The Republican National Committee has a new found respect for context. So much so they have gone to court to stop a DNC commercial featuring McCain's famous "100 years" comment. Despite the fact that the spot uses video of McCain making the statement, the RNC claims that the ad is false because it takes McCains words out of context.
This is a new concern for Republicans who didn't feel compelled to explain Kerry's insipid "I voted for it before I voted against it" comment which they ran into the ground at the tail of a Bush campaign spot.
If you say something stupid, you have to deal with the effect. Kerry found that out. Obama got the message with his "bitter" comment. Now McCain is learning it.
To paraphrase Colin Powell, 'you said it, you own it.'
If I was in a campaign right now, I would want it to be Hillary's. She has all of the momentum. Now with her plan to subsidize a gas tax holiday on the back of the oil companies she has the inside line on a dominant issue. Obama is vulnerable on the energy front. He voted for the Bush/Cheney energy bill and is close to energy interests in Illinois.
Obama continues to bleed support among white voters. Short of one of her far too common campaign gaffes, Hillary continues to ascent in Indiana and wins going away. Hillary is in a statistical dead-head in Illinois and primary independents have tended to break towards Hillary. The majority of undecideds tend to be women who will break towards Clinton as they have consistently throughout the campaign.
North Carolina is the question. If either candidate is able to sweep both states, they will have delivered a near fatal blow to the other. As much as the Obama campaign tried to spin Pennsylvania as a Clinton fait accompli, North Carolina is the same for Obama.
Obama has two decisive advantages in North Carolina. It has a larger black population (by percent) than either Pennsylvania or Ohio, but notably smaller than other deep south black states. Possibly more decisive is North Carolina's open primary which allows Republicans and Independents to vote in the Democratic primary. Obama has done better in these states.
If John and/or Elizabeth Edwards would endorse Clinton it might push fence sitting upper income, higher education white voters into her camp. Obama is counting on holding to those votersRead more!
Paul Scholes has put Manchester United into the Champions League finals (0-1, 0-1 aggregate) against either Liverpool or Chelsea. An absolutely stunning goal.
If/When YouTube removes this, I will replace it with a still.
Obama struck back against the narcissistic rantings of Jeremiah Wright with all of the wrath and fury David Axelrod could stuff into seven minutes. After being the last person outside of China (no youtube) to see Rev. Wright's morning show, Obama returned the favor and threw the right reverend under the bus and backed over him several times. It was a very convincing performance that will go a long way to helping those who want to stay with Obama stay with Obama. What it does for the truly undecided is uncertain.
Obama saw the same problems I commented on earlier this morning. He recognized the corrosive effect that Wright is having in the black community and how Wright stands completely counter to everything that made his candidacy so popular.
The only question is what took so long? When the Wright videos first began surfacing Obama initially declared he wasn't there when he made the comments. In his "race" speech, Obama admitted that he had been there when comments had been made although today he seemed to return to his first position.
It's tough to imagine the show that Wright put on at the National Press Club on Monday or before the NAACP over the weekend being a one-off. It's entirely consistent with the Wright we saw in the videos. If Obama never saw this before, he must have caught the Pastor on off-days. To hear Wright talk about it, this is part and parcel of not only his style but all black churches which Obama rightly repudiated as unjust appropriation.
The Obama supporters are already lining up to patch up the numerous holes in Obama's repudiation. Andrew Sullivan was among the first and most creative.
Cynics may scoff - and certainly will. They will parse every nuance and try to paint Obama as another cynical, positioning pol. I don't believe it. He has more sincerity and integrity than the vast majority of politicians, more honesty, and more resilience in a very tough spot.
You have to admire that. It has all the piety of a Nader voter. I wonder if Obama loses -- might the sun itself go out?
On general principle, I am opposed to a gas tax holiday. The federal gas tax is comparatively small at 18.4 cents compared the gas price increases we have seen - such as the 9.5 cent increase in average gas prices over the past week. At $4 a gallon on a 10 gallon or $40 fill-up, the savings are only $1.84.
My concerns over the tax holiday are two-fold. First, they deplete needed money from the federal highway maintenance fund but also the higher gas prices are having a positive effect on behavior. People are driving less, finding other means of transportation, car pooling more and buying more fuel efficient vehicles. Saving 18 cents a gallon isn't going to adjust behavior because the savings are so minimal. People will save exponentially more by adjusting their behavior than suspending the draft tax.
Even if a family decides to drive from Pennsylvania to Florida and average 20 mpg, they will only save $18.40 on the 2,000 mile round trip. If that family drove a car that instead averaged 30 mpg, they would save $133.
The loss of highway maintenance funds is a real concern. However, Hillary Clinton's plan has addressed that in some respects by making the difference in windfall taxes on oil companies. The only concern will be how to enforce oil companies from making up the lost money at the pump by punishing consumers more.
McCain's plan is reckless pandering. Obama's non-plan is tone deaf. Hillary's plan provides is pandering but less reckless and also achieves the added benefit of assigning blame. When oil companies are posting record profits and rewarding executives with massive salaries and bonuses, consumers don't need to look too far to find out where the problem lies.
Still it is a short term solution that achieves little. Congress needs to become more aggressive in providing incentives for people who buy cars that are environmental cleaner and more fuel efficient. They also need a long term plan to provide relief for truckers and delivery drivers via the tax code and providing loans to upgrade to more efficient and cleaner diesel engines.Read more!
The one area of question I have in the draft was in the third round (as it often seems to be with Colbert). The Steelers took one of their trademark DE/OLB projects Bruce Davis out of UCLA. With Haggans leaving and Woodley spending noteworthy time on the injury list last year, the need to acquire depth at the OLB position is a legitimate concern. Was it more of a concern than the needs on the defensive line? I would argue not and I think the Steelers would as well.
In fact, Bob Labriola acknowledged that Steelers traded down with the Giants after Seattle snagged Texas A & M defensive tackle Red Bryant two spots ahead of the Steelers in the 4th round and they were prepared to draft him. The Steelers had invited Maryland defensive tackle Dre Moore to the South Side for a visit, but he went in the middle of the fourth round to Tampa Bay so we never had a chance at him in the 4th.
I would have thought that Dre Moore was a second to third round candidate. Apparently most of the league disagreed with that opinion. When the Steelers came up in the third round, I thought they would draft Moore or possibly Pittsburgh native, Penn State corner Justin King who had a disappointing senior year but still possessed elite speed. Instead they went with Davis.
I would have thought that Davis would be available in the 4th round and Moore wouldn't. Now we don't know where the Steelers had Moore ranked. They might have not even had a 4th round grade on him so all of this could be moot. They worked him out. That doesn't mean they liked what they saw. Apparently not third round enough at least.
The other thing we can't know is would Davis had lasted to our pick in the 4th round. What we do know is three LB's were chosen in that period. The Browns traded up to draft ILB Beau Bell who is nothing like Davis. Houston drafted Xavier Adibi a smallish, pure linebacker from Virginia Tech. Now Tennessee did draft a DE/OLB project William Hayes out of Winston Salem. Davis is much higher related than Hayes so it is possible that Tennessee would have drafted Davis instead. Then again, Jeff Fisher is a USC alum so who knows?
Still, you had a very good draft when this is the only question and the debate is this close.Read more!
I've been asked now on several occasions about the origin of the blog's name. Of the hundreds of unforgettable lines in Joseph Heller's immortal Catch-22, "Give everybody eat!" by Major -----deCoverly thus ending the Glorious Loyalty Oath Crusade might be my favorite. Following is an excerpt from Catch-22. Thanks to The Sheila Variations. And here is the rest of it.Read more!
The Rev. Wright did right by Obama's maternal grandmother and returned the favor by repeatedly throwing the presidential hopeful under the bus in an hour long feast of self-indulgence.
If the good reverend stopped short of accusing Obama of pandering to white bigotry in his speech on race, he still left brake dust on Obama's shoes. (Btw, it is good to see that at least one other person to the left of Franco apart from myself found that speech to be more pandering than inspiring.)
The Rev. Wright is a particular problem to Obama because it strikes to the chore of the Obama candidacy. Obama is where he is today for some very basic reasons. He's not Hillary Clinton who the left has never forgiven for the Iraq War vote and he wasn't in a legislative body where a war vote would have entailed anything other than posturing.
That allowed Obama to get his foot in the door. He closed the deal with much of America by marketing himself as a new breed of politician - bipartisan and not tainted by the politics of opportunism or cynicism. A breath of fresh air. Well, the air kept blowing. He was a new breed from a new generation. All of that divisive culture war stuff from the 60s and 70s. Not his bag, babe. And he was post-racial. Finally a black politician who only happened to be black.
Obama's skin color and biography wasn't a liability. It was an asset. He was a candidate of the world. Instilling respect among leaders all over the globe, proof that Americans had finally grown up.
And then came Wright.Wright's performance the past few days decimates Obama's defense that the Rev. Wright you see on YouTube and FoxNews isn't the man he knew. After this, it's almost impossible not to picture Wright without a "God Damn America" bumper sticker.
Wright confirmed the right wing whispers about the Afrocentric and Liberation Theology aspects of the church. Say what you will about these movements, but they are rather rooted in the sixties.
Rev. Wright seems much comfortable with an Edwards campaign discussion of "Two Americas" although I think they'd disagree on the terms. Everything with Wright is black versus white. There is none of the unity or reconciliation - the overcoming of racial tension - that Obama represents. Wright mocked the notion of reconciliation as clearly as he mocked Obama.
Which takes us to the pews. If we take Obama at his word regarding who is and what he represents, how could he endure this man and this church? We got the grandmother answer and that's fine, but that's blood. This is a church. Wright is making a political statement at the pulpit, shouldn't a man like Obama have made his statement by leaving his pews?
If Obama believes what he says he believes, he has to recognize that men like Wright are poisonous. If there is ever going to be the type of reconciliation that Obama represents, the ideas of men like Wright must be challenged and defeated. Yet he sat there and did nothing.
Obama you're a protestant. We leave churches and have internal squabbles all the time. It's in our DNA.
The out is just this and it might be the most honest approach. Admit that he joined the church to advance himself politically. If you want to make a name for yourself in Chicago politics as a black candidate, it was the place you had to be. It smacks of opportunism and cynicism but it's better than the alternatives which are the big issues. No one is ever going to believe the St. Obama notion in three months anyway with the Resco scandal and whatever else lies in the RNC's oppo book. Even Jesus had friends in the oldest profession. Read more!
The Steelers have recorded tremendous success among the undrafted free agent class. Eight rounders Willie Parker and James Harrison have been pro bowl selections. Dan Kreider, 8th rounder from Univ. of New Hampshire was one of the league's premier lead blockers. Even Hank Fraley, 8th rd center from Robert Morris University who didn't stick out of training camp with the Steelers has played the better part of a decade for the Eagles and Browns. Of course, their greatest UFA would have to be Donnie Shell, the perennial Hall of Fame candidate and Steel Curtain alumni from South Carolina State University. In 1974, the NFL draft lasted 17 rounds.
So how did Colbert & Co. do this year? Early indications look like there might be some highlights.
The oft-injured and unspectacular Willie Reid whose hands were so uncertain that the Steelers made a last minute trade for Allen Rossum is in for a key training camp battle. Not only was Purdue's Dorien Bryant one of the most dangerous return men in college football, he also led the Big 10 in receptions for three straight seasons - exceeding 80 receptions each season. Bryant also proved to be a devastating runner on reverses. His lateral movement makes him simply terrifying in the open field.
Marshall Center Doug Legursky is a rare specimen as a jumbo sized college center. College football is now dominated by small, technique minded zone blocking centers. The problem is the NFL is full of 350 lb nose tackles waiting to throw these centers at the quarterback. Legursky is 6'1, 320 and incredibly strong. He's short on technique but in the kingdom of the blind, the one eyed pig is king.
Duke's 3-4 OLB Patrick Bailey looked to be a very capable college player on a destitute program. He has the size at 6'4, 235, production and experience, but given his history of injury problem and the depth lining up outside, he'll be lucky to survive the first cut. The lack of a learning curve might spare him to the second cut and an invitation to the practice squad.
Huskie's cornerback Roy Lewis is a very competent collegiate corner. He was team captain and team defensive MVP. He can take over games and make plays on special teams. He has adequate size at 5'11, 185, but times in the 4.5 range. It's to be seen how he fast he plays, but those numbers are slightly superlative to the aging Deshea Townsend, but that is obviously a long shot.
Southern Miss's defensive tackle Martavius Prince has the size the Steelers desperately need at defensive end. At 6'3, 290, Prince is heavier than Smith when he came out of college and could secure one of the open back-up roles at defensive end.
Oklahoma State's Donovan Woods is a strong safety/linebacker project. At 6'2, 235, Woods lead OSU in tackles and was the Defensive MVP in their Insight Bowl win over Indiana. Woods definitely lacks the speed to play safety and at 4.7 in the 40 yard dash barely has the speed to play linebacker. His coverage skills better be remarkable or he'll soon be on the cut list.
Giant wide receiver Micah Rucker from Eastern Illinois could give first year receiver Dallas Baker a battle for the 5th receiver position. At 6'6, 220, he has superlative size and racked up 22 touchdowns over his final two seasons. At EIU's pro day, Rucker ran in the mid 4.5 range which is in the ballpark with Sweed and the other swing forward sized wide receivers.
K Julian Rauch of Appalachian State, DL Jordan Reffett of Washington, TE Dezmond Sherrod of Mississippi State, and CB Travis Williams of East Carolina round out the list. Read more!
India is rolling out the fast(er)-paced version of cricket known as Twenty20 to create mass appeal in the form of a professional Indian Premier League. Beer baron Vijay Mallya who founded the league has even imported the Washington Redskins cheerleaders to tantalize the crowds.
They've quickly added petulance and violence to the league - two of the cornerstones of the modern professional athlete.
Spinner Harbhajan Singh has been handed an 11-match ban by the Indian Premier League after pleading guilty to slapping fellow India star Sree Santh.
The suspension will end his involvement in the competition unless his team, Mumbai Indians, reach the semi-finals.
Harbhajan, 27, will also lose his match fees for the whole tournament after the incident in a game last Friday between Mumbai and Santh's Kings XI Punjab.
This is not Harby's first flare up.
Harbhajan faced controversy in January over allegations he called Australia's Andrew Symonds a monkey during the second Test in Sydney.
The off-spinner was eventually cleared of the charge of racial abuse, but found guilty of using abusive language.
Following the incident, Australia's Matthew Hayden described him as "an obnoxious little weed".
If you spent Saturday afternoon doing something much more satisfying than watching the NFL Draft and looked at the end result of the Steeler draft, you would be right to conclude they had traded up in the first round and back into the first or at least the early second.And here is the rest of it.The Steelers thought the #3 rater running back might fall into their lap at the 23rd pick in the first round, but this was largely dismissed as wishful thinking. Instead it was the #2 ranked back Rashad Mendenhall, a quick and powerful runner from Illinois who decimated the Big 10 and USC in the Rose Bowl. Running back doesn't appear to the biggest need facing the Steelers and it isn't. That's not to say a running back is a luxury in an era where two backs are the rule and the slight size of the incumbent feature back Willie Parker. Indeed, when Parker broke his leg in the 13th game of the season, the Steelers season was effectively over because Davenport was unable to pick up the mantle.
In the second round, Texas wide receiver Limas Sweed fell to the Steelers without them having to budge. Arguably the highest rated receiver in the draft, Sweed fell due to his abbreviated senior year after he was forced to undergo wrist surgery. The injury was picked up in the 2007 Spring Game but has been ruled to be cleared. Sweed is a tall, gliding receiver in the mold of Plaxico Burress. He has excellent hands and concentration - two skills Burress has never possessed with any degree of consistency.
Head Coach Mike Tomlin addressed criticism over the failure to draft the offensive linemen everyone had identified as their greatest need. On the issue of protecting their $100+m quarterback, Tomlin argued that giving him more weapons achieved the same goal as drafting for the line.
"There are two schools of thought to protect a quarterback," Steelers coach Mike Tomlin said. "You can get linemen, or you can get him weapons."
To my eye, it's an argument that benefits from necessity. There were few linemen in the first round worthy of excitement. Even still, teams were mortgaging their drafts to get a shot at tweeners and projects like Albert, Otah and Cherilus. Even Sam Baker and in one of the most absurd picks of the draft, Duane Brown were desperate reaches and trade targets. All but Brown were gone by the time the Steelers came up on the clock.
Mendenhall subbing for Parker or vice versa will never give defenses a moment of rest the way Davenport did. Sweed will terrorize the opposite sideline while Ward and Miller can attack from the slots. You can see Tomlin's logic. There is also the argument that I happen to believe in that with the exception of the Mahan mistake at center, the pieces are there to fix the line. We made some poor personal decisions on the line. Mahan wasn't the right candidate to play center. Starks should have never lost right tackle in training camp to Colon, and the Kemoeatu/Simmons battle ended too quickly at right guard and they paid Simmons too much in his extension.
The Steelers had a more productive day two than usual. In the third round, UCLA's DE/OLB Bruce Davis is a classic Steeler 3-4 project. Davis appears to never give up on a play, always know where the ball is, he has filled the need to replace Joey Porter's mouth, and he hates Corso and Herbstreet. So plus one for good taste. Not bad for the 88th overall.
In the fourth round, hey picked up another selection off the IR drafting Texas OT Tony Hills, an athletic former tight end who broke his leg in his senior year, or he would likely have been a day one draft pick. A versatile and intelligent Iowa linebacker in Mike Humpal and speedy safety Ryan Mundy from West Virginia in the final round. But the most intriguing pick of day two has to be Oregon quarterback Dennis Dixon in the fifth. Dixon tore his ACL midseason at which point he had moved the Ducks into a #2 ranking and was a leading Heisman candidate. Dixon has height, speed and agility should they decide to work him at receiver while he provides depth at quarterback.
A decisive week awaits my favorite clubs - Liverpool FC and Rangers FC. Liverpool has clinched the 4th spot in the Premiership with Everton drawing at home to Aston Villa. Rangers dropping their second consecutive game to Celtic at Celtic Park fell to five points behind in the race for the Scottish title. However, they hold an absurd three games in hand needing only wins in two of them to retake the lead. Rangers also await a tie in the Scottish Cup Final against Queen of the South where they will be prohibitive favorites. And here is the rest of it.
Both clubs face daunting challenges in Europe. Liverpool travel to Stamford Bridge for the return match against Chelsea in the Champions League semi-final. Chelsea pulled out a last second goal off John Arne Risse's head to level the match at 1-1 and pick up a valuable away goal.
Rangers will travel to Italy for the return match against Fiorentina. A massively depleted Rangers squad - lacking their captain Barry Ferguson and Kevin Thomson due to suspension. First choice goalkeeper Allan McGregor, Charlie Adam, Lee McCulloch, Steven Naismith, Chris Burke and DaMarcus Beasley were out with injuries. At the least, they can expect their two midfielders to return from suspension.
A win for Liverpool puts them in the Champions League final for the third time in four years and is their only shot at silverware on the season. A loss effectively ends their season.
A Rangers win keeps them alive for an unprecedented quadruple although Bayern Munich likely awaits in the finals. Rangers have been remarkably effective on the road so far so the Italians have cause to worry - a 1-1 result and they lose. Walter Smith will have his boys attacking from the start.
So it's Go Reds on Wednesday and Go Blue on Thursday. Read more!
