Mugsy weighs in on presidential race

Today's lesson, my flock, is on American politics. You might think that a disenfranchised pug such as myself, denied the right to vote based solely on my canine DNA, would have little interest in the presidential race and its corresponding media coverage. But I have kept a close eye on the proceedings -- if for no other reason than to know what not to do as I establish the Pugistani political system.

The way the electoral process is conducted, and the way the media influence it, is in my view damaging to the democratic process. Take Mitt Romney, for example. Many pundits have declared that he will be all but out of the race if he doesn't win today's Republican primary in Michigan. After all, he only finished second in the sparsely populated states of Iowa and New Hampshire. What you rarely, if ever, hear from the pundits is that Romney is actually leading the GOP race in delegates. Many state races are not winner-take-all, but you'd never know that if you strictly listened to the media talking heads.

Now let us look at the Democratic race. Hillary Rodham Clinton was said to be in grave danger after her third-place finish in Iowa, while Barack Obama's popularity was skyrocketing. Then, after her win in the New Hampshire primary, the pundits acted as if Clinton had stormed past Obama in the race. Let us be honest here: All we can glean from these results is that Iowans showed a slight preference for Obama, while those in New Hampshire leaned toward Clinton. And in any case, the vote was close enough in New Hampshire that Clinton and Obama actually won the same amount of delegates in the state. But again, you'd never know that from reading or listening to the so-called experts in the popular media.

I bring these points up not to bolster any particular candidate. This blog is nonpartisan, reflecting my beliefs that the U.S. government is merely there to serve as a placeholder and tax-collecting apparatus for the eventual establishment of a canine Muslim state. But it is my hope that the faithful of Pug Life Ministries will look upon these proceedings with the kind of perspective that is sorely lacking in most election coverage. For the sake of making every vote count and every voice heard, the primary race should be a long, drawn-out process -- regardless of whether the pundits and party bosses want to wrap it up quickly.

To make blanket statements on the election based on the results in Iowa and New Hampshire, whose combined population is smaller than the Dallas-Fort Worth metro area, is ludicrous. It is roughly the equivalent of trying to crown the winner of an NBA basketball game based on who scores the first free throw.