No doubt shattered by the announcement of Joe Biden as the Democratic candidate for vice president, Jon Lester is battered hither and yon by the Toronto Blue Jays in an 11-0 disaster. In the mixed blessing department, Tampa beat Chicago, so at this writing, Boston is still in the wild card catbird seat, with Minnesota due to play tonight.
I don't know how I feel about the Biden choice. The first thing I think of is the plagiarism back when he ran in 1988. That is 20 years ago, but I take plagiarism kind of personally. Then again, it was accidental (he did attribute the quote properly sometimes, but lost or forgot the attribution other times) and I have said things not being entirely sure if I said it or if im quoting someone. Talking as much as Biden does, I can imagine saying something without realizing it was someone else's.
I guess what bothers me is that it isn't big-it isnt revolutionary or earth shattering. And it feeds into the "Obama is inexperienced" meme, which I think is BS. I don't think the experience of Rumsfeld and Cheney got us very far, first of all, and second of all, I don't think anyone is qualified to be president. The best you can hope for is good judgement, and I think Obama has that.
I think I'd invite Biden to a BBQ, though. He'd tell me his secret for cooking corn. Obama might ask me how I felt about cooking corn, and if corn inspired me to make a difference. Biden would say "this is how you cook good corn."
ReplyDeleteOh, I disagree.
ReplyDeleteBiden might tell you how to cook good corn, sure. But he would NEVER say it in only seven words.
:-)
I think Obama could have used better judgement and distanced himself from that screaming maniac racist pastor years ago... but at least he eventually did that, so the issue is closed.
ReplyDeleteAs for Biden, that Neil Kinnock speech thing is ages ago, and there are far worse things that people and senators do ages ago that are and should be much much harder to forget. Consider Sen. Robert Byrd, Sen. Strom Thurmond, and Sen. Ted Kennedy. What Biden did was nothing compared to the very bad choices these men did made in the past.
Miss Julie: That is a good mainstream corn idea that is articulate and bright and clean.
I'm sure we'll hear more about Reverend Wright. As I've said, I don't find his comments screaming, or maniacal, or particularly racist.
ReplyDeleteIt's true-the plagiarism stuff was a long time ago. (What I've read, there was some RFK stuff too, apparently.) It still bothers me, although, like you said, it doesnt compare to being involved in someone's death, joining the KKK, or advocating segregation, in terms of poor choices.
Perhaps the screaming is unfair: a lot of pastors scream, even good ones. Maniacal? Perhaps redundant. It follows that a man so clueless and hateful of people of different races and creeds (such as whites and Jews) is somewhat maniacal. I forgot to mention liar: he has vented forth on tired lie of "CIA created AIDS" when he knows better. He has also lied about 9-11.
ReplyDeleteWell, he originally said the CIA/AIDS business years ago, when it was a little less wacky an idea. Still wrong, but at a time when the origins of AIDS was so unclear, it was not an uncommon thought. Still wrong, but not rare. He reiterated it, though, which was wrong.
ReplyDeleteI'm with you on 9/11, too. Based on everything I have been able to learn, the basic standard story appears to be the case. But, similar to the Kennedy assassination, there are so many mysteries and open questions that I can see an otherwise smart person believing in a conspiracy.
BTW, a great book about 9/11 is William Langieswieche's "American Ground". It has no politics in it at all-it's literally the story of the buildings and the collapse and the cleanup. Excellent reading.
Does Reverend Wright really hate white people? I don't know. But do you really blame someone, having seen the events that a black person of his age has seen, for doing so, if he does?
Rev. Wright probably does not hate the whites at his church who donated money for his mansion. I wonder exactly how this money was appropriated? Did the church spend money from a special "let's give a rich man a mansion" fund, or did it come from offerings given by parishioners who were fired up to give after a sermon about how it is good to help the poor?
ReplyDeleteRev. Wright is a man of the cloth, alright, but his getting rich from religion indicates that it is the same sort of cloth that Jim Bakker and Jerry Falwell and the other infamous televangelists were cut from.
Well, as the story says, the people in the church family can treat retired preachers however they wish.
ReplyDeleteI'm with you-I don't see how a retired pastor needs a $1 million house. There is an essential hypocrisy to that-any Christian who professes to care about the poor, which is our duty, should essentially live like a pauper. We don't, obviously.