Ah, yes...

19-10. A very satisfying win on a number of levels --

(1) Over the New Jersey Jest,
(2) At their home stadium (which they're actually borrowing from that other New Jersey team),
(3) Against their treachorous, misguided and over-rated head coach,
(4) Against an ineffective and equally over-rated aging quarterback (see July 11, 2008),
(5) In front of an over-indulging audience,
(6) Proving that the Patriots have more than one talented player on their team,

and, most significantly --

(7) IN A GAME THAT THEY WERE EXPECTED TO LOSE -- HANDILY.

Of course, tomorrow, the talking heads will talk about how the Jest really aren't that good, how they didn't make the playoffs last year, and how they barely defeated the Division II Miami Tunas in week 1 -- facts that were conveniently overlooked prior to Sunday's kickoff.

Of course, those same Tunas could get their dander up (or whatever Tunas have) for next week, so you never know. But we'll always have Paris...or the Meadowlands...

Bring back #11!

You know what just popped into my head today?

Drew Bledsoe.

I mean, why not?

He's only 36, and while he and Coach B had their differences, I'm sure they can work it out. He can't be too old to learn how to throw a screen pass...

36 (or XXXVI) is kinda a lucky number anyway if you're a Patriots fan.

Just a thought...

Organization Man

Most people understand the role of a Mayor or a Governor, regardless of the constituency governed. But a "Community Organizer"? That's a little more obtuse. Fortunately, the Left-Wing establishment is there to help us out with their latest slate of talking points, explaining (to quote Donna Brazile, Susan Sarandon and Steve Cohen, that "Jesus was a Community Organizer," and, oh by the way, "Pontius Pilate was a Governor."

As an Evangelical Christian (ie Follower of Christ), I happen to have a somewhat higher evaluation of Jesus Christ than the aforementioned script-readers, and I find their continued attempts to annoint their candidate of choice as the next messiah (directly or indirectly) rather offensive.

Be that as it may, I also disagree with the premise of the analogy, and I have a feeling that most of Jesus' contemporaries -- not the least of which included the First-Century Jewish Rulers -- would agree with me (if just on this point alone). Community Organizers -- whatever they are -- shouldn't be in the business of offending and exposing the ruling class. Come to think of it, that sounds more like the other guy running for President...

Time Out

Seven years. Hard to believe. Everything changed in moments.

Take time today to remember the courage and sacrifice of so many on that darkest of days, and the families of those who lost a brother, sister, parent, child or spouse.

Hopefully history will also judge President Bush and his administration for taking the steps necessary to prevent any further attacks on his watch. In baseball parlance, it may not have been seven perfect innings, but it still qualifies as a no-hitter.

Never forget.

Pigs in Space with Lipstick

Seriously, I'm not convinced that the Lipstick comment was a cheap shot at Governor Palin. However, it does trouble me that The Annointed One doesn't know the difference between pigs and pit bulls.

Not only that, so what if "it's still a pig?" What's the matter with pigs? I love pigs -- they're delicious.

After Gov. Palin's speech in which she referenced Hockey Moms and Pit Bulls, NARAL or NOW or one of those culture-of-death groups issued a statement that made a similar pig / lipstick correlation. Nobody took notice, apparently -- until it came to the attention of some low-level (former?) speechwriter for the junior senator from Illinois. So it wasn't even an original thought.

Hopefully, the leaders of the Republican ticket won't be drawn into the pit -- so to speak...

A Real Stand-Up Guy

The Biden Gaffe Machine strikes again.

Let's be fair -- this is really an honest mistake that anyone could make. Not unlike the parting comment I made to my bald accountant many years ago, "Well, Fred, I'll get out of your hair." And Biden makes a pretty good recovery after realizing his mistake.

Nonetheless, if this had been Dan Quayle or Sarah Palin or George W. Bush or John McCain or anybody to the right of Joe Lieberman, I'm pretty certain that the coverage -- and reaction -- would be slightly different. So goes the world...

PS -- The above link seems to have a collection of slip-ups from Mr. No-Filter following the conclusion of the linked clip.

Down but Not Out

This kind of reaction really burns me. Real classy fans they have there in New York.

I've been a Red Sox fan (and Yankee hater) for over 30 years -- a rivalry that makes anything the NFL has to offer look like a Sunday School picnic -- and I have never cheered or applauded when a rival player was injured or suffer any other misfortune. Unbelievable.

I'm not ready to throw in the proverbial towel yet, and I'm certainly not conceding the division title to anyone (much less the NY Jest) one (victorious) game into the season. The team that was introduced as such in Super Bowl XXXVI has been challenged at every other position, and while this test may be harder than most, it doesn't mean the season's over.

Last season, the Patriots found their motivation in the previous year's playoff loss, and then the absurd media piling-on that surrounded the Spygate episode. They had something to prove then, and they have something to prove now. There's still plenty of talent on that team, they have the best coach in the business, and Matt Cassel isn't exactly a rusty tomato can.

It is a tragedy that one of the NFL's premier players will miss a season while in the prime of his career, but any team worth anything is bigger than just one player. Now's the chance to figure out how big they really are. The New England Patriots truly have nothing to lose -- conversely, victorious opponents (if any) know that there will be an asterisk next to each "W."

And those bozos dancing on tables in Manhattan and elsewhere have lost their right to lecture anybody on character.

In the interest of equal time...

Here's 3+ days in St. Paul summarized in a minute or so.

McCainiacs St. Paul

I'll leave the reaction to the McCain and Palin speeches to others more articulate than I (shouldn't be too hard to find). Solid performances all round, to be sure. McCain did seem somewhat off his rhythm, particularly in the early going, perhaps disrupted by the handful of crackpots who had somehow made their way into the arena.

Am I the only one who's troubled by this?

Sure, these nuts have a right to have their say (although the media, blogosphere and thinly-veiled "documentary films" should be more than sufficient), and I suspect the public viewing their craziness will primarily work against them. My concern is from the standpoint of security. Admittedly, four years ago in New York, with an incumbent president on hand during a time of war, it was even more disturbing. And a large public arena leaves plenty of gaps that can't all be secured, but it still bothers me.

Since I consider myself educated enough to at least understand english, I've never felt the need to have these conventions filtered and analyzed through me by overweight middle-aged white men in suits (I have to be careful -- that's getting close to home), so my network of choice is C-SPAN. However, even they took substantial time off the podium to show the various protestors in varying degrees of protest (and departure). I'm not sure that was necessary. I mean, television won't show drunken baseball fans running onto the field, so why this? It's not 1968 anymore.

Bill Melendez (1916-2008)

If there was a better animator, pre-CGI or otherwise, I'd like to know who it was. Yes, PEANUTS would have still been unspeakably successful had the characters never appeared on television, but the great Bill Melendez added a dimension to Charles Schulz' cartoons that brought them to an even greater audience. Faced with the near impossible task of creating "A Charlie Brown Christmas" in less than 6 months, he developed techniques that made the PEANUTS characters believable in animation -- neither too elaborate or too simple, he was thus annointed the only animator allowed to work on Sparky's creations. And the only voice -- ever -- of Snoopy and Woodstock.

Thanks for everything, Bill. Your work is complete and is the standard by which all that follow will be judged. Rest in peace.

Further Nonsense (political and otherwise)

Some random links...

Two youngish upwardly mobile political figures compared here.

Is Biden a gift?

Four days in Denver summarized in about 97 seconds.

And, finally, for Palindrome fans, here's Bob.

Keystones

One has to wonder if the Biden selection has more to do with Pennsylvania than Delaware. The Obama camp may be hoping to secure the Keystone State on the electoral map, even though PA isn't really that much competitive than Michigan and certainly less so than Virginia. Last carried by a Republican in 1988, the Bush campaign poured substantial resources into PA in both 2000 and 2004 (particularly 2004) without success; however, the strategy did force the Democratic nominee to respond in kind, devoting resources to a state that otherwise would not have been competitive.

Of course, if Obama needs Biden to win PA, he's in bigger trouble that his media surrogates are allowing to be portrayed...especially if he gives more speeches like this (sorry, I had to post this again...)

Pennsylvania's Third Senator

This is almost unspeakably bad.


I mean, you can almost see his messiah-ness cringing, most likely wondering if he still has Tim Kaine's number on speed-dial.


The video quality is rather poor, so my first thought was that it was a Saturday Night Live skit. But no -- that's really Joe Biden. If he's drunk, I'd be worried. If he's sober, I'd be panicking...

The comments are worth a look, also.

Thanks alot, United Steel Workers.

Palin-drome

In 1984, knowing that there was nothing short of global thermonuclear meltdown that could stop Ronald Reagan, Democratic nominee Walter Mondale selected a little-known Representative from New York as his Vice Presidential nominee -- Geraldine Ferraro. Forty-nine (and nearly 50) states later, we know how that turned out.

Although she had her share of baggage, one can't exactly say the Ferraro pick "backfired" because there was no way Mondale was going to win anyway. Nonetheless, she failed to deliver her home state, capture any "Reagan Democrats," or turn over a disproportionate share of the female vote. Not likely that Gary Hart would have done any better from the bottom of the ticket (although he apparently had some influential contacts in Florida).

Twenty-four years later we had a former first lady come within a few caucii of being the first female presidential nominee of a major party. This reporter could never determine which of the final two Democratic candidates was preferred, being as their views on everythin were basically identical, but my objections (and, most likely, those of many other voters and prospective voters) to Hillary had more to do with her connections to the Clintonista regime and its heavy-handed disregard for any type of accountability, not the fact that she possessed two X chromosomes.

In response to the energy produced by this year's Clinton campaign, the Democratic nominee selected as his running mate perhaps the least original member of the US Senate (Neil Kinnock, secure your filing cabinet), whose lengthy tenure qualifies him for depiction alongside Webster's definition of "Washington Insider" despite now representing a campaign built on ephemeral "change."

The Biden selection brought the typical responses from both ends of the political spectrum (the left considers it "inspired" and ideally complementary to the junior senator from Illinois; the right thinks . . . well, if you read the last paragraph, you can pretty much figure that out).

Enter Sarah Palin, a surprising choice for the Republican ticket, but perhaps the best that John McCain could have made -- she won't offend VRWC members like this reporter; she doesn't own homes in multiple states; she's never been on Meet the Press (an asset, not a liability); and she has experience as an executive, something nobody else on either ticket could offer.

What surprises me most over the past 24 hours is how the while the right is rejuvenated, energized, and producing emotional outbursts and fainting spells previously only seen at Obama campaign rallies, the opposing campaign has produced . . . well, not very much. The best they could do --

Today, John McCain put the former mayor of a town of 9,000 [way to further offend the majority of Americans, guys -- you're not elitist, are you?] with zero foreign policy experience [unlike the top of your ticket, of course] a heartbeat away from the presidency [enter next cliche --here--]. Governor Palin shares John McCain's commitment to overturning Roe v. Wade [also known as protecting unborn human life], the agenda of Big Oil [also known as capitalism] and continuing George Bush's failed economic policies [also known as tax cuts, and let someone else determinf if they've "failed" or not] — that's not the change we need, it's just more of the same [and the change you're proposing is...?]

The "former mayor of a town of 9,000" is particularly galling -- if his messiah-ness was referrred to as a "former community organizer affiliated with a corrupt political machine," the left and its media acolytes would be apoplectic. It was noted to me that unlike legislators, who can pick and choose their favorite issues (or, more likely, delegate their staff accordingly), executives have no such luxury of ducking unpopular matters and must pass judgement on everything.

Getting back to 1984, given that McCain has a reasonable chance of victory this year, the parallels with the Ferraro selection are rather limited, except that McCain does face an uphill battle and realized that the Palin selection gives him the best chance of victory with (hopefully, in his vetting) minimal liabilities. If the best his opponents can do is in the paragraph above, and I doubt it is, this election may be over before the Republican convention.

Back to College

FoxNews has their variation of the Electoral map, dividing the states into three categories -- solidly McCain, solidly Obama or toss-ups (ie no "leaning" here). I can't really dispute their projections -- both candidates have about 180 Electoral votes "in the bag," and need to come up with the other 90 among the 160 or so up for grabs.

Heartbreak Ridge

Having feasted earlier this year on conservative disenchantment with McCain, the media is now salivating over conservative immolation if McCain picks a pro-abortion running mate. Two of the names being bandied about are depicted herewith.

This reporter tends to feel that the selection of either, or their ilk, would basically spell the end of the campaign and the coronation of King Obama XIII. Not even John McCain can be that stubborn . . . can he?

Furthermore, I'm not sure either would add much to the ticket. Neither can be counted on to deliver his home state. Lieberman had a national platform eight years ago, but Ridge is virtually unknown outside PA. Ridge was elected Governor in the Republican Tsunami of 1994 (after his primary opponents spontaneously combusted) and re-elected four years later against someone I don't even remember. An adequate executive who did a few good things (charter schools, fixing the speed limit), but hardly a landmark figure and certainly a little shy on the charisma front. If McCain's going to win PA -- which he doesn't need to -- he could do it without Tom Ridge.

Primary Wrap-Up

A few (very few) have asked my thoughts on the presidential campaign. As of this writing, we have the primaries behind us and the nominees known, but we're prior to the VP selections and the conventions themselves. So perhaps it's a good time to get some thoughts down --

Looking around at the macro signs, you have to think that there's no way a Democrat can lose (an unpopular incumbent, two unpopular wars, high(er) gas prices, an economy perceived as struggling, etc.)

Looking at the Electoral map, however, and you have to belief that a Republican would have a fairly good chance.

Pollster.com shows the numbers that really matter (although I'm not entirely sure of their sources or research), and while they currently depict a 260-191 Democratic edge, that doesn't include 87 Electoral votes in "toss-up" states, all of which (except NH) were won by the Republican in 2004.

Several other states shown as "leaning" Democrat (MI, NM, MN & IA) are at least viable targets for the Republicans, whereas the Democrats are unlikely to pick up any of the Republican states with the possible exception of MO. Nonetheless, the Democratic lock on CA, NY & IL ensure that it will be a close election (at least for a Republican to win).

William Kristol (via Jay Cost, via The Corner), has some interesting thoughts here.

Olym-Pinks II

Michelle Malkin has a column on ChiCom gymnasts with missing teeth that's definitely worth your time. If you don't have the time (which I doubt), here's the most memorable line -- "There’s no such thing as a bureaucratic error in an authoritarian regime."

More from Kathleen Parker can be found here.

Olym-Pinks

The 1980 US Olympic Hockey triumph remains one of the defining sporting moments in the lives of those of us who remember the doldrums of the 1970's. In the 1980's, however, it seemed that the Olympics became more of a forum for political protest than athletic competition. Attempting to follow it then, and wondering which countries were going to boycott, or conversely be excommunicated, has made it difficult for me to follow it since. Never mind the amateur vs. professional debate, illegal substances, and an overwhelming number of events that rely on capricious judging techniques.

The purist will say that we should watch simply to appreciate the skill and preparation of the participants; others will say that it's completely right and proper for politics to have a role, in that some nations deserve citation in one form or another. In previous years, one might have been able to strike a balance between the two and find at least a level of enjoyment in the Olympics. However, to see them being hosted by the Communist Party of China is simply too much for this reporter.

Think back 25 years -- it was unthinkable for the rest of the world to include South Africa in the Olympics, let alone allow them to host the games. Is China's record on human rights that much better that the IOC has seen fit to reward them with this stage in 2008? Has there ever been a full accounting for Tianamen Square, let alone the government's persecution of millions of its own citizens on religious and ethnic grounds? Granted, there have been ripples of protest in the upper levels of international politics and the media, so I'm certainly not alone in finding this at least suspicious. But I do have to wonder how it even was allowed to get to this point.

Needless to say, I won't be watching too much of NBC for the next two weeks...

Toss of the Coin

A recent Boston Globe article brought my attention to the modification of the NFL coin toss rule, where the team that wins the toss gets to defer receiving (ie possession) until the start of the second half.

In the mid-1980's, I had a simple, DOS-based, text-only football program on my Apple IIe, that I would actually rig to lose the coin toss in order to ensure I got possession to start the second half. The advantages, to me, were obvious -- if you were ahead after two quarters, it allowed you to extend your lead, or at a minimum take some time off the clock. If you were behind, obviously you'd like to have the ball first and maybe squeeze out an extra possession or two in the second half.

The logic was so obvious that I was surprised NFL coaches didn't practice it more frequently. However, I didn't understand the rule (and I'm guessing I'm not alone in this) -- under the old rule as I understand it, if the coin toss winner elected to kick off, the opposing team would have the choice at the start of the second half, and would naturally elect to receive (there's that logic again). The new rule is thus in line with what I thought originally. So it only took the NFL about 20 years to figure this out...

Of course, the larger question may be why do they have to toss the coin before each game anyway? Why not just have the home team decide?

Where's Bill Cosby when you need him?