13 Days - Avoid the Distractions

13 days left until the election and it's time to get serious. The debate theater is over. It's the final stage where we need to buckle down and shore up what's important in this election season. Unfortunately, the last act means all the clowns and hysteria has to run its course.

Case in point Sarah Palin's recent words on President Obama "shuck and jive shtick" towards his response to Libya. It's easy for me to get upset at her using that term but instead consider the source - Palin's begging for attention and hasn't been in the spotlight in a while. It's been proven that the administration called the attack "an act of terror" the day after and God forbid they show restraint, grieve for the families and let things shake out before playing the terrorist card even further.

But see, that's all a part of the game. Focus on the source making outlandish statements. Never mind more analysis on the issues or deciding if the source it's worth listening.

Ann Coulter calling the president a retard? Just another sign of her being an insensitive idiot who hides behind Fox News, her Twitter and whatever imaginary shield she thinks she has. She's got no merit and this latest statement shows her desperation and ignorance.

What's more problematic - Tagg Romney wanting to swing at Barack Obama or that he owns voting machines in Ohio. It's not even close. Considering how much Ohio has been a factor in the last 3 elections, that scares me more.

Donald Trump's announcement doesn't do anything for me but give him publicity. He wants that. He's in the business of self-promotion. You speak on it quickly but move on or just ignore it altogether.

Members of the Republican Party are getting extreme and desperate. They're going to throw out every distraction in the book to put the focus on them instead of the issues. The Democrats may not be panicking, but they will also throw their own mud in some various form

They know the media is going to eat it up and spit it back at you because they want to be in on the conversation. This is the same media that's trying to keep the election entertaining by making it seem closer than it should be.

They lose viewers if they were to make it look like Obama won the last two debates handily, which he did, or if they effectively analyze things deeper than flash words/gaffes. They'll pull up a lot of polls to make their point as if those polls accurately reflect the entire country.

And for the record, the voter fraud story that has been an issue that last few months should be a bigger deal. Read this piece in the New Yorker on the man behind the hysteria.

Avoid the distractions and search for the truth. Read the facts. Focus on what's going to happen locally in your city too. Over the next 2 weeks, distractions going to rain down on you from both sides and we have to pick and choose how we handle it.