Meanwhile, at the Hall of Justice...

PJ20!

2011-09-21T12:17:00.001-04:00

Game 7

2010-06-17T11:50:00.004-04:00

If the Celtics get legitimately beaten tonight I will have no problem admitting that the Lakers were the better team and that they deserve their 16^th championship. At times during this series they have clearly been the better team.

My hope is that we will see a great game with few whistles, because I am tired of always worrying about and/or focusing on the referees. I really, really am. I like fast breaks, teams trading baskets, and tough, physical play. There have been too many whistles, too many stoppages, and not enough “play on” moments.

Do I think we’ll be able to watch tonight’s game and not focus on the referees? No, I don’t. Here is why:

Some combination of the following six officials will call tonight’s Game 7 of the NBA Finals.

Bennett Salvatore: Widely regarded as one of the worst officials in any professional sport.

Bill Kennedy: Was actually fined at the end of last season for an altercation with Doc Rivers.

Dan Crawford: Was absolutely terrible calling Game 3, a remarkable achievement given that Game 3 also featured Salvatore and Kennedy.

Scott Foster: Tim Donaghy’s unindicted co-conspirator.

Greg Willard: Um, I don’t know him.

Eddie F. Rush: Called the bogus 2^nd technical foul on Kendrick Perkins during the Orlando series.

This is the biggest game of the NBA season, and these are the men David Stern puts forth to call it? Salvatore and Foster should both be unemployed. Kennedy and Rush having any involvement in this game is an insult not just to Celtic fans but to NBA fans everywhere.

We’ll know shortly who the three are. Unfortunately, the reality is that given these six choices there are no good options.

EDIT: The NBA has announced Scott Foster, Dan Crawford, and...Joey Crawford, a shakeup to the rotation. Joey Crawford is certainly better than Kennedy or Rush, but he is also the guy who once challenged Tim Duncan to a fight during a moment that can best be described as a psychotic episode.

Why I'm Still Undecided

2010-01-16T09:30:00.001-05:00

Because I cannot in good faith vote for a candidate who had the chance to put away the degenerate pederast Father John Geoghan in 1995 and did not, opting instead to cut a closed-door deal and allow Geoghan to hunt young boys for another seven years. You can excuse this away by saying these types of prosecutions just weren’t happening yet if you feel you must, but only if you acknowledge that these prosecutions weren’t happening because lawyers with lofty political ambitions, such as Martha Coakley, refused to prosecute.

Because after giving him every chance to win me over, the fact is that I want to like Scott Brown much more than I actually like Scott Brown.

Because saving the Democratic super-majority in the Senate is not a good enough reason when the Democrats served up a candidate who has proven so ineffective that she may very well lose what was once Ted Kennedy’s seat in what is one of the bluest states in the union. This campaign could have and should have been a cakewalk. That it is this close in its final days is madness. There are simply no good reasons to vote for Coakley the candidate – only semi-decent reasons to not vote against the party itself. The Democrats chose to make this bed and now they may be forced to die in it.

Because if elected, Scott Brown will take his marching orders and get his talking points from Limbaugh and Beck and Ailes the same way every other member of the GOP in Washington has since Barack Obama took office. Any Republican who can become a Senator from the Commonwealth of Massachusetts will instantly be a rising star in the party. Scott Brown knows this. He will fall in line, say and do what he is told, and set his sights on the VP spot in 2012 or 2016.

Because the man who could have been a reasonable alternative, third-party candidate Joseph L. Kennedy, proudly boasts that he is “The Tea Party Candidate”. Where were the Tea Partiers during the spending sprees of George W. Bush? They were exactly where they will be if the GOP retakes the White House in two years: going along for the ride. If we had a “Birther” candidate in the race they wouldn’t seem any more or less ridiculous than this guy.

Because maybe, just maybe, somebody should kill this healthcare bill before it becomes the law of the land nationwide. As of January 1st I pay $160 a month in blood money to my insurance company because it already is the law of the land here in Massachusetts. That is a whopping 12% more than I paid in 2009. (Will that figure go up or down if Obama’s plan survives the Senate? I don’t really know, and I’m betting you don’t either.) If this race is going to be about healthcare alone in its final days, in a place that only a few years ago watched then-Governor Mitt Romney team up with the uber-liberal state legislature to force what became the blueprint for Obama’s plan down our throats, then Martha Coakley is in even more trouble than her latest poll numbers indicate.

Because no matter what we choose to call it, we are not now nor have we ever been talking about Universal Healthcare in this country. What we refer to as Universal Healthcare is simply health insurance that is mandated by law. It will be the law that you must kickback a percentage of your hard-earned wages to a massive conglomerate each and every week – and that conglomerate will do anything and everything its considerable power to not pay out should you or a family member get sick. The business model is the same one used by the mafia in shakedowns and explained by Henry Hill in the movie Goodfellas:

“Lost your job? Fuck you, pay me.”
“Car broke down? Fuck you, pay me.”
“Kids are sick? Fuck you, pay me – and oh by the way, your claim has been denied.”

(Socialized medicine this will not be.)

Because despite all of my feelings on healthcare and despite Scott Brown being dead set against supporting the bill, it does nothing to make him a more appealing option. Because even though Brown has vowed to kill Obama’s healthcare plan in 2010, he eagerly voted YES on Romney’s initiative in 2005. Why the change of heart? Because one was proposed by a Republican while the other was proposed by a Democrat. The consequences of neither bill mattered to Scott Brown. Party loyalty came first, while what was good for his constituents ran a distant second. Brown certainly was not alone in that on Beacon Hill and would not be alone in Washington. However, in Washington that loyalty would be to a party led largely by Rush Limbaugh, Fox News, and the Christian right. Say what you will about John Kerry, but he doesn’t check in with Sean Hannity before casting a vote. Will Scott Brown, as a rising young star in the GOP, be able to say the same?

Because all of this is a just a long-winded way of saying that not a one of these choices is any damn good, that neither candidate will be anything more than a servant to the powers-that-be in their respective parties, and that we deserve better. Much better. But we aren’t going to get better. What we are going to get is either Coakley, Brown, or Bizarro Kennedy.

And we will all be worse off than we were a few months ago.

True Story 4: The Plan

2009-02-27T18:32:00.004-05:00

(Be sure to check out part 1, part 2, and part 3 of the True Story saga.)

How had this day come unraveled so quickly? It seemed as if only a moment ago I had been home in bed. Now I was smack-dab in the middle of a raging fire-fight. For the moment, at least, it seemed like Tom Brady and Kojak were on my side. The two dead ninjas on the floor were proof enough of that.

“Hey, asshole,” shouted Tom. “We're not gonna do all the work. Wake up and stay alert.”

Right. I took a quick look around. The waitress and the trucker were both cowering behind the lunch counter, and the college kid was nowhere to be seen. Good, one less civilian to worry about. A shadow moved to my left...

...and Kojak impaled it with what looked to be a bat'leth. (Where the hell did he get that?) Tom was on his feet and seemed to be moving pretty good for a guy with one knee, so I helped myself to the only readily available weapon I could find—his crutch.

“EEEEEYAHHHEEEE,” came a screech from the kitchen. At least six more ninjas had appeared in that corner of the room, and I felt as if there were more lurking in every shadow.

“We can't stay here,” I shouted.

“Calm down”, said Tom. “This ain't no Doogie Howser cameo. You got the best in the business on your side today.”

“Don't worry kid,” answered Kojak. “Staying here was never part of the plan. Move towards the door...NOW!”

I broke towards the front door just as Tom unleashed a barrage of fire from his pistols. There were bullets and ninja stars flying everywhere, and when I crashed through the door and out into the parking lot with Tom and Kojak both still behind me (and both still alive) I knew we were lucky.

That is, until I looked around.

The parking lot was full of ninjas. Male ninjas, female ninjas, old ninjas, young ninjas, ninjas in red, ninjas in blue, ninjas in white, ninjas in black...Christ, it looked like all the different factions of the Hand Clan had come together for this assault on the Fillin' Station!

“Well, well, well...the gang all looks to be here,” said Kojak.

Brady had dropped down onto his one good knee and we did the same. He unbuttoned his coat and revealed three things: Two semi-automatic M16 rifles (one of he which he tossed to Kojak, the other to myself) and a chest that was covered by a larger-than-life image of Ronald Reagan.

“This is my lucky Gipper t-shirt. Fucking love him!” Not for the first time I found myself questioning his sanity.

Tom had moved on to yanking clips and grenades and knives and who-knows-what-else from the seemingly endless number of pockets on his jacket. Kojak was making sure his rifle was in good working order and I followed suit. We took aim at the closest crop of ninjas and fired away.

Now, you might expect that ninjas are good at dodging bullets and such. This is a popular misconception. Their great strength is stealth. If they can sneak up on you then you are most likely about to die. But, if you can engage them in open combat—as we were—then they are quickly reduced to being funny little people in funny little costumes. Kojak and I mowed them down and went to reload.

Only a few of our targets escaped the shots, and those who did went scurrying back behind a now-abandoned pickup truck. The truck was probably thirty yards away, in the far corner of the parking lot. Brady grabbed a grenade, measured the distance, pulled the plug, and fired a perfect throw that sent the grenade right through the pickup's open window.

BOOM! The truck exploded and sent debris and dead ninjas in every direction.

“Did you see that,” shouted Tom. “Peyton Manning would never have made that throw! On the football field, sure, maybe. But under fire from a hostile enemy? No way, no how. I am the best!” I had to admit it—he was probably right.

Tom's throw had opened up a portion of the parking lot, with those ninjas who hadn't been caught in the blast left scurrying for better cover. I started to suggest we head that way but Kojak cut me off.

“They're gonna gather their strength and come at us again right quick.”

No sooner were the words out of his mouth before our situation deteriorated. Three black vans came tear-assing into the parking lot...and from them emerged an even deadlier foe.

The Crazy 88's. They were world-class assassins conjured up by the twisted mind of Quentin Tarantino—and they had come for me.

“Shit,” I said. “I thought Uma Thurman took care of these guys.”

“She did,” replied Tom. “She just didn’t get all 88 of them.

“Wait, I thought there really weren’t 88 of them…”

“It doesn’t matter,” said Kojak. “These guys are punks. Where were they in Kill Bill 2? What a disappointment that film was.”

He was right. He was always right.

“We gotta move, now.” Kojak pointed towards the eighteen-wheeler we had passed on the way in. “You see that big red rig? That is where we are going. Ready, Tommy?”

Tom had reloaded both pistols and slammed them into the firing position. “On three,” he said

“One...”

I loaded a fresh magazine into my M16.

“Two...”

Deep breaths...

“THREE! Go, go, GO!”

We broke as one and sprinted towards the truck, firing back at the ninjas as we ran. They were sending stars and knives and strange Asian explosives back at us, and whatever serenity there had been at the beginning of this beautiful morning in New England was long gone. The local sheriff had to be awake by now. Hopefully he would be smart enough to know when events were unfolding beyond his control. This was a day to just go fishing.

Even with only one good knee Tom was able to match me step for step. I really did have to reassess my opinion of him. We reached the big truck first, with Kojak only a step behind. Once we were there, however, our next problem readily presented itself.

“We don't have a lot of cover here,” I said. “Maybe we should keep moving.”

“No,” said Brady. “Let them see how little cover we have. They'll come in and then we'll pounce. Are we ready?”

“We will be,” replied Kojak. “My guy is in place.”

I wondered who he was talking about, but only for the briefest of moments because right then a series of fireworks went off over our heads. Lots of color and lots of smoke, but lucky for us all there wasn't too much fire. Whatever they were throwing at us, it looked worse than it actually was.

“What, do these guys run a firework stand up in Nashua in their spare time? I'm beginning to think this ain't their A-Team, Tommy.”

Whoever they were, it was clear they were about to make their move. There would be three groups coming at us at once: a frontal assault from both the right and the left with the Crazy 88's circling around to come at us from behind. We could run, but there was almost no chance we would make it to what little cover there was across the street before they were on top of us.

“Here they come!” I didn't recognize the voice at first; it was so full of fear. Then I realized it was my own. Fortunately, there was a plan in place.

“Steady.” The confidence in Brady's voice was reassuring, but I wondered if he was seeing the same thing I was. There were at least forty, maybe fifty ninjas, and perhaps as many as 88 of the Crazy 88’s. And there were still only three of us.

Until...

I remember hearing Tom yell, “Now!” Then there was another sound, a very distinct sound, a sound anyone who ever watched cartoons in the 80's could identify. It came from behind me, and as it did I realized the cover of the truck was gone. I understood why, and I knew who would suddenly be standing in its place.

It was Optimus Prime.

The odds had just evened up.

To be continued...

True Story 3: The Meeting

2009-02-21T11:08:00.002-05:00

Kojak through down his cigarette and started towards the door. “C'mon,” he said. “No time like the present.”

I was dumbstruck. A few short hours before I had been sound asleep in Boston. Now I was about to walk into an ambush on the other side of the state—and I still had no idea whether Kojak was on my side or somebody else's. You could say I'd had better mornings.

Suddenly I was aware of something else in the parking lot. A bright red 18-wheeler, one I was sure hadn't been there when we pulled in. Why did it look so familiar? Kojak caught my eye and again there was that faint trace of a smile.

“Move it. We've kept the little ball-breaker waiting long enough.”

We moved towards the door and I took one last look around. It was shaping up to be a beautiful day outside, but I knew that inside the Fillin' Station the atmosphere would be completely different. There were at least a dozen ninjas waiting for us somewhere close by and this diner was not the friendliest of confines to begin with. Have you ever seen Star Wars? Well, picture the Mos Eisley Cantina, just without all the aliens. (Well, maybe without half the aliens.) That was what waited for us inside.

Twenty steps, then ten, then five, and then Kojak was pulling open the door and ushering me inside. The air was smoke filled and the lighting was dark. It took my eyes a moment to adjust, and when they did I was greeted by the strangest of sights.

It wasn't the heavy-set trucker occupying the corner booth or the middle-aged lady dressed in a sleeveless flannel shirt to better show off her tattoo collection at the counter who caught my eye. It wasn't the kid reading the Valley Advocate, or the waitress whose best days were at least a decade gone by. No, it was the guy sitting alone at a table for four, with his back to the wall behind him and his eyes directly on me. It had been a while since I'd seen him, on TV or in person. He'd gone down with an injury moments into the first game of the season against Kansas City, and after that it was the paparazzi and not the sports writers who had been keeping us abreast of his movements.

Tom Brady, alive and well.

Kojak headed that way and I followed. We took up seats on either side, each of us wanting to keep an eye on the front door. Tom eyeballed the waitress for a moment before acknowledging us—his usual M.O. Here was a guy who could have (and often had) any woman he wanted, yet he couldn't take his eyes off the burnt-out shell who was pouring burnt coffee in this sorry excuse for a restaurant. She looked his way and he gave her the golden boy smile. I shook my head but stopped when I realized she had grabbed a fresh pot before coming our way. Being Tom Brady did have its privileges. She filled our mugs and moved away, and Kojak broke the silence.

“So, he's here. You called this meeting, must mean you have something to say.”

Brady stirred some sugar into his coffee before looking my way. “You really caused a headache with that business on the train.”

“I did what I had to do. That situation found me—not the other way around.” I didn't even bother trying to hide the contempt in my voice. It was funny. Now that we were inside and seated, now that I knew who it was who had set this all up, all the fear was gone. Now I was just annoyed. Who was Tom Brady to be calling me out? Yes, the business on the train was a mess but it had all been personal, not professional. Plus, the Patriots had gone 11-5 without him and there was a crutch on the floor behind his chair. His value had never been lower.

Tom noticed and didn't like it. “Hey, lower your voice when you talk to me. Don't play the victim. The report I saw said you had chances to get off that train before it all went south and didn't. And it seems to me it was the other guy who ended up dead, not you. You don't like getting woken up in the middle of the night? Too fucking bad. I don't like getting called away from Giselle and being sent to shitholes like this. It ruins my day. And I'm in rehab, fucker. I need my sleep.”

“Take it easy, ladies, take it easy. We're all on the same side here. I don't care which one of you has the bigger dick.” Kojak never had any patience for dominance displays. It came from always being the toughest guy in the room.

Brady was fired up. “Listen to the man. He may just save your life someday.”

I looked away and sipped at my coffee. There had been rumors about Brady taking over as Regional Director for New England after Paul Pierce had been stabbed in that nightclub, but I had always hoped they weren't true. Sure, there were the three Super Bowls and the 17 confirmed kills, but the guy was still such a cocky prick.

“So, why I am here? What have I done to deserve this audience with the great Tom Brady?”

Tom looked over at Kojak. “Jesus Christ, you had him the car for a fucking hour and didn't brief him?”

“Hey, Tommy, you got the one good knee still. Lets keep it that way, OK?”

“Don't threaten me, old man. You know who we work for, and you know who put me in charge and why. I specialize in making sure situations like this one do not get out of hand, and this situation is way fucking close to getting out of hand. Think of me as Harvey Keitel in Pulp Fiction and your boy here as John Travolta. I'm the Wolf, motherfucker.”

“With that one leg you might just be the gimp,” I said.

“Fuck you. I'm here to help you and make sure you don't end up like Zed, with your balls all shot to hell and some crazy sons of bitches going to work on you with two pieces of pipe and a blowtorch. Now I assume you saw those motorcycles outside, and that you know what we are up against here this morning.”

“I saw them.”

“Well, good. Those are friends of a certain one-time acquaintance of yours, and they have been making unpleasant inquiries about you all over town.”

“Inquiries?”

“Yes,” said Tom. “Questions about people and places and past events, none of which would be beneficial to us if it came to light. So it was decided there were two solutions. One, we could give you over to those savages and just be done with it.”

I shot Kojak a look, but Brady wasn't finished.

“Or two, we could make contact with them, convince them that was what we were doing, lure them to some out of the way spot where there would be few questions, and then wipe them off the face of this fucking planet.”

With that appeared two pearl-handled revolvers in Brady's hands, which he fired into the shadows behind us. Two dead ninjas slumped onto the floor at our feet.

“I voted for the first option,” said Brady. “Lucky for you I don't make every decision.”

And then all hell officially broke loose.

To be continued...

True Story 2: The Ride

2009-02-19T10:34:00.003-05:00

(Be sure to check out the shockingly true first chapter in the aptly-titled True Story saga, available here.)

It wasn't even daylight yet and we had been on the road for more than an hour already. I didn't know quite where we were going, but given who was driving and how this little trip had started, it probably wasn't going to be anywhere I wanted to be.

Things had been quiet ever since I had been attacked on the train ride home from work. I still saw ninjas everywhere I went, always lurking in the shadows, watching, waiting for...something. For what I didn't know. There were plenty of times when they could have taken me out, plenty of times when I was alone, outnumbered, or outgunned. But they never made a move, never even really approached me. But I knew my luck wouldn't last forever.

As for this morning, when the phone rang shortly after 4am I knew my luck of another sort had just run out. Those first few days after the attack had been some of the longest of my life. You didn't kill a member of the Hand Clan without authorization and think headquarters wasn't going to be paying you a visit. Even still, as the days turned into weeks and the weeks into months, I thought maybe, just maybe, I was going to slip the noose. After all, what had happened on that train had nothing at all to do with business. It was all about that woman, the one from Tangiers, and it was very, very personal.

The radio crackled and returned my focus to the inside of this jet-black Cadillac that was speeding westbound on the Mass Pike. Some blowhole from WEEI was cracking jokes about Alex Rodriguez and his now-infamous steroid test. The news that A-Rod had tested positive for the juice had been met with great pleasure in Boston. There was just something about the guy that rubbed us all the wrong way, and the fact that he wore pinstripes only made it worse. It made me uncomfortable to know that another hour or so in this direction would put us into a part of the country where the plight of a certain New York Yankee would not be met with such enjoyment.

There was a chuckle next to me and I glanced over in spite of myself. He didn't look back but did speak for the first time since we'd started driving.

“Don't worry, kid. We'll be there soon.”

That news did not reassure me, nor did the fact that he seemed able to read my mind. It could have been anybody on the other end of that phone when it rang. It could have been Hilldo. It could have been Reese. Hell, it could have even been Dave checking in from Colorado. But it wasn't any of them. No. It was him.

It was Kojak.

He was a legend. Some would argue he was a myth, but I knew every word you ever heard about the guy was probably true. Every crazy story about him was at least part of the truth—made all the crazier by the fact that they often didn't go far enough.

“I heard Kojak through a guy off the Mystic River Bridge for smacking his wife around.” Yep.

“I heard he shot a child rapist in the nuts out in Chicago and watched him bleed to death for three days.” Sure. Why not?

“Is it true he disappeared a casino owner down in Atlantic City because he thought the guy cheated him in a game of poker?” He disappeared him alright, but that wasn't the reason why. I'm not one to gossip, but it sounded to me like that guy got exactly what was coming to him.

We pulled off the Pike at exit 4 and were suddenly heading north up I-91. These were my old UMass stomping grounds, and for the first time I wondered if I had this entire episode all wrong. Was this about someone I had offended when I lived out here all those years ago? Was this about a score even older than the one the Hand wanted to settle with me? My mind raced through a list of possible suspects, a list I suddenly realized was shockingly long. But how many of them had any kind of pull with the company? Not many, and of those that did, not a one would have been able to send Kojak after me. He didn't take orders from very many people when he was young. Now that he was “semi-retired” there were even fewer people who could get him on the phone, let alone get him out on the job. And none of those characters would ever call Western Massachusetts home.

Soon enough we were pulling off the highway and racing down a farm road. The sun was finally up and it felt good to know that whatever happened next, it would be happening in the daylight. We passed a sign that read “Entering Whately, Incorporated 1771, Population 1573”. Now I knew where we were headed. There was only one destination for any traveler visiting the tiny town of Whately, Massachusetts.

The Fillin' Station Diner.

Open 24-hours in a part of the country where the sidewalks get rolled up at dusk, the Fillin' Station is a magnet for those who spend their waking hours plotting their next cheap score, scores that often involved shaking down the unsuspecting sophomores from Amherst or hippies from Hampshire whose only mistake had been heading to Whately after the bars closed for breakfast. It was one horror story after another, but the college kids kept on coming because the options were few and far between. (And, lets face it: Some of them just aren't that bright.)

But that was after dark, and this was the early morning. We pulled into a parking lot that was almost deserted. A few random tractor-trailers and scattered pickup trucks. Nothing as flashy as was the Cadillac, not for miles. Kojak parked us as far away from the door as he could, a good habit I had picked up myself somewhere along the way. The longer your walk to the door, the more time you had to take in the scene around you. Knowing what, and who, was around you would save your life more often than would easy-in, easy-out.

“OK,” said Kojak. “Let's do this thing.” He was out of the car in a flash. I took a deep breath and one last look around, and then I followed.

The morning air was brisk and refreshing. The car had been stuffy, closed up and with a faint odor of stale cigarette smoke. Kojak hadn't lit up at all while we drove but did so now.

“It'll be another minute or two, kid. Relax. Take a breather. You don't smoke anymore, right?”

I shook my head no.

“Good man,” he replied. “I've tried to quit a few times myself, even resorted to lollipops at one point. Nothing took. But, hey, we're all gonna go when we're gonna go, am I right?”

He chuckled and looked away, and I tried not to let on how petrified I actually was. Beating the ninja on the train had been all about adrenaline, but any adrenaline I had this morning had long left me. Not that it would have even mattered against Kojak.

It was then that I noticed the motorcycles. There were at least a dozen of them, mostly red Suzuki crotch-rockets, the vehicle of choice for a ninja on the move. I looked at Kojak and saw he was looking back at me with just the faintest trace of a smile. He'd known the bikes were there all along.

“Should we be here alone,” I asked?

“You know the life as well as I do, kid. We ain't never alone.”

To be continued...

Civil Unions and Utah

2009-02-16T09:10:00.001-05:00

If you saw any of the estimates of how much Prop 8 money came out of Utah and the LDS, then you will understand why this is such an amazing story.

Here's hoping Nate Silver is right and that support for civil unions won't be an albatross around the neck of any politician, regardless of party, in 2012.

A(nabolic)-Rod

2009-02-07T14:54:00.001-05:00

Now, if you want to get up in arms about an athlete abusing drugs then this is the story you should be paying attention to. The Yankees really do seem to be a magnet for these guys, don't they? It really could not happen to a nicer guy, a nicer team, or a nicer town.

(Yes, this is me laughing now, knowing full well that Manny Ramirez will sign with them in two weeks and destroy baseball for me. So let me enjoy this while I can, OK? Thanks.)

Puff, Puff, Pass

2009-02-06T12:51:00.002-05:00

I really do hope Michael Phelps was at least smoking some good weed when the now famous cell phone picture was snapped. It would be a shame to think all of this trouble was caused by a few bong hits of shwag. If you are going to do the crime, do it for real. And if the crime is smoking pot, why not make sure it is the good stuff?

Can we all agree that this story is much ado about nothing? I'm very much excited to see what happens when this suspension ends and Phelps is still able to beat out every other swimmer in the world.

Puff, puff, pass...and take home the gold.

LOST

2009-02-05T14:01:00.001-05:00

I know the current season of LOST—with all its time-traveling wackiness—is probably not to everyone's liking. But I LOVE it. Here are a few reasons why:

Fewer Flashbacks/Flashforwards: Honestly, they were getting old and getting in the way. The story on the island has long been more interesting than anything happening in these character's lives before they boarded Flight 815. As for the flashforwards, it was fun (at first) to see glimpses of the “Oceanic 6” once they made it home. That didn't last long, however. This season (at least so far) has split time between the survivors who got off the island and those who were left behind. No random side trips to Jack's previous life as a surgeon, or Kate's time on the run, or even to see Hurley as the goofy millionaire. Every episode this season, for the first time in a longtime, has felt like it was moving the story forward and will payoff in the end.

Sawyer and Locke: They have both been on screen a ton and that is always a very good thing. John Locke is slowly learning more and more about the island...and we are finally learning right along with him. After seeing how Ben left the island in last season's finale, we even might know more. No one wants to see Locke suffer the fate we know is coming, but since Christian Shepherd was dead when his coffin was boarded onto Flight 815 and now seems to be at least kinda-sorta-maybe-in-a-way alive, anything is possible.

As for Sawyer, we still don't know what he whispered to Kate just before he jumped from that helicopter, but we do know that he did jump to save her. That was clearly a man in love we saw in the jungle last night. Love, unfortunately, only goes so far. It is only a matter of time before Sawyer adds Juliette to his list (Ana Lucia, Kate) of island conquests. (If I had a Dharma beer, I'd toast him.)

Charles Widmore: Now we know why Widmore is so desperate to get control of the island—he was once an Other! That was a huge piece of the puzzle, as was the fact that he had overseen the care of the young girl who was so badly harmed by Daniel Faraday's experiments. That piece of information coupled with the fact that Faraday couldn't take his eyes off the female Other who led him to the bomb in that same episode (“You very much look like someone I used to know...) has led me to theorize that the stricken girl is actually another Widmore daughter. If that is true, it could change the meaning of Ben's threat from last year. (“You killed my daughter, Charles. Now I am going to kill yours.” Or not. Who knows?

Also, was that girl born on the island? Was Charlotte? Miles? Is that why they are showing signs of being harmed by the time-shifting faster than are Sawyer and Locke?

Here's hoping things keep on getting better. Now we know that Jin is still alive and that Sun is up to no good. And how cool was it to see the young and pregnant Danielle arrive on the island? But who did the two canoes belong to, and who was it who pursued Locke and Sawyer and the gang across the water? Be on the lookout for bad guys in canoes...

Going Green

2009-02-04T13:21:00.000-05:00

I don't often write about what I do for work and am not about to go into any great detail now. (I work for a non-profit historical society based in Boston. I have close friends reading this right now and realizing they cannot come up with the name. So there.) But there is a little something I would like to share with you this afternoon, and it does involve my place of employment.

Recently, the decision was made to offer one of our publications in an electronic, rather than printed, format. This is beneficial because it allows us to reduce costs and help the environment at the same time. We contacted our member base and urged them to help us go “green” and opt out of receiving printed copies of a journal they could already read online in PDF format. The initiative, thus far, has been wildly successful and immensely popular. The reaction has been almost 100% positive.

Almost 100%...but not quite.

A few members responded that they wished to continue receiving printed copies, which was absolutely fine. (Our goal was always to reduce print runs, not to cease printing altogether.) Some others indicated that they preferred a printed copy but were willing to try the online version if it meant saving money. A handful of others...well...they had their own unique responses.

One lady accused us of being so politically-correct that we were bordering on radicalism.

A gentleman responded angrily that he was helping us to save money and definitely not helping us to go green, so we should stop thanking him for that.

My personal favorite was the phone message left by one member who suggested that if we were having such trouble raising adequate funds that we should work a little harder to find ourselves “another sugar mama.” Yes, that is a direct quote.

These are the people that remind me how lucky I am to be a purple voter living in a blue state. Climate change is very real, and something needs to be done. We can argue about what and how and when, but reacting with anger anytime anyone mentions “going green” isn't going to get it done. What does it say about anyone who views helping the environment as an outright assault on their politics?

This is (red) America in the early 21^st century. Good thing Jesus will be there to save them in the end.

Not A Good Day For Dems

2009-02-03T13:36:00.002-05:00

One thing I can be (and have been) accused of is not being entirely honest in my claim of being an independent. The charge is usually that I am giving Democrat X a pass while piling onto Republican Y. I won't even bother to deny it because, after eight years of George W. Bush and his minions, there is probably some truth to be found there. But we're gonna fix all that today, baby!

A quick look at Boston.com reveals the following two headlines:

Daschle Withdraws Nomination

and

Massachusetts Chases Sales Taxes

This is not a banner day for Democrats.

Tom Daschle is an ass. It isn't bad enough that he could not even get re-elected while serving as the minority leader in the Senate. It now comes out (and only after President Obama has nominated him to serve as Secretary of Health and Human Services, mind you) that he has been shirking almost $140,000 in back taxes and interest. Way to go, Tom! And to think, if you had never been nominated for the cabinet then you could have just kept on refusing to pay your debt! Now you aren't heading back to Washington AND you will soon be out 140-large. (Note to the IRS: Please be sure to keep the juice running on this debt. Please.)

Meanwhile, here in the Commonwealth, Governor Deval Patrick has ordered a company in New Hampshire to start charging 5% sales tax to all Massachusetts residents who make purchases there. Yes, you read that right. The Governor of Massachusetts is ordering businesses in other states to charge his constituents taxes that they are not currently required to pay. Think about that for a second.

I commented in the Inauguration Blog that Deval Patrick was all David Axelrod's fault, and I think now it is clear why I am no fan. I'm not opposed to taxes, and I do believe they are the price we pay to live in this society. But I am opposed to my freakin' governor ordering other states to charge me those same taxes he already is. That seems just a wee bit out o' line.

This, of course, is heading to court.

Super Bowl XLIII

2009-02-02T13:42:00.001-05:00

If the Super Bowl party I attended was still going on, we would all still be staring at the TV in disbelief, waiting for that final turnover to be reviewed. The call may have stood up. It certainly was close, and you could make a case either way. But it needed to be reviewed!

The lasting image from that game will always be of referee Terry McCauley waving his arms above his head and walking towards the line of scrimmage, apparently waving off the Pittsburgh kneel down which had just occurred...and then the postgame festivities beginning anyway. Replay is a given in that situation. That it didn't happen in the biggest possible situation throws the whole system into doubt. Would it have been different had the call gone the other way and Arizona had retained possession? With five seconds on the clock and Larry “THE best receiver in football” Fitzgerald to throw to, it is more than plausible to think Kurt Warner could have heaved up a Hail Mary pass and changed the outcome of that game.

It's too bad they never got the chance. I still think it was an incompletion and not a fumble.

Controversy aside, that was one of the most exciting Super Bowls in history. Back and forth, big plays from both sides, and two of the best touchdown catches you will ever see. There was some griping where I was about the Patriots not being there, but even if they had been I do not believe it could have been any more enjoyable of a game. Plus, can anyone honestly say they believe the Pats would have dominated the Cardinals the same way they did in week 16 without a blizzard raging around them?

On another note, I was wrong about the idea of the silver lining. Knowing that Pittsburgh was passing Indianapolis did nothing to make another Super Bowl championship for the Steelers more palatable. Nothing at all. The only true silver lining is that we have seen the last of the “terrible towel” until next fall.

Final Thoughts

2009-01-31T18:08:00.002-05:00

From there the afternoon became a flurry of phone calls and text messages, of conversations and observations, of good spirits and laughs. And, eventually, a celebratory cocktail.

I've never been big on parades, not even on an occasion such as this, and so it came as no surprise to me when my attention span was exceeded. I was in the car and on the way home when the news broke about Ted Kennedy. That it appears now to have been a false alarm prevents an ugly stain from being forever attached the day's events. Still, at the time it was a jolt, an unpleasant reminder that real life does go on.

We are almost two weeks removed from Inauguration Day as of this writing, and over that time I have come to realize that putting my thoughts about Barack Obama and the beginning of his administration down on paper was a much more difficult task than I ever believed it would be. I struggled with why that was, with why the end result I had advocated, hoped and voted for didn't inspire me more thoroughly than it has. And what I eventually realized was this:

What had the greatest impact on me that day was not the speeches or the pageantry or the crowds or the euphoria that seemed to grip almost this entire nation. What struck me most, and what has stayed with me most clearly, is the retreat from Washington in disgrace of George W. Bush. It is not the image of Barack Obama taking the oath of office but rather of the long, slow helicopter ride over and across the Mall, of the dramatic pause above the Jefferson Memorial, and of the final departure from Andrews Air Force Base. It was then that I understood that Bush was simply going to return to Texas and to the same cushy and pampered life he had led for 54 years before coming to power—and that it is the rest of us (not just Obama) who are tasked to clean up the mess he has left behind.

Some have said that electing Obama was the easy part, but it seems now that getting rid of Bush was pretty easy, too—even if it did take us eight years to do it. It is now when the real work begins, and in fact already had begun before the celebration was even complete.

Where will we be four years from now? No one can know for sure...but I, for one, do honestly believe we as a nation will be better off than we are today.

God help us all if I'm wrong.

Old, True, and Overdue: The Inauguration Blog

2009-01-31T17:49:00.003-05:00

Inauguration Day began for me at 5:15am in the tiny hamlet of Bridgewater, Massachusetts. Ninety minutes later I settled into my chosen viewing location for the day's events: A couch at the homestead in Wellesley. To be there in DC would be great, but only to be able to say I was there. If you really want to see it happen then the best seat in the house is in your house.

6:52am: The TV is already tuned to the local ABC affiliate when I turn it on. I'm lucky enough to be just in time to catch local anchor Bianca de la Garza remind us that tonight “ABC has exclusive coverage of the First Couple's first dance.” The fact that they are hyping that is as good an indication as any you will ever see of why I prefer NBC. And so it begins...

7am: Good Morning America kicks off with the ridiculous scene on the Mall. Already the crowd is packed in and we are still hours away. I will give these people credit—that is determination. You have to really want to see something to stand outside in the cold all night long just to get what passes for close in the non-ticketed section. What I really want is another cup of coffee, and my prime viewing spot in the living room is conveniently placed only a short walk away from the kitchen.

7:10: Robin Roberts on Jill Biden's comments the day before that Joe Biden was given a choice between Vice President and Secretary of State. I love that both Bidens have trouble controlling their mouths. They just seem like likable people all around. But I am left wondering if she really didn't understand announcing that was going to cause controversy. Really? You didn't know? Still, anything that makes the Clintons uncomfortable also makes me happy. So thanks to you, Mrs. Biden.

7:30: This is the first I've heard that Dick Cheney has been confined to a wheelchair. The best they could come up with is that he hurt himself moving boxes? That is what we are supposed to believe? No way in hell that evil bastard handled his own move. With how little he has been in the spotlight and how few public appearances he has made lately, you do have to wonder how long the VPOTUS hasn't been able to walk.

And on that note we make the switch to the regulars over on MSNBC.

7:44: Chuck Todd reports on the transition and how smooth it has gone. A lot of credit for that goes to Obama and the people he has chosen for his staff, but that Bush has done his part cannot be denied. He could have made a mess of this but didn't. Contrast that with the exit of the Clintons. The stunt with pulling all the W keys off West Wing keyboards was small-time and childish. That is how they spent their final hours? I was dismissive of it at the time, as I was of all Bill Clintons missteps, but that was truly uncalled for.

8:03am: Amanda Cane reports from DC that she is on her way to the Mall, that the streets are packed with people doing the same, and that she is freezing. So far nothing I have seen or heard has made me regret my decision to not venture down there.

8:24: Colin Powell speaks to how important this day is to race relations in this country, noting that in twenty years minorities will be the new majority. This idea scares the hell out of some parts of white America, maybe even more so than the idea of a black man becoming President. I'm not sure where Powell was going with that, either, because the election of Obama isn't going to change the day to day lives of any one segment of the population, white or black. The election of John Kennedy didn't improve the lives of Irish-Catholics. What it did was prove that anything was possible—for anyone, regardless of ethnicity. That is what black America should be taking away from this day and these last few months. Regardless of race, anything is now possible.

8:29: We have an early contender for Best Line of the Day honors as Tom Brokaw says, “I'm thinking back about the long road I've traveled, and about all the bigots and the rednecks I've met along the way. To them I say TAKE THIS!” The last part he says with a clenched fist, and it is pretty clear that “TAKE THIS” was not his first choice of words. Ah, Tom. Professional till the end.

8:30: Brokaw is immediately called away, allegedly to appear on the Today show. Was that NBC cutting his Mic before he said something really interesting?

9am: Time for a special inaugural breakfast:

Two slices of pumpernickel, lightly toasted

Chunky peanut butter (because salmonella be damned)

Red Raspberry jam

Combine and enjoy.

9:50: The Obamas leave church and head towards the White House and their destiny. Carl Bernstein (or, Woodward and Bernstein, the lesser) makes a convincing case that Obama is already a more pivotal figure in American politics than is John F. Kennedy. And not just at the time of his inauguration. Given everything that happened after, from Cuba to Alabama to Dallas, Bernstein argues that Obama today is more pivotal.

OK, perhaps “convincing” is too strong a word. Obama has never had to stare down a Nikita Khrushchev or a George Wallace. That will come in time, unfortunately, but hasn't happened yet. It is hard, but not impossible, to overstate Obama's impact on the culture of this nation. Did Carl Bernstein just pull it off?

9:54: The arrival! Michelle Obama brings with her a gift for Laura Bush. (Is that a tradition? It's classy, nonetheless.) Barack looks serious, as close to nervous as I have ever seen him. George cracks a joke to the future First Lady. These moments are when W is at his very best, courteous but utterly trite and meaningless conversations. Does he have any sense of the magnitude of this moment? He must. I think. Maybe.

9:58: I've been taking notes in pencil and this is the perfect moment to make the switch to pen. MSNBC, as if sensing the magnitude of my own moment, instantly cuts away to a video package and clip of U2's Beautiful Day. So fitting. We are a well oiled machine at this point.

10am: Keith Olbermann: “This day, in this city, is like a cross between Woodstock and a religious pilgrimage.” I chuckle before realizing that he is dead right and that it is the perfect comparison. Still so very glad I am on this couch and not on a pilgrimage to the portapotty.

10:08: We see Muhammad Ali taking his place on the viewing stand and I learn for the first time that he was in his late 20's when he was drafted. Is that right? It was a steady stream of 18 year old kids and then, randomly, Ali? Good for him for standing up for himself.

10:10: Magic Johnson. Still the healthiest HIV positive patient in the world. (I know, I know. We're all supposed to pretend there is nothing strange about that.)

10:14: David Axelrod stresses the importance of the hand off and lets us know that certain senior staff members will be in place in the west wing before the ceremony has even concluded. I've really come to like this guy a lot, despite the fact that Deval Patrick is all his fault.

10:22: We get a replay of the arrival from a different angle and can clearly see Laura Bush handing off Michelle Obama's gift to an aid without ever opening it. “Yes, thanks, I'll cherish this forever.”

10:28: Doris Kearns Goodwin is wicked smahht. 'nuff said.

10:36: We meet a woman who slept in a DC office building overnight just to be sure she could be on the Mall before dawn. We don't get her name because her boss might be watching and she doesn't want to get in trouble. Um, you just showed your face on TV...

10:38: Cops from all over the country, more than 2000 in total, have been brought to Washington to supplement security and provide crowd control. Now word yet on how good a day the nation's criminal element is having. Hasn't anyone seen Die Hard with a Vengeance?

10:41: Ted Kennedy appears on the platform and takes his seat under his own power. He looks very good. Not as good as Magic Johnson, but still very good.

10:43: The procession from the White House to the Capitol begins with Jill Biden and Dick Cheney's nurse. (Honestly, it has been eight years and I have no idea what the Vice President's wife name is. I wonder if she knows how long he has been in that wheelchair?)

10:45: The First Ladies. Rachel Maddow explains that their clothes are from an acclaimed Cuban-American designer whose name I am not quick enough to catch, and that they are beautiful. Seriously, even Rachel Maddow is fascinated by the fashion? WTF, Rachel? I thought you were better than that.

10:46: Joe Biden and the wheelchair take the long way down the handicap ramp. Poor Joe is being shown up by Mr. Potter. (God how I wish I was the first to make that comparison.)

10:48: George W. Bush, in the company of Barack Obama, leaves the White House for the final time as POTUS. There were many times over the course of these last eight years when it was hard to imagine this day ever coming to pass. I have a countdown clock on this very blog that I never thought would hit zero. And now it has.

10:52: Chris Matthews opines that Obama is today accepting a torch that was first passed from Franklin Roosevelt to John Kennedy, and now from Kennedy to Obama. Bill Clinton would obviously disagree.

10:58: We learn from Rachel Maddow that the Bush family plans to head from Washington to Waco, TX for a celebration with longtime supporters such as Karen Hughes and Karl Rove. I can think of no more fitting place for George Bush to retreat to on this day than back into the arms of Karl Rove. Two terms, America. You gave these people two terms.

11am: The motorcade arrives at the Capitol.

11:03: The Supreme Court files out onto the platform. It is impossible to watch this scene unfold and not be struck by what it means to live in this country. We are transferring power from one faction to another, from one leader who could not be more different from his successor, and it is all happening peacefully, orderly, and according to the Constitution. This will make my pinko-leftist-liberal friends cringe, but there really is something to the notion of “American Exceptionalism”.

11:08: We learn that Secretary of Defense Robert Gates is the cabinet member chosen to watch the show from an undisclosed location. I think this makes perfect sense when you think about it. If some catastrophic event occurs that forces the absentee cabinet member to ascend to the presidency, it probably also means that we have been attacked and the shit has completely hit the fan. I want somebody who can kick a little ass to takeover in that situation—not the Commerce or Treasury Secretaries, and certainly not the head of Housing and Urban Development or Health and Human Services. It should be the guy who best knows how to make war. Always.

11:11: Mondale, Quayle, Gore…it is a murderer’s row of guys who just weren’t quite good enough to win the top job. (Yes, I know that is unfair to Dan Quayle. He really wasn’t even good enough to run for the top job.)

Then: We get our first glimpse of former President George H.W. Bush. You can see he is having trouble walking, is carrying a cane, and for the first time I can ever remember, he is looking old. He looks much worse than he did at the GOP Convention a few months back.

Jimmy Carter looks good. So does wife Rosalynn—is that her real hair color? Good for her.

11:16: We get our first glimpse of the Clintons. Surprise, surprise; neither looks particularly happy. Actually, they both look quite dejected. They walk solemnly down the stairway towards the podium, and Bill only reaches out and takes her hand when he notices the cameras. The he flashes the smile. Hillary, always a moment behind in these moments, is late to realize their situation has changed and we get a full 15 seconds of a beaming Bill and a scouring Hill.

Bush the First appears and shares a warm embrace with Bill Clinton. I’ve never quite understood the strange rapport that developed between those two, but their mutual reaction to one another did make it look like there is genuine affection there. If the elder Bush can look past all the faults of the man who defeated him in 1992 then that speaks greatly to his character. Too bad he raised a bunch of douche bag sons…

11:22: The formal announcement of the Clintons and the crowd reaction is off the charts. Now it is all smiles. They are rock stars on this day, as they are everyday, but they are only the opening act rather than the headliner. Smile, wave, and move on.

11:32: Boos for George W. Bush. That is in ridiculously poor taste. You don’t like the guy, I don’t like the guy, and it is debatable whether his own father even likes the guy, but he is the President of the United States and he deserves to be shown a little respect. Silence is a perfectly acceptable reaction. Booing is not.

11:35: The formal announcement of the minority congressional leadership brings out fewer boos, mostly because the booing element of the crowd has no idea who they are. This is the downside of inclusion.

11:38: The majority leadership appears on stage as the energy begins to build. We are getting close and you can feel the excitement. I just realized I’ve been pacing around the room for an indeterminate amount of time.

Is that time right? Are we going to make noon?

Joe Biden appears. No tears yet. Vegas has taken down the proposition bet that Joe will break down on stage today because the action against was non-existent. God I love this guy. That hair is so terrible it is truly fantastic. I’ve really come to believe Biden could have taken Bush four years ago. But if he had would be inaugurating John McCain today? Or Mitt Romney? Maybe. Would we be out of Iraq, and would their be a staggering number of now shattered American families that were still intact? Possibly.

11:42: Barack Hussein Obama strolls out onto the podium alone. His is the image of the collected leader. No display of nerves, nothing to indicate he is shaken by the oath he is about to take. Nothing rattles this guy. I wonder if he plays poker?

We are so ridiculously late right now.

11:45: Senator Diane Feinstein of California is our Master of Ceremonies. She gives a few brief remarks and takes her swing at history. Sorry, Diane, you would have to drop in a trio of well placed f-bombs for anyone to remember what you said on this day.

Feinstein wraps up and turns the microphone over to Rick Warren. I know nothing about Warren other than that he is no friend to the gays. Oh, and he did run a presidential symposium on faith that was attended by both Obama and McCain last July, and may very well have been rigged in McCain’s favor. (Something about confidential questions that weren’t quite confidential. It was over the summer, after the primaries and before the conventions, when most sane people - myself included - stopped paying close attention.)

Blah, blah, Jesus, blah, blah, America. That is more or less the gist.

11:53: Aretha Franklin performs the National Anthem. The anthem was necessary. Rick Warren was not. We are never going to make noon.

11:57: Justice John Paul Stevens is introduced to swear in the new VP. Joe Biden is all smiles, no tears. Crap, I would have totally lost that bet.

And just like that, the era of Richard Bruce Cheney comes to an end. This is almost as exciting a moment as what is still to come. Without Cheney, the story of the Bush years is completely different. Imagine the puppet strings being held by a puppeteer who wasn't the very picture of executive power run amok. It's OK. Go ahead. Imagine it.

Ahhh...

12pm: The top of the hour comes and goes while the Yo Yo Ma all-stars perform on stage. What was the point of this?

12:04: Chief Justice of the Supreme Court John Roberts is out to swear Obama in. A crawl along the bottom of the screen informs me that the transition of power became official four minutes ago regardless of whether or not the oath has been taken.

Just in case you are curious, yes, I am still pacing around the room. I could justify a drink since we have crossed over to the afternoon but I do let good judgment once again get the better of me. For now.

Roberts completely botches the first stanza of the oath. Obama knew it, too. That was not smooth. So we witness another element of Bush's legacy: our Chief Justice has trouble reading the English language.

President Barack Hussein Obama, fortunately, has a masterful command of the English language, and he nails what is a fantastic speech. “These things are old. These things are true.” Beautiful. The text has already been reviewed by smarter people than myself—praised and analyzed and shredded and defended.

Watch it in its entirety here.

Read the often insane but always brilliant Pat Buchanan's take on it here.

Final thoughts still to come...

Super Bowl Thoughts

2009-01-31T14:19:00.001-05:00

I'm rooting for Arizona but thinking Pittsburgh will probably come away with the win. Either scenario will work from my point of view. I have great affection for Kurt Warner, Larry Fitzgerald and Anquin Boldin—the heart and sole of my recently vanquished 2008 fantasy football team. All three were studs, and seeing them display that this last month has been fun to watch. They are easy to support on any given Sunday and especially so given this particular opponent.

As for the Steelers, I still don't like them. But I've always said that while I don't like the Steelers, I don't respect the Colts, and for that reason and that reason alone I could live with another Super Bowl championship for western Pennsylvania.

Why? Because while it is without doubt that the team of this decade is the New England Patriots, there are many observers who would argue that the Indianapolis Colts are a close number two. A second championship for this Steelers team would shatter that myth forever. Anything that damages the undeserved stature of Dungy and Manning cannot be all bad.

So, go Cardinals...and hooray for silver linings, too.

Here's Hoping...

2009-01-26T11:32:00.002-05:00

Here's hoping...

...that I do manage to someday soon put into words my feelings on the Inauguration and the beginnings of this new administration. They are many, but they are also jumbled, and to un-jumble the jumbled requires a level of concentration I have, as yet, been unable to muster.

...that the Boston Celtics do not sign Stephon Marbury. Sure, we need help at point guard, but Marbury? If you are so much of a clubhouse cancer that you can malcontent your way off the Knicks then you are no one I want to see playing for my team.

...that we have seen the last of the Bush family in the White House. Would this country really elect Jeb in 2012 or 2016? Never make the mistake of overestimating the intelligence of the American voter. This year was an anomaly—it is usually the lowest, not the highest, common denominator that wins out.

...that Jason (Captain .216) Varitek has played his last game for the Boston Red Sox. Maybe there were times when the conventional wisdom was right and I was wrong about this guy, and there probably is something to the notion that he managed pitchers as well as anybody this last decade. But even if all that is true, those days have come and gone. It is time to turn the page.

...that everything I took away from Charlie Wilson's War last night was spot on, because that movie was worthy of being called “wicked awesome”. Tom Hanks and Philip Seymour Hoffman were both outstanding, and even Julia Roberts failed to annoy me as she usually does. We really do always fuck up the end game, don't we?

And last but not least...

...that I am able to update this here page more frequently over the next few months than I have been over these last few.

On This Sunday In December

2008-12-28T14:11:00.000-05:00

As I watch my beloved New England Patriots fight for their playoff lives on this final Sunday of the NFL regular season, I’m realizing that there are worse scenarios than this team not getting in. When Tom Brady went down in September, no one realistically expected this team would still be alive come Christmas. Sure, we all said we believed in them—that they were good enough to go 10-6, that they were good enough to make the playoffs—but no one really meant it. And even if we did, the thrashing Miami delivered in Foxboro during week 3 changed our minds.

But this team came together, and Matt Cassel proved he was better than I, for one, ever thought he was going to be. That is a point that should be remembered—Bill Belichick was right about Matt Cassel, and the rest of us were wrong. Dead wrong. Cassel is not only a suitable backup but he is about to become a well-paid starter somewhere. (Hopefully in the NFC, where he cannot come back to haunt us every season.)

That this team has a legitimate chance to finish 11-5 is better than we could have hoped for. It should be good enough to get into the playoffs…but if it isn’t, it is enough for the fan base to feel good about. The Indianapolis Colts would have folded like a house of cards if Peyton Manning ever went down in week 1. The New England Patriots not only survived the loss of Brady, the excelled without him. Both players and coaches alike deserve credit for that.

BOOM!

2008-11-23T07:56:00.002-05:00

This clip just never gets old.

Done Deal?

2008-11-21T16:16:00.003-05:00

With the New York Times reporting that Senator Clinton has decided to accept the position of Secretary of State, the time has come to say this:

I do believe in Obama's judgment, but I worry he is making a terrible mistake. The onus will be on Hillary to prove she can be trusted--and to prove that she can control Bill. This will be her job, not his and not theirs together, and the former President will need to understand that.

I meant what I wrote yesterday. Hillary Clinton may prove to be incredibly effective at the State Department, but only if she truly wants to be . She is qualified and known the world over. But to succeed at State she will need to work for, not with and certainly not against, her President.

Mrs. Clinton, it is your move.

The State of Obama's Cabinet

2008-11-20T12:45:00.002-05:00

Much has been written in recent days about the choices Barack Obama has made for his Cabinet, and the mark he is beginning to make on Capitol Hill. Much has been written, but none of it has been written here. The reason for that is simple. I trust Obama in two ways:

First, that he knows more about these government agencies (and his plans for them) than I do.

Second, that his judgment is completely sound, and that his choices, in the end, will reflect that sound judgment.

Am I thrilled about the idea of Hillary Clinton as Secretary of State? No…but I can see the political wisdom in offering her the job. (Plus, I do think she would be good at it if she wants to be. And if she can be trusted—but old doubts do still linger.)

Am I infuriated to see Joe Lieberman keep his chairmanship in the senate? Absolutely…but, again, the politics do make some sense. The Democrats still have an outside shot at the magic (and filibuster-proof) number 60. Joe might yet prove to be useful…if he can be trusted. (For the record, I trust him far less than I trust Hillary Clinton. I don’t often say nice things about Mrs. Clinton, and with good reason, but I would never want the idea to float out there that I consider her the equivalent of John McCain’s campaign wingman.)

But all that aside, the point remains that no matter who Barack Hussein Obama, Jr. chooses to serve as Secretary of State or Attorney General, and no matter how he decides to manage the growing majority he has in congress, and despite whether or not I agree or disagree with a particular hire or appointment, in the end those choices will be far better for this country than any made by George W. Bush over these last eight years. This I wholeheartedly believe, and so should you.

Whether you voted for Barack Obama or not, deep down you know that there will be no reason to update this song over these next four years. The inmates will no longer be running the asylum, let alone the White House. And for that we should all be thankful.

How bad is the economy?

2008-11-12T13:20:00.001-05:00

So bad that, for the first time in 14 seasons, the Boston Red Sox will not be raising ticket prices for the upcoming season.

Meanwhile, in Virginia...

2008-11-10T14:22:00.002-05:00

My old friend Terry McAuliffe is apparently determined to make sure Virginia doesn't stay blue for very long. Nothing will give a state (or in this case, a Commonwealth) back to the GOP faster than this:

McAuliffe: Democrat for Governor in 2009.

Election Night

2008-11-05T15:44:00.002-05:00

5pm: We are LIVE from Rockefeller Center in New York, Grant Park in Chicago, the Biltmore Hotel in Phoenix, AZ, and scenic Oak Square in Brighton. MSNBC has assembled an all-star cast of talking heads for what might turn out to be one of the most historic nights in the history of this nation. David Gregory, Chris Matthews, Rachel Maddow, Steve Sanders, Keith Olbermann, Eugene Robinson, Joe Scarborough, Nomar Garciaparra, Pat Buchanan, Chuck Todd, Norah O’Donnell, the Ghost of Christmas Past, and Lester Holt. I’m joined as always by Charlie the dog.

And…we’re off!

5:02: Chris Matthews makes the point that in this time of war without end what the American people want is hope. Rachel Maddow steals one of my lines, arguing that America not only needs an end to the era of George Bush but also “a period at the end of the sentence.”

Keith Olbermann brings the historical context. The first African slaves arrived at the Jamestown colony in 1619—and now an African-American man is on the verge of winning the presidency. (I regularly hear from Virginians at my job who want to argue about things like who really held the first Thanksgiving and where did America really start. Well, Virginia, you can have that one.)

5:17: Fun Fact: When I set up to blog from the living room I usually forego the couches and sit Indian-style on the floor. I feel more grounded that way, more wired in to what is happening. Yes, I do realize that makes no sense.

5:18: I think I would be even more wired in if I was in Grant Park. My dear god that is a lot of people.

5:24: When is it no longer too early to start drinking? Stay tuned!

5:37: Our first batch of exit polls! If we learned only one thing from the primary season it is that these are absolutely useless (I’m looking at you New Hampshire!) but we’ll play along anyway.

What is the most important issue to you?

62% say it is the economy, 10% Iraq, 9% healthcare and 9% terrorism. Interesting.

71% say they are worried about another terrorist attack—the same as in 2004. Um, ok, who the FUCK are the 29% who aren’t worried about another terrorist attack? Seriously? No worries? Are these people we should be allowing to vote? It makes you wonder.

5:44: Chuck Todd checks in with two fascinating lists. The first is the top ten states by number of college graduates. The second is the states with the fewest number of senior citizens. Only two states pop up on both lists: Virginia and Colorado. Wow. Say what you will about the black population of the Old Dominion, but Obama’s race is not the only reason many of these states are suddenly in play this time around.

5:55: I’m pacing the living room and warning Charlie to conserve his energy for what I expect to be a long night. He briefly looks up at me before going back to sleep on the couch. He’ll be fine.

6pm: Polls in eastern portions of Indiana and Kentucky have closed, but it will be another hour before they close statewide and we have the possibility of projections. Indiana will be close and we won’t know who wins there for hours, but Kentucky should be a quick call and win for McCain.

6:05: Chris Matthews fires off a passionate defense of American democracy—the turnout, the lines, the ratings, America is engaged in this election in ways we haven’t seen before. He’s right. Shame on anyone who didn’t cast a ballot yesterday. You have no right to complain for the next four years.

6:11: It is still too early to start drinking. But, as always, if Terry McAuliffe makes an appearance then all bets are off.

6:15: The gaggle of pundits engages in yet another discussion of race, the impact it has had on this race, and the historic moment we are possibly about to witness. I’ve made this point before, but the only reason Barack Obama is this close to victory is because he refused to make race the central theme of his campaign. He rose above it and looked all the better for it. Playing up race would have been a losing strategy. Hillary Clinton’s incessant waving of the bloody feminist shirt didn’t help her in the end. Had Obama chosen to wave the bloody shirt of the civil rights movement then this contest would be much different. Whether you like Obama or not, you have to admit that his has been a campaign unlike any we have seen before. He truly transcended identity politics, and every minority group in this country is better off because of it.

Yes we can. Yes YOU can.

6:26: Chris Matthews wants to know what kind of deals Obama cut with Ed Rendell to bring him into the fold. Word is that Pennsylvania is looking very blue this evening but I remain skeptical. I do, however, think Ed Rendell does deserve a position in any new Obama administration, perhaps as the new ambassador to Crapistan.

6:30: There are many great electoral maps online tonight—FiveThirtyEight and Politico, to name two—but I can’t imagine any of them will be as iconic as the white board Tim Russert used so effectively eight years ago. As great as this night may turn out to be, it would be better if Tim Russert was still with us.

6:35: The new ambassador to Crapistan appears for an interview…and begins by congratulating John McCain and Sarah Palin for the great campaign they waged in Pennsylvania. Is this guy for real? Even Hillary has shown more class these last few months. Rendell reports that Obama has solid leads in eastern locations but the western part of the state may be tough. Of course it will, Ed. These people elected Rick Santorum. In Pennsylvania, more so than in any other blue state, this election has been about the color of Obama’s skin. Just vote for the Republican and get it over with already.

6:54: The beautiful and talented Norah O’Donnell reports an anonymous GOP insider is admitting that North Carolina Senator Elizabeth Dole is likely to lose her seat tonight. If North Carolina is turning blue, McCain is in trouble.

7pm: Time for our first batch of results! The polls have finally closed in Indiana and Kentucky, as well as in Georgia, South Carolina, Vermont, and Virginia. John McCain is the winner in Kentucky while the hippies of Vermont hand Barack Obama his first electoral votes. Indiana, one of our prime battleground states this evening, is too close to call. Georgia, South Carolina, and Virginia (another major battleground state) are all “too early to call.”

OK, what does the phrase “too early to call” even mean? We have gone through an entire primary season and now a general election and still I do not know. Am I alone in this? If someone out there knows please clue me in.

7:13: If too early to call means you think you know but can’t announce because there is not enough information, and too close to call means that the information you have indicates the race is, um, too close to call, then you have to like what we are hearing about Virginia. I know what the polls all said, but as a lifelong Red Sox fan I’ve learned that nothing is won until it as actually won. I’m not buying any results from contested states until we have a large percentage of the vote actually in.

7:18: My buddy Siekman checks in to report Wolf Blitzer is talking to a hologram on CNN. The most shocking part is that he isn’t even hallucinating. CNN just raised the bar on election wackiness. And with that…

7:20: This is the moment when it is OK to start drinking. Thanks Wolf. This one is for you.

7:27: My boy Billy calls with a question: Do talking heads color coordinate their ties based on their political leanings? Do liberals wear blue, conservatives red, etc.? He has apparently been channel surfing for the last half hour and the evidence is mounting that they in fact do. I’ve been looking at Rachel Maddow with a bright red shirt on under her jacket all night, so I remain unconvinced. I leave it to you to make up your own mind.

7:30: More poll closings to report and the news is interesting. North Carolina is too close to call, but Ohio and West Virginia are both too early. Yes, West freakin’ Virginia is too early to call. I would have thought that state could have been called for the Republicans in 2007 and it wouldn’t have been too early.

7:34: OK, just to reiterate: I HATE too early to call. I just don’t know how to take it since I don’t know what it means. Is there no information? Some information? Questionable information? Does it mean anything that West Virginia hasn’t yet been called? I wish I knew.

7:40: Alright, I’m thinking “too early to call” simply means what saying nothing about a state used to mean. “The polls are closed in any state USA; we’ll let you know when the results are in.” Do we really need a confusing designation for that? I wish David Brinkley was still alive. He wouldn’t have put up with this shit.

7:46: John McCain is the winner in South Carolina. This is not a surprise to anyone who has ever studied a little something I like to call The Civil War.

7:48: General Stonewall Jackson checks in to remind me that in South Carolina it is known as the War of Northern Aggression, and that the South will rise again. God help us all.

7:56: I am ready for 8pm to get here. There are a slew of states closing and many of them should be called right away. This election is about to begin taking shape.

8pm: John McCain wins in Tennessee and Oklahoma, neither of which is a surprise. Barack Obama is the winner in Illinois, New Jersey, Connecticut, New Hampshire, Delaware, Massachusetts, Maryland, Maine, Washington, DC, and…

HOLY FUCKING SHIT PENNSYLVANIA! Pennsylvania and her 21 electoral votes are in Obama’s column right at 8pm. WOW! I cannot tell you how stunned I am at this moment. But what is right is right—let me publically apologize, right now, to the good people of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. You have come through in a way I never would have imagined.

Florida and Missouri are too close to call, while Alabama and Mississippi are too early.

8:05: Our current total is 103 electoral votes for Barack Obama and 34 for John McCain.

Chris Matthews announces that McCain’s strategy has crashed and burned. He needed Pennsylvania and New Hampshire and he has neither. Joe Scarborough retorts that the GOP has not yet lost a single red state, so it is premature to say the strategy has “crashed and burned.” But it did just get a lot harder for McCain to win.

8:14: A quick search on the internet reveals the Associated Press has not yet called Pennsylvania or New Hampshire. Neither has CNN. What is MSNBC doing? I figured it would be Fox that would be pulling this shit.

8:19: No one has Pennsylvania or New Hampshire called yet. I may need to switch over to CNN. This is bullshit.

8:21: Deep Breaths. I really cannot take another Wolf Blitzer hologram fantasy so I’ll stick it out.

8:25: Why is uniformity in the calling of states important? Because if this election is close then the perception of who won what state will be huge. More than that, if Obama does win then the moment he clinches 270 will be historic…but if there are different vote totals then that moment may happen at different times on different networks. There will be no single moment to point to.

Also, I just apologized to Pennsylvania and will be bullshit if that was all for nothing.

8:30: The polls close in Arkansas but are too close to call. Alabama, meanwhile, has elected John McCain.

8:35: Georgia has also gone to McCain. (FYI: These are all MSNBC’s numbers. I’m hoping and praying all will work out in the end.)

8:38: The numbers coming in from Virginia are no longer encouraging. Obama is down by more than a hundred thousand votes. Granted, I don’t know which regions have come in and which haven’t, but I am at this moment officially worried.

8:53: The AP finally calls Pennsylvania for the Democrats. Whew. Almost an hour after MSNBC, but better late than never.

9pm: John McCain is the winner in Kansas, North Dakota, and Wyoming. Barack Obama has taken New York, Michigan, Minnesota, Wisconsin, and Rhode Island. Texas, Colorado, Louisiana, New Mexico, Nebraska, and South Dakota are all too close.

Meanwhile in Arizona, home state of John McCain, the race is too close to call. Wow.

9:11: McCain wins in Arkansas. Our new total is Obama 175, McCain 76.

9:22: OHIO! Barack Obama has won the state of Ohio! Pennsylvania right off the bat was a shock, but Ohio being called inside of two hours after the polls closed there shows where this race is headed. This just might be the dagger that kills the McCain campaign. Ohio was the state that gave George W. Bush his undeserved second term. Without those 20 electoral votes it is hard to imagine a scenario in which McCain can reach 270.

(Can this really be happening?)

9:30: Obama wins New Mexico. 200-85

9:38: McCain finally wins West Virginia. 200-90

9:55: McCain wins Texas. 200-124

Texas is a huge state and a 34 vote pickup changes the way these totals look on paper, but Texas is one of the reddest states in this country and was never in any doubt. There are still votes out there for McCain, but there just aren’t enough to put him over the top.

10pm: Obama wins Iowa, McCain takes Utah. 207-129

10:09: Mississippi goes to McCain. 207-135

10:18: The scene in Grant Park is simply amazing. There are estimates of possibly more than a million people in and around the park tonight and from these live look-ins I'm getting the sense that those estimates might be light. With every moment that passes the sense that something monumental is about to happen grows.

10:24: 11pm might be the moment. Quick calls in California, Oregon, and Washington will put Obama over the top and we will have our next President of the United States.

(Is this really about to happen?)

10:37: John McCain wins South Dakota. 207-138

That Arizona is still too close to call has to hurt McCain. I can’t say I’m happy to see that…but if Mitt Romney were the nominee and Massachusetts was still in play then I would be dancing in the streets. Or at least smiling while I sat on the couch. One of the two.

10:45: Chuck Todd: “If Tim Russert was writing on the white board tonight it would read Bush-Bush-Bush.” This election is a referendum not only on the Republican Party as a whole but also on our current President. That he is not the least popular man in America is true only because Vice President Cheney holds that distinction.

10:52: McCain picked up another four electoral votes at some point that I missed. 207-142.

10:55: The red state/blue state map that we have grown so accustomed to seeing these last eight years is going to look much, much different come tomorrow morning.

(Oh my god…is this really about to happen?)

11pm: The western states come in for Barack Obama and he becomes our President-elect. This is a moment in time of which you cannot say enough—this is history, a moment many Americans never believed they would live to see. We are all lucky to have been alive to see this.

Here’s to Barack Hussein Obama, Jr., the 44^th President of the United States. You were the best choice. All of America should be proud of that. All of us. There is something beautiful about this man being selected to lead us all. A black son of a single mother with an exotic name is about to become leader of the free world—and the American voter is the reason why.

11:20: John McCain concedes in the classiest way imaginable. He not only congratulates Obama but vows to support him in any way he can—and the way he delivers the speech makes me want to believe him. I’m not sure I do…but I want to.

Sarah Palin looks uncomfortable and for good reason. This may very well be the last night she will ever spend on the national stage. Talk of Palin in 2012 is nonsense. She was electoral poison to this ticket. She will be no better in four years.

11:29: There is a party outside the White House. My buddy Josh calls to report the same from the Roxbury section of Boston.

11:36: Virginia, Colorado, Florida, and Nevada, each one a so-called “swing state”, have all gone to Obama.

11:45: David Gregory lets us know that President-Elect Obama’s motorcade is now enroute to Grant Park. This is the first mention I’ve heard of the title Obama will carry until Inauguration Day, January 20^th 2009.

11:57: The next President of the United States appears onstage in Grant Park with his wife, Michelle, and their two daughters, Malia and Sasha. This is our new First Family. In my lifetime. In my grandmother’s lifetime. This is equality.

I’m signing off to enjoy every minute of this speech. Here is a link for anyone who might have missed it.

Yes we can?

YES WE DID!

The Moment

2008-11-04T23:20:00.001-05:00

11pm: The western states come in for Barack Obama and he becomes our President-elect. This is a moment in time of which you cannot say enough—this is history, a moment many Americans never believed they would live to see. We are all lucky to have witnessed it.

After all the talk of Florida and Virginia and Pennsylvania and Missouri, it was once again Ohio that put a president in office. I’ve been surprised a few times tonight, but none more so than when Ohio went blue.

Here’s to Barack Hussein Obama, Jr., the 44th President of these United States. You were the best choice. All of America should be proud of that. All of us. There is something beautiful about this man being selected to lead us all. A black son of a single mother with an exotic name is about to become leader of the free world—and the American voter is the reason why.

2012?

2008-11-04T17:21:00.001-05:00

Is this a visit from the Ghost of GOP Future?

Where's The Beef?

2008-11-04T16:13:00.003-05:00

I just finished the world's greatest steak dinner. A day such as this deserves a meal such as that, and the early seating was necessitated by the rapidly fading daylight in my backyard. As anyone who has ever grilled by flashlight will tell you, natural light is the only way to go.

But you don't want to read about my early-bird special and, truth be told, the only reason I bring it up is because it reminded me of this ages old adage:

Radicals eat granola while liberals dine on chicken.

Moderates eat beef while conservatives feast on fish.

If food is scarce there is nary a worry, for Dick Cheney and the neo-cons will chew on your children.

Oh, stop, I never claimed to be a poet. Can you tell I'm antsy for the polls to start closing?

The Done Deed

2008-11-04T11:23:00.002-05:00

11:09 AM: The deed is done.

Obama/Biden, John Kerry, No on 1, Yes on 2, and...

No on 3. I feel for these dogs. I hate the idea of dog racing. But we are not overrun by these tracks here in Massachusetts (I know of only two statewide) and this is not the time to be putting people out of work. I made my mind up on this in the voting booth...and came to the same decision I did when this question came up eight years ago.

My ballot has been cast. What about you?

Election Eve

2008-11-03T20:13:00.001-05:00

For anyone looking for a preview of tomorrow night, FiveThirtyEight’s Nate Silver has written a terrific one for Newsweek.

I don’t think we’ll be calling anything early tomorrow. I simply don’t trust the voters in Pennsylvania—never have and never will. Any victory for Barack Obama tomorrow night won’t come until the western states have been heard from.

I’m also thinking we may be treated to the spectacle of one network calling a state for Obama while another gives it to McCain moments later. It could happen, and would you really put anything past Fox at this point? Remember, if this thing is close enough to be contested in any way then perception will be huge. Gore never recovered from the perception that Bush had “won” Florida and then had it taken away. The networks are never more powerful than on election night. When mistakes are made, when that power is abused, we lose.

I hope to have some updates throughout the day tomorrow, a few thoughts once we have a winner, and then the full running diary on Wednesday.

To Dave in Colorado, Rosie in New Hampshire, Amanda in Virginia…know that many of us envy you. Yours may be the vote that decides this election.

This is the time when the long marathon becomes a sprint to the finish. Yes. We. Can.

Undecided Voters

2008-11-01T20:56:00.000-04:00

No poll can be trusted. No one knows the real state of this thing right now. Barack Obama is just as likely to be up 15% as he is to be down 6%. It is impossible to properly gauge an election where the number of new and first-time voters will be this far off the chart. The old model no longer applies, and until we have solid data from this election there won’t be a new one. The only poll that matters is the one that will be taken on November 4^th.

Any voter who claims to still be undecided at this ridiculously late date is going to break to McCain in the voting booth—they just haven’t settled on their reason why. No one wants to admit they won’t support the black guy, whether it is to a pollster or to themselves. So they desperately thrash about looking for any lifeline that will save them from facing the reality that they are a racist. For some that reason will be Obama’s new found aunt. For others it will be the McCain campaign’s charge of socialism. Desperation may be the world’s worst cologne, but denial is a close second.

And it should go without saying that this is not true for all, or even most, McCain supporters. If you truly believe in John McCain then you made up your mind months ago. If you were convinced in recent weeks then you might gladly tell a pollster the reason why. There are stark policy differences between these two men. There is nothing wrong with thinking McCain would be better…even if it makes you wrong.

This is about those of you still clinging to the title of “undecided”, a grouping one poll this weekend has numbered at 9% of the electorate. You should know that we know what you really are. These last eight years have done far too much damage for you to honestly still be torn between left and right or between red and blue. If you want us to believe that you haven’t yet made up your mind, you should know why we think that is.

America has a clear choice to make on Tuesday. It will say something wonderful about this nation if we choose to elect a black man named Barack Hussein Obama, Jr. to the presidency. Given the current state of the this country, and given which party controlled the White House these last eight years, it will say just as much about us if we don’t.

Don’t believe the polls. Remember the New Hampshire primary. Worry about the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.

Yes we can…but it won’t be that easy.

On a different note, this is my 100^th post to this here blog. Big thanks go out to you, my six readers, for all your kind words and support. Just a few more days of all-politics-all-the-time.

The Infomercial

2008-10-30T10:47:00.002-04:00

For those of you who opted for ANTM over the Obama infomercial, the full broadcast can be seen below. I thought it was very well done...but by this point you've probably deduced that I am far from an unbiased source.

Yes we can.

Spoiled

2008-10-28T19:41:00.003-04:00

How spoiled have we become here in the city of Boston? So spoiled that in the nine days since the Boston Red Sox were eliminated from the playoffs (in the seventh game of the American League Championship Series, ensuring that they were no worse than the fourth best team in the world) we have seen the New England Patriots win twice and tonight will watch the Boston Celtics raise their 17th world championship banner to the rafters of the, ahem, Boston Garden--the sixth such ceremony we have witnessed here since February of 2002.

Three Super Bowl championships for the Pats.

Two World Series titles for the Sox.

Banner number 17.

Bob Ryan is right. These really are the good old days. Never lose sight of that.

Bill Weld

2008-10-24T12:59:00.002-04:00

Former Massachusetts Governor Bill Weld shows the world why he holds the distinction of being the first Republican I ever voted for. If there were more like him in the GOP then this country would be a much better place, and these last eight years would have been very different.

Why We Fight

2008-10-23T14:13:00.002-04:00

Because a GOP victory won't only mean four years of John McCain and Sarah Palin. That administration would likely be followed by four years of Hillary Clinton and Ed Rendell.

Yes we can....and we must.

What Hasn't Been Said Enough

2008-10-12T20:00:00.002-04:00

At least not recently.

You know who you are.

You know who we are.

Yes we can.

A Deserving People

2008-10-03T07:19:00.003-04:00

Adlai Stevenson has been written about here many time before, and during last night's display it was impossible for me to not remember his words.

"In a democracy, people usually get the kind if government they deserve."

Thanks to Florida and Ohio we have had just that these last eight years. If the country falls for the performance of Sarah Palin then we will have the same thing for the next four.

Some of us deserve better than this. Some of us don't. Which are you?

A Good Baseball Read

2008-10-02T13:34:00.001-04:00

My man Bill Simmons offers up a unique look at the departure of Manny Ramirez from Boston and the Red Sox lineup. Simmons has a writing style that is all his own, to be sure, but what makes this piece stand out is the position he takes:

He defends Manny.

I know, I know, this is crazy talk. How could anyone possibly? He was a cancer who didn’t respect this town, his teammates, or the game, right? Right?

Maybe. I’m never one to play the “blame the agent” card, because if watching Entourage has taught me anything it is that the agent, in the end, works for the client. Scott Boras is scum (to put it mildly) and Manny is naïve (to put it lightly) but the slugger doesn’t quite deserve the pass Simmons gives him here.

But maybe, just maybe, Manny didn’t deserve quite everything that was written in the Boston Herald or said on WEEI during his final days at Fenway either.

The article can be found here.

(Be sure to read the footnotes. They may just be the best part.)

Just Do It

2008-10-01T20:57:00.003-04:00

This commercial really hit home back in the fall of 2004. It began to air as the baseball playoffs started and before the Red Sox actually won the World Series. But the Yankees had been vanquished and you could feel what was about to happen...even if you couldn't quite believe it.

This is for my friends in Chicago, the only city in America that can fully grasp the feeling that swept through Boston that year.

Dave

2008-09-25T07:45:00.002-04:00

Ooh ooh, John McCain. You pissed off Letterman.

My question: Was Keith Olbermann a scheduled guest or a last minute replacement? Because a McCain/Olbermann show would have been fascinating to watch.

You really need to watch this clip through to completion.

Fuzzy Math

2008-09-24T11:09:00.003-04:00

Electoral math. I fucking love it.

Yes, it’s true. It is trendy here in America of the early 21st Century to question the need for the Electoral College and to call for a direct election of the President of the United States via the popular vote. This is nonsense—and our Founding Fathers knew it.

The Electoral College is the only reason why any national politician cares about states like New Hampshire, Montana, or Hawaii. To win the presidency you must reach 270 electoral votes. It matters not whether you secure a popular vote victory. All that matters is the Electoral College—and to win there, you need to run a national campaign. No one region carries enough votes to get you to the magic number. You need votes from them all.

The downside to this, of course, is that votes cast in non-contested states (like the Commonwealth of Massachusetts) have less impact than votes cast in contested states (like Virginia and Colorado.) But it also protects against some neo-confederate southern pederast from racking up huge vote totals in the in Pennsylvania, West Virginia, and across the Deep South and then strolling into the White House. So suck it up. This is the best system we’ve got, and it ain’t going anywhere.

Anyway. Where was I?

Oh yeah. So, the reality of this system is that both Barack Obama and John McCain figure they have a certain amount of electoral votes already in hand, and that this race will be decided by a handful of so-called “swing” states. The breakdown, as of this writing, looks pretty much like this:

Solid Obama States: California (55 electoral votes), Illinois (21), New York (31), Massachusetts (12), Rhode Island (4), Delaware (3), Washington DC (3), Vermont (3), Connecticut (7), Maryland (10) and the homestead, Hawaii (4).

Strongly Leaning to Obama: Oregon (7), Washington (11), Minnesota (10), New Jersey (15), and Maine (4)

Solid McCain States: Idaho (4), Utah (5), Arizona (10), Wyoming (3), South Dakota (3), Nebraska (5), Alaska (3), Kansas (6), Oklahoma (7), Texas (34), Louisiana (9), Arkansas (6), Alabama (9), Mississippi (6), Tennessee (11), Kentucky (8), South Carolina (9), and my personal favorite, West Virginia (5).

Strongly Leaning to McCain: Montana (3), North Dakota (3), Indiana (11), Georgia (15), and North Carolina (15).

Whew. That sure is a lot of states. Feel free to check my math (a fun tool can be found here) but at the moment Barack Obama is sitting on 200 electoral votes. John McCain, on the other hand, is sitting on 189. If any of the above states swing the other way, the candidate who loses there will be in serious trouble. However, neither of these totals will get it done, and this brings us to…

The “Swing” States: Colorado (9), Florida (27), Iowa (7), Michigan (17), Missouri (11), Nevada (5), New Hampshire (4), New Mexico (5), Ohio (20), Pennsylvania (21) Virginia (13), and Wisconsin (10).

Now, a word on these swing states: They are “swing” only because the pundit class has decided that they could go either way come November 4th. For some of them this is certainly true. For others it is absolutely not. So while it may look like there are still 149 electoral votes up for grabs, the actual number is much less than that.

The Phony Swing States: Michigan and Wisconsin are blue states. The final vote totals may be close, but a close win is still a win. If McCain can steal either of these it means he is winning by a landslide elsewhere. Florida and Ohio, meanwhile, are absolutely, positively and without doubt red states. Ohio was red in 2000, was red in 2004, and it will be red again come November. As for Florida, you can say what you want about 2000, but it wasn’t that close in 2004 and will not be again in 2008. (For the record, I blame the elderly in Florida and the homophobes in Ohio who were more scared of gay marriage than they were George W. Bush. And also for the record, these are the exact people that Washington and Adams and Jefferson and Madison did not want directly electing the President of these United States. Thank you, Electoral College, thank you.)

Updated Totals: John McCain leads Barack Obama 236-227 with 75 votes still to be decided. McCain is 34 votes from victory; Barack Obama 43. From here almost anything can happen.

How Barack Obama wins: Obama needs Iowa, Pennsylvania, and New Hampshire in any scenario. Iowa is the safest bet—it went for Gore in 2000 and is a border state to Illinois. Pennsylvania is still Pennsylvania, and that is not a good thing for any left-leaning candidate with dark skin and an exotic name. But for the Democrats to win this election they need to win the home state of Rick Santorum. New Hampshire is not a blue state—far from it in fact—and at one time the Granite State held great affection for John McCain. Still, John Kerry did win there in 2004. If Obama cannot duplicate that feat in 2008, he will not win this election.

Assuming he is able to win those three states, he will be sitting on 259 electoral votes and still need help. Where does it come from? Two scenarios stand out:

Colorado and New Mexico: Of the two, this is the outcome that most pundits seem to think has the best chance of coming to pass. Colorado is a state that has been increasingly referred to as purple. It has a popular Democratic Governor in Kathleen Sebelius, a major metropolitan city in Denver, and no love for the government of George W. Bush. Bill Clinton won there in 1992, but he was the last Democrat to do so and was unable to repeat in 1996. Clinton was hurt that year by Ross Perot—who captured 6.6% of the vote—and it remains unclear what impact Libertarian Bob Barr and Egomaniac Ralph Nader will have this time around. But if Obama can pull it off he picks up another nine votes.

As for New Mexico, Clinton won there twice and Gore made it three in a row in 2000, but John Kerry lost by a razor-thin margin four years later. What worries me here is that Arizona lies just to the west, and John McCain will be able to pick some votes up based on that alone. If Obama does somehow manage to win the Land of Enchantment (you do have to love that nickname) then the five electoral votes he picks up will put him over the top. Your total in this scenario: Barack Obama 273—John McCain 265.

Virginia: Obama needs both Colorado and New Mexico to win in the above scenario, and if he loses either then he needs to find another state to make up the difference. The Commonwealth of Virginia, once one of the reddest states in the union (and before that home to the Capitol of the Confederacy) has slowly been turning purple. That is to say at least as far as Arlington and Annandale and Alexandria are concerned. Plus, Virginia has a huge black population. If they turn out big for Obama (and you have to imagine they will) he may just have a shot at taking down these 13 electoral votes. That will give him 272 (assuming he loses both Colorado and New Mexico) and make him the president-elect. Unfortunately, this scenario is still far-fetched at this point. The southern part of Virginia is still the south. A McCain loss here would stun many analysts and shatter most projections. But it is possible.

Missouri: Here we have a state that is often pointed to as having swing potential, but very few actually seem to think it could break Obama’s way. I say poppycock. In Mizzou we have a state that voted for Bill Clinton twice. We also have a state where Al Gore was clearly hurt by Ralph Nader in 2000…and that was on the same night that good ol’ John Ashcroft lost a senatorial race to a dead guy. (Yep. It happened.) Missouri is a border state to Illinois and much like McCain in New Mexico, that will help him. Regardless of what the polls say now, you have to think he at least has a fighting chance to make it close. There are eleven electoral votes at stake in the Show Me State and they may just show Barack Obama the presidency. (Sorry, couldn’t resist.)

How John McCain wins: This is where things get scary.

The GOP is coming off two consecutive wins, the second of which featured a larger margin of victory than the first. If McCain holds onto everything Bush won in 2004, he wins. If he loses Iowa and Colorado, but wins New Mexico, he wins. If he loses Virginia, but wins Iowa, he wins. If he loses Missouri but wins New Hampshire, he wins. In fact, if he wins New Hampshire, in almost any likely scenario, he wins.

God help us all.

George Will

2008-09-23T10:05:00.003-04:00

We can add George Will to the list of true conservatives who have had it with John McCain.

"Conservatives who insist that electing McCain is crucial usually start, and increasingly end, by saying he would make excellent judicial selections. But the more one sees of his impulsive, intensely personal reactions to people and events, the less confidence one has that he would select judges by calm reflection and clear principles, having neither patience nor aptitude for either.

It is arguable that, because of his inexperience, Obama is not ready for the presidency. It is arguable that McCain, because of his boiling moralism and bottomless reservoir of certitudes, is not suited to the presidency. Unreadiness can be corrected, although perhaps at great cost, by experience. Can a dismaying temperament be fixed?"

$$$

2008-09-22T15:58:00.001-04:00

It really is a good thing I'm not smart enough to understand economics. Otherwise, last week might have scared the shit out of me.

The Chilling Question

2008-09-19T12:46:00.002-04:00

Peggy Noonan, still the best at what she does, poses a very chilling question: What if neither McCain nor Obama is up to the challenges ahead? What if neither is the right man for this moment in time?

(And, no, Hillary Clinton would not have been a better choice. With Clinton we would not have Palin, but we would have Romney and a new Bubba scandal or two. You do have to wonder who the New York liberal Noonan refers to is, and why that person is currently leaning towards John McCain. It is fantasy to think this house is not still divided.)

He's Barack Obama...

2008-09-19T08:45:00.002-04:00

...and he approves this message.

I do wonder how much of Carly we'll get to see following her proclamation that while Palin may be fit to be VP, she isn't nearly qualified to run HP. I'm torn, because less of Carly is a good thing...but she did make for one nice and easy target.

Hence the ad below.

The Big Question

2008-09-18T17:06:00.002-04:00

Do rational and intelligent conservatives outnumber the PUMAs? These two groups will tip this election one way or the other.

This piece (from Texas of all places) is well worth a read.

Also, as I've said before, If you aren't reading Andrew Sullivan you really should be. He is a brilliant anti-McCain/Palin conservative who I regularly steal from...I mean borrow from...I mean who is a great influence to this blog.

The Obama Plan

2008-09-17T20:09:00.003-04:00

The voters he needs to reach will never read his plan, but maybe some of them will be sold anyway. That this election is this close, given the current state of this nation, speaks volumes about us. And none of it is good.

Decision 2008: Now With More Sexism!

2008-09-16T11:26:00.001-04:00

Carly Fiorina continues to help women everywhere by fighting the evils of sexism. Her latest target? Tina Fey.

It just keeps getting more and more ridiculous, doesn't it?

Sexism! Again! Sexism! Code Red! Sexism!

2008-09-12T13:47:00.002-04:00

Just in case there was any doubt, I do lay the blame for this current mess squarely at the feet of the junior Senator from the State of New York.

Had Barack Obama acted like Al Sharpton, he would have been chased from this race in disgrace. Hillary Clinton, meanwhile, channeled her inner Sharpton, seized his “victim” message, replaced the word “racism” with the word “sexism”, and changed the political climate of an entire nation.

And all this while John McCain, Sarah Palin, Karl Rove and the whole gang laugh their into another four years.

Thanks, Hillary. You really outdid yourself this time

Fool Me Once...

2008-09-12T12:18:00.001-04:00

Ben Smith reports that the next time we see a Palin Q&A, Sean Hannity will be asking the questions. The Gibson interview may mark the closest she will come to a tough question.

I'm sorry, what?

2008-09-12T10:37:00.002-04:00

What follows is fascinating. Based on the clip below (which is all we have to go on since Governor Sarah Palin has been shielded from the media more than any politician since Ronald Reagan went senile in the summer of 1985) does it not seem like she has no idea what Charlie Gibson is talking about when he asks her about the Bush Doctrine? The notion that we have a fundamental right to preemptively strike any nation which poses a potential threat is central to the reasoning behind why we are currently at war in Iraq. This is a war Gov. Palin wholeheartedly supports. Yet, when questioned, she is clearly unable to determine what Gibson is referring to when he mentions the Bush Doctrine.

This is who John McCain would trust to lead us after he is gone. This is the best they could do. This is a bad joke.

The Lipstick And The Pig

2008-09-10T13:01:00.000-04:00

From the New York Times:

“John McCain says he’s about change, too — except for economic policy, health care policy, tax policy, education policy, foreign policy and Karl Rove-style politics,” Mr. Obama told his supporters here. “That’s just calling the same thing something different.”

With a laugh, he added: “You can put lipstick on a pig; it’s still a pig. You can wrap an old fish in a piece of paper called change; it’s still going to stink after eight years.”

How, exactly, is that a smear on Gov. Sarah Palin? When you chase windmills looking for offense, you only hurt your cause. Hillary Clinton—and her supporters—embarrassed true feminists everywhere with their constant claims of sexism where there was none. There were true instances, to be sure, but they were few and far between and most wound up being lost amid the storm of phony accusations. At the time I believed we were witnessing the low point of this election cycle.

I was wrong.

The McCain campaign has managed to lower that bar even further. The pig is John McCain’s policy, not his running mate. The fool is anyone who believes otherwise.

Sarah Palin and the End of the Line

2008-09-04T07:23:00.002-04:00

Last night, Alaska Governor and McCain VP choice Sarah Palin took to the stage in St. Paul. It was a historic moment. For the very first time, a non-white/non-male had been nominated to a national ticket by the Republican Party. Her speech was the main event of the evening, and any reminiscence of the tepid applause given to Joe Lieberman the night before was gone. The room erupted for Sarah Palin.

The moment was historic for another reason as well. It marked the end of my interest in the 2008 Republican National Convention. The shameful parading of the Palin family, of the baby, of the pregnant daughter, of the "fiance", of the husband, was the final straw. You cannot cry that your family should be off limits and then parade them on national television for the world to see.

The picture last night spoke the thousand words that McCain's people had hoped it would. For all the talk of Sarah Palin's conservative credentials, what she brings most to this ticket is an illusion of victimhood. Any bit of skepticism is labeled as an attack, and the attacked must be sympathized with and defended.

Poor Sarah Palin. Why is the big bad eastern media establishment so mean to her? Why are they asking questions about her ties to radical Alaskan separatists? Why are they drudging up these stories of trooper firings and accusations of abuses of power? It must be sexism. Or maybe it is elitism.

No. It is journalism. The press these last few days has dug up Palin's past because that is their responsibility, just as it was John McCain's responsibility to know these skeletons before making his selection.

In a normal election year, these stories would have been enough to scare off any selection committee. But this is not a normal election year, and the great lesson of the Hillary Clinton campaign is that victimhood can be a great asset. John McCain has his victim, and the GOP has their unity.

For me, the image from last night that will always remain is that of the baby, Trig, being passed down the line of family and friends like a hot potato.

Here, hold Trig long enough for the camera to see and then pass him along. Make sure everybody gets a turn.

It was the very worst, and most blatant, display of cynical politics I have ever witnessed, and for me it marks the end of the line with this year's RNC. They do not deserve my attention, and tonight they will not have it.

MoDo MoFo

2008-09-03T20:01:00.002-04:00

Maureen Dowd is awesome:

"When you make a gimmicky pick of an unknown, without proper vetting, there’s bound to be a sticky press conference sooner or later. I watched it happen with Ferraro and Quayle, and I watched Mondale and Poppy Bush curdle with embarrassment but plow through.

The political unknowns, of course, want that tantalizing brass ring, so they’re not always completely forthcoming about their skeletons, if they’re lucky enough to be ineptly vetted. This is ironic, since the nominee who gets blindsided with these crises — Did McCain really know that this Palin reality show was about to pop and swallow his convention — is presenting them to voters as the most trustworthy people to inherit the nuclear codes.

Because Ferraro grabbed at the chance, without revealing to Mondale’s incompetent vetting team how damaging some of her husband’s financial imbroglios could be, she went from being a female icon to part of the reason it’s taken a quarter-century for another party to take a chance on a woman.

When McCain gets in trouble, he pulls out the P.O.W. card. Now Republicans are pulling out the sexist card.

Hillary cried sexism to cover up her incompetent management of her campaign, and now Republicans have picked up that trick. But when you use sexism as an across-the-board shield for any legitimate question, you only hurt women. And that’s just another splash of reality."

The RNC: Madness in Minnesota

2008-09-03T17:36:00.003-04:00

But first some bookkeeping:

Please accept my sincere apologies for the lack of coverage of the Democrats’ final night in Denver. Life intervened and I missed both Obama and Big Al enjoying their moments.

Do I regret it? No. I was burnt out and needed the night off.

As for the new 90210…wow. It was in fact as bad as many had imagined it would be. I cannot argue the point. But pilot episodes of eventually good shows are often brutal, so I will say the jury is still out.

And I do still love me some Jennie Garth.

Meanwhile in Minnesota:

The crew is spread out tonight. Chris Matthews is running the show in St. Paul while Keith Olbermann is at the anchor desk back in New York. Is this because of Gustav or the on-air tensions that arose last week in Denver? Vegas has the tension listed at 2-1. I’d take that bet.

8:35pm: Pat Buchanan argues that Barack Obama “likes the idea” of partial-birth abortion. Once McCain and Palin win, they will overturn Roe. “Then we’ll throw it back to the states and let’s get it on!” Pat is fired up—and clearly exhibiting every reason why so many people do hate him.

8:41: Senator Sam Brownback of Kansas stops by to tell us all about Sarah Palin. She is a breath of fresh air, a reformer from the Teddy Roosevelt mold. Oh, and her kid has Down syndrome. Wow. That was not subtle. I really do feel for each and every one of the Palin children. This is not their fault.

8:45: Cindy McCain has her adopted daughter with her in the balcony. This is notable because there is a video tribute to white people who adopt children of color and are not named Angelina Jolie playing on the big screen. Do you think that was planned? I’m shocked.

9pm: Olbermann checks in to update us on the night’s schedule. President Bush is in, via closed circuit from the White House, and Rudy Giuliani is out. A hellish trifecta lay ahead: Bush, Fred Thompson, and Joe Lieberman. I really should be drinking.

Tom Ridge: Sarah Palin will help us in states like New Hampshire, Michigan, and Pennsylvania. I run through a list of snippy comebacks in my head before realizing he is probably right. These are exactly the states where the PUMAs will do the most damage.

Matthews: Admit it; this selection was all about Hillary Clinton.

Ridge, with a coy smile: No…

The bad moon continues to rise.

9:05: Former President and First Lady George and Barbara Bush appear on the convention floor before taking their seats. He looks very old. She looks exactly the same.

9:09: Utah Senator Orrin Hatch got tears in his eyes when he realized the Republican Party was going to put the first woman into the White House. And the media needs to back off, because women are UNHAPPY! We know he means it because tonight he has forgone the trademark bowtie. Hatch…unplugged!

With the senator is McCain strategist Carly Fiorina, herself notable for recently holding a clandestine meeting with several key supporters of Hillary Clinton, among them the once and future candidate’s brother. I was under the impression the meeting took place in Pennsylvania, but Fiorina seems to indicate that it was actually Ohio. Her smugness in this interview is infuriating. Why am I not drinking?

9:14: Tom Brokaw and Chuck Todd discuss the first President Bush, and I’m reminded of something I heard former Massachusetts Governor and vanquished presidential candidate Michael Dukakis say a few weeks ago:

“You know, this really is all my fault. If I had only beaten the old man then no one would have ever heard of the son and we wouldn’t be in this mess. I am so sorry.”

Well, Mike…you fucking should be.

9:19: Chuck Todd notes the strange of absence of Jeb Bush at this convention. “If his last name wasn’t Bush, he would be on this ticket.” Interesting. I think we are all happier that he is not, with the possible exception of Bristol Palin.

9:37: Lt. Dan Taylor, aka actor Gary Sinise, narrates a video tribute to a fallen Navy SEAL and Medal of Honor winner whose name I miss each time it is said. This is a much darker theme than anything we saw in Denver. The SEALs in attendance get a well-deserved standing ovation. Then the Medal of Honor winners get their own round of applause. The GOP’s dominance of the military is on display here.

Um, this can’t be the way they are going to segue to President Bush, can it? Are we going to get a picture from the one day he showed up for duty with the Texas Air National Guard? The SEALs deserve better than that.

9:44: No, there is the First Lady to introduce hubby. Keith points out that it has been decades since a sitting president failed to appear at his party’s convention. I completely understand why Bush skipped out, but the fact will always be that had he paid this kind of attention to Katrina, he could have gone to the party in Minnesota. Nothing he does now is going to reverse that. And great job, Brownie.

Laura Bush lets us know that John McCain is a war hero and Sarah Palin is a proven executive and true reformer. Really? I hadn’t heard that. This seems like a good time to review the Republican talking points for St. Paul:

John McCain is a former POW.
John McCain is a war hero.
John McCain is a maverick reformer with a history of results.

Sarah Palin is a proven executive with real experience.
Sarah Palin comes from a good family that has the same problems all families have.
Sarah Palin is a reformer with a history of results.

If we were playing a drinking game and sipping each time one of these lines was spoken, we would be hammered right now. No, that isn’t quite true. We would have been hammered hours ago. By now we would be passed out.

Laura Bush has a detached manner of speaking that is reminiscent of Nancy Pelosi, and that is not a good thing. With Laura it is the smile that is plastic. With Nancy, it is the whole face.

Taken at face value, her remarks are all about the amazingly strong women of the Republican Party. Women like Sarah Palin who…

…wait for it…

…is a proven executive with real experience, and a reformer with a history of results. But what is actually being discussed is the division within the Democratic Party. Every time the theme of women comes up in St. Paul that is what is really being talked about. The women, the women, the women, and then we somehow finally segue to the President. I heard it live and am still not really sure quite how got there.

9:53: Ladies and gentlemen, the President of the United States! Live, via satellite.

John McCain is a great American (and in 5…4…3…2…1) a true war hero. Again, I had no idea.

The crowd is definitely subdued here. It might be the fact that he is onscreen rather than in person, or it might just be that after eight years of this guy even the Republicans have had enough. When you are talking about “tax relief” and “drilling” and still only getting muted applause from this crowd then things must be really, really, REALLY bad.

10pm: The networks cut in and anchors at NBC, ABC, and CBS all talk over the President. Olbermann laughs. So does Viall.

10:04: And now…a tribute to Ronald Reagan. Ugh.

10:07: Alright, I must now warn you. I’m really not sure I can do this tonight. Joe Lieberman is still a long way off and someone just claimed that Ronald Reagan “saved our century”. WTF? And when did Joe Lieberman become a headlining act, anyway?

10:08: Fred Thompson of Tennessee is at the podium, and he is greeted by more muted applause. This is unbecoming of an actor from Law and Order, and would never happen to the late Jerry Orbach.

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: Fred Thomson is a good actor, has a great voice, but was a terrible candidate. Just awful. And speeches like this are the reason why. Well, speeches like this and a lack of any real desire to campaign. That didn’t help.

But this just might be Fred at his best—or at least his best since The Hunt for Red October. He is finally fired up. The delivery is great. The deep voice with the southern twang lends itself to speechmaking. It sounds like he should be reading Cicero or narrating on the Discovery Channel.

But he’s not. He’s reading a prepared political speech, and the shine wears off as soon as we listen to the words. “Give me some Sarah Palin of the establishment in Washington any day!” Um…your party has controlled the White House for the last eight years, and congress for six of those eight years. (Remember, Fred, you were there.) What establishment are you talking about exactly?

Another Teddy Roosevelt reference goes by and I begin to wonder what that is all about. Is the GOP always touting Teddy as a hero? I’ve never noticed before. And what is this about “the draining of the swamp”? That is at least the third time we’ve heard that. Every speech tonight has contained the same talking points. Remarkable. And then, as if on cue:

“John McCain is a war hero.” (And in 5…4…3…2…1) “And, he’s a former POW.”

At that point I stop listening. Thompson drones on and on while I download some Pearl Jam and again contemplate a drink.

10:23: “Now, being a POW doesn’t qualify you to be president. But it does show character.” Absolutely, yes, a thousand times, yes. It absolutely shows character, and McCain is an amazing man for having survived that experience and thrived afterwards. But it has also become his first response to every issue, and its value is cheapened with every gratuitous usage. People who believe this is not the same John McCain we saw in 2000 are not wrong. The McCain back then didn’t lean on this like a crutch.

The crowd is chanting something that sounds like, “Beat LA! Beat LA!” Sorry, folks, Larry Bird is not walking through that door. (Hi, God? It’s me, Jim. Please don’t let Larry Bird walk through that door. Please?)

10:36: Olbermann: “That speech was akin to lining John McCain up next to a flag and a gun.” Indeed. Thompson apparently went long, because we are moving on with almost no down time.

10:39: Finally, Joe Lieberman has come back to St. Paul. The applause is some of the weakest we have heard all night, and that is saying something.

We begin with Gustav. “My friends, it shouldn’t take a hurricane to bring us together.” Actually, Joe, it took you selling out your party and country for Israel. But I digress.

He talks about George Washington warning against loyalty to any one political party. He does not follow up with Washington also warning against foolish military excursions in foreign lands.

We get a shot of Newt Gingrich smiling and laughing on the convention floor. What the hell am I watching?

OH! It is “USA, USA” they are chanting. That makes sense. If there were more than a few dozen voices, that might have been clear.

I lose track of the number of times that Lieberman refers to himself as a Democrat. This is news in and of itself because Lieberman has been an independent since 2006, when Democrats in Connecticut widely supported his primary opponent. It was only thanks to his new friends in the GOP that he returned to Washington.

Now he praises Bill Clinton. The response is as icy as you would expect.

Onto Governor Sarah Palin. She is a…

…wait for it…

…wait for it…

…wait for it…

…reformer! AND she gets results.

Iraq. The War on Terror. Iraq. The Middle East. Iraq. I have heard not a single mention of Afghanistan tonight. Are they even admitting that we are still fighting on two fronts? If America gives these fools four more years then we have no one to blame but ourselves. Lieberman is still talking, but I’ve had more than enough.

Although

2008-09-02T13:09:00.000-04:00

They are doing a damn good job of making it look like they did not vet her at all. It becomes more convincing with each passing moment, in fact, but I remain unconvinced.

As always, I could be wrong.

To The Democrats

2008-09-02T12:28:00.003-04:00

There is a bumpy road ahead and you should tread carefully.

It is almost beyond belief to think skilled Republican politicos selected a VP for John McCain with so little vetting. It makes for a good story and a better laugh, yes, but it simply cannot be true. They may have not known the number and depth of these Palin “scandals”, but they did know they existed—and they chose her anyway.

Why, you ask?

Because today Sarah Palin is under attack from both the Democratic Party and the media, and with each shot (cheap or legitimate) she takes, she is further transformed into the role the McCain campaign had in mind for her.

The victim.

The Palin nomination was always about the PUMAs first and foremost, and any casting of the governor in this light helps that cause. Soon her defenders will come out of the woodwork—many from within the Democratic Party itself—and the GOP will sit back and laugh.

It is already working. My own heart breaks for a 17 year old girl who first wound up pregnant and then five months later watched in horror as that pregnancy became a national news story. This girl’s life is none of our business, and it should have no baring on this contest between Barack Obama and John McCain.

Today the firestorm is fierce, but temporary. If Sarah Palin survives St. Paul and remains on the ballot, come November she will be an asset to the ticket. For all the wrong reasons, to be sure, but an asset nonetheless.

Yay! A Woman!

2008-08-29T13:25:00.001-04:00

I can’t help wondering if, on some level, it insults Geraldine Ferraro and the PUMA crowd to be so clearly shown how little respect John McCain and the Republican Party has for them. What McCain is saying with Palin is this: You are all so pathetic that you will vote for any woman I put out there, just because she is a woman. We’ll abolish Roe, send your sons and daughters to Iran, restart the Cold War, watch the economy continue to deteriorate, give tax relief to Big Oil, do nothing about the environment, and you’ll hold the door open for us and smile because I put a woman on my ticket.

The unfortunate truth is that some of them will. All that remains to be seen is how many, and will they be enough to swing this election.

Prediction for VP debates: The PUMAs will surface in the days before the Biden/Palin debate, warning Joe not to “bully” his opponent. And in the days following, regardless of what happens, they will push the argument that he did just that.

John Kerry

2008-08-28T16:11:00.003-04:00

Yes, the John Kerry speech last night was as good as advertised. You can watch it in its entirety below.

Kerry hammers the Republicans on Guantanamo, on torture, and on the failures of judgment, both home and abroad, which have plagued this administration since January of 2001. He should have been featured on every broadcast last night, not talked over by talking heads.

They give us Nancy Pelosi and Ed Rendell, but skip this?

The DNC, Night 3: Bubba, Biden...and Barack?

2008-08-28T12:35:00.002-04:00

Sure, I’ll have another. Why not?

7:05pm: The news has broken while America wrapped up the work day, commuted home, and ate dinner. Barack Obama has been officially nominated by this convention, with the roll call of states being cut short by Hillary Clinton’s call for a unanimous affirmation. This was probably another necessary step towards reconciliation, but it does continue the unfortunate trend of making the Clintons the stars of this show. And we haven’t even heard from Bill yet.

Meanwhile in the Bronx: Jason Bay doubles, scoring Dustin Pedroia and Big Papi. Red Sox lead 2-0 in the top of the 1st.

7:19: Senator Chuck Schumer of New York is on the convention floor with Andrea Miller. People don’t give Hillary enough credit, says Chuck, because she always does the right thing. Some people would have pouted and gone halfway, but not her. Speaking of pouting, replies Mitchell, what about Bill? And no, Senator, I have no interest in buying the Brooklyn Bridge. (OK, I made that last part up.)

7:22: Keith Olbermann reports that the former President Clinton, not to be confused with the former candidate Clinton, has been allotted ten minutes to speak. The bulk of his remarks, according to aides, are about the readiness of Barack Obama to lead this nation. We shall see.

7:26: Montana Senator Jon Tester has been traveling with Obama and arrived in Denver only today. Montana, for the first time in almost anyone’s memory, may actually be in play this time around. Both Bob Barr and Ron Paul will be on the ballot there, and that is bad news for John McCain. Three electoral votes don’t sound like much, but when you start playing with the electoral math they can swing the election one way or the other. McCain needs to hold onto states like Montana, just as Barack needs to repeat John Kerry’s feat of winning New Hampshire. The Electoral College…its FANtastic!

Meanwhile in the Bronx: Johnny Damon leads off for the Yankees and promptly strikes out. He is unhappy with that strike three call (to say the least) and the replay shows he may have had a point. Too bad, so sad. Next up is Derek Jeter who is robbed on a shot to right by a diving Jacoby Ellsbury. Already this doesn’t look like the Yankees night.

I’m so torn about what to watch. Knowing it would be tough, with hard decisions to be made, I opted to set up shop in my bedroom rather than the living room. This makes it much easier to flip around, sometimes even when the right moment doesn’t quite feel right at first. Case in point:

7:31: Norah! Hi baby. She makes the case that even Republicans are feeling pride in their country this day after having watched a black man become the nominee of a major political party. Pat Buchanan reports that this has been the most exciting campaign of his lifetime, and he heaps praise on Hillary. Buchanan throughout has been adamant that the roll call not be cut short, and now that is has he lashes out at the powers of both parties who feel they need to hide legitimate divisions within their ranks. Then we get a glimpse of why I’ve grown to love Pat:

“In 1996, a young delegate from Michigan told me that she had warned not to vote for me during the roll call, and warned that she would be thrown out of the convention and the party if she did. I said, listen, don’t ruin your life over this. She began to cry, I felt like crying…and later on I watched as she voted for me anyway. And you know what? They threw her out! It was wrong then and it is wrong now, in both parties. People’s voices should be heard.” Well said, even though I feel many of those voices we are talking about this time around are crazy.

7:53: Final Jeopardy: I wander through the house just in time to catch Final Jeopardy. We’ve added an extra level of fun to the game. Instead of just trying to come up with the answer, we try to come up with the answer during the break after Alex reads the category and before we see the clue. When you can do that then you know you are a trivia pro. Or just quite lucky. One of the two.

Tonight’s category is “U.S. Presidents”. I think about it for a moment, look at my roommate Nikki and say, “Teddy Roosevelt.” Alex appears again and reads the following:

“At aged 50, he was the youngest President to leave office.”

Bing, Bang, BOOM! I am a golden god.

Meanwhile in the Bronx: Kevin Youkilis hits into a double-play to end the top of the 3rd. Boston leads 2-1.

8:00pm: Jimmy Carter joins Chris and Keith, proclaiming himself “the world’s foremost expert on divided parties.” The conversation starts with his humble beginnings in a rural area of Georgia where the Carters were the only white family. We segue to this election, to racial tensions, and does Carter think the party can come together? (Yes.) Then it is on to FEMA, which Carter created (who knew?) and the prospects of Gustav becoming another Katrina. Says the former president, “Brownie is gone, and Bush’s other cronies are gone, so things should be better.” Let us hope.

Meanwhile in the Bronx: We’re tied at 2 in the bottom of the 4th inning. The Yankees have men on first and third, with two outs, and newly acquired “Pudge” Rodriguez at the plate. Pudge isn’t quite living up to that nickname since steroid testing came in. I wonder if the two are connected. Sox starter Paul Byrd gets him to pop out to end the inning.

8:27: Sirens erupt on the street behind MSNBC’s outdoor broadcast position just as the network cuts away to a clip of Melissa Etheridge covering Born in the USA. The sirens continue over the music, and the effect is quite surreal.

8:45: Hillary, Chelsea, and my drinking buddy Terry McAuliffe take their positions in the royal box. The drama is building for Bill.

Meanwhile in the Bronx: 4-2 Boston in the middle of the 5th. Paul Byrd has apparently complained to the umpires twice between innings about something going on behind home plate. Security has been alerted and Sox’ color man Jerry Remy surmises that someone might have a laser pointer. Ah, New York. Classy till the very end.

8:52: Rachel Maddow appears to argue that the unity issue was settled last night. Bill Clinton’s job tonight is to boost Obama and hit the GOP hard.

Everyone laughs at the idea that this speech will be limited to ten minutes. He may not even be warmed up by then.

8:59: The camera finds Jennifer Garner and Jessica Alba sitting side by side in the crowd. Mmm…Alias and the Dark Angel. The Republicans cannot compete with that kind of talent, Bo Derek or no Bo Derek.

9:00pm: And there is Bill.

Don’t stop thinking about tomorrow.

Yesterday’s gone.

Yesterday’s gone.

Remember when that song represented a fresh start after 12 years of Reagan and Bush? Now it signifies a final end to 16 years of the Clintons. Yesterday really is gone, Bill, and it ain’t coming back.

I’d be hard-pressed to give you another example of someone who has so completely shattered my perception of them in such a short period of time. I LOVED Bill Clinton at this same time a year ago. Now I cringe when he comes on screen.

The applause is both thunderous and endless. The crowd just will not stop. He loves it at first, but that slowly morphs into annoyance. “Y’all sit down; we gotta get on with the show here.”

Finally he does get going and delivers what I freely admit was a fucking awesome speech.

His trademark line, “My fellow Americans”, has been replaced by “My fellow Democrats.”

“I am here first to support Barack Obama, and second to warm up the crowd for Joe Biden.” He loves Joe Biden.

Onto the campaign, and while his candidate didn’t win, he is still so very proud of her. We get a shot of Hillary grinning from the royal box. Then we get a shot of Michelle Obama again being forced to put on a happy face while the Clintons celebrate themselves. Michelle really is the MVP thus far of this convention.

But then, to my shock, Bill reels it in and goes 110% for Barack Obama. “Hillary told us in no uncertain terms that she will do everything she can to help Barack Obama. That makes two of us. Actually, that makes 18 million of us.” The room erupts.

Bill has been all over the world, been a governor, a president, and a father, and through all that he has learned one thing: Barack Obama is the right man for this job. Wow, even I want to stand and cheer. We get another shot of Michelle, and this time the smile is genuine.

On Bush’s bumbling of Iraq and Afghanistan: “The world has always been more impressed by the power of our example than by the example of our power.” Goddamn this man can give a speech.

He lists off some of the GOP’s recent crimes and then closes with, “My fellow Democrats, America can do better than that, and Barack Obama will do better than that.”

Yep, that is why I loved the guy for all those years. Great job. I really didn’t think he had that kind of speech still in him, and even if he did, I never believed for a second in his desire to give it. I was wrong. Take your bow, Mr. President, you deserve it.

9:28: Tom Brokaw: “Elvis was back in the building tonight.”

Meanwhile in the Bronx: The Red Sox still lead 4-2 in the bottom of the 7th.

9:36: Senator John Kerry of Massachusetts is at the podium…and we go to commercial. What a difference four years makes.

Meanwhile in the Bronx: We’re now in the 8th inning with the score still 4-2. I just noticed that fat Bobby Bacala from The Sopranos is sitting behind home plate. Could that be what Byrd was pointing at? Probably not.

Jason Bay hits a ball to right field that Bobby Abreu plays into a triple. You really do have to love this Yankees team, especially if you are a Bostonian. Kevin Youkilis scores on the play to make it 5-2.

9:43: Drudge is reporting (or, more accurately, linking to somebody else’s report) that John McCain has settled on his VP selection, that he will notify that person tomorrow, and that the public announcement will come Friday at 11am. Mitt Romney seems to be the odds on favorite, but Tim Pawlenty, Governor of Minnesota, and Joe Lieberman, Jackass of Connecticut, are in the mix as well. The wild card seems to be Senator Kay Bailey Hutchinson of Texas. At this point she almost seems likely. What better way to woo the PUMA crowd than with a woman?

Meanwhile in the Bronx: We’re still in the 8th, but the Red Sox now lead 7-2. The bases are loaded with one out and Dustin Pedroia at the plate. The crowd in Yankee Stadium, most of whom paid big bucks for tickets, is completely deflated. The rush to beat the traffic is going to start any minute.

GRAND SLAM! 11-2 Boston leads. You really could almost sense that coming. And there goes the crowd. Thanks for coming!

10:05: I flip back just in time to catch Mike Murphy, former Republican strategist and one of the token right-wingers at MSNBC, taunting the crowd by announcing that he is sure both Bill and Hillary are going to quietly vote for John McCain. He may or may not be correct, but it really is just salt in the wound at this point anyway. The crowd is pissed, Murphy is giddy, and it leads to this:

Matthews: “Mike, where in sane America would you find an audience to agree with you?”

Keith (clearly agitated): “Wrap him up already!”

Next week in St. Paul is going to be great TV.

Meanwhile in the Bronx: Somehow the Yankees got out of the inning, but A-Rod grounds out again for out number three and the Sox are coming back up.

10:14: Norah O’Donnell is talking up John Kerry’s speech. Andrew Sullivan is doing the same online. Wish I’d seen it.

10:17: We cut back to the podium because Beau Biden is about to introduce his father, but unless Beau is a large black woman then something is wrong. Nope, her name is Quincy Lucas and she is placing Biden’s name into nomination for Vice President. Nancy Pelosi appears to call for the vote, and she again adds nothing to the proceedings. But the deed is done, and Joe Biden is the nominee.

Video Tribute! You know, in its own way, the story of Joe Biden is every bit as compelling as the story of Barack Obama. I think what we’ve learned tonight is that both Bill Clinton and Jim Viall love Joe Biden.

Meanwhile in the Bronx: Sox win! 11-3 is your final score.

10:23: There is Beau Biden. Did you know he is the Attorney General of Delaware? Neither did I, but come to think of it, why would we?

After the accident that took his mother and sister and injured him and his brother, his father refused to go to Washington to be sworn in. “Delaware can get another senator, but my children cannot get another father.” OK, it’s getting a little dusty in here again.

10:28: Joe! He is still fighting back tears, just like last night. I’m getting the sense that is just his way, and it makes me like the guy even more.

BREAKING NEWS: The Obama motorcade just drove by the MSNBC broadcast location heading in the general direction of the Pepsi Center. You could clearly see him waving to the crowd through the window. OK, that was awesome.

Is the nominee about to make an unscheduled appearance?

Joe Biden is thanking the crowd—AND John Kerry. Shit, what did I miss? Should I be watching CNN?

“Since I have never been called a man of few words, let me say it as simply as I can: Yes. Yes, I accept your nomination to be Vice President.”

He reminisces about his dad and points to his mom up in the balcony. Things are getting dustier and dustier. She used to tell him to bloody the bully’s nose so that he could walk down the street with his head held high. We see mom saying, “That’s true” to the person beside her. Classic.

And then we hear about the long train ride back to Delaware that Joe Biden takes every night. The houses pass by the window and he can imagine the conversations inside. The war, the price of gas, the price of heating oil, the price of food. These are the real concerns of Americans. And Barack Obama can help.

Great line: “The future that George…I mean John McCain will give us is more of the same.”

Biden is not nearly as smooth a speaker as Bill Clinton, but every word he says comes across as completely heartfelt and honest. That is his strength.

His is joined onstage by wife Jill, who announces that she has a surprise for him.

The equation is simple: Barack Obama = Bedlam. The crowd goes absolutely crazy. This is great to see after three straight nights of the Clinton show.

“Now you know why I am so proud to have Joe Biden, and Jill Biden, and Beau Biden, and Mama Biden, and the whole Biden clan on my side.”

He praises Michelle, and thanks both Bill and Hillary. Now it is the Clintons’ turn to wear phony smiles. This was not part of the plan, and you can see it on Hillary’s face. Bill, of course, hides it better.

This was a brilliant move on the part of the Obama campaign. By appearing the way he did, unannounced and without warning, he took back this convention from the Clintons. Barack Obama reminded everyone who is the true star of this show—and who truly won that primary fight. The Clintons may or may not be planning for 2012, but the Democratic Party is planning for November.

Back tomorrow, when this show moves outside.

The DNC, Night 2: The Hillary Show

2008-08-27T14:06:00.002-04:00

And…we’re back.

7:10pm: Joe Scarborough checks in to report David Axelrod and the Obama people have indeed seen Hillary’s speech, and they couldn’t be happier. Also, the word is that the Clintons have become much more cooperative over the last 12-24 hours. I remain dubious.

Meanwhile in the Bronx: In a bit of scheduling hell, the Red Sox have traveled to Yankee Stadium for what may be the final time before the “House That Ruth Built” is demolished. It will take all of my remote control skills to keep up with happenings both in the Bronx and in Denver over these next three nights, but I feel up to the challenge.

Andy Pettite gives up back to back walks, putting Youkilis and Papi on first and second respectively with two outs. New local hero Jason Bay, AKA the Guy Who Replaced Manny, steps in.

Bay runs the count full before popping out to end the inning. Ugh.

We move to the bottom of the 1st, and my man Tim Wakefield is back on the mound for the Sox after a stint on the DL!

Johnny Damon hits a leadoff homerun for the Yankees. Crap.

I flip around a bit before catching A-Rod striking out to end the inning.

7:27: Pennsylvania Governor and Clintonista Ed Rendell is next up to speak in Denver. Rendell made waves earlier today for comparing Obama to Adlai Stevenson. Now, Stevenson is looked up to around this blog, but in most places he is remembered primarily for being the guy who lost the presidential election to Eisenhower. Twice. Not the best comparison Rendell could have made, and suspicions continue to mount that there are forces in Denver aligning against the nominee.

Rendell hits some high notes in his speech, reminiscing about the price of gas eight years ago ($1.50!) and informing us that the only thing green about John McCain’s energy policy is tax relief for Big Oil. I chuckle at both of these lines, but the room is dead and you have to wonder if the hall is half empty. It’s like a boxing match in Vegas, with all the high rollers waiting till the very last minute before the main event to appear. And the main event tonight is, of course, Hillary Clinton.

7:36: Chris Matthews wonders why there has been no mention from the podium thus far of Dick Cheney. “He is the least popular American of the last hundred years. You’d think somebody would come up with a one-liner about him.” Good point.

Meanwhile in the Bronx: We have BREAKING NEWS! To the surprise of exactly no one, JD Drew has been placed on the DL just in time for the stretch run. Remember kids, no one is better at getting out of games than good ol’ JD.

The Sox tied the game at 1 while Rendell was speaking, so I have one more reason to dislike the Governor of Pennsylvania.

7:47: Former Clinton staffer Lisa Caputo laughs off Chris Matthews’ assertion that the Clintons could be plotting for 2012 as ridiculous. After all, Hillary has been campaigning for Obama since June! Um…well…yes, but wouldn’t it be fair to say, Lisa, that her campaigning has had just a wee bit to do with paying down the ridiculous campaign debt she ran up after the race was more or less over? Just a wee bit? You think? Maybe?

Meanwhile in the Bronx: A-Rod grounds into a double-play to end the 3rd inning. Boston now leads 3-2.

8pm: Chris Matthews compares the Obama/Clinton tension to the problems in Northern Ireland. Keith Olbermann channels Ted Theodore Logan, urging everyone to pretty much be excellent to each other. (I’m paraphrasing, but that is damn close to what he said.)

I’m not sure who initially raised it, but an interesting conversation arises about how little power Hillary may even have to turn back the tide of anger in her supporters. She spent months pretending she had been slighted, pretending that the nomination had been wrongfully taken away, pretending that Obama was not qualified—and her people believed every word of it. Even is she comes around 180 degrees now on every point, will it be enough to bring her diehards back into the party fold? Maybe not.

8:24: Howard Fineman reports on the situation surrounding the convention roll call vote. Hillary’s vocal minority of supporters are adamant that the roll call must be held, in its entirety, “for the sake of history.” Fineman also lets us know that the bulk of Clinton’s remarks tonight will be about herself, her campaign, and her place in history. She should be attacking McCain—not setting herself up for 2012.

No one proves their detractors right quite like Hillary Clinton.

8:28: Terry McAuliffe appears for an interview and, as is usual, that is my cue to pour a cocktail.

8:35: We’re back. Is there a name for orange vodka and ginger ale? If not then I am officially submitting “Jimmy V” for approval.

“What’ll you have?”

“Um…gimme a Jimmy V.”

I like it.

Meanwhile in the Bronx: The Sox are up 6-3 in the 5th inning. Should I be paying more attention to this game? I feel perhaps I should be. A-Rod pops out with men on first and second, AND THE BOO BIRDS ARE OUT IN NEW YORK! It couldn’t happen to a nicer guy. Really.

8:46: I’ll admit it: All the hype and spin about tonight is slowly burning me out. I’d be happier in bed. Happier, yes, but less fulfilled. So I suffer on for you, dear reader!

8:52: Rachel Maddow opines, “If Hillary Clinton is going to stand up for women and for feminism then she needs to condemn these ads from John McCain in which he is clearly using her.” (Me nodding.)

Pat Buchanan retorts, “If she is serious about helping Obama get elected then she will gut McCain from the podium tonight. I don’t think it happens.” (The nodding slowly morphs into a disgusted shaking of the head.)

9:07: The marathon coverage is taking its toll. Matthews and Olbermann are bickering at each other on live TV. That was both ugly and embarrassing. Poor Steny Hoyer, Majority Leader of the House, is forced to sit by and watch this spectacle unfold while he waits to be interviewed. Moving on…

9:11: Andrea Mitchell interviews Virginia Governor and VP shortlister Tim Kaine. Yep, still wouldn’t know Tim Kaine if he walked into the room. Joe Biden was a much better choice.

9:19: Much to my horror, Spike Lee appears on the convention floor. He is described as “a keen observer of race relations” and lets us know that he himself is only five generations removed from being a slave. The t-shirt of Obama dunking a basketball over John McCain is a nice touch.

Meanwhile in the Bronx: Boston leads New York 7-3 in the bottom of the 7th inning.

9:29: Pennsylvania Senator (and pro-lifer) Bob Casey appears at the podium. Casey, to put it gently, is a bland speaker. He does manage to get the crowd to chant “four more months” in reference to George Bush, which is impressive.

Chris Matthews: “People are paying attention now. It takes a while to get them interested, but if the price of gas gets out of control, or there is a questionable war, or the country is being led by a clown, then people get interested.” Wow. How this same crew will be able to cover the GOP next week is beyond me.

Meanwhile in the Bronx: I flip back just in time to see A-Rod hit into another double-play, this one induced by my boy Justin Masterson! The score is still 7-3.

9:41: Former Virginia Governor and current candidate for US Senate Mark Warner appears onstage. Warner has set a new record for length of time spent as the “next big thing” without ever having taken a shot at being the “big thing”. His window might very well be closing. If he isn’t sworn in as a senator in January then it is officially closed.
And we quickly learn the problem with Warner: He can’t hold his audience. Most of the crowd in Denver is looking for Hillary, and I’m flipping back to the game. (Still 7-3)

10:15: The countdown is on. The video tribute! The speech! NEXT!

Meanwhile in the Bronx: It is all over at Yankee Stadium. Sox win, Sox win, Sox win!

10:31: Bill Richardson stops by to let us know that the party is fine, there are no divisions…but, no, he hasn’t spoken to Bill Clinton and he’s pretty sure that the former president is still royally pissed. OK then.

10:35: A great shot of Michelle Obama and Joe Biden greeting Jimmy Carter in the balcony. This is juxtaposed against Bill Clinton swooping in like Caesar to the imperial box. It is clear on this night that there are two parties right now, the legitimate one led by Barack Obama and something much darker and uglier led by the Clintons.

10:38: The video tribute begins. My notes on it are quite thin. In fact they are non-existent. I’m not quite sure why. Obviously, nothing of importance happened.

10:42: Finally, there she is, clad in an orange pantsuit and greeted by thunderous applause. This is Hillary’s big moment…a full two nights before she had hoped it would occur. So sad…

MSNBC finds a shot of a Clinton supporter with her sign held upside down. We go back to her three separate times.

Bill Clinton mouths, “I love you.” Awww.

She trots out the unity card early, telling the audience, “Barack Obama is my candidate and he MUST be our next president!” To her credit, it sounded convincing.

She pays tribute to the murdered Arkansas Democratic Party Chairman, Bill Gwatney, and to the late Rep. Stephanie Tubbs Jones, one of her most ardent supporters. This was classy and well done.

Onto policy, and this speech becomes more about what she wants to do than about her as a person or candidate. But, she makes it sound like Obama will sign her healthcare bill into law. That is a pipe dream.

Clinton compliments Michelle Obama, and the camera finds Michelle in the audience, doing her very best to flash a convincing smile. (She pulls it off.)

She wraps up by noting, “It is fitting that George Bush and John McCain will be in the Twin Cities next week, because they are awful hard to tell apart!” Kick, wham, stunner.

11:08: Keith Olbermann announces, “Grand slam.” He’s right. That was one hell of a speech. Clinton did a masterful job of delivering it, too. I don’t think she said enough to defuse the tensions swirling around this convention, but what she did say sounded genuine.

What didn’t she say? She never came out and said that Barack Obama was ready to be President of the United States. That should have been a focal point, the focal point, and its omission is glaring.

Bedtime. Until tomorrow…

"Support" from Bubba

2008-08-26T18:59:00.002-04:00

"Suppose you're a voter, and you'e got candidate x and candidate y. Candidate x agrees with you on everything, but you don't think that candidate can deliver on anything at all. Candidate y you agree with on about half the issues, but he can deliver. Which candidate are you going to vote for?"

A pause, and then:

"This has nothing to do with what is going on now."

-William Jefferson Clinton, August 26th, 2008

It is 7pm here in the east, and word is that neither Hillary's speech tonight nor Bill's speech tomorrow have been vetted by the Obama campaign. The Clintons have proven, repeatedly, that they cannot be trusted. There is no reason to believe they will do anything to change that perception over the next two nights.

The DNC: Opening Night

2008-08-26T09:48:00.002-04:00

7pm: We are LIVE from Denver! MSNBC literally has a cast of thousands on hand to bring you the very best in liberally-slanted convention coverage. Joining us tonight are Chris Matthews, Keith Olbermann, Tom Brokaw, Chuck Todd, Rachel Maddow, Ann Curry, the beautiful and talented Norah O’Donnell, Luke Russert, and former Tennessee Congressman Harold Ford Jr. Special guest stars Joseph Scarborough and Patrick Buchanan as the token conservatives. With the right-wingers at Fox News still dominating the ratings battle, who is to say where the middle really lies?

We begin with Chris Matthews introducing us to the PUMA crowd, which at first sounds like an exciting new term for cougars. But no, PUMA stands for Party Unity My Ass, and you can guess who these people have come to Denver to support. Matthews reports, “These whackos are claiming that Obama is a registered Muslim, whatever the hell that means.”

We quickly go to a break, most likely to save Matthews from yet another round of phony-feminist protest, and return with Luke Russert. Luke has been brought in to report on the youth vote, but his appearance serves as a constant hat tip to his father. I spend the entire segment reminiscing about why Tim Russert was the very best at what he did, and when Keith Olbermann kicks us over to a smiling Tom Brokaw he adds, “I know why you are smiling. Me too.” These next two months are going to be a constant reminder of what we have all lost.

8:09pm: Chuck Todd checks in to get us ready for Nancy Pelosi. The Speaker was allegedly neutral throughout the primary, but her display of neutrality was believable to exactly no one. Todd describes the long history of problems Pelosi has had with the Clintons. It goes back to Bill’s administration, NAFTA, China, and the first couple’s propensity for blaming Congress when it suited them.

8:12pm: She is at the podium, but there is no sound. (This will be a problem throughout the night, but luckily this is the only speech that is affected.) Olbermann kills time, and then we join the speaker just in time to hear her praise the historic campaign of Senator Clinton. There are some faint boos from the crowd. The booing will help no one. My thoughts on Hillary are well known, but if heaping undeserved praise on her will help bring the whackos back into the fold then it is the right way to go.

Pelosi strikes me, as she always does, as being one or two steps removed from a Saturday Night Live parody. The sunken eyes, the lifted cheeks, the plastic smile…there is a Joan Rivers quality to her that defies belief. No one can really look like this, so who is wearing the costume? This is not a good thing.

She hammers away at Bush, reminding the audience of the Clinton surplus that was squandered by the Republicans and turned into a record deficit. You have to think that is the way to victory. Who can honestly say they are better off today than they were eight years ago? Not many, short of the Exxon crowd Bush and Cheney have been serving for years.

Pelosi wraps up by calling Barack Obama a “21st century patriot.” I don’t know quite what that means, but it sounds good and it helps her close out an otherwise weak speech on a strong note.

New York Senator Chuck Schumer joins us from the convention floor where he is stationed with the New York delegation. “We were big time for her, and we are still big time for her.” A beat passes and then, “No, what I mean to say is that we were big time for her, but now we are big time for him.” OK.

8:33pm: Jimmy Carter and wife Rosalyn are onstage. There are some waves, a few handshakes…and then they are off. No speech? WTF?

Ann Curry pounces for an interview, and Carter informs us of what we all know. “Clearly, many of the Clinton people have not made up their minds.” But they will, and the former president assures us that this is not the same as the Gerald Ford/Ronald Reagan fight from 1976. That may be true, but is it the same as the Jimmy Carter/Ted Kennedy fight from four years later? We shall see. The time for Curry to follow up with that question is not now, moments before a tribute to the cancer-stricken senior senator from Massachusetts, but it does loom over this entire convention.

8:45pm: I do love me some Norah O’Donnell.

Have you seen the McCain ad featuring the former Clinton supporter who now plans to vote Republican for the first time in her life? Rachel Maddow informs us that a press conference in Denver earlier that day, this poor fool (my words) claimed that it was OK for prochoice Dems to vote for McCain because he supports Roe v. Wade and would oppose its reversal! This, of course, is completely untrue. “You cannot argue with this kind of post-rational thinking,” says Maddow. And she is right. Who will these people blame when four years of John McCain results in a Supreme Court that does make abortion a crime? Will they look to themselves? Somehow I doubt it.

8:53pm: Joe Biden can be seen with his wife and grandkids at the back of the hall. The scene is very tender, loving, and it gives me one more reason to like the guy. He has already brought more to this ticket than John Edwards did in 2004.
That reminds me, John Edwards is completely missing in action here. He may not even be in Denver. What is worse for John is that he isn’t even really missed. The party marches on as if he was never there.

9pm: OK, I’ll admit: I love the NBC political theme music. It gets me all warm and fuzzy inside.

9:15pm: Caroline Kennedy is onstage to introduce the tribute to Uncle Teddy. Leaders like Barack Obama and Ted Kennedy come alone once or twice a generation, she tells us, but always when we need them. If you are on Medicare, Ted Kennedy is your senator. If you received a raise of the federal minimum wage, Ted Kennedy is your senator. Caroline fights back a few tears and delivers one hell of a speech, on the whole. Nancy Pelosi could take a lesson from her.

The video begins, and there is Ted Kennedy in Hyannisport, on his boat, in his office. He’s been fighting for universal healthcare all his life. A grieving father fights back tears as he tells us about the senator calling hearings and getting our troops the body armor that would have saved his sons life. Powerful stuff.

9:30: And there is the man himself! He doesn’t look bad given everything that has happened, just slightly weaker and with clouded eyes. Teddy speaks of unity between races, genders, and orientations—with the subtext being the party itself. Onto Iraq, a mistake from the beginning, and the country needs a Commander in Chief that will not commit brave Americans to a mistake, only to a worthy mission in the right place at the right time. The hall is rocking for this.

The camera cuts back to Joe Biden, who looks almost as if he is about to cry. Keep it together Joe. Any tears caught on camera will be in a Republican attack ad by sunrise.

Chris Matthews: “At the risk of being criticized, again, for saying something emotional about this country, I feel something when our leaders speak about unity between white and black, male and female, and gay and straight.” I do too, Chris. Especially when they mean it.

9:52pm: Connecticut Senator Chris Dodd appears to heap praise on Kennedy. He wasn’t due to arrive in Denver until Wednesday but came early when he learned Ted was going to speak.

As this celebration plays out, I realize that for the first time tonight the conversation is about something other than the Clintons. This is good for Obama, for sure, but also good for the Democratic Party as a whole. Whether you love them or not, the Kennedy family touches something deep inside us all. Three brothers prematurely struck down in various service to this country, and a fourth brother, unprepared and ill-equipped, left to carry on in their stead. In Teddy we are seeing something we never have before: a Kennedy brother growing old. That this is happening at the same time an heir-apparent has appeared on the political scene is almost poetic.

No, it isn’t getting dusty in here…but it is close.

BREAKING NEWS: John McCain, in a surprise to no one, has replied to a question from Jay Leno about the number of houses he owns with an anecdote about being a POW. This has now crossed the line into crazy, and at some point you do have to hope it blows up in his face. McCain has all my respect for surviving that ordeal—I cannot stress that strongly enough, all my respect—but at the end of the day it does not in any way qualify him to be President of the United States. Yet the beat goes on, and each and every question, regardless of content, goes back to Hanoi. He is becoming a self-parody.

10:30pm: “My name is Craig Robinson, and Michelle Obama is my little sister.” So begins the introduction of the candidate’s wife. This is a big speech, one that too much will be made of if it goes bad and not enough if it goes good. The deck is almost stacked.

Time passes…

My notes are shoddy, because the fact is that I am simply blown away by Michelle Obama. Without doubt, she gave what was the best speech of the night. She tells us of her childhood, of growing up with a father stricken by MS. She describes Barack driving them and their newborn daughter home from the hospital ten years ago, barely creeping over ten miles per hour.

For the first time I notice what a beautiful woman she is.

Again, Joe Biden looks like he might cry.

Michelle wraps up with the perfect closing line given all that has happened, “That is why I love my country.”

Boom. She nailed that speech.

The night wraps up with an appearance on camera by Barack and an adorable interplay between the father and his youngest daughter. Keith Olbermann exclaims that this could not have gone better for them, and he is absolutely right. Chris Matthews waxes poetic about never thinking he would see something like this in his lifetime, and how proud he is of his country. He, too, is absolutely right.

Night one was a complete success. The specter of the Clintons looms large for Tuesday and Wednesday, but Monday night in Denver was as good as it gets.

Until tomorrow…

90210: There When You Need It

2008-08-25T13:54:00.001-04:00

Face it: These next two weeks are going to be full of politics.

Ted Kennedy returns to the public stage tonight in Denver.

Hillary Clinton reprises her role as the victim while refusing to release her delegates tomorrow.

Bill Clinton praises Hillary and finds a way to take at least one subtle shot at the nominee on Wednesday.

Barack Obama’s formal nomination under the stars at Invesco Field happens Thursday.

John McCain announces his pick for VP on Friday.

And, finally, the GOP descends on St. Paul next week for its own dog, pony and phony patriotism show.

That sure is a lot for any of us to keep up with, and during times such as these it is important to take a moment to reflect on all the good things in life. These are the things that make us smile, that make us laugh, and that sometimes even make us cry. With that in mind, I invite you to read all about the new Beverly Hills 90210 here.

I do (still) love me some Jennie Garth.

The Announcement

2008-08-23T08:11:00.001-04:00

As I’ve written before, I like Joe Biden. I think he is the best choice for VP, an experienced and seasoned politician who excels at foreign policy and one-liners. Biden will be the favorite going into the vice presidential debate regardless of who McCain picks—and especially so if that pick is Mitt Romney. Obama made the right choice in an instance where the field was heavy with wrong ones. He vetted the best people in Bayh, Kaine, and Sebelius, all of whom would have been quality additions, while choosing to ignore Clinton, who would have been a disaster.

But that said…

This announcement was botched. So much was made of the text message system, but in the end it got in the way of common sense.
Originally it looked like a brilliant piece of marketing. Even through yesterday, when there were millions of Americans checking their cell phones for clues and updates, even then it looked like it would be a success.

Then 5pm came, and America went home, turned on the Olympics, packed for the beach, and got drunk. No announcement came. Matt Drudge filled the void with a phony report that Bayh was the pick and bumper stickers were being printed. Andrea Mitchell shot that down on NBC and pointed to Biden as the likely choice. Still, there was nothing official from Obama and the country went to bed not knowing for sure who it would be.

By morning the news was hours old. The campaign, for some inexplicable reason, after weeks of hyping the text message system, chose to send that text in the middle of the night.

Maybe it woke you up. Maybe it didn’t.

Yesterday I thought releasing this information on a Friday evening was the worst possible time. I was wrong. Releasing it in the middle of the night to a sleeping nation was much worse.

6:12pm

2008-08-22T18:12:00.000-04:00

From Drudge:

"KMBC's Micheal Mahoney reports a company in Kansas City, which specializes in political literature, has been printing Obama-Bayh material... MORE... Gill Studios, would not confirm information about the material. They would not deny it either. At least three sources close to the plant's operations reported the Obama-Bayh material was being produced..."

The Sound Of Silence

2008-08-22T17:02:00.002-04:00

5pm here in the east and still nothing in the way of an announcement from the campaign. I cannot stress enough how strange I find the timing of all this to be. Half the country is heading off for the weekend and the other half is watching the Olympics. A Friday night is no time to make an announcement like this.

Why the delay? What is the thinking here?

Has something happened? Could choice number 1 have said no at the last minute?

Tick-tock...

Tick-tock...

Tick-tock...

The Virginian

2008-08-22T12:32:00.002-04:00

A confession regarding Governor Tim Kaine of Virginia:

I really do not know much about him. There. I said it.

I do like that he hails from what very well may be a purple state. Red Virginia has been sliding towards blue for years now, and the presence of its governor on the ticket may be enough to make the transformation complete-at least this time around.

That said, Kaine is pretty much an unknown to me. Except, of course, for the fact that he too is not Hillary Clinton.

The Lady From Kansas

2008-08-22T10:55:00.002-04:00

Things I like about Governor Kathleen Sebelius of Kansas:

1) Much like Evan Bayh, Sebelius is a Democrat from a red state. I don’t think her presence on the ticket would be enough to turn Kansas blue, but it certainly couldn’t hurt in that regard.

2) Sebelius gave what I felt was a great response to Bush’s State of the Union speech back in January. She was an interesting choice that night and it kicked off instant speculation that she would be on the short list.

3) Also like Bayh, Sebelius is a fresh, new face. Voters would be meeting her for the first time.

4) She too is not Hillary Clinton.

The New Front Runner?

2008-08-22T10:39:00.001-04:00

Things I like about Senator Evan Bayh of Indiana:

1) He is a Democrat from a red state. I recently had a chance to drive across Indiana, and there wasn’t much to see. Farms, fields, and the occasional Peyton Manning jersey. It is the picture of red America. That Bayh could win there says something about what he brings to the table.

2) That this particular red state borders Illinois is also a plus. Could an Obama/Bayh ticket squeak out a win? Probably not likely, but definitely possible.

3) Bayh is a fresh face, someone that most people won’t have made their minds up about yet. He would look damn good as the heir-apparent in 8 years.

4) Bayh, much like Joe Biden, is also not Hillary Clinton.

Question

2008-08-22T08:35:00.000-04:00

My question is this:

Why is Team Obama waiting until Friday or Saturday to make the announcement that they hope will dominate the next few news cycles? A weekend announcement is known as “throwing out the trash.” It is when you announce what you hope no one will notice—and over the summer, during the last few weeks of the vacation season—there are fewer people than usual paying attention.

This announcement should have come midday yesterday. The delay is puzzling.

The Front Runner

2008-08-21T16:43:00.000-04:00

Things I like about Senator Joseph Biden of Delaware:

1) He is both funny and fierce. Biden was a highlight of the early presidential debates.

2) He is sharp on foreign affairs. Biden not only knows what he is talking about, he knows that he knows. There is no stumbling over words or struggling for answers. Of all the candidates running this time around, across both parties, Biden gave the answers that most made sense when the topic was the rest of the world.

3) He is familiar. Joe, it seems, has been running for president almost as long as I have been alive. Familiarity sometimes breeds contempt, but not on this occasion. Joe grows on you.

4) He is not Hillary Clinton. Thank you, thank you, and thank you.

Cold War II

2008-08-21T16:26:00.001-04:00

Pat Buchanan is wicked smart. Read on.

Joe

2008-08-20T21:32:00.001-04:00

I like Joe Biden. Obama could do much, much worse.

And he still might, because this could all be a misdirection play. We shall see.

A Good Read

2008-08-14T13:24:00.001-04:00

Joe Klein says, "Domino motherfucker!"

J-E-T-S

2008-08-07T09:11:00.002-04:00

And now that he is a member of the New York Jets, Brett Favre is an even BIGGER jackass. Who woulda thunk that possible?

His legacy, which was shaky at best, is gone forever. People forget, but the "great" Brett Favre won as many Super Bowls as Jim McMahon and Trent Dilfer. Too many times when it mattered most he came up short. There is nothing Montana, Aikman, or Brady-like about him.

Now he has forced his way off the team that willingly put up with his retirement/non-retirement drama for years--at the expense of their own future. He abandoned the fans in Wisconsin who loved and supported and defended him--even when it looked this time last year like he had come back just to chase Dan Marino's records. This is how Brett Favre should be remembered.

Welcome to New York, Brett. Now nobody can complain when I boo your sorry ass.

Travel Plans

2008-08-06T10:36:00.001-04:00

The day looks like this:

A car to a bus to my office. From my office, a train to another train to another bus to the airport. From there, a plane to Chicago and, finally, another car.

Whew!

A Night At The Opera

2008-08-04T13:01:00.005-04:00

Eddie Vedder descended on the stunningly-beautiful Boston Opera House this past weekend, and seeing the lead singer of Pearl Jam onstage alone was a treat none of us could pass up—despite not knowing quite what to expect. We were not disappointed.

The sellout crowd was an interesting mix of the rich, the famous, and the not-so-much. Liberal icon Howard Zinn was there. So was Bill Saggio. There were even rumors of a clandestinely-clad Theo Epstein. Truly the best and the brightest of what Boston has to offer. That is, at least as far as the second show on Saturday is concerned. Friday’s opening performance was marred by large contingents of drunken frat boys and massholes, yelling out requests and commenting at will. The singer, to his credit, took it in stride, telling the audience “I figured we’d make it to New York before the drunken assholes showed up.”

Vedder, in kicking off only his second solo tour, gave a performance Saturday night that no one could find fault with. The 26-song set list featured a few from Pearl Jam, several from the Into the Wild soundtrack, and an assortment of covers. Highlights included a mandolin-only performance of Man of the Hour and a masterful rendition of Bob Dylan’s Masters of War, a song Eddie Vedder is quickly claiming as his own. (Check out this performance and tell me that statement is not true.) ARC, an entirely vocal performance using a voice-loop machine, needs to be seen to be believed and shows just how good Vedder is at what he does.

We expected the music to be great, and it was. What we didn’t quite expect was how funny Vedder turned out to be. Before launching into James Taylor’s Millworker, he delivered a hilarious monologue on why James Taylor “is a badass.” He chastised the crowd for not being able to tell the difference between a ukulele and a mandolin, but then admitted that he “really couldn’t play the fuckin’ thing anyway.”

No Eddie Vedder performance would be complete without a little politics thrown in. He (sarcastically) congratulated Exxon on their record-breaking profits, noting that they were a company that obviously doesn’t believe in passing the savings on to the consumer. Vedder has long been a critic of the Iraq War, and he shared the story a paralyzed veteran, urging those in the crowd to write him letters of support before launching into the protest song No More.

Strangely enough it was politics that brought about one of the evening’s funniest moments. Coming back for his encore, Eddie explained that he had come to realize that while it is OK for everyone to have strong feelings and opinions, artists did need to keep those opinions to themselves and not try to influence their fans with them. As he spoke, two stagehands ran behind him carrying a giant Barack Obama banner. Even the Republicans in the crowd had to laugh at that.

This was a fantastic show that we all left knowing we were lucky to have seen. Tickets sold out quickly, but we were able to pick up some fairly priced seats through a reseller just days before the show. The tour heads to New York City tonight, and then to Newark, Montreal, Toronto, Washington, DC and Milwaukee before wrapping up in Chicago. Do not miss your chance to see it.

Important Announcement

2008-08-03T22:14:00.000-04:00

Brett Favre is still a big jackass.

That is all.

Manny

2008-07-31T07:35:00.004-04:00

Anyone who reads this blog regularly knows that I am a big Manny Ramirez fan. Many in this town never have been, despite the fact that he was the MVP of our first WS win in 86 years, a vital cog in the next one, and will be a first ballot hall-of-famer in this uniform. I’ve long maintained that Manny is the most entertaining athlete of my lifetime. No one combines the amount of pure talent, skill, and production with the insanity as well as Manny. In 2004, it was "Manny being Manny" who best personified the team's nickname of "the Idiots."

You honestly never know what will happen next, for better or for much worse.

That unpredictability rubs some the wrong way. As the years have passed, the number of Manny-haters has both ebbed and flowed. Until these last few weeks, the ratio of detractors and apologists was probably pretty close to 50/50. But no more.

Today is the trade deadline in Major League Baseball, and the Red Sox have to make a move. Manny wants out. He has made that clearer than crystal. There are options left on his deal, but neither player nor team is interested in exercising them. These are, for all intents and purposes, the last few months of his contract.

There is no sense in keeping this guy around and hoping he will produce on a team that is showing signs of fading. The time to pull the trigger on a trade is now—despite there not being anything close to fair value out there. It is better to get something, anything, in return now. The alternative is to let him walk in the offseason for nothing…and most likely end up in the Bronx.

That may still be his final destination, but the Red Sox shouldn’t let it be a direct trip. Send him to the National League, to the Marlins or the Cubs or the Phillies or the Astros or the Dodgers or the Mets, and hope to get something back in return that will make this team better.

Make the deal, Theo. The deadline is 4pm. Come 5pm, Manny Ramirez should no longer be a member of the Boston Red Sox.

And by tomorrow morning, many will have realized that this town just became a bit more boring. The last of the Idiots will be gone.

The Dark Knight

2008-07-27T11:44:00.002-04:00

Hype. So often it is so very wrong.

I like to think I don’t fall for hype as easily as some. That may just be vanity talking, to be sure, but there is some evidence to back up the claim. After all, I’m a guy who never saw what was funny about Seinfeld, never bought into Nomar Garciaparra, and still don’t quite trust the Mac. So when I heard that Heath Ledger was the subject of “Oscar buzz” for his final performance as the Joker, I was skeptical to say the least.

Now, I had no doubts that The Dark Knight could be a good movie. Its predecessor, Batman Begins, certainly was. However, I find it hard to believe that Ledger’s name would be swirling in Oscar talk if he had not so “tragically” died a few short months ago. Suicide really never did hurt an acting or music career—just ask Kurt Cobain.

That said, it is probably true to say that I walked into the theatre yesterday afternoon with something less than open mind. Preconceived notions are always dangerous for many reasons and in almost every situation. The funny thing about them is that we almost universally find ways to prove ourselves right when we have them. I can safely say this did not happen to me yesterday, because I was absolutely, completely, and totally wrong in two ways:

1) Ledger is quite good in this role. I’m not sure if he is Academy Award good or not, but this film is definitely at its best when he is on screen. This is a Joker who is much more sinister and psychotic than any we have seen in the past, and the actor behind the clown paint is very much the reason why. Like my man Johnny Depp in almost every role, Heath Ledger uses facial tics and body movements to communicate with the audience even when he has no lines. In this case the hype was right: Heath Ledger’s final performance is very, very good.

2) The movie, unfortunately, is not.

SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS BELOW!

The reasons why this film did not work for me are many, but the biggest without doubt is that the Joker, after all the hype, is utterly wasted here. He is simply a means to an end, the end being Aaron Eckhart’s hurried transformation from Gotham DA Harvey Dent to Batman villain Two-Face. I would have no problems with this if the transformation burned slowly throughout the film and pointed to a third installment, but that does not happen. Ledger’s Joker is left hanging upside down on the side of a building, waiting for police to take him away (and, sadly, as we now know, never to be seen again) while Batman rushes off to save back-from-the-dead Jim Gordon’s family from the suddenly crazy Dent in the film’s climax. You don’t have to be a comic geek or fanboy to understand that the Joker is Batman’s archnemessis. He is not treated as such in this film.

Ledger is not alone in being shortchanged. Eckhart is fantastic as Dent. You really do like this guy from the moment he walks on screen. Even knowing what his eventual fate would be, I found myself rooting for him. But then it all comes unraveled. Jim Gordon comes back from the dead, the Joker is captured, Dent rides off with a crooked cop…and the celebration is clearly premature. Again, if this film ended with a brooding Dent in a hospital bed my feelings would be quite different. But it doesn’t, and we are left with the character of Two-Face dead after having been shoehorned into a film that clearly did not have room for him.

But wait, there’s more. Maggie Gyllenhaal brings nothing to the table here as a replacement for Katie Holmes, not even a pretty face. The themes of government surveillance via the cell-phone-sonar (um…what?) and the goodness of man via the boats-with-bombs social experiment seemed too farfetched. (Really, if there were only two available ferries during a mass evacuation, would one of them be given to hardened criminals? No way. That was the sledgehammer of plot rearing its ugly head.) And Eric Roberts’ Mafioso character walking around with only a slight limp and a cane after having been thrown off the top of a building left me wondering if director Christopher Nolan or anyone else had thought this story through from beginning to end.

What works most in this movie are the three male leads, Ledger, Eckhart, and the mama-beating Christian Bale as Batman. Bale was excellent in Batman Begins and is just as good here. He looks just as comfortable in the costume as out, bringing believability to both the Dark Knight and the playboy character of Bruce Wayne. (That latter statement is true right up until the moment he uses a Lamborghini to take out a truck and then walks away without a scratch. Even a great actor can’t make that sell.)

So, yes, I was let down by The Dark Knight. The ridiculous dollars it has made guarantee a third installment, but the question then becomes “where do we go from here?” Heath Ledger is dead, and while the Joker may yet live again in the body of another actor, is the next movie the right time to do that? Probably not. Two-Face is also dead, wasted without a movie of his own. What does that leave us with? Batman’s rogues’ gallery suffers a serious drop-off after the villains we have already met. Is anyone really going to be excited by the Riddler or the Penguin? Catwoman is probably the most likely candidate, but after an appearance in the last series and a film of her own, haven’t we been there and done that? Granted, it is hard to plan for something like your lead villain killing himself during post-production, but the mishandling of Two-Face leaves this franchise in a precarious spot.

Hype can only carry you so far, and it fails to carry The Dark Knight for the full 152 minutes. I’ve seen worse movies, to be sure, but this film was very much a disappointment.

Ninjas

2008-06-27T14:04:00.001-04:00

They are hiding in New Jersey.

Who decides to lock down a school because there are reports of Ninjas in the woods? Is there a large Ninja problem in New Jersey? We deserve to know.

17! 17! 17!

2008-06-18T06:54:00.002-04:00

I was ten years old when the Boston Celtics last won a world championship. It was their 16th title, an almost obscene number in a league that, at the time, had only been around for roughly 40 years. No one knew then, nor had any reason to suspect, that they would go without another championship for 22 years. The reasons why are many, but this morning they are unimportant.

What is important is that the drought finally ended last night, that Paul Pierce, Kevin Garnett, Ray Allen, Kendrick Perkins, Rajon Rondo, Leon Powe, PJ Brown, Big Baby Davis, Tony Allen, James Posey, Eddie House, Sam Cassell, and Coach Doc Rivers are finally champions.

And because of that, because of this great team that won 66 games in the regular season, 16 more in the playoffs, returning basketball to relevance again in the city of Boston along the way, because of all that we as a region get to update our lexicon of sports phrases. They are no longer "The 16 time NBA Champion Boston Celtics." Last night when the buzzer sounded for the final time these Celtics became "The 17 time NBA Champion Boston Celtics."

I like the way that sounds.

Quick Hits

2008-06-17T13:46:00.004-04:00

On Patti Solis Doyle: OK, enough. How, exactly, is Barack Obama’s hiring of this Hillary Clinton castoff a slap in the former candidate’s face? Solis Doyle may have been no prize as a campaign staffer, true, but she is also not the reason Senator Clinton's campaign failed. Mark Penn, Terry McAuliffe, Bill Clinton and, most importantly, the candidate herself all shoulder more responsibility for this defeat than does Patti Solis Doyle. She is a Democratic political operative in an election year that features $4 gasoline and skyrocketing inflation. We all need a job right now. Why should Patti Solis Doyle be any different? Shouldn’t Obama's willingness to hire Clintonistas be seen as an attempt to unify what is clearly still a fractured party? Obama should be commended for this, not condemned. The crying and the outrage that is going on amongst Clinton supporters over this is a stretch at best. My advice is to keep looking for slights like this to justify your vote for John McCain in the fall, and then good luck finding a job in the new administration once Obama wins in spite of you. These people remind me daily why I could never be a Democrat. You could safely say that I am outraged by their phony outrage. It is outrageous.

On the ESPN Ombudsman: Le Anne Schreiber tackled the issue of Spygate and the role ESPN played in perpetuating the story in her column last week. It is, for the most part, a fair, balanced, and accurate description of a network that allowed itself to go overboard in covering a story that turned out to be much less than advertised. The one area where Schreiber misses the boat is in her refusal to call out ESPN.com columnist Gregg Easterbrook. Easterbrook never missed an opportunity to attack Bill Belichick and the NFL throughout the 2007 season, and was given a hat-tip in each of Mike Fish’s articles from Hawaii concerning Matt Walsh during Super Bowl week. Since that time, Easterbrook has regularly referenced another shoe that would soon be dropping concerning Spygate. Once it was revealed that Walsh was a fraud who had nothing new to add to the story, Easterbrook refused to back off or admit any error in is his reporting. His response to the Walsh news was to write that it didn’t matter, that Bill Belichick had never been properly punished and needed to be suspended, despite the fact that the coach had already been fined $500,000 and the team had lost a first round draft choice. Schreiber defends this by arguing Easterbrook and his readers were experiencing only a difference in opinion. She lets him off much too easy concerning the rest of his conduct.

On Tiger Woods: I don’t care.

On Al Gore: That was a great endorsement speech last night, one of the better ones in recent memory. In hindsight, I am glad that you opted to pass on another run at the White House. You’ve become quite the statesman over these last few years, and are now respected both here and abroad in a way Bill Clinton no longer is. Who would have ever though that possible? But Al, really, couldn’t you have spoken up a little sooner? If you had made this speech back in February, when Obama was busy racking up eleven victories in a row and the Clintons were busy imploding, it may have helped to bring an earlier end to this campaign. You were right on Iraq, you were right on global warming, and even though you eventually lost you were right to dispute that election. Where would we be today if it had gone the other way?

On the NBA Finals: Could tonight be the night? Sloppy play in Los Angeles has hidden the fact that of the Lakers two victories there both featured either Bennett Salvatore or Dick Bavetta. When you can not only predict who the referees will be but also their impact on results long before the games are even played it illustrates what an enormous problem the NBA has on its hands right now. This series was once a lock to go seven games. Given the last week and the stories that have come out, it may suddenly be better for all involved if this wraps up in six.

Beat LA!

UPDATE: The NBA released the names of tonight’s referees as I went to post this. Bennett Salvatore and Joey Crawford (who sat our last year’s playoffs while on suspension for challenging Tim Duncan to a fight) will both be in the house. David Stern and ABC both want a 7th game. Here is hoping they will learn to live with disappointment.

On Russert

2008-06-14T09:17:00.002-04:00

This news has not yet fully sunk in, nor has the idea that Tim Russert will not be moderating Meet the Press tomorrow morning. Death always brings out flowery tributes and embellished evaluations of the deceased’s impact on the world around them, but in the case of Tim Russert and his impact on the world of political journalism, each and every word is true.

It was Russert, long before anyone else on election night 2000, who realized it would be Florida, Florida, Florida that decided the election.

It was Russert who sat across from Vice President Dick Cheney on the eve of the Iraq war and came closer than anyone else to asking the tough questions to which this administration was perhaps prepared to lie in response to.

It was Russert who declared the race between Obama and Clinton to be over, weeks before there was any sort of concession.

To simply say he will be missed is of course an understatement. Meet the Press is the longest running program in the history of this country, dating back to its days on radio. Long before there was Tim Russert there was Meet the Press…but it is hard this morning to imagine Meet the Press now going forward without him.

Sunday mornings and election nights will never quite be the same again. We have truly lost one of the all-time greats.

Tim Russert

2008-06-13T15:59:00.003-04:00

Oh. My. God.

Tim Russert, dead at 58.

Russert was an institution unto himself. There is no one more knowledgeable about American politics working in our media today. Meet The Press has been required watching for me for years. I am truly stunned right now.

You will be missed, Tim, so very much. Sunday mornings will never be quite the same again.

The Officials Are Officially Official

2008-06-10T13:26:00.002-04:00

We have our referee assignments for tonight. Bennett Salvatore, as predicted here yesterday and in front of my TV on Sunday night, will be in the house.

The Boston Celtics are about to get fucked over.

Good Reads

2008-06-10T12:37:00.004-04:00

E.J. Dionne on why my man Joe Biden should be at the top of Barack Obama’s VP short list. Biden has consistently been one of the few Democrats to appear confident and comfortable discussing foreign policy, and he would bring that confidence to the ticket. Obama could do much, much worse than Biden.

Froma Harrop on why it is OK for Clinton supporters to back John McCain. Honest to god, her point is that he would never, ever, stack the court with conservative judges and try to overturn Roe. Remember—if you make this mistake then these next four years will be your fault. The choice is yours.

Richard Cohen on what the anti-Hillary media, pundit crowd, and blogosphere will do now that she is out of the race. (Is that me in the mirror?)

NBA aficionado/writer/guru Bob Ryan on why the Lakers will get every call tonight. If Los Angeles fails to win this particular game it will signify a shocking turn of events.

Curt Schilling, he of the selfless “bloody sock” episode, on that certain something Kobe Bryant seems to be missing.

This is a bit dated now, but Bill Simmons checks in with his NBA Finals preview and sheds a little light on the Phil Jackson/Kobe Bryant relationship along the way.

Ken Berger on why the 2-3-2 format, used only in the Finals, needs to go. Where does David Stern get the balls to blame this travesty on Red Auerbach? Almost more importantly, how is the name “Auerbach” not in Word’s dictionary? WTF?

Finally, Peggy Noonan’s column is a staple of this list. She appears every Friday in The Wall Street Journal and is currently writing commentary better than anyone else in America. You should be checking it out.

Quick Hits

2008-06-09T12:25:00.003-04:00

A few quick hits to take your mind off this hazy, hot, and humid Monday in June...

On the NBA Finals: Words cannot properly describe what a fantastic matchup this is. I grew up watching Larry Bird vs. Magic Johnson, and reading about Bill Russell vs. Wilt Chamberlain. I’ve watched Phil Jackson slowly creep up on, and finally tie, Red Auerbach’s record of nine titles as a head coach. At the same time, I’ve watched the Celtics fall first into disarray and then into irrelevance. No one would have bet a year ago that when Jackson’s next shot at number ten came along it would be the Boston Celtics who stood in his way. This is that rarest of matchups in sports where all the hype, all of it, is true. This really is that good.

And if you are still not sold consider this: The Celtics have 16 world championships. The Lakers have 14 world championships. There have been 61 total world championships in league history. You do the math.

On the Referees: NBA officiating is absolutely terrible, the worst of any major sport. Last night’s game 2 has been widely criticized due to a perceived impartiality towards the home team, and there may be something to that. Ken Mauer and Dan Crawford, two of the three officials on the floor last night, are both on the not-so-short list of incompetent (or corrupt) referees the NBA is currently employing. No game should have such a vast disparity in the number of free throw attempts between teams. But that said, the Lakers have looked to be nothing more than a soft jump-shooting team in these first two games. If you are looking for foul shots then you should be driving to the basket. LA goes home down 0-2, but with the knowledge that they will be the home team for the next three games. Look for a steady diet of Bennett Salvatore and Dick Bavetta on Tuesday and Thursday to ensure this series does not end in 4 or 5 games. The NBA and ABC both know there is far too much money left to be made to let that happen.

On Black Mamba: Kobe Bryant…you are not now, nor will you ever be, the “greatest player on the planet”. There is no doubt that you have great skills. There is no doubt that you were a key component on three world championship teams. But all the great players—Russell, Magic, Bird, Jordan, etc.—all the great players before you have made the players around them, the component parts of the team, better. After watching your Lakers these last two games it is clear that no one’s game is being raised by your own. That is what Shaquille O’Neal did for you…and what you have failed to do since you chased him out of town.

On Bill Plaschke: Anyone who has seen you ruin ESPN’s Around The Horn with your whining and phony liberalism knows you shouldn’t be taken too seriously. Your column in the LA Times is not much better. But you crossed the line on Friday when you accused Paul Pierce of faking his knee injury in game 1. You had no evidence to back up your claim. No actual reporting was done to check the facts. But that didn’t stop you, Bill. By Sunday you had made the situation worse. Instead of admitting that you may have been wrong, or showing any signs of regret at all, you chose to lash out at the Boston fans that had predictably filled your inbox with various insults. You were not being singled out, Bill, you were being called out for making up a story. How dare you then try to play the victim.

Speaking of victims…

On Hillary Clinton: Your concession speech on Saturday may have been graceful. It may have been respectful. It may have even, to some, been believable. But the reality is that no matter how beautiful the speech, it was far too little and much too late. You had one last chance to do the right thing on Tuesday—and you wasted it. Now you are faced with a no-win situation. An Obama victory would almost certainly crush any chance you have left to one day be president, but an Obama defeat would leave you with Democratic blood on your hands. Your sins these last few months are not going to be forgotten.

On ABC: Wow. Your coverage of these NBA playoffs has rivaled CBS’ coverage of the NFL for worst in recent memory. The trio of Mike Breen, Jeff Van Gundy, and Mark Jackson has been brutal to listen to. In fact, it is highly questionable how much of the game of basketball lead play-by-play man Mike Breen even understands. Fouls are missed or blatantly ignored. (Case in point was last night’s technical foul on Kevin Garnett in the first quarter—we’re still waiting to see what happened.) The Lakers last night, to their credit, almost pulled off one of the greatest comebacks in history. Down 26 points at one point in the fourth quarter, they refused to quit, rallied, battled back, and cut the deficit in half before Mike Breen even realized circumstances were changing and he should stop pretending the game was over. It was an embarrassing performance, both by ABC and the Celtic defense. Where is Marv Albert when we need him?

On Predictions: Nope, sorry, not gonna be making one this time around. This series could still go either way. It’ll be fun enough just to enjoy the ride.

Steinem for Obama

2008-06-05T11:16:00.000-04:00

Good for Gloria Steinem. She was as guilty as anyone last January of enabling Hillary to abuse feminism as a crutch—it is good to she is trying to send the message that this battle is over.

Thoughts and Observations: South Dakota and Montana Edition

2008-06-04T13:27:00.002-04:00

7:15pm: We are coming to you LIVE from Fenway Park in Boston, the states of Montana and South Dakota, the cities of St. Paul, Minnesota and Kenner, Louisiana, and from a basement somewhere in New York City! I’m joined tonight by special correspondents Sam Adams and Charlie the dog. Yes, it’s true—all the big guns have been brought in to watch history in the making.

7:21: Chris Matthews accuses Hillary Clinton of “running” for Vice President following her earlier comments to the New York congressional delegation (during what was supposed to be an off-the-record conference call) that she would be “open” to the idea of being Barack Obama’s running mate. Newsweek's Howard Fineman makes the point that no conference call in history has ever been off-the-record because there is so little control over who can get on. I would argue that Hillary is smart, very smart, and that she knew those comments today would ignite a media inferno, keep her relevant in this evening’s news cycle, and diminish what is about to be a historic accomplishment by Obama. Is that just me thinking the worst? 16 years of the Clintons will do that to you.

Meanwhile, at Fenway: Two strange twists of fate on this final night of the primary season. First, Justin Masterson has been recalled from Pawtucket and is making his second career start. His first start, you might remember, came two weeks ago on the night of Kentucky and Oregon. Second, Red Sox color man and local celebrity Jerry Remy was this afternoon dispatched to New Hampshire for an appearance with Governor John Lynch to promote the upcoming New Hampshire Day at Fenway. It was of course New Hampshire that bailed Clinton out back in January following her first bout of phony tears. This universe really is just a big snake feeding on its own tail.

7:30: Our first report from special correspondent Sam Adams, and Chuck Todd is here with the delegate math! Obama’s VP selection will be based on the cold, hard reality of the Electoral College map. Where does he need help and who can bring that help? Senator Chuck Hagel would be an across-the-aisle unity pick, and he may help the Dems pick up a vote or two in Nebraska. Kansas Governor Kathleen Sebelius has been mentioned ever since her response to the State of the Union back in January, but can she really turn Kansas blue? Indiana Senator Evan Bayh has also been rumored as a potential candidate for months…and Todd reports Indiana is one of those states that may be turning purple rather than red or blue. Oh the drama of it all!

Meanwhile, at Fenway: Sox third baseman Mike Lowell gets the Sox on the board with a 2-run homer. They now lead Tampa Bay 2-1. Apparently the kid Masterson has given up one hit—and that one hit is a home run.

7:36: The Hillary for VP sweepstakes is in full swing. Will her supporters be appeased by anything less? I should have been prepared for this. There was no way the Clintons were going to do the classy thing and just go away. Ugh…

Obama is 11 delegates away from the current magic number of 2118. When he clinches it will be a momentous and historic moment—a black man as nominee of a major political party for the first time in American history—but that will always be beside the point. The whole point of his campaign is that he is so much more than that. And if that becomes the story then he will lose. Make no mistake.

Meanwhile, at Fenway: Sox Appeal, a reality dating show produced by NESN during Sox games, is filming in right field. This is marketing gone wild.

7:55: BROKAW! He disagrees that Hillary is trying to “shoehorn” her way onto the ticket, despite the timely comments she let slip earlier in the day. Whatever.

8:03: Matthews references John McCain’s still-embargoed speech, which is now scheduled to be delivered at 8:30. It is all about Hillary, about the strength of the American woman, and about the evils of the American media. Matthews beats around the bush for three minutes, and then…

8:06: The embargo is broken! It was the media and the pundits who installed Obama as the nominee. They never properly respected Hillary. He is proud to call her his friend. McCain is going to pick up exactly where she left off, using tactics that are insulting to American women because he thinks they will work, and embarrassing to American women when they do. If you are a Clinton supporter who buys into this crap then these next four years will be your fault. It is just that simple.

8:10: We have a live look-in to the already packed arena in St. Paul. Obama won’t even speak for two more hours but they are already close to exceeding capacity. Matthews delivers an early contender for Line of the Night honors in regards to the upcoming GOP convention in St. Paul: “I hear Larry Craig is going to start his book tour at the airport there.” Ouch.

Meanwhile, at Fenway: JD Drew has overcome his bout with Vertigo to homer and put the Sox back up 3-2. Yes, you read that right. Vertigo. This guy should get some kind of award for the creative excuses he comes up with to take nights off. This isn’t like saying your grandmother has died four times—that is for amateurs. JD Drew is a pro.

8:30: Howard Fineman reports Obama will offer Clinton the Vice Presidency only if he is guaranteed beforehand that she will not take it. Personally, I would be suspect of any “guarantee” Hillary Clinton gave me. Especially if she brings along Terry McAuliffe to the meeting. Obama should give her the Michael Corleone offer. (“My offer is this: Nothing.”)

8:38: McCain opens his remarks by butchering the pronunciation of “New Orleans”. He enunciates each and every syllable and I think even adds an extra one. Yeah, John, that makes you sound like one of the people. And then it is full speed ahead in the praise of Hillary. He has three daughters, he is proud to call her his friend, her accomplishment has been remarkable, blah, blah, and blah. The crowd does not share his warm and fuzzy feelings for her, to say the least. The applause comes in at strange times and makes it seem like there are less than 15 people in the room with him. There is the very real chance that Obama is going to win this race going away—especially so if this is the version of John McCain he gets to run against.

8:44: The praise continues and I am thoroughly disgusted. So are many of his supporters. I deal with it by wrestling on the ground with Charlie. He wins.

Meanwhile, at Fenway: The Sox now trail 4-3. Not sure what happened. It is really easy to forget this Tampa Bay team is currently in first place, if for no other reason than it makes me feel like we are in some sort of Bizzaro alternate universe.

HOLY COW! Manny beats out a grounder to short for an infield hit. No, now the scoring is changed to an error on Rays’ SS Jason Bartlett. That is probably the right call.

8:57: Another special report from Sam Adams.

9pm: The polls close in South Dakota and this is the moment: NBC News is projecting that Obama has secured the necessary delegates and is the nominee. That news is tempered somewhat by the ominous “Too Early to Call” in regards to the result there.

9:08: Keith Olbermann and Tom Brokaw compare this to the moment we first landed on the moon. I’m not sure I would go that far—but I also did not live through the strife of the 1960’s. Different generations are going to view this from quite different perspectives.

Meanwhile, at Fenway: Masterson is all done after six solid innings. Manny Delcarmen comes into start the 7th and promptly gives up a 4 pitch walk. Oh boy…

9:17: Andrea Mitchell reports that “senior Clinton advisors” are telling her Hillary wants a private meeting with Obama to discuss the VP job. Matthews, Olbermann, and myself all have the same reaction: “This is obviously a leak, Andrea. Why would they be telling you this if they actually wanted a private meeting?” Mitchell, to say the least, is PISSED. This news was the result of her hard work reporting—not because of a choreographed press leak. Keep telling yourself that Andrea.

9:22: Clinton is the projected winner in South Dakota. I begin to cringe but then realize the silver lining in that news:

THAT IS THE LAST TIME WE WILL HAVE TO HEAR THAT!!!

9:28: Terry McAuliffe is the warm-up act for Hillary in NYC. Well, that serves this crowd right. Somehow McAuliffe or Clinton blows the cue, and there is an awkward 45 second delay between when he introduces her as “The Next President of the United States” and when the Clintons emerge from behind the curtain. As much I dislike Clinton, I’m happy to blame this one on McAuliffe.

9:32: She congratulates Obama and asks her supporters to recognize his accomplishment—but never refers to him as the nominee nor describes exactly what accomplishment she is referring to. Now it becomes clear why this speech is being given in a basement, two floors below street level, out of cell phone range and without television monitors. Hillary is pretending she has not lost, and she has sealed off communications to and from the room so many in the audience are none the wiser. This is a move worthy of Stalin. Are we looking at New York City or North Korea? Baruch College or Burma?

Then it is back to the popular vote and attacking the media. She will not concede—ever. Not in any dignified manner. She has lost that opportunity tonight. Any concession she issues from here on out will be to control the damage to her reputation, whatever little there may be left of it. This performance is an embarrassment to her supporters, to her staff, and to herself. Hillary Clinton is fortunate this night that she is immune to feeling shame.

9:41: She is talking about all the closed factories and the jobs shipped overseas, but makes no mention of NAFTA or her husband’s role in it. This truly is a speech better suited for Fantasy Land.

9:48: Alright, I’m officially calling BULLSHIT: I don’t for a second believe this story about the little boy in Kentucky selling his bicycle and video games so he can donate the money to her campaign. Not for one second.

She wraps up by announcing that she will make no decision on her future tonight. No class or sense of decency and decorum. None.

Meanwhile, at Fenway: Papelbon is in for the 9th with the Sox still up 7-4. Thank you, thank you, thank you. I could listen to Clinton no longer.

10pm: The Rays go down in order in the 9th, and strike 3 is called just as the polls close in Montana. Obama is immediately the predicted winner. This is further proof of the age old adage: Big Sky country loves a guy named Barack.

10:10: The nominee speaks in St. Paul, notable for being the very sight of the GOP convention in August. This is a brilliant move. The room is literally throbbing with listeners, some estimates are as high as 17,000, and John McCain on his best day will be unable to recreate it. St. Paul just became Obama country.

He thanks his wife, his daughter, his volunteers, his staff…and finally his grandmother. His affection and reverence for her comes across so clearly, so genuinely. I almost get a little choked up. Almost. He lavishes praise on Hillary (the classy move) and McCain (the smart move). The time to attack the latter will come soon enough—for now it is more effective to link him to Bush, to the faltering economy, to the war, and to the past.

Money quote: “We call ourselves Democrats, we call ourselves Republicans, but we are Americans first. We are always Americans first.”

10:45: Obama wraps up to thunderous applause. He was on tonight in a way he hasn’t been for the last few months. He rocked that room. It might have a little something to do with the knowledge that somehow, finally, he will be rid of the Clintons. I think we can all understand that.

It should also be noted that of the three speeches we saw tonight, his was the only one that came across as being presidential. McCain stumbled badly, and Clinton’s will always be remembered for its ugliness and her selfishness.

Bring on the general election! Finally, after six long months of left vs. left and right vs. right, finally, let us get into Red vs. Blue.

Froma Harrop

2008-06-03T07:47:00.003-04:00

Below is my response to Froma Harrop of the Providence Journal who concludes her latest diatribe against Barack Obama and any candidate not named Hillary Clinton this morning with the following:

“Indeed. McCain in '08 has suddenly become a more likely prospect.”

You can read the entire article here. Harrop has been beating this drum slowly for months, maintaining the fallacy that any fault in strategy or conduct by Clinton campaign could not be to blame for their looming defeat. Only sexism, and the mistreatment of American women by Barack Obama, could be to blame.

It is already a tired and played out argument, and even more importantly it is untrue…but it isn’t going away anytime soon. And it may just turn out to be exactly what John McCain needs to pick up where George Bush is going to leave off on January 20th, 2009.

____________________________________________

"Indeed. McCain in '08 has suddenly become a more likely prospect."

These women should be embarrassed to make this argument. When John McCain is nominating Supreme Court Justices they will have no one to blame but themselves. They are knowingly and willfully selling every woman in this country who may find herself in need of a safe and legal abortion down the proverbial river.

And for what?

NOTHING was taken from Hillary Clinton. She ran a terribly shortsighted campaign and lost because of it. Her supporters act as if the door to the presidency should have been held open for her. That is not feminism.

Martha Burke and Geraldine Ferraro, to name two, have proven themselves throughout this campaign to be no better than Al Sharpton or Louis Farrakhan--whipping up old gender battles to serve their purposes and help their candidate. Ferraro's cries of sexism have been as blatant and phony as Sharpton's cries of racism. Those tactics may be effective, but they are a far cry from being presidential.

Remember this, Froma: Clinton walloped Obama here is Massachusetts, but was able to win neither Wellesley nor Northampton in the process. The next generation of American women is so much better than this.

Sincerely,

Jim Viall
Brighton, MA

Thoughts and Observations: Puerto Rico Edition

2008-06-01T20:17:00.002-04:00

Flipping channels in between innings of the Sox game on a Sunday afternoon and what do you find…

3pm: The polls have closed in the territory of Puerto Rico! As expected, Senator Hillary Clinton is your winner. And the margin is big.

Matthews, Olbermann, Russert, Norah, Buchanan, the entire cast has been called in for this. I must ask…why?

3:02: Tim Russert: This result today means absolutely, positively, less than nothing. (That is me paraphrasing. He says it much more eloquently, but you get the idea. Do the Clintons?)

So…Puerto Rico can vote in the primary but not in the general election? WTF? Who came up with these ridiculous rules? Can we trust the Democrats to rule? I really have my doubts.

Russert raises the obvious and at the same time scary hypothetical question: If Obama passes on Hillary as VP, does John McCain himself look to a woman in order to pour gas on this fire? This is the question that should be on every Democrat’s mind. Hillary cannot be trusted on the ticket, but can her supporters be trusted if she is off it? Geraldine Ferraro would have American women embark on a suicide mission to vote for McCain in spite of Barack Obama, a mission that at the same time would eventually condemn every American woman who finds herself in need of a safe, legal, and rare abortion. Hillary’s cause has nothing to do with feminism—and shame on any so-called feminist who claims otherwise. You are embarrassing yourselves.

3:10: Live from San Juan, it’s Clinton campaign chairman Terry McAuliffe! DEAR GOD WHY? Can I justify drinking at this hour of the afternoon?

Meanwhile, in Baltimore: Manny hits homerun number 501, almost to the exact spot where he cranked number 500 last night. I’ve said it before and I will say it again: Manny Ramirez is the most entertaining athlete of my lifetime. No one before him has combined talent and goofiness quite the same way. You honestly never know what he is going to do. A great play is always just as likely as a boneheaded screw up.

Meanwhile, in San Juan: I flip back just in time to hear McAuliffe whip out the third person. “Don’t take Terry McAuliffe’s word for it.” Good advice Terry—I sure won’t. He accuses MSNBC of being eager to “pop corks” for an Obama win…and follows that up by refusing to promise Hillary will make any sort of concession speech once Barack reaches the magic number of 2118 delegates. The Hillary Clinton campaign…its FANtastic!

3:18: Charlie the dog has to pee. We’re off to the backyard.

3:21: We’re back, and the dog has an empty bladder.

3:30: Chuck Todd is here and he has the latest delegate math! Official NBC tabulations have Obama within 50 delegates of the nomination. Is that light at the end of this tunnel or only a reflection off the snake oil Terry McAuliffe is peddling? We may never know.

3:34: Matthews and Olbermann share a laugh about the Philadelphia Phillies’ late season collapse in 1964. Yes, that is the kind of keen political analysis you get when Puerto Rico goes to the polls.

3:37: It’s the panel! Rachel Maddow makes the case that Hillary’s popular vote argument is, in a word, crap. She is ahead in the popular vote only if you don’t count the caucuses in Washington, Maine, Guam, the Virgin Islands, and of the mysterious “Democrats Abroad”—all contests won by Senator Obama. The money quote: “It’s absurd!”

Pat Buchanan’s rebuttal: “You are whistling past the graveyard” and “Democrats everywhere better stock up on booze for November.” I hear you, Patrick. Loud and clear.

3:45: Russert is back, and his prognostication for Clinton is grim: “The Clintons have 48 hours to enjoy this victory and to play up the popular vote. By Wednesday morning this thing is going to be over. The math is the math.” That makes sense. I’d like to think the Clintons know that. I’d like to, but…

3:52: Ohio Congresswoman and Clintonista Stephanie Tubbs Jones makes an appearance. I knew nothing of Jones before this campaign began, and recently I’ve discovered that I was quite happier that way. True to form, she attacks Matthews for failing to give Clinton, “the respect she deserves following her tremendous victory in Puerto Rico.” I’m shaking my head in disbelief that even a Clinton partisan could describe winning Puerto Rico as a “tremendous victory”. Then we’re quickly back to the tired talking point arguments about the (no-longer) disputed Michigan primary. This interview was both pathetic and embarrassing, and it was almost enough to make me feel sorry for Rep. Jones. Almost.

4pm: BREAKING NEWS: Senator Obama has called Senator Clinton to congratulate her on her (tremendous) victory in Puerto Rico. This is a classy move—Clinton and McAuliffe should take notes.

4:17: Obama addresses his supporters at the Corn Palace in Mitchell, South Dakota. Honest to god.

He congratulates Clinton on her victory but stops short of calling it “tremendous.” Obama urges the crowd to do the same and is given an icy silence in return. I don’t get the sense that these internal party rifts are going to be healed anytime soon.

Meanwhile, in Baltimore: Manny gets doubled up on a fly ball to the outfield. What was I saying earlier about boneheaded plays?

4:33: Obama is still talking at the Corn Palace. We’ve gotten the greatest hits so far: The gas tax holiday is bullshit, free trade should be fair trade, my healthcare plan is better, and Geraldine Ferraro is a jackass. Alright…I made that last one up.

4:41: It is all over in Baltimore. Sox win! Sox win! Sox win! And Bartolo Colon has returned from the scrap heap to quietly go 3-0. I’ll take it.

4:45: Obama wraps up his remarks. This became a good speech at the end. He told a funny story about meeting a lady from the Greenville (SD?) city council who is known locally for her ability to always start a chant. Not knowing this, he had no idea how to react when she looked at him, smiled, and yelled, “FIRE IT UP!” You know…I would not quite know how to take that either.

Matthews seizes on his early use of the word “entitlement” as a not-so-veiled shot at Clinton. And he’s probably right, but at this point I would argue that no one can take too many not-so-veiled shots at Hillary Clinton. In fact, we should all make it a point to take a not-so-veiled shot at Clinton. I’ll go first:

Obviously, I think we would all agree that Senator Clinton should be respected for running such a tough campaign. If, you know, we discount the fact that she blew such a commanding early lead. Or that she has so badly mismanaged her finances that there may be legitimate charges of fraud coming. Or that her campaign displayed absolutely no ability to control Bill Clinton. Or that they had no plan after February 5th other than to play the victim, race-bait, and cry sexism. But other than that, sure, she ran a fantastic campaign and deserves our respect.

Yeah…maybe just using the word entitlement is a bit more veiled than that. Opinions, no doubt, will vary.

4:51: Obama supporter David Boniol arrives just in time to deliver the line of the day in the form of an Abbot and Costello reference:

Abbot: “If you have $50 in one pocket and $100 in the other, what do you have?”

Costello: “Somebody else’s pants!”

Seriously, Puerto Rico should vote more often.

5pm: The news breaks that Senator Clinton is scheduled to speak at 5:15. Lucky for me I don’t plan on sticking around that long. This has already been two hours of my life I’ll never have back.

Back on Tuesday for South Dakota and Montana and, finally, the end of this primary season.