I do find it a bit silly to complain about politics in the specialty ring. Most specialty judges judge only because they enjoy it, not to give points to their friends. Let me tell you what a normal show is for a specialty judge:

You drive to the local airport, and park your car where you  hope you can remember to find it later (and never get paid for the costs of  parking).

You get to fly to the show, often making two changes and sitting in airports to get a low fare. When you get in, you often have to get a ride from the airport, because everyone else is at another show. Then you get to check in to a motel. Usually your room is already booked, but they want your credit card, and then you get to wonder what is going to be charged to it.  There you are at 3:00 pm for a show that starts in only 20 hours. You can't go out to talk to people, since it might look like your friends are your friends.  You get to watch reruns of Friends on a television that won't change channels from the remote.  Next door behind thin walls, you discover the world’s most passionate lovers have booked the room for the longest night possible.

After a dinner of pretzels and maybe a coke, you get up in the morning to sit around for five hours, if you sleep in. You get to have breakfast of potato chips and Seven Up, and head for the show. There you get to see some good dogs, excuse some for temperament, feeling bad about that. You have to ignore some good dogs, since you can only put up a few. You have champions you know have worked hard to finish, and you can't put them all up, either.  You hear people yelling for dogs, and can't look up so that no one thinks you are putting up your friends.

Your feet hurt, you have a headache, your eyes burn, the sun beats down on you, there is hair on everything, your hands are stained, (from what you have no idea), your neck hurts from turning to watch dogs, your back screams for a chance to sit down, and half the handlers are upset because they feel you didn't give them a fair chance.

For that, you get to fly home with a ceramic German shepherd planter in your suitcase, and then get begged to write a report saying how wonderful all the entries were.

After all that, those who didn't win make sure everyone knows how political you were, and how you only put up your friends, even if you didn't know them before the show.

When you get home, your car is most often stolen, the pipes broke in the bathroom, the roof leaked, and your dogs got together and bred each other all weekend.  And that is a good show.

I live to judge.