Well, a lot of bloggers have posted retrospectives on the year that was. I thought I'd do the same considering I got started at the beginning of the year. I've decided to recap my year, covering some of the major events and some of the minor ones. It's been an interesting experience to say the least.

This is a long one, so click "read more" if you dare.

In the summer of 2004, I began to follow the election closely by reading blogs much the way I began discovering talk radio in the summer of 2000. I supposed I had kicked around the idea of starting one but I never quite felt that urge strongly enough. In January of this past year, I was enjoying the results of November 2, 2004 and was content to see the President's second term begin.

I picked up a copy of Hugh Hewitt's "Blog" and burned through it in a couple of sittings. Frankly, I was inspired. I wanted in. And on the evening of February 1st, I logged on to Blogger and took the plunge.

I had no idea what I would write about. I figured the election was over and there wouldn't be anything interesting happening in 2005. Boy was I wrong.

I spent a good deal of space in the first month posting a lot of biographical stuff. Actually I had typed much of it out already in a Word document thinking I'd like to go back and read it someday. Well, now everyone else could read it if they were so inclined. And gradually I started posting about other stuff, like Michael Barone's analysis of how the internet had changed politics (which could use a revision already).

The Academy Awards were coming up. I wasn't impressed. And I took the opportunity to weigh in on my feelings about celebrities who get political. I was also amused to read that, in the wake of Bush's second term, many Liberals had shown an interest in fleeing to Canada. Unfortunately, they never really followed through on these plans.

March came in like a lion with the big anti-Social Security Reform campaign waged by the AARP - the only group who stood to lose anything of substance from said reform. The MSM spun for them and the initiative limped to committee, dying a slow death. The flagship of the MSM, the NY Times wagged its finger at the GOP warning that it shouldn't take the results of the election seriously. In response, George W. Bush submitted the name of John Bolton as UN Ambassador to shake up the ailing corrupt organization. His nomination would be blocked by irrate Democrats for months.

Dan Rather signed off as anchor of CBS news, having embarrassed himself with "Kinkos-gate". Early rumblings among CT Democrats made the prospect of ousting Joe Lieberman a reality that has since begun to snowball. And as a sign of things to come, an early version of the "Gang of 14" was already preparing to sabotage the President's judicial nominations.

Then there was the Terri Schiavo case. I tried and I tried to stay out of it, but I got sucked in nonetheless. I favored giving Terri a chance, but it got ugly on both sides. Many wondered about the effect the debate would have on the future of the Republican party. So did I. Others began to jump on the "crack-up" theory but I wasn't having any of it. Meanwhile many on the Left were so intimidated by speakers like Ann Coulter that they showed up at her appearances and tried shouting her down. Free Speech apparently didn't apply to Conservatives. The brilliant strategy of throwing food had not yet been revealed.

By the end of the month, March had gone out like a lamb but not without confirming that the winter had been worse than the previous one.

One of the most influencial Popes in history died. Pope John Paul II, along with Ronald Reagan and Margaret Thatcher, was instrumental in the fall of Soviet Communism. As for political prognosticating, I endorsed Labour in Britain's Parliamentary elections because of Tony Blair's commitment to the GWOT. I also considered whether or not the GOP had any shot whatsoever in the NJ Governor's race. Hey, one out of two ain't bad.

On tax day, I came across the ultimate "WTF?" story about a kid who stole a human head from a cemetary to use as a bong.

In anticipation of the release of Star Wars: Episode III, I reflected on the franchise through the eyes of my nine-year old son.

Connecticut became the third State to recognize civil unions. Many thought that this would settle the issue in the State. Not me. And I made an astonishing discovery - France has something to be proud of. This would not be the last we heard of Melissa Theuriau.

In May, I had a lot of distractions as I spent much of my time preparing for a two week trip with the family. Speculation began to swirl that Bill Frist would invoke the "Constitutional option" to finally end the judicial filibusters. It wasn't until I was out of the loop on my travels that the little agreement between seven Republicans and seven Democrats would throw a monkey-wrench into that works. But there was at least one Republican Senator who hadn't lost his nads.

I found time to read a book, and then reviewed it. Still stinging from the cancellation of "Star Trek: Enterprise" I took the opportunity to muse over what looked like the end of another Sci-Fi franchise.

From the 18th to the 30th I was unplugged from the 'net. I travelled to North Carolina and Georgia to attend a wedding and visit with my wife's brother and sister-in-law. It was a great trip and I chronicled the excursion in a series of posts titled "Dispatches from the Red States". (each post is linked to the next)

In early June, I jumped on board the "George Allen 2008" bandwagon. Peggy Noonan analyzed the harsh rhetoric of Howard Dean. Then there was the harsh rhetoric of Dick Durban. And when Karl Rove made some comments defining the differences between Liberals and Conservatives, it was amusing to watch all the Democrats lose their minds over it.

When I first set up my site on Blogsnot, I posted under a pseudonym: Gandalf. After five months, it finally dawned on me that simply using my first name provided enough anonymity without having to use a fictional name.

I spent many a weekend out at the cottage at Amston Lake that summer so my output diminished a bit for the next two months. Our greatest ally suffered a terrorist attack on July 7 that reminded us of what it is we are fighting. Sandra Day O'Connor threw everyone for a loop by announcing her retirement. Bush would finally get to make a SCOTUS appointment. But the man who's retirement was anticipated, William Rehnquist, hung in there despite his poor health. Everyone wondered if Bush would get a second nomination soon.

Within a couple of weeks of O'Connor's announcement, the rumor mill began flying and on July 19th everyone (including me) was reporting that the likely nominee was Edith Clement. But, in the end, the President fooled everyone.

This post has gotten me more hits from people all over the world doing Google searches for "bad girl" than I could ever have expected. Many of these searches have come from the Middle-East. Ahhh. The power of the Internet.

This is one of those posts that I wish I had written. But it was so good I had to reproduce it. It was an ad taken out in the Washington Post by a man who wanted to "Define Republican".

And this post came about because I couldn't get the theme from "One Day At A Time" out of my head.

The dog days of August had arrived. And Howard Dean and the Dems were still looking for a message. Despite the tough exterior, this post revealed the Ex-Donkey to be nothing but a great big softy.

And as the news cycle slowed to a grinding halt, a media whore was born. And then it got weirder. Until at last, her activities became downright ridiculous. Face it. To this day, the woman is still trying to squeeze out the last drops of her fifteen minutes of fame.

At last, I said goodbye to Blogger. And launched the new Mu Nu site. The fanfare was tempered by Hurrican Katrina. The And the Left's shameless politicizing of the disaster was appalling.

Then there was the passing of Chief Justice Rehnquist. I threw in my own two cents for who Rehnquist's replacement should be from a political perspective. The anniversary of 9/11 allowed me the chance to look back on that terrible day. And I had a little fun by mixing aspects of "The Lord of the Rings" with "The Forty-Year Old Virgin." (with apologies to WuzzaDem)

The exquisite work of Apothegm Designs was rolled out to reveal the new look and feel of the Ex-Donkey Blog that you see today.

I weighed in on my plans for the new fall TV season. And, with a back-handed verbal bitch-slap at the MSM, a new catch-phrase was born.

To celebrate my wife's birthday, I took her for a long weekend to Vermont. Here's my dispatch from "Hippyland". I earned a lot of goodwill on that trip. And I needed it when it came time for the old 20-year high school reunion.

Basically, October started with Bush's announcement of Harriet Miers to replace Rehnquist. It didn't take long for the firestorm to start. I was willing to give the President the benefit of the doubt. Pat Ruffini even made an "everybody calm down" appeal. I tried to defend the pick because I trusted Bush. While criticism was one thing, the calls for withdrawal seemed to me to be unwise. I tried to understand the frustration of some of the folks on the Right, but I called for keeping an eye on the big picture and wait for the hearings. But in the end, the pick began to look more and more like a bad one. And before long, I'd had it. It was getting worse and worse everyday and I'd decided it was time for Bush to cut his losses. The next day, Miers withdrew her name. Thank God.

But I wasn't down very long before everything looked great again! Enter Samuel Alito! Luckily I didn't see any of these "treats" on Halloween.

As November rolled in, I looked back at election day 2004 from the vantage point of one year later. Election Day 2005 had a few races. The results were no change of party control, but that didn't stop Democrats from predicting that it meant the end for Bush. In fact, they were so pumped that they trotted out so-called "Democrat Hawk" Rep. John Murtha to demand a full withdrawal from Iraq. But despite a bunch of bogus polls that they would be justification for a strategy to "cut and run", the GOP forced a vote on a withdrawal, and only 3 lonely Democrats voted for it. The Dems fell into yet another trap, woefully misjudging the situation.

French news anchor Melissa Theuriau caught the eye of many a male blogger (myself included), which caused a minor turf-skirmish between me and the Llamas.

FINALLY, the President pushed back on the ankle-biting Defeatocrats who were spinning their revisionist history about Iraq. The anniversary of JFK's assassination spurred me to unload my scorn for the modern Democrat party. But there was at least one Democrat who was willing to put his country before politics, much to the unhappiness of the moonbats.

Thanksgiving morning greeted me with an unexpected blanket of snow.

And the season was upon us. The trimming of the tree went fine at first. Then I got sick. But ultimately, it was completed!

And when Melissa Theuriau had a wardrobe malfunction, I was on the case! Ann Coulter returned to her home State of Connecticut to a warm welcome.

December 15th was a victory for the Iraqi people and another defeat for the Democrats! And Dubya finished out the year with a hard-hitting speech.

But when all was said and done, it was the important things in life that mattered most - my kids on Christmas morning.

And in that same spirit, I hereby make my New Year's resolution - I will try to post more about these three treasures: Ryan, Justin & Kevin. Because, for all insanity of politics, world events and things that make you go "WTF?", they are what I will look back on next year and wish I could remember the most.

[editor's note: In linking back to these old posts I noticed that many of the photos and graphics saved prior to September 1 on the Blogger server sometimes don't show up. If you click "reload", sometimes they reappear. If not, they should show up again later. sorry for the inconvenience.]

Posted by: Gary at 01:59 AM | Comments (4) | Add Comment
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