The Robert McNamara Legacy

Just a stray thought here, perhaps a bit different than what you are reading in the McNamara obits that have ran since his death a couple days ago.  Its sort of a “for want of a nail the empire fell” sort of tail.  It was McNamara, while SecDef, who commissioned the writing of the Pentagon Papers.  If he hadn’t done that obviously they wouldn’t have been there for Daniel Ellsberg to leak.  That leaking was a primary reason that the Nixon White House formed a secretive band called the “Plumbers” and they did things like break into the office of Ellsberg’s pychiatrist looking for dirt.  If the Plumbers don’t exist, the Watergate break-in doesn’t happen.  So, go ahead, blame Vietnam on McNamara if you want.  Personally I’ll blame him for bringing down the Nixon Administration.

Cal Thomas is Right

Certainly not a sentence I would write in seriousness with frequency.  But, save the exception that I don’t agree that the media treated Palin unfairly (more unfairly than Hillary), I agree with what he wrote in this column:

The soon to be former governor of Alaska, Sarah Palin, is like one of those souffles my mother sometimes made. The recipe warned against premature removal from the oven because the dish would collapse.

That is the saga of Gov. Palin. Prematurely plucked from relative obscurity by John McCain and touted as a rising star by many Republican conservatives, Palin collapsed. Though she was treated unfairly and in ways that no liberal woman would have been — not even Hillary Clinton — she clearly was not prepared to discuss the issues, the command of which — or least familiarity of which — are essential to anyone seeking national office.

Palin energized the shrinking Republican base, but could never get beyond them to connect with independents and conservative Democrats who might have taken her seriously had she displayed more seriousness. It is not enough to talk about what has been lost in America. One must speak of a vision for the future and ways to reach it.

Many commentators are speculating whether quitting as governor is good or bad political strategy. Few want to take Palin’s word at face value, that she is tired of the ethics probes (all but two of the 15 ethics complaints filed against her have been dismissed with no findings of wrongdoing) and the big media’s refusal to examine her accomplishments as governor and the substance of her views. Fair enough. But anyone running for national office must traverse a media gauntlet — with the notable exception of Barack Obama and his worshipful media disciples. While conservatives can expect worse treatment than liberals, they can prevail with the right strategy.

It was unfair to Palin to have been selected as McCain’s running mate so soon after the birth of her youngest child, especially one with Down syndrome, and the pregnancy of her teenage daughter. Either event would have required more motherly attention than usual, but both demand a level of emotional energy that no human being can muster while running for vice president.

If Palin is to have a future in national politics (assuming she wants one) there are several steps she must take. First, she needs a complete makeover. The big media will never admit they were wrong in their judgments, but they might write stories about the “new Sarah Palin.” She should hit the books and learn as much as she can about the modern world, history and court cases. She should read newspapers so that when future interviewers hit her with questions, she can dazzle them like a “Jeopardy” champion.

What she should not do is become a cable TV pundit. That’s too predictable. Instead, she might follow Ronald Reagan’s example and deliver a daily radio commentary. Radio takes the focus away from outward appearance and places it on the substance of what is said. She should write these commentaries herself, as Reagan did, and the outlets ought to include mainstream stations, as well as conservative and Christian ones.

Palin should hire a speech coach and follow that person’s advice. She has a pleasant enough speaking voice, but the tone needs to be adjusted, as do her word choices. “You betcha” should be banned from her vocabulary. Such slang may resonate well with some people, but national candidates should have rhetoric that soars and gets attention.

Lastly, she needs a hair, makeup and wardrobe makeover. She is a beautiful woman, but appearance should not be the first thing one reacts to when people look at her.

There aren’t many second acts in politics because the media tend to gobble people up and constantly search for the “new” and exciting. Sarah Palin can be “born again” in a political sense and excite beyond her base if she allows herself to be “baked” at the proper temperature and for the right amount of time. If she does that, she may emerge again and this time she’ll rise, not fall.

Wedge Issue

I don’t know what it says about my level of cynicism that I had a random stray thought today, then log onto cleveland.com and see that Bill Livingston had EXACTLY the same thought.  For sure its spooky:

http://www.cleveland.com/livingston/index.ssf/2009/07/standing_pat_is_not_an_option.html

Its not a random fear at all.  The Indians did this last year to a certain extent; have a lousy first half and then a hot second half to get back to .500 and Wedge keeps his job.  Tribe fans face the same conundrum this year.  Do we root for them to win games?  It won’t accomplish anything positive, as winning the division is out of the question now and even getting back to .500 is probably beyond the pale.  But if the Indians screw up and get hot and end up at, say, 75+ wins they probably keep Eric Wedge on for yet ANOTHER season.  Which is to say another season of trying to overcome idiotic game management decisions.  Its bad enough trying to overcome a craptacular bullpen and the injury bug.  A solid July and offseason by the front office and this team can be contenders in 2010, but that we need a new field manager is painfully obvious.  If the team keeps losing at the current pace I think we’ll get one.  If they rally, Wedge keeps his job.  Which puts Indians fans in a horrid catch-22.

Weekend in Sports

Certainly a big Independence Day weekend in the world of sports:

1) Steve McNair found dead: Obviously very tragic news.  While the police aren’t willing to say it yet, signs seem to be pointing towards a female acquaintence murdering him in a murder/suicide.  Certainly when you ponder his NFL career the two words “tough competitor” leap to mind.  It seems he was always hurt, indeed that he was always nursing multiple injuries at the same time.  But he almost always played through it and played very well.  I don’t think that you would consider his career Hall-of-Fame worthy, but it was rather close to being that good.  And, either way, a tragic ending to a short life.

2) Tony Stewart survives at Daytona: I haven’t sought out much in the way of postmortem coverage, but I would hope Stewart isn’t being blamed too much for the final turn of final lap wreck that gave Stewart the win and massively re-shuffled the final race order of finish.  Kyle Busch was leading with Stewart right behind.  Tony went to pass low and Kyle blocked, so Stewart then went to pass high.  Busch went to block, but Stewart already had his front even with Busch’s rear, so when Kyle went up they clipped and Busch was spun into the wall, while Stewart was able to maintain control and take the checkered flag.  This wreck was Busch’s fault for trying to block when Stewart was already beside him.  Really, at that point, I don’t think Busch even needed to try and block; just race Stewart to the finish line.  Either way, it made for a dramatic finish to the restrictor plate race.

3) Federer wins 15th Slam title: Wow what a match!  16-14 in the 5th set which pulverized the previous Wimbledon and Grand Slam records for length of final set.  Basically, if Andy Roddick had played that well at any time in the past 5 years he’d have more than 1 Slam title and be better than 2-19 all-time against Federer.  Federer never broke his serve all day until the decisive game.  I’m sure Roddick will rue blowing a 6-2 lead in the 2nd set tiebreaker, but he really doesn’t have anything to be ashamed of.  With Sampras’ record broken and with Federer completed the career grand slam with last month’s French victory, is he the best male tennis player of all time?  Hard to say, but he’s certainly in the discussion.  On the ladies side Serena won the most recent version of sibling rivalry, but will remain 2nd to Dinara Safina in the world rankings despite having one 3 of the last 4 Slam titles.  Oh well, everyone knows who the best 2 players in women’s tennis actually are.

4) Speaking of best, we already knew Tiger was the best golfer going before he won his own tournament, the AT&T National at Congressional by staring down a final round 62 by Hunter Mahan.  With a hot 2nd half of the season he could catch Nicklaus for 2nd all time in PGA Tour wins.  On the ladies side a South Korean named Yi got her first LPGA Tour win by beating a late-charging Morgan Pressel on the first playoff hole at the Owens Corning Jamie Farr Classic in Toledo.  I guess the Buckeye in me could point out that people don’t win in Ohio while wearing Maize & Blue.  Also noteworthy was the final round 64 that vaulted Michelle Wie into a 3rd place finish.  A double bogey on 18 in the 2nd round is essentially what kept her out of the playoff.  Her game is certainly coming around, and I think its a fait accompli that wins will come for her.  Next week at the Women’s US Open I think would shock no one.

5) Rosters for the MLB All-Star Game were announced today.  I don’t really have a lot to add on that topic.  The fans made a couple logical choices, like Pujols being the leading vote-getter.  They made a couple dumb choices like NL outfielders that are injured, but that is par for the course there.  Freddie Sanchez will represent the Pirates and Victor Martinez the Indians, which is sensible.

6) Of course the biggest parlor game the past 48 hours has been trying to figure out what Sarah Palin is thinking, but I have no intention of getting inside her head.

Palin Quitting

I can’t speak for anyone else, but news that Alaska Governor and former Vice-Presidential candidate Sarah Palin will step down later this month caught me by surprise.  Her stated reason is the continued ethics investigations and lawsuits and media swirl is depriving Alaska of good governance.  Um, sure.  Everyone who believes that stand on your head.  There must be a deeper reason here, and I don’t mean that she’s running for President 3 years from now.  Maybe she just wants to move somewhere that she can’t see Russia from.   I refuse to get in her head to figure it out.  But I doubt the Republicans will want to run a quitter for President.

Media Matters Weekly Update

Straight from their e-mail in my inbox:

Media Matters: Limbaugh’s Off the Wall spin on Michael Jackson’s death

Mama-Say-Mama-Saw-Mama-Would have to hear it to believe it. This one doesn’t really need much of a setup.

While fans the world over mourn the passing of the King of Pop, the King of Talk, Rush Limbaugh, put the death of Michael Jackson this way: He “flourished under Reagan,” “languished under Clinton/Bush, and died under Obama.” Over on MSNBC, both David Shuster and Chuck Todd poked Limbaugh for his unsavory take on the tragedy, with Todd quipping, “It’s always Reagan, right?”

Meanwhile, El Rushbo’s pals over at Fox News knew exactly how to interpret the wall-to-wall coverage of Jackson’s death. An actual Fox News chyron alleged a “cover-up” because the media were devoting more coverage to Jackson than cap-and-trade legislation. Lord, the fun one could have using this very rationale to pick apart the stories Fox chooses to cover. I guess when you’re a hammer, everything is a … wild conspiracy designed to frighten your audience and fan the flames of their paranoia.

Other major stories this week:

Ricci-ing for the absurd

Several weeks ago, conservatives took a first run at undermining the nomination of Judge Sonia Sotomayor. But their everything-and-the-kitchen-sink attack plan — charging that she is an unqualified, Marxist, radical activist and a reverse racist/normal racist who is also, interestingly, far too empathetic to be on the Supreme Court — fell flat under the weight of serious examination.

This week, however, offered another opportunity for media conservatives to revisit their central criticism: that Sotomayor’s “wise Latina woman” comment was a window into the prejudicial soul of the judge who ruled against hard-working white firefighters (and a Hispanic firefighter) simply because they weren’t black.

First, the facts. On Tuesday, ABC’s Bob Woodruff misstated the crux of the case, reporting that Ricci v. DeStefano involved firefighters “passed over for promotion in favor of less qualified black candidates.” In fact, no one was promoted over anyone else. Rather, the results of a test to determine which members of the New Haven Fire Department could receive promotions were thrown out because city officials were unhappy with a racial disparity in the results and stated they feared being sued for racial discrimination. In the decision that Sotomayor joined denying en banc rehearing of the appeal of the district court’s decision, Judge Barrington Parker — a George W. Bush appointee — wrote that “the City acted out of a concern that certifying the exam results would have an adverse impact on minority candidates” — a view that fit cleanly within previous Supreme Court precedent. That decision was overturned by the 5-4 vote of the Supreme Court on Monday.

Instead of looking at the legal merits of the case, conservatives have drawn the conclusion that Sotomayor was actively seeking to promote African-American firefighters at the expense of everyone else. The Washington Times opined that the case showed how, “[i]n Judge Sotomayor’s America, people are judged by the color of their skin, not the content of their character.” Investor’s Business Daily chimed in as well: “The Supreme Court’s overturning of high-court nominee Sonia Sotomayor’s ruling in the New Haven firefighter case exposes what lies at the core of her misguided philosophy: stark racial favoritism.”

Of course, Limbaugh, who has accused Sotomayor of racism on numerous occasions since her nomination was announced, was the most vocal: “Sonia Sotomayor was following her basic instinct: She is racist.”

Most judges nominated by Democrats are accused by the right of being radicals, and Sotomayor is no different — numerous efforts were made this week to portray the court’s reversal of Ricci as proof of Sotomayor’s inherent radicalism. But the fact of the matter is, four Supreme Court justices, including Justice David Souter, whom Sotomayor was nominated to replace, agreed with her — a fact that conservatives have done their best to cover up.

A number of media conservatives subsequently claimed that the court had unanimously rejected Sotomayor’s reasoning. Ed Whelan (who can’t use The Google) and Kathryn Lopez of National Review Online started the trend (”9-0 Against Sotomayor”), followed quickly by Fox News’ Laura Ingraham and Rush. Ingraham’s Fox News colleague Sean Hannity wasn’t far behind. In fact, while Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg wrote in her dissent that “[o]rdinarily, a remand for fresh consideration would be in order” and that “I would not oppose a remand for further proceedings fair to both sides,” she concluded, consistent with the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals decision, which Sotomayor joined: “[W]hat this case does not present is race-based discrimination in violation of Title VII.”

Furthermore, an article in Politico promoted the myth that a Supreme Court reversal is unusual, even though the court has reversed more than 60 percent of the federal appeals court cases it considered each year since 2004. In doing so, Politico was following The Washington Times, which had already argued that such an outcome would be an “extraordinary rebuke” of Sotomayor. It should come as no surprise, then, that Fox’s Alexis Glick impartially described the ruling as “a major slap” to Sotomayor. And for MSNBC’s Joe Scarborough, the whole episode showed that it isn’t just Sotomayor who is out of touch: nearly half of the Supreme Court is, too.

When the AP and The New York Times failed to note false statements by Republican Sen. Jeff Sessions, they revealed just how far-reaching the problematic reporting on Sotomayor has become. It’s clear that plenty of work needs to be done to ensure that she will have a fair hearing when she finally comes before the Senate. At least Jonathan Capehart is bringing some rationality to the discussion.

Franken victory sparks conservative media panic-fest

This week, the Minnesota Supreme Court ruled unanimously that Al Franken be officially certified as the winner of last fall’s U.S. Senate election in the state. Shortly after the decision came down, former Sen. Norm Coleman conceded defeat, making it clear he wouldn’t launch additional legal efforts to stop Franken from being seated.

Conservatives in the media were beside themselves. Franken, after all, made a handsome living sparring with the likes of Fox News, Limbaugh, and, perhaps most notably, Bill O’Reilly (still must see TV after all these years.)

Fox & Friends co-host Brian Kilmeade — or “brown-haired guy who isn’t Steve Doocy,” as Stephen Colbert would say — epitomized the conservative media’s response to the official Franken victory. First, he was “in denial,” describing Franken as someone who “is barely sane.” Then he confessed that “it hurt” to call Franken “a senator from Minnesota” and wondered about “who’s safe now.” He wasn’t done quite yet — he would go on to call Franken an “embarrassment,” “hateful,” “maniacal,” “angry, evil,” and a “bitter partisan.”

Kilmeade was hardly alone at Fox. It seems the entire network was “in denial.” Saying a lot more about himself than Franken, Glenn Beck said, “This is like having me in the Senate. … [I]t shows that we’ve lost our minds.”

Limbaugh wasn’t too happy with Franken’s win, either. He compared the Iranian recount to the Minnesota Senate recount and called Franken a “genuine lunatic” to boot. Clear Channel’s Jim Quinn shared Rush’s assessment, saying Franken had “stolen” the election while pegging ACORN as a likely culprit. Is there anything media conservatives won’t blame on ACORN?

Proving once again that the real joke during this hyper-extended campaign was not the fact that a former comedian might win, but the way the media covered the long legal battle, Politico’s Mike Allen claimed Franken prevailed because “[h]e shut his mouth, and when you are Al Franken, that’s not easy to do,” while MSNBC’s Mike Barnicle said that it was “kind of a surprise” that Franken “behaved like a responsible adult.”

The global warming whistleblower who wasn’t

It’s hard to believe, but some conservatives aren’t convinced that global warming is real. In fact, some of them think it’s a left-wing, anti-American conspiracy, nothing more than propaganda pushed by the liberal media and traitorous members of Congress, all in the hope of turning you into eco-slaves. Scared yet? So is Fox News’ Dick Morris, who, when it comes to this issue, is apparently one-third sane.

It’s no wonder, then, that the conservative media sighs with relief when somebody wakes up and tells the truth! Someone honest and courageous. Someone like Alan Carlin, a “legendary” EPA official and co-author of an internal document disproving global warming — a document that the agency then “suppressed,” presumably stomping on it with a Birkenstock.

According to the EPA’s own records, Carlin is an economist, not a climate scientist — something Fox’s Steve Doocy and Gretchen Carlson ignored when they hosted him on Wednesday to discuss his work. Furthermore, the report he authored made a false and deceptive claim: that global temperatures “have declined for 11 years,” a reality he said the EPA ignored. Fox News duly reported it as gospel, as did CBSNews.com, without context or correction.

In fact, the EPA did review Carlin’s work and decided it was flawed. No wonder, as Gavin Schmidt, a climate modeler at NASA’s Goddard Institute for Space Studies, described it as possessing “a number of basic flaws” and demonstrating a “complete lack of appreciation of the importance of natural variability on short time scales.”

But who is a scientist like Schmidt to criticize someone who … isn’t a scientist? I mean, how about a little respect? Heck, even a reputable publication like The Washington Times says the earth is getting cooler. Let’s not lose our heads here.

Glory Glory Hallelujah

BG hockey coach Scott Paluch has voluntarily stepped down in order to accept a position with USA Hockey:

http://www.bgsufalcons.com/news/2009/6/30/HOCKEY_0630092828.aspx

Fine with me.  It had become apparent that Paluch was overwhelmed when it came to recruiting talented players and in coaching them.  It makes me feel old to have someone that played while I was in school take over the coaching duties, but I can deal with that.

Of course, one can’t help but wonder if Paluch left BG because he saw the handwriting on the wall.  And I don’t mean that he was on borrowed time because of team performance, but that the program itself is on borrowed time.  I of course fervently hope that is not the case.

Happy Canada Day

O Canada!
Our home and native land!
True patriot love in all thy sons command.

With glowing hearts we see thee rise,
The True North strong and free!

From far and wide,
O Canada, we stand on guard for thee.

God keep our land glorious and free!
O Canada, we stand on guard for thee.

O Canada, we stand on guard for thee.

Have a good birthday, Canada!

Your Semi-Regular Coleman/Franken Update

At long last Minnesota’s nightmare is over and they have 2 senators again.  That state’s Supreme Court unanimously ruled that Al Franken should be certified the winner, and Norm Coleman chose to concede rather than appeal this to the federal bench.  Franken could be sworn in as early as next week once Governor Pawlenty signs the certification and so forth.  Franken will give the Democrats 60 of the 100 seats in The World’s Greatest Deliberative Body and will be assigned, among other places, to the Judiciary Committee as it embarks on its Summer of Sotomayor.  For further details:

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090630/ap_on_el_se/us_minnesota_senate

Matter of Semantics

President Obama today decried the coup in Honduras as being “illegal”.  Um, Mr. President, aren’t all coups by definition not legal?