It's the National Retail Federation's conference today. It's Monday. It's 8:30 in the a.m. And it just got weird.In lieu of a broad retrospective of the worst holiday season for retail in recent memory, the conference opened strong, literally, with two hulking gymnasts balancing each other in what can only be presumed as 'Cirque du Retail'. Perhaps it was a metaphor for the precipitous situation retailers find themselves in today, akin to balancing on another human being at the Javits Center.As one would expect, Lee Scott, the CEO of Wal-Mart, then hops on the stage. Did he discuss retailing? No. But it's hard to blame him standing next to the human nonsequitor pre-breakfast.Scott, in a now predictably mind-boggling move, was talking politics. He spoke for US. "They're tired of Republican versus Democrat," he said about the general population, not the acrobats. "And liberal versus conservative."More quotes: "We have a responsibility to society." "We need to tackle the right issues." "The hard questions rarely get asked during the good times."So we guess our question is: Should Lee Scott have ran for president? Ringleader?We would have liked to hear more about something that we can't see everywhere else on television. Lee Scott, please tell us about the economy!!!