Scanning the Papers: Diverse, Unconnected, But Interesting...
The big news in southern Arizona on Friday was the reunion of John McCain and Sarah Palin in Tucson.
The cartoon is the work of David Fitzsimmons at the Arizona Daily Star.
Friday's rally at the Pima County Fairgrounds was the first time since last November that the 2008 GOP running mates shared the same platform. Unlike that election night tableau at the Biltmore in Phoenix, where McCain graciously conceded to the new president-elect and Palin reportedly seethed because she wasn't allowed to say a word, yesterday Palin was the big attraction and she did plenty of talking.
The Star's coverage of the rally noted that one McCain constituent "stood out front holding a sign that said he wouldn't forgive McCain for attempting to control his guns, speech, energy, health care and vitamins."
That quote pretty well sums up the Senator's problems in Arizona as he faces what is shaping up to be his potentially toughest ever re-elect. Gone, forever it seems, is the old McCain - unpredictable, working across the aisle, making common cause with Ted Kennedy and Russ Feingold. A very conservative former GOP Congressman is running against him now and McCain is running right, sort of like he's late for the Tea Party. Utah Republican Bob Bennett has similar problems.
More Health Care...
One remarkable thing about the Internet is that no past statement of a politician is long safe from discovery. Writing at the Daily Beast Matthew Dallek, the son of the presidential biographer Robert Dallek, pieces together the origins of what, before this year, was Republican thinking on health care. Dallek makes the case that many of the ideas now the law of the land started with guys named Nixon and Dole, and the Associated Press, among others, tweak Mitt Romney for now being against what he once supported. History is a wonderful thing.
Perhaps this is all just evidence of the truth in Emerson's famous quote: "A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds, adored by little statesmen and philosophers and divines."
With all respect to Emerson, in politics a lack of consistency is usually called a flip-flop and those are to be avoided like the plague, as Romney will continue to discover.
And...Now For Something Completely Different...
Most papers anymore give little attention to baseball. Some barely find room for the box scores and offer the shortest possible game summaries. For a baseball fan, the joy of sipping a morning coffee and consuming the detailed baseball summaries from the day before is mostly a thing of the past. Like everything else, the fan of baseball detail, finds it online. Check out a great baseball blog - Joe Posnanski - who wrote recently about the great Ichiro.
I like a baseball writer with a name like Posnanski. Sounds right.
Good Works...
When the Irish writer John Banville won the Booker Prize a few years back he was asked what he planned to do with the cash prize. His response, not to mention his writing, has endeared him to me ever since. Banville simply said he'd spend the cash on "good works and strong drink."
His new book is The Infinities and it is being much commented upon. The New York Times noted Banville's connections to Joyce, while others have noted that his writing, always elegant and stylish, has become more playful over time. Whatever it is, it is good stuff.
Saturday, March 27, 2010
Weekend Potpourri
Scanning the Papers: Diverse, Unconnected, But Interesting...
The big news in southern Arizona on Friday was the reunion of John McCain and Sarah Palin in Tucson.
The cartoon is the work of David Fitzsimmons at the Arizona Daily Star.
Friday's rally at the Pima County Fairgrounds was the first time since last November that the 2008 GOP running mates shared the same platform. Unlike that election night tableau at the Biltmore in Phoenix, where McCain graciously conceded to the new president-elect and Palin reportedly seethed because she wasn't allowed to say a word, yesterday Palin was the big attraction and she did plenty of talking.
The Star's coverage of the rally noted that one McCain constituent "stood out front holding a sign that said he wouldn't forgive McCain for attempting to control his guns, speech, energy, health care and vitamins."
That quote pretty well sums up the Senator's problems in Arizona as he faces what is shaping up to be his potentially toughest ever re-elect. Gone, forever it seems, is the old McCain - unpredictable, working across the aisle, making common cause with Ted Kennedy and Russ Feingold. A very conservative former GOP Congressman is running against him now and McCain is running right, sort of like he's late for the Tea Party. Utah Republican Bob Bennett has similar problems.
More Health Care...
One remarkable thing about the Internet is that no past statement of a politician is long safe from discovery. Writing at the Daily Beast Matthew Dallek, the son of the presidential biographer Robert Dallek, pieces together the origins of what, before this year, was Republican thinking on health care. Dallek makes the case that many of the ideas now the law of the land started with guys named Nixon and Dole, and the Associated Press, among others, tweak Mitt Romney for now being against what he once supported. History is a wonderful thing.
Perhaps this is all just evidence of the truth in Emerson's famous quote: "A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds, adored by little statesmen and philosophers and divines."
With all respect to Emerson, in politics a lack of consistency is usually called a flip-flop and those are to be avoided like the plague, as Romney will continue to discover.
And...Now For Something Completely Different...
Most papers anymore give little attention to baseball. Some barely find room for the box scores and offer the shortest possible game summaries. For a baseball fan, the joy of sipping a morning coffee and consuming the detailed baseball summaries from the day before is mostly a thing of the past. Like everything else, the fan of baseball detail, finds it online. Check out a great baseball blog - Joe Posnanski - who wrote recently about the great Ichiro.
I like a baseball writer with a name like Posnanski. Sounds right.
Good Works...
When the Irish writer John Banville won the Booker Prize a few years back he was asked what he planned to do with the cash prize. His response, not to mention his writing, has endeared him to me ever since. Banville simply said he'd spend the cash on "good works and strong drink."
His new book is The Infinities and it is being much commented upon. The New York Times noted Banville's connections to Joyce, while others have noted that his writing, always elegant and stylish, has become more playful over time. Whatever it is, it is good stuff.
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