Words that deserve repeating

I like Beck, but Teddy Roosevelt, faults and all, is not the enemy.

I'm not sure i like Beck much, but i am sure that TR is not the enemy.

Hey big man, glad you decided to stay

Hampton agrees to Steelers contract

The Steelers and nose tackle Casey Hampton have come to a a three-year contract agreement worth $21.3 million this morning.

A long-time anchor of one of the best defenses in the NFL. What's not to like?

Kornheiser suspended

ESPN suspends Tony Kornheiser for comments about SportsCenter anchor Hannah Storm's wardrobe

HT: JWF

Jack Shafer mounts a defense of TK. (Well, as much of a defense as an honest man can mount for someone like Kornheiser).

Sympathy for Tony Kornheiser
He may be a rotten bastard, but his ESPN bosses are idiots for suspending him.

Reports say that Kornheiser is suspended for two weeks. I think that tells us a lot about the "values" at Bristol. ESPN was happy to make Kornheiser a television star despite his cruel mockery of twelve year olds. When Dana Jacobson unleashed a drunken, obscene and blasphemous tirade at an ESPN function, she was suspended for a week.

In ESPN's world, mocking Hannah Storm's fashion choices is twice as bad as hurling obscenities at Jesus Christ.

Ben Stein has questions about the MSM's obsession with Tiger Woods

Why is The Tiger being made a spectacle in front of the world?

Why can movie stars and rock stars and billionaire playboys have this kind of love life every day for their whole lives and no one says a word, and when one of the great athletes of all time does it, he gets crucified? Why, in the most basic sense, is it anything but gossip and why does it deserve this much attention, not to say this much torment of the Tiger and his wife?

There are big issues in the world today: wars, terrorism, a major, big recession, terrible unemployment, people losing their homes, serious fraud on Wall Street. Have we forgotten all of this?

Here.

I understand that reaction

Boos as Ron Paul wins CPAC straw poll

From Confederate Yankee:

Never underestimate the power of crazy people to warp the outcome of small group events.

Very true. On the other hand, it seems that CPAC was trying very hard to attract crazy people this year. The freaking John Birch Society was a co-sponser.

Follow the fallout at memeorandum.

Remember this name: Robin Dehaven

A quick-thinking glass worker who happened to be driving by when a pilot with a grudge smashed his plane into a Texas building is being hailed as a hero after helping many people escape the inferno that followed the crash.

Rest of the story here.

The world would be a much better place if the heroes who saved lives were as famous as the pathetic losers who take them.

Wow

Duke lacrosse accuser charged with arson


Mangum set clothing on fire in the bathroom tub in a bathroom located in the middle of the apartment. The apartment sustained heavy smoke damage, according to the Durham Fire Department.

The suspect reportedly filled the bathtub with clothes and set fire to it. Three children and the two adults were evacuated from the apartment at 2220 Lincoln St.

Monument to a pompous fraud

RSM pretty much nails Keith Olbermann's epitaph:

Here Lies Keith Olbermann, Who Was Even Less Popular Than Rachel Maddow

UPDATE: The future of newsweeklies

Last year, Howard Kurtz looked at Time and Newsweek as they struggled to remain relevant and solvent:

The rival editors are turning out weeklies that are smaller, more serious, more opinionated and, though they are loath to admit it, more liberal.

So far, the results of the new strategies are less than awe-inspiring.

Magazines’ Newsstand Sales Fall 9.1 Percent

Newsweek, down 41.3 percent to about 62,000 (Newsweek had decreased the number of copies on sale, noted a spokesman);

Time, down 34.9 percent to about 90,000.

(HT: JWF )

What happened to Team Obama

Michael Barone:

How could such smart people do so many stupid things? That question, or variations on it, is being asked in Washington and around the country about the Obama administration.

The same people who directed the campaign that defeated Hillary Clinton and routed John McCain, a campaign that raised far more money and attracted far more volunteers than any before it, have within a year come up with a legislative program that is crashing in ruins and that, to judge from recent polls, has left the Democratic Party weaker than I have seen it in almost 50 years of closely following politics.

How's that global warming thing working out for you guys?

Not to be missed

Something Wicked This Way Emotes: Andrew Sullivan Bashed as Anti-Semite By... Magazine He Formerly Edited, TNR

Bonus: Sullivan Gives Up Vagina-Blogging to Start... Breast-Blogging!

From Ace of Spades

Tim Tebow

From the always impressive Jemele Hill:

Laud the courage in Tim Tebow's stand


Tebow's decision to appear in this ad should be considered just as courageous as Muhammad Ali's decision to not enter the draft, or Tommie Smith's and John Carlos' black power salute at the 1968 summer Olympics.

When hysterics self-analyze

Andrew Sullivan's Heroic Self-Appraisal

Is there some world championship for self-deceit and puffery of which I am unaware? Andrew Sullivan seems to have penned a winning entry.

Lessons from the Gipper

1. Conventional wisdom and establishment pundits will underestimate the size of a new coalition. They obsess about changes at the margin and are oblivious to radical realignment until it happens. No one saw the landslide in the Texas caucus in 1976 and few predicted that Carter would lose most of his southern states in 1980.


2. Hold on to your principles, but do not be afraid to change your platform or your mind.

In 1976, RR was a fairly conventional Republican on economics (deficits are bad and spending cuts were needed to balance the budget.) He was a an anti- detente hawk on foregn policy but his breakthrough issue was the Panama Canal.

In 1980 he was still a hawk, but the Panama Canal treaty was a fait accompli. On domestic policy, however, Reagan was now an enthusiastic supply-sider. Spending cuts took a back seat to Kemp-Roth. Deficits were of less concern than jump starting the economy by increasing incentives.

In addition, social issues (especially abortion) were a much bigger part of the platform and message.

3. Do not be afraid to upset you party's apple cart.

Balanced budgets were a GOP mantra in the 60s and 70s, yet Reagan was willing to embrace supply-side policies. Detente and the SALT process were the center piece of the Nixon, Ford, Kissinger foreign policy. Reagan was happy to oppose both the policy and the process head-on.

This "divisive" stance should have weakened the party. It should have doomed him in 1980. Instead he won two smashing victories and did more for his party than any president since FDR.

Is it Speaker Pelosi or Queen Nancy?

Can Nan

Pelosi Racks Up $101,000 Bar Tab on Taxpayer-Funded Flights



Pelosi's Children and Grandchildren Used Military Jets As Cross-Country Shuttle Service So They Could Avoid Dealing With the Rabble

How far can Sully sink?

The man shows no sign of touching bottom

Andrew Sullivan hits new low in attacking Palin

The Atlantic should be ashamed to give a platform to this sort of craziness.

(HT: R. S. McCain)


Don't miss Ace of Spades.

Now that's smart coaching

Former Steelers coach Moore guiding Colts' offense

"There are lots of systems, there are tons of systems," Moore said. "But the trick is no systems, the trick is players and making sure you take something that the players can do and not get into, 'Well, this is mine and this is what we're going to do.' It's what's best for the players."

No wonder the Colts are always near the top of the league in offense no matter how much the roster changes.

More on the Tim Tebow Super Bowl controversy

Today's must read from Sally Jenkins:

Tebow's Super Bowl ad isn't intolerant; its critics are

I'll spit this out quick, before the armies of feminism try to gag me and strap electrodes to my forehead: Tim Tebow is one of the better things to happen to young women in some time. I realize this stance won't endear me to the "Dwindling Organizations of Ladies in Lockstep," otherwise known as DOLL, but I'll try to pick up the shards of my shattered feminist credentials and go on.


As statements at Super Bowls go, I prefer the idea of Tebow's pro-life ad to, say, Jim McMahon dropping his pants, as the former Chicago Bears quarterback once did in response to a question. We're always harping on athletes to be more responsible and engaged in the issues of their day, and less concerned with just cashing checks. It therefore seems more than a little hypocritical to insist on it only if it means criticizing sneaker companies, and to stifle them when they take a stance that might make us uncomfortable.

Considering James O'Keefe

Ben Stein

Patterico


Ann Althouse

It's worth noting the MSM has shown more zeal in pursuing the O'Keefe/Landrieu story than they did when Sarah Palin's email was hacked.