First, I want to pass on a link from a former colleague of mine who calls Dick Morris' analysis of the Clintons' South Carolina options and strategy "sickening." I'll let you decide for yourselves.
The second, somewhat lighter, offering today is in honor of today's Live From the Met offering.
Fair fa' your honest, sonsie face,
Great chieftain o' the pudding-race!
Aboon them a'yet tak your place,
Painch, tripe, or thairm:
Weel are ye wordy o'a grace
As lang's my arm.
The groaning trencher there ye fill,
Your hurdies like a distant hill,
Your pin was help to mend a mill
In time o'need,
While thro' your pores the dews distil
Like amber bead.
His knife see rustic Labour dight,
An' cut you up wi' ready sleight,
Trenching your gushing entrails bright,
Like ony ditch;
And then, O what a glorious sight,
Warm-reekin', rich!
Then, horn for horn, they stretch an' strive:
Deil tak the hindmost! on they drive,
Till a' their weel-swall'd kytes belyve
Are bent like drums;
Then auld Guidman, maist like to rive,
Bethankit! hums.
Is there that owre his French ragout
Or olio that wad staw a sow,
Or fricassee wad make her spew
Wi' perfect sconner,
Looks down wi' sneering, scornfu' view
On sic a dinner?
Poor devil! see him owre his trash,
As feckles as wither'd rash,
His spindle shank, a guid whip-lash;
His nieve a nit;
Thro' blody flood or field to dash,
O how unfit!
But mark the Rustic, haggis-fed,
The trembling earth resounds his tread.
Clap in his walie nieve a blade,
He'll mak it whissle;
An' legs an' arms, an' hands will sned,
Like taps o' trissle.
Ye Pow'rs, wha mak mankind your care,
And dish them out their bill o' fare,
Auld Scotland wants nae skinking ware
That jaups in luggies;
But, if ye wish her gratefu' prayer
Gie her a haggis!
A link and some comment from Canadian cul-chah maven and all-around nice guy Paul Cantin:
Early general prediction? It'll be the oddball Coens vs. the more conventional Oscar-baiting Atonement, with respect (but fewer prizes) lavished upon PTA's There Will Be Blood.
Observation#1 -- Jason Reitman is nominated for best director on the back of a great young actor and a smart script, but surely Sidney Lumet better deserves recognition for Before The Devil Knows Your Dead.
Observation #2 -- No director nom for Tim Burton, which I think is a good thing.
Observation #3 -- Cate Blanchett nominated for two different films in two different categories! But for best actress, I think she will be overlooked in favor of Julie Christie or Marion Cotillard.
Observation #4 -- P.S. Hoffman is nominated for "Charlie Wilson's War," but not for "The Savages" or "Before The Devil Knows Your Dead." Weird.
Observation #5 -- Hurrah for Casey Affleck for best supporting actor for playing that coward Robert Ford. Unfortunately, it is Javier's year.
Thompson has made the decision to drop out of the GOP race, according to a Fox News report that sources two of his staffers. No word yet on where he'll throw his support. Pundits wiser than I blame a late candidacy announcement and what they say was a campaign organization that failed, until recently, to "gel."
The New York Post, NY1 and the New York Sun are also reporting that former U.S. Senator Alfonse D'Amato will move his support from the Thompson camp to McCain's, leaving Giuliani out in the cold.
On another note, I am taking time to process the impressions I got of Obama, Clinton and Edwards in this weekend's Congressional Black Caucus debate. If I have anything useful to say -- positive or negative -- I'll add it in a later post.
I'll happily admit that I was rooting for the Giants last night. You may have surmised from his posts that Bottlebee is a big Giants fan. He graciously took me to my first NFL game and has since treated me to a few fun Redskins games. So I was pullin' for my Cowboy-hatin' football fanatic buddy as much I was for the Gints. I'll admit it.
You've gotta feel bad for Favre and the Packer fans, but you also have to admit that the boys in white and red (where, oh where, were their blue ones?) earned that win. And since those Giants came within a hair's breadth of beating Pretty Boy Brady and the New England lookey-loos, I think we can expect an excellent Superbowl in two weeks time.
I will also go on the record as saying that any perfect season the Patriots try to claim should be followed by a big fat asterisk. (This from the pen of a woman who once espoused the general driving directions, "Given a choice between anything and New England, choose New England.")
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On another topic, thanks for any good thoughts and prayers you've been tossing my way. Here's the lost and found item tally.
FOUND:
phone charger
phone
STILL LOST:
keys
extremely sentimental blue, white and silver earrings
NEWLY DISAPPEARED:
jump drive
The status of the previously mentioned intangibles is TBD.
Tonight, American voters again saw evidence of the not-yet-inevitable -- the emergence of each party's front runner. The conventions will be contentious, and there may yet be a few surprises. However, Romney's enormous win in Nevada and Hillary's narrow one put still more pressure on their rivals to perform.
The pollsters were, this time, correct in South Carolina in that McCain and Huckabee were within plus or minus four points of each other when the votes were counted. That win goes to McCain, but Romney's fund-raising dominance will be nearly impossible to beat in the long run. In addition, McCain's pragmatic approach to immigration and border security will meet with resistance from single-issue anti-immigration voters who will hold huge sway in this election.
Despite his strong showing in South Carolina, Huckabee's speech there teetered close to a bow out, but ended with some classic rallying lines. He is planning to hit the "reset" button, and take tomorrow as a new day. It is doubtful voters will be able to reset their opinion of Huckabee that easily and fully admit him as a first-tier candidate. It is notable that Thompson, who looked rather gray-faced addressing his troops shows no intentions of dropping out of the race. Also remarkable is Paul's 14 percent showing in Nevada: One can only surmise that the original Gen Xers and geeks are still buying his libertarian, antiwar message.
Florida is next for the GOP, in ten days time. If Giuliani's results there are thunderously different than they have been elsewhere, he will manage to make his voice heard in this debate. But it's starting to seem that Republicans are now fighting to set the ideological and policy agenda for the next presidency more than to work and reside in 1600 Pennsylvania Ave.
And the Democrats ... well, even with the endorsement of the Culinary Workers Union in Las Vegas, Obama couldn't pull out a win. Edwards couldn't even get a pulse. He can only hope for better with his home crowd in South Carolina next weekend. Meanwhile the Clinton machine, too, rolls on.
Would someone who's feeling a little more articulate than I am please explain to me why claims from a LaJolla company that it's successfully cloning human embryos make me so fundamentally sad. I mean, I want to cure diabetes and Lou Gehrig's and get those with spinal cord injuries up and walking again, but I can't clear the sinking feeling I feel in the pit of my stomach.
Anybody want to take a shot at this one?
After beating McCain 40 percent to 30 percent in Michigan, Romney is still not the presumptive Republican presidential nominee for this cycle -- I don't care what the pundits say. But he did put on a heck of a showing in his old home state.
With a caucus win in Wyoming and the 10-point spread he pulled tonight, he is going to be more able to bring his money and his organizational skills to bear in this race. The pressure's will start to mount on the so-called second tier candidates. This race may or may not end up with a front runner any time soon -- but all the Republican candidates, Romney included, are going to have to run like it's the race of their lives.
P.S. If you get a chance to find and view the video of President Bush at the sword ceremony in Saudi Arabia, do so. I haven't yet found it on the Web, but CBS ran some vis tonight of the president holding a sword and swaying to the music. With all respect for the position and his person, I'll say this for the gentleman: He is a joiner.
I am occasionally heartened by the tape on which he was captured playing an African drum and dancing to traditional music. The one time he didn't join in, though, was when fraternizing with the coed cheerleading squads at the annual Army/Navy football match-up. Probably a good call there, sir!
I agree with my onetime tournament partner, Diane Brady, that debating was the greatest skill I learned in school. Organizing a debate association and coaching other debaters come close, but I think debating itself is a finer skill.
Oh, and if you get Diane in a relaxed social setting, ask her for an opinion of the state of the dental hygiene industry. She may remember some of the arguments she once was forced to espouse -- and I'd hope she can still pull off that wonderful Southern belle accent of hers.
It is worth commenting on McCain's positive tone and thoughtful message in his victory speech. He retook his old New Hampshire territory with grace.
It's also worth noting that with over a third of the totals in Obama had started to gain momentum, but not enough to gain a win. Hillary maintained her squeaker of a lead all night.
We can expect tomorrow to see an official end to the Fred frenzy, with Thompson barely topping one percent of New Hampshire's GOP primary voters. Huck's army will have to turn out the votes in South Carolina to be seen as anything more than a fluke. And Rudy, well, Rudy can head into CA, FL and NJ having at least cleared more voters than the sole Republican isolationist, Internet phenom Ron Paul.
No surprise that there's an early call for McCain. No surprise that Giuliani's thank-you speech to supporters was gracious and hopeful in tone. What may end up being a surprise is if Rudy doesn't outpoll Ron Paul.
It looks like the much-touted Barak Obama blowout has been blown out of the water. This evening won't count out any top-tier Dems, of course, although it will tarnish Clinton's chances if Obama squeaks out a lead.
A little more than 15% of the totals are in. More later if there are, in fact, any surprises.
GOP stalwarts in Southeastern Pennsylvania are seething over Montgomery County commissioners Chairman Jim Matthews' snub of Bruce Castor and his choice to name Democrat Joe Hoeffel as his vice chairman. It's safe to say his move will only serve to deepen the fault lines already evident in his party and give Hoeffel the green light to continue the kind of party-building moves that have been eating away at the GOP base for some time.
Seems wild rumors aren't always as wild as the truth.
I never had the pleasure of meeting Yolande Lono (see this 4 January 2007 blog entry), but her virtue and intelligence are, no doubt, evidenced in her offspring, my old university debating colleague Simon Lono.
I do not hesitate to say his loss is shared by everyone who has known Simon and, in fact, the world. I am sending my prayers, since my feet can't go to Newfoundland right now.
Politivore. I think I am one. Are you?
As always with words of the day: Learn it; love it, wear it out.
