Where is Sarah Palin really from? Matt Welch gets the inside dope from an Alaskan who knows, civil liberties campaigner Bill Scannell. This may be the most entertaining commentary on L’Affaire Palin I’ve yet seen: Q: I was just talking to someone who claimed to have knowledge of Alaska to some degree, and they say
Matt Zeitlin, a Cal golden Bear soon, I understand, to become a Northwestern Wildcat, is kind enough to say some nice things about my piece on college football. Nonetheless Mr Zeitlin also says this: There’s only [one] glaring problem with Massie’s piece – the love for Michigan. I mean, I guess as a Scotsman, he
So, apparently Tim Pawlenty though it was going to be him. My own suspicion – and it is only a hunch – is that McCain may have wanted to choose Joe Lieberman but was persuaded that the consequences of doing so would doom his chances in November. The party wouldn’t wear a pro-choice candidate (any
Just how bad might a McCain presidency be anyway? Happily David Broder is on hand to tell us: By picking Palin, McCain has strengthened his reputation not as an ideologue, not as a partisan, but as a reformer — ready to shake up Washington as his hero, Teddy Roosevelt, once did. My guess is that
Obama “too good” to be President… [Hat-tip: Norm]
If McCain loses in November there’s no guarantee that Sarah Palin will be a front-runner to secure the GOP nomination in 2012 (though I’d guess she will be a contender). But if McCain wins and, as seems possible, serves just one term then, clearly she would be. Equally, if Obama loses this year there’s no
A question for the rest of us: Suppose a President McCain approached every problem, dispute or stramash with the same rigour, diligence and sweet consideration with which he seems to have chosen his running-mate? What might this tell us about a President McCain?
I’ve another piece up over at Culture11, this time it’s a hymn to college football, the best of all American sports. Yes, really. Next week I’ll invite an American to write about cricket here. Coals to Newcastle and all that. Photo of the Big House in Ann Arbor by Flickr user Mollyali. Used under a
Like most people, I guess, I’m still coming to terms with John McCain’s decision to select a running-mate young enough to be his wife. Sarah Palin is not the pick I would have predicted. But, what a coup de theatre! Who’s that Obama fellow? What was that speech he gave last night? Some of the
More National Review foolishness. This time from Jay Nordlinger: Will Sarah P. [Palin] be considered a woman — by the media, by the “chattering classes”? That is a question worth pondering. Possibly, she’ll be considered just a conservative Republican. Did anyone ever consider Mrs. Thatcher a woman — in a political-electoral context? The answer to
Some things never change. Classicist Mary Beard swaps cold and windswept Cambridge for sun-kissed Berkeley and is immediately overwhelmed by American abundance: Amazingly I have no borrowing limit. Accustomed as we Cambridge academics are to a more or less strictly enforced 10 book limit, I approached the Berkeley borrowing desk with some trepidation. How would
MattF’s comment on the previous post merits a post of its own: My favorite (true!) New England-to-California story: A New England native moved to California and decided to start a garden. He went to the garden store and bought various seeds and bulbs. At the checkout counter the following exchange took place: New England Native:
Matt Yglesias wants to know why Lithuania (population 3.8million) is so good at basketball: As everyone knows, to succeed at basketball you need tall people. Not only do even your backcourt players need to be tall, but you need to be able to pull several freakishly tall big men together. It seems inconceivable that such
Jonah Goldberg at National Review Online: I was in the car listening on XM when Obama was officially nominated. But I didn’t want to let it pass without saying that it is a wonderful thing that a black man can gain the nomination of a major American political party. The Democratic Party, which didn’t admit
Hillary Clinton is, on the whole, enjoying rave reviews for her speech at the Democratic convention last night. Well, it wasn’t terrible, I suppose. But she wasn’t exactly fulsome in her praise either. I mean, she could have said something like: You know, as I look at all of you here tonight, and I think
On to more important matters than the Democratic convention. Today marks the centenary the birth of Sir Donald Bradman, perhaps the greatest sportsman who ever lived and a man whose brilliance becomes more, not less, mysterious as the years pass and no fresh pretender emerges to challenge his claim to the crown. The numbers peak
I’ve a wee piece at the new webzine Culture11, which launches today, looking at sports that might profitably be brought back into the Olympic fold in times for London 2012. Also well worth checking out: Rod Dreher’s article on keeping chickens in Dallas…
Alas, Mushtaq Ahmed is retiring. Injuries and the grind of the county circuit have taken their toll on the amiable Pakistani spinner, leaving him just 93 wickets short of the magic number of 1,500. Though overshadowed by Shane Warne and (to some extent) Anil Kumble, Mushtaq’s role in the revitalisation of wrist-spin should not be
In the name of the wee man, has it come to this? Apparently it has. Barack Obama has not “committed” himself to appointing a US “Special Envoy” to Northern Ireland. He believes, a spokesman said, that the “crisis point” in Ulster has passed. Cue much wailing and gnashing of teeth from the usual Irish-American suspects.
Can this really be true? And if so, is it hilarious or horrifying? Or, perhaps, both… David Gest and, of all people, Michael Jackson are recording an album of Robert Burns’ poetry: Gest’s spokesman said the album is a modern musical take on some of Burns’ classic poems, and had been a long cherished project.