Mayumi, now face misdemeanor and Federal charges that include conspiracy, contributing to the delinquency of a minor and lying to the federal government. Prison time and hefty fines could follow.

The "Balloon Boy" saga proves one thing: that the insatiable hunger for reality TV fame makes people do really stupid things. And once they actually have a show, it can destroy friendships, families, marriages and leave a pile of emotional carnage in its wake. The reality show casualties-list is a long one, and includes Jon and Kate Gosselin, Danny and Gretchen Bonaduce, Jessica Simpson and Nick Lachey, Paris Hilton and Nicole Ritchie, Hulk and Linda Hogan, Carmen Electra amd Dave Navarro, and Britney Spears and Kevin Federline. In fact, having cameras follow you around 24/7 is almost a certain kiss of death in the romance of reality. Yet, people like the Heenes scratch and claw still to get their name in lights. In the case of the Heenes, the party's now over before it even started. And it's their kids who will ultimately suffer the most.

Reality television is a stain on our society and an insult to culture. It's dumbed-down television at its worst, lowest common-denominator. It makes people like Richard Heene act like an anger-management-starved idiot on "Wife Swap." It makes former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay dance like a Viagra-fueled, lip-syncing freak on "Dancing with the Stars." It makes former "Taxi" star Jeff Conway expose his tragic, humiliating substance-abuse on "Celebrity Rehab." It makes fat people cry on "The Biggest Loser." It makes people eat bat-shit and lie with rats on "I'm a Celebrity, Get Me Outta Here!" It makes guys act like disrespectful pigs on "The Bachelor/Bachelorette" It makes rich housewives in NJ, NY, Atlanta and Orange County, CA act like a bunch of spoiled, vacuous, obnoxious, catty, neurotic beeyaches. It makes families neglect their children and put them through a life of media hell, all for some quick cash in their pockets and the feel of red-carpet under their feet. It brings out the absolute worst behavior in people, while bringing them to embarassing levels of prime-time foolishness. And, not to get into a whole other case against it, but it's also put an awful lot of very talented, hard-working television writers out of work. Enough,I say.

Some cultural phenomenons have their watershed moments. The Manson Family murders served to kill the Summer of Love. The violence at the Rolling Stones' Altamont concert dampened the Woodstock generation and effectively put an end to the 60's and peace-and-love. Maybe the Heene's colossal bout with selfishness, irresponsibility and sheer attention-seeking desperation will be the nail in the reality tv coffin. Let's hope so.


On another note, the film I produced, SERIOUS MOONLIGHT, which was written by my late wife Adrienne Shelly (WAITRESS), will have its U.S. premiere and afterparty December 3rd in NYC. This event will also serve as the 2009 Adrienne Shelly Foundation fundraising gala, and proceeds will go towards helping ASF achieve its mission of supporting women filmmakers. Tickets are $150. Please join me, our stars Meg Ryan and Timothy Hutton, our director Cheryl Hines and others at this red-carpet event. Tickets are extremely limited. To purchase, please email ASFoundationOrg@aol.com or call 212-381-1716.

ASF is a 501 c 3 tax-exempt, non-profit organization which provides scholarships, grants, finishing funds, screenwriting fellowships and living stipends at NYU's Tisch School of the Arts/Kanbar Institute of Film; Columbia University; American Film Institute; Women in Film; IFP; the Nantucket Film Festival; the Tribeca Film Institute; and the Sundance Institute. Your generous contribution will go a long way towards helping us achieve this very important mission. Please click here to make a donation. Thank you.

Afghanistan Bananastan

It's a funny thing, politics. For eight years Republicans didn't utter a peep as one general after another, including Gen. Eric Shinseki, Gen. George Casey and Gen. John Abizaid, were summarily replaced after offering criticism of former President George W. Bush's Iraq and Afghanistan war strategies. Others, like Gen. Anthony Zinni, voiced their opposition after leaving the job. Bush insisted he always "listened to the generals on the ground," but in the end he made his own decisions regardless of how much these top-ranking warriors disagreed with him. Which is why it's quite hypocritical for conservatives to now vilify President Obama for taking a few weeks to weigh the request of Gen. Stanley McChrystal, the top commander in Afghanistan, for 40,000 additional U.S. troops. Obama must listen to the generals! GOP puh-leeze.

Making the situation more complicated was the fact that McChrystal last week chose to publicly air his dirty laundry in an interview in London, suggesting that without more troops the war could be lost. McChrystal also said he had only spoken once with Obama over the last several months since taking over the region's top military post. To many, this was a breach of protocol for which he's since been harshly criticized.

Eugene Robinson put it quite succinctly in his Washington Post column last week: "How to proceed in Afghanistan will be among the most difficult and fateful decisions that President Obama ever makes. But he's the one who has to decide, not his generals. The men with the stars on their shoulders -- and I say this with enormous respect for their patriotism and service -- need to shut up and salute.Gen. Stanley McChrystal, the commander of U.S. and NATO forces in Afghanistan, is entitled to his opinion about the best way forward. But he has no business conducting a public campaign to build support for his preferred option..."

As to be expected, Republican leaders are using the Obama-McChrystal episode as an opportunity for fear-mongering. Sen. John McCain said ignoring McChrystal's request for 40,000 more troops would be "an error of historic proportions." I don't know about you, but I'm getting pretty tired of McCrusty wearing the Iraq surge on his chest like a $200 Armani tie.

Over the weekend, retired Lt. Col. Ollie North, a Fox News commentator and conservative standard-bearer in his post-Iran-Contra life, was asked to define the goals for success in Afghanistan. "A stable government in Kabul...a pro-American government in Kabul...and a government that believes in human rights. That's how you measure Victory in Afghanistan."

But is that what we have in Iraq, where Republicans like to claim victory? Using North's criteria, have we really won anything? Without our troops there, Iraq will likely bloody itself in civil war, and the government will crumble, just as Vietnam proved to be a colossal waste of American money and lives. Are we to simply and rashly repeat these same mistakes in Afghanistan now just because some general wants more ass-kicking? Do we really want to be occupying these countries forever? War is like stock investing: you haven't won anything until you exit with a real, sustainable gain.

The debate over McChrystal's request is nothing more that pure partisan politics. Does listening to the generals mean Obama must do whatever commanders like McChrystal request? To the contrary, the president's job is to carefully weigh all options presented. Obama's delay is the right thing to do. Unlike his impulsive, obdurate, irresponsible predecessor, Obama is showing patience, earnestness and discipline when it comes to Afghanistan. Eight years, $700-billion and 4300 dead U.S. soldiers later we've seen the cost of Bush's rush to war in Iraq. A couple of months of analysis is not only prudent, it's to be applauded.


On another note, the film I produced, SERIOUS MOONLIGHT, which was written by my late wife Adrienne Shelly (WAITRESS), will have its U.S. premiere and afterparty December 3rd in NYC. This event will also serve as the 2009 Adrienne Shelly Foundation fundraising gala, and proceeds will go towards helping ASF achieve its mission of supporting women filmmakers. Tickets are $150. Please join me, our star Meg Ryan, our director Cheryl Hines and many others at this red-carpet event. Tickets are extremely limited. To purchase, please email ASFoundationOrg@aol.com or call 212-381-1716.

ASF is a 501 c 3 tax-exempt, non-profit organization which provides scholarships, grants, finishing funds, screenwriting fellowships and living stipends at NYU's Tisch School of the Arts/Kanbar Institute of Film; Columbia University; American Film Institute; Women in Film; IFP; the Nantucket Film Festival; the Tribeca Film Institute; and the Sundance Institute. Your generous contribution will go a long way towards helping us achieve this very important mission. Please click here to make a donation. Thank you.

Why Obama's Nobel Peace Prize is Deserved

Republicans apparently have one more thing to hate about President Barack Obama now that he has won the Nobel Peace Prize, beating out 200 other candidates for addressing the threat of global warming; for trying to rid the world of nuclear weapons; and for attempting to achieve a global peace.

In Oslo, Nobel Committee Chairman Thorbjørn Jagland said "Only very rarely has a person to the same extent as Obama captured the world's attention and given its people hope for a better future. We are not awarding the prize for what may happen in the future, but for what he has done in the previous year. We would hope this will enhance what he is trying to do."

Right-wingers are unsurprisingly outraged, calling Obama's award a travesty, claiming the president hasn't yet "accomplished" anything that would merit such an honor. As the news broke Friday, conservative pundits were in high-gear robotically regurgitating the primary talking point that Obama won the award simply for not being George W. Bush.

But let's get something straight here: this is a very proud day for America. For all Americans. After eight embarrassing, unrepentant years of reckless cowboy arrogance marred by war, war crimes and human rights abuses, Obama's Nobel Prize symbolizes the beginning of the Unites States' return to respectability and perhaps even greatness someday. A time when the world is looking to America, and its president, for leadership. This isn't about Bush. It's about Obama and what he represents on the world's stage.

The notion that Obama's prize is undeserved is absurd and an insult to every American. First of all, who said the Nobel Committee's criteria for winning requires candidates to be "accomplished" U.S. presidents? Or that they even be a U.S. president, for that matter? So the fact that Obama was selected so soon after his inauguration is totally irrelevant. This honor isn't about what he's done since January. To the contrary, it's about how this relatively unknown Midwestern politician with humble beginnings became the first black president of the United States by inspiring a nation through a message of peace, hope, and aspiration...and thus shifted the political and racial winds in this country and throughout the world. The award is a recognition of Obama's vision for a new, harmonious planet, and how he's serving as a catalyst for that change. To say he's won because he's not Bush is grossly oversimplifying the significance of the prize. Rather, he's undoing the colossal damage that's been done by Bush. Big difference.

It's been eight years since America's been led by such an intelligent, inspirational figure as Obama. A president who thinks before he speaks. One who weighs options before he acts. A president with depth and intellectual curiosity. A president secure enough in his manhood to be able to talk with his enemies, rather than simply talk tough. A peacenik rather than a warmonger. Obama's restored dignity and diplomacy to the most important office in the world, while setting an example for everyone else in the quest for peace on Earth. That's why Obama won the Nobel Peace Prize.

It's unconscionable that on this great day for America, Obama's achievement has to be turned into something ugly and partisan by a bunch of un-patriotic, mean-spirited, sore-losing Republican crybabies who've yet to emotionally get beyond last November...and probably never will.



On another note, the film I produced, SERIOUS MOONLIGHT, which was written by my late wife Adrienne Shelly (WAITRESS), will have its U.S. premiere and afterparty December 3rd in NYC. This event will also serve as the 2009 Adrienne Shelly Foundation fundraising gala, and proceeds will go towards helping ASF achieve its mission of supporting women filmmakers. Tickets are $150. Please join me, our star Meg Ryan, our director Cheryl Hines and many others at this red-carpet event. Tickets are extremely limited. To purchase, please email ASFoundationOrg@aol.com or call 212-381-1716.

ASF is a 501 c 3 tax-exempt, non-profit organization which provides scholarships, grants, finishing funds, screenwriting fellowships and living stipends at NYU's Tisch School of the Arts/Kanbar Institute of Film; Columbia University; American Film Institute; Women in Film; IFP; the Nantucket Film Festival; the Tribeca Film Institute; and the Sundance Institute. Your generous contribution will go a long way towards helping us achieve this very important mission. Please click here to make a donation. Thank you.

Republicans' 2010 Campaign Message: Vote For Us Because Obama Can't Magically Fix in a Year What it Took Us Eight Years to Destroy

The NY Times writes Monday that the central campaign theme for the GOP next year will be jobs, jobs, jobs. But what Republicans won't be reminding voters during the midterm election cycle is how their party and president handed President Barack Obama the worst economy since the Great Depression. They also won't be presenting any charts showing the precipitous drop in job losses since the peak, nor will they discuss the steady downward trajectory of those losses from the 700,000 level to 500,000, then 400,000, and to the mid-200's, where we are today. Signs of progress, or economic recovery, won't be on the GOP menu.

To be sure, voters won't hear any mea culpa's from Republicans. Nothing about how sorry they are for decimating the U.S. economy with massive tax cuts for the wealthiest 1% of Americans, or for squandering a trillion dollars on the Iraq War. Or how the war in Afghanistan will likely require significantly more funding and continue sapping America's economy while racking up massive debt. You can be sure they won't talk about deregulation on Wall Street, the energy sector and the insurance industry, or how Bush pushed through trillions in government bailouts before he left office. And voters certainly won't be reminded that Republicans have largely controlled both houses of Congress since 1994 and the presidency since 2000.

Instead, the GOP is going to position the U.S. economy as if it began on January 20, 2009. As if up until that point it was nothing but surpluses and prosperity and good times in America. They will try to dumb-down reality and criticize the Obama administration as if all the pain and suffering voters are experiencing has been manufactured by the president and Democrats, while portraying themselves as white horse heroes ready to ride into Washington and rescue the nation.

Conservatives like to argue that 9-11 can't be blamed on Bush because he was only in office less than nine months when those attacks occurred. Yet after just nine months, Obama is being vilified for not being able to wave a magic wand and fix the colossal shitstorm that Bush & Company left for him on the White House steps.

So, what's the real 2010 Republican campaign message gonna be?: "Watch out Democrats, we're gonna be nastier, dirtier, more unethical and deceptive than ever. We're a bunch of frustrated, angry, frothing, tea-baggin' Town Hall bullies who will stop at nothing to regain power. You ain't seen nothing yet."


On another note, we could use your help at The The Adrienne Shelly Foundation. We're a 501 c 3 tax-exempt, non-profit organization dedicated in my late wife's honor, and with a simple mission: supporting women filmmakers. Adrienne, who wrote, directed and starred in the hit film WAITRESS, was killed November 1, 2006. Through the Foundation, her commitment to filmmaking lives on. We've established scholarships, grants, finishing funds, screenwriting fellowships and living stipends at NYU's Tisch School of the Arts/Kanbar Institute of Film; Columbia University; American Film Institute; Women in Film; IFP; the Nantucket Film Festival; the Tribeca Film Institute; and the Sundance Institute. Your generous contribution will go a long way towards helping us achieve this very important mission. Please click here to make a donation. Thank you.

Joe Scarborough Shows Yet Again Why He Could Be President Someday

One month ago I wrote a piece about how MSNBC's "Morning Joe" host Joe Scarborough could very well be the GOP nominee for president in 2012 if he played his cards right. Well, Joe's hand was full of aces Friday as he penned "Thank You Mr. President," his penetrating, highly rational Huffington Post blog harshly criticizing both Democrats and Republicans for the partisan viciousness that's raging out of control in Washington, while at the same time praising President Obama for his attempt to bring the 2016 Olympics to Chicago. There should be no doubt left in anyone's mind that Scarborough is angling for the Oval Office chair. And he just might make me look like a genius if he keeps this up.

While right-wing talking heads lined up to attack Obama and cheer his and the nation's Olympic loss, Scarborough was downright effusive in his praise:"Count me as one conservative who is disappointed that President Obama's hometown will not be hosting the 2016 Olympic Games....The President was right to fly to Copenhagen to try to land the games, not for the sake of his city, but for the good of his country. The fact President Obama failed makes me respect him more for taking the chance, and the fact many right-wing figures opposed the President's mission shows just how narrow-minded partisanship makes us all."

Scarborough then went on to offer a scathing critique of the intense partisanship that's paralyzed lawmakers: "For the better part of 20 years, a bitterness has infected our politics that has weakened our country. We Republicans spent eight years trying to delegitimize Bill Clinton. Democrats spent the next eight years doing the same to George W. Bush. Now that a Democrat is in the Oval Office again, it is the GOP who is trying to delegitimize a sitting president."

"Fortunately, there are a growing number of Americans who believe we cannot continue going on this way," he continued..."Something has gone terribly wrong....Some of the rhetoric is dangerous. But what we saw from some conservative corners regarding the President's failed Olympics bid was just plain stupid.... Put me down as one conservative who is glad my president flew across the ocean to try to bring the 2016 Games to America."

Ya gotta hand it to Joe. Whether he's just posturing here or if he's genuinely as fed up with all the reprehensible partisan bickering as the rest of us, it truly doesn't matter. He wins regardless, just by showing tremendous objectivity and class when most Republicans these days are frothing at the mouth to take Obama down at every turn. He's showing a discipline and civility in a town that sorely needs it. Perhaps Scarborough might just be the guy to bring a different GOP tone to the next election, and help change the entire political landscape in the process. This is one Democrat who's certainly rooting for him to succeed.