Hillary’s whining and NC Sheriff’s race opining ...

Sometimes 60 minutes just isn't enough time for me to get my thoughts across for the day. Especially since when you take out the news block at the top of the hour and the commercial breaks, I usually end up with about 42 minutes to get those thoughts across.

There's a fix to that coming soon ... but that's not what I'm talking about today.

Two things I really wanted to talk about this morning include Hillary Clinton and her constant whining ... and what to make of the Niagara County Sheriff's race and the media's apparent take on that race.

First, Hillary: If she's not crying, she's complaining. I never thought her tears in New Hampshire were legitimate. I thought at the time that it was a ploy ... and I still do.

Then she threatened to boycott MSNBC because David Schuster said the Clinton Camp is "pimping out" Chelsea. For a woman who's supposed to be in touch, she really misinterpreted Schuster's comments, huh?

Then she whined that rival Barack Obama was committing plagarism by using lines from a friends speech ... that the friend told him to use. Making this even more disgusting is the montage Tim Russert played on Meet The Press yesterday showing how closely Hillary Clinton's speeches mirror former speeches by her husband Bill ... and one that is almost word for word from John Edwards.

Finally, Hillary Clinton complained about a mailer from Barack Obama concerning NAFTA and health care. Of course, Bill Clinton was president when NAFTA was signed. And according to Hillary, she was the president, too. And Hillary had an opportunity to pass meaningful health care reform ... back when she was president. But that didn't happen.

Let me be clear. I don't like Hillary Clinton. I don't trust Hillary Clinton. And the sooner she goes away, the better.

But my real thought was this: I'm just sick of Hillary being offended by everything. Maybe if she had taken a few minutes to be offended with Bill's philandering, we would have elected a Democrat in 2000 ... and we wouldn't be in this mess in the first place.

Now ... the Sheriff's race: I find it interesting the names being thrown around in this newly created race come November. Outgoing Sheriff Tom Beilein has endoursed James Voutour to succeed him. And with the governor making the appointment for the interim until the election, I'd have to think that Voutour will go into November with the power of incumbency.

Scott Elliott has also had his name thrown around and told Greater Niagara News that he'd like to be considered. Scott's a former Lockport alderman and I've always found him to be an all-around good guy. He has also been Chairman of the City of Lockport Democratic Committee, so that looks good to Spitzer, I'm sure.

And then on the Republican side, it looks like the GOP higher-ups have chosen Ernie Palmer to carry their flag come November. Palmer is a veteran Niagara Falls Police Detective, and a former Falls and Youngstown police chief. Currently, he's a member of the Lewiston Town Board.

Here's the part that interests me ... what about Brian Grear? Brian was the GOP candidate against Beilein in the last election, but he didn't make many friends in the Republican Party, many of whom liked Beilein just fine for reasons I can only surmise.

So it's no shock that the Republican Party hasn't suggested Grear as its candidate ... but the part that surprises me is that Grear has gotten no mention in the media. The rule of thumb when an election nears is that reporters ask the most recent candidates for that position - and maybe former candidates - about their intentions.

Why is the local media ignoring Brian Grear? Some might call this a form of collusion with the local power players. I tend to think it's just plain shoddy journalism.

I'm sure this will come up again ... but I wanted to get my thoughts out there TODAY ... and didn't have time on Dialog.