With the Yanks on an unstoppable tear, and the Chowdas locked into a fairly close battle with the Rangers, Curt Schilling asks us to contemplate things unrelated to baseball.  Namely, his future in politics.

Several days ago, Schilling posted the transcript from his interview on the Dennis & Callahan Show onto his blog 38 Pitches.  Among other things, Schilling discusses the possibility of a run for Ted Kennedy’s senate seat.

(My apologies, Teddy. Presumably anytime anyone anywhere speaks or even writes those words, you have an aneurysm in your grave.)

In the interview, Schilling cites his impressive qualifications for the job, “My credentials are that I have no baggage. I have no special interests and I have no ties.”

Holy crap?  No relationships or history within the political arena are actual “credentials”?  So, like 99% of us are unwittingly qualified to be running for Senate. What are we thinking about, working our normal-people jobs?

All jokes aside, Schilling isn’t totally unrealistic about the fact that the Red Sox are more likely to overtake the Yankees and win the division than he is to get voted into replace one of the best-respected senators in the history of our great nation.  He comments, “lot of things would have to align themselves.”

Like all the stars and planets. (Mars, Jupiter, Pluto…Uranus.)

But, you know, he said he was looking into it: “There has to be some things done by specific dates. I’m not sure of all the rules and regulations because I haven’t looked into them.”

There’s a guy who’ll put an end to the horrors of incompetent and inefficient bureaucracy in government.

While Schilling’s interview might seem like something of a throw-away, if there’s one thing you can do to inspire a Schilling man to take action, it’s make fun of him.  And, well, lots of people did, obviously.  Schilling responded with another blog entry.  A serious one, with lots of exclamation points, in which he talks about issues.  For example, he gives us his philosophy on taxation: “Taxes? Sure I’ll pay them, regardless of the number. Would I prefer lower taxes? Sure, who wouldn’t? But I’ll pay, whatever they are, because that’s the cost of being able to live in this country and I’ve never had a problem with that.”

Schilling is predictably against abortion and gay marriage, but he’s evolved enough to respect the fact that *he* shouldn’t be the one to make those difficult choices on behalf of women, “The state you reside in should be the body that determines BOTH of those laws. Because I’m pro-life should have nothing to do with your belief or your opinion. The constituents you work for should be the people that decide those laws in the state they live in, period.”

Such a relief. The population at large and not Curt Schilling get to make my choices for me.

The most important thing that we should take away from Curt’s blog entry is that this isn’t a joke.  Yeah, I know, it may seem like a joke. You may be tempted to treat it like a joke.  Everyone else may act like it’s a joke. However, I assure you, it’s not a joke.  How do we know that?  Schilling tells us himself, “I have no idea if I’ll even do this, but if by some slim chance I do it won’t be a joke.”

Just to drive the point home, he adds, “And it won’t be for laughs.”