i love paula deen

and it's not for any of the reasons you'd think

i don't love her because of the food she cooks. i'm vegan and that woman cooks her bacon in butter (and no, i'm NOT kidding). i WOULD love to be sitting in her kitchen and having a cup of coffee with her though. i'd even love to cook for HER - show her you can eat something tasty and NOT filled with grease and mayo (ok ok ok i WAS a former mayo addict till i went all out vegan) and meat and butter

i don't love her because she had 'mr jimmy' (as in carter) and ms rosalynn on and cooked and ate with them at THEIR place

i don't love her because she has dogs roaming around her kitchen while she cooks (and lady bird talking and chirping away in the background)

i don't love her because of how much she loves her family and friends. you can tell how much she loved those gone by too, just by how she talks about them

i don't love her because she had michelle obama on this saturday night (i watched it and enjoyed michelle chowing down on fried shrimp and telling paula what their family enjoyed eating). oh all right, having michelle obama on made me love paula deen EVEN MORE than i already did

i just love paula because she was rather broke, was a single mother, was afraid to go out of her house (for a period of time) AND pulled herself up by her bootstraps and DID something about it. she started her own bid-nez and TOOK CARE of her own bid-nez!

aw paula i think you're swell!

Michelle Obama Cooks Up Quite a Political Dish on the Food Network
Posted by Christy Hardin Smith, Firedoglake

Michelle Obama scored a huge coup, with an appearance on Paula's Party on Food Network, taking her "home cooking mama" appeal straight to the most sought-after demographic this year: women. Get this from People Magazine:

"She was everything I thought she would be: Smart, great sense of humor and loves to talk about family," Deen told PEOPLE of meeting Mrs. Obama.

The pair prepared fried shrimp for Deen's show and Deen said, "I can tell she spends time in the kitchen – she was very relaxed when we cooked. And that lady is a good eater."

Not that it shows. "Did I tell you she is in the best shape ever? Everyone was staring at her amazing arms!" said Deen.

Food Network doesn't allow political ads, so this was huge in terms of reach-out. Both campaigns have been running ads designed to hit female viewers -- during talk shows, soap operas, you name it. Demographic strategery.

This year, the NYTimes writes about the Oprah-ization of campaign marketing to women. And Karen Tumulty at Time has hit on a "maxed-out moms" phrasing for the volatile bloc candidates are courting. .......