Wednesday, August 15, 2007
Once Upon a Time in Mexico
"Once upon a time, there was a young boy from Newport News by the name of Ron Mexico..."
God bless the men of Deadspin and their creative Photoshop'pers for their ever-amusing coverage of the ongoing Michael Vick saga. VD infecting, pot smuggling, leg stomping, gun brandishing -- Who do the Vicks think they are? The Iversons? Remember the days when Michael Vick was the good one?
Soon our long national nightmare will come to an end (possibly by the end of the week, when the last of Vick's co-defendants cops a plea to federal dogfighting charges).
BTW, do you know where the phrase "long national nightmare" originated?
This will come as a great relief to The Correspondent, who, despite the assignment of the case to federal court in Richmond, has nonetheless been sucked into the Vick vortex. In a story of hers that made national newspapers, including USA Today, she went to the N.N. neighborhood where Vick grew up and talked to his former neighbors, who put him somewhere between Mother Teresa and Jesus. The man loved his dogs, one guy said. It turns out that Vick also provided air conditioners for people in the project who didn't have any to get them through our sticky Virginia summers. He has also donated school supplies and athletic uniforms to local kids. These acts make the man known to locals as "Ookie" innocent of dogfighting charges. Period.
As I'm listening to this, I'm thinking (and smirking), "Wait, someone who has done something good could NEVER do anything bad, right?"
Tuesday, August 14, 2007
On The Campaign Trail
Tuning around the cable this evening, I saw a re-run of a C-SPAN2 piece from Monday, a John Edwards campaign rally at a pizza place somewhere in rural (isn't it all?) Iowa.
First of all, let me say that I believe that this guy could be president. He's electable. He knows his shit; says all the right things. On the economy, can anyone out there disagree with what Edwards says about the dichotomy that exists? On education, he recommends shit-canning NCLB and, instead of punishing under-performing schools, would focus on giving schools what they need to succeed. On Iraq, he said if the war is still going on when he's elected, he'll immediately start bringing troops home. January 2008 is a long time off. Likely, some of the men/women serving over there will be on their way home by then. And, for the most part, isn't the war over now anyway? More and more, it seems to me we're a country (yes, even Bushies) looking for a way out while saving varying degrees of face. Like I said: Smart.
Best of all, that smug look Edwards sometimes wears was noticeably absent. Perhaps the heat in the pizza parlor, which he decried several times during his speech, melted it off his face like so much mozzarella.
One thing that bothers me about Edwards, though, is the deal with his wife. Granted, I cheered when she got it on with Anne Coulter on Hardball. But there's something really odd about the role of Elizabeth Edwards, a breast cancer patient, and how much she is a part of her husband's campaign. This could be because the woman has a gravity all her own. The pizza parlor people talked to her as much as they did her husband during the Q-n-A, wishing her well, talking about a time when the Edwardses together will take up residence in the White House.
Let me now speak frankly. From what I read, Mrs. Edwards' situation is not good. She is an ill woman with not a lot of time on her hands. Check out the story in that link and see all the stuff she's doing on her husband's behalf...and that of her kids, now that I think of it. Her schedule's almost as brutal as her husband's, even at this early state in the campaign. I look at her condition and weigh it against the lot she's been handed with her husband running for president and all and I have to say it just doesn't make sense to me.
Not that I expect them to be holed up in North Carolina, the entire family gathered 'round, waitin' for mama's time to come. The refusal to do so can easily be seen as honorable and it's played out the same way every day in homes across the country. Most of us know somebody who, when given a choice whether to fight or just suffer, chooses the more righteous path. But if all this running around causes Elizabeth Edwards to get sick, which in her shape could be really bad, how will that make him feel about having asked her to do some of the things she's done? How will their kids feel?
All the creepiness I feel about this, I think, extends from the idea -- and I have to stress this is only something I'm imagining -- that somewhere along the line there was a conversation between John and Elizabeth Edwards where they looked at her life expectancy and then looked at his chances for the presidency in 2008. Combined with his experience from 2004 and what they inevitably see as a weak field, it would appear that they decided to commit themselves to what I can only assume is the ultimate goal of any politician. I find that to be incredibly sad and, I'll admit, more than a little inspiring.
Monday, August 13, 2007
You Won't Have 'Boy Genius' to Kick Around Again
This one has been knocking around in my head for awhile
Chris wrote recently that it was time to call a spade a "stupid fucking shovel" (channeling a really old joke that I can't remember the rest of there) in regard to our current president. Don't get me wrong. I totally agree and always have. I'm constantly amazed at the words, as Chris Tucker would say, that are coming out of Bush's mouth. I wonder what his final 18 months in office will be like without the man behind the curtain. My guess: quiet. He'll be generating his own half-witted policies for a change. How could things possibly be worse than WITH Rove?
So it was very interesting when, on the occasion of the Barry Bonds record-breaking home run, that Bush waxed eloquent about the effect on Bonds' record should he eventually be convicted of what everyone and their brother suspects he's done -- use illegal performance-enhancing drugs.
So after the record fell, Bush called Bonds to congratulate him. Fairly innocuous stuff: “You’ve always been a great hitter and you broke a great record,” according to Tony Fratto, a White House spokesman. The president did not mention steroids.
But in a subsequent interview with Fox News, Bush spoke about steroids: “There is a lot of speculation about Barry Bonds, and my only advice for people is to just let history be the judge,” Bush said. “Let’s find out the facts, and then everybody’s opinion, one way or the other, will be verified or not verified.”
Substitute Saddam Hussein for Bonds and WMD's for steroids and, well, have fun. What struck me most about Bush's words were the thought that went into them. Clearly, this idea is one that has survived loneliness long enough to congeal into some sort coherent pattern, emerging in rounded form. So what does it say about a president when THIS is the issue that renders the most logical response of anything he's been faced with in months, years, terms? It means he's dim, right? Not so fast.
It should be said that I'm a sports fan. I watch them. I follow them in the papers. I play them...some better than others. I think they are a valid reflection of the societies that value them. I think they say as much about the fans as they do the athletes and the games themselves. So, I feel strangely that a moron like Bush chooses something I value on which to stand and raise an intellectual flag. I guess I'm thankful there IS a light on in that house, even if it's a dusty 15-watt bulb.
Monday, August 06, 2007
'Full House' at Pierce's
Seen last night at Pierce's Pitt Bar-b-Que along I-64 outside Williamsburg...
Who knew? They looked much skinnier to me on "Entertainment Tonight."