AND the day before the night before Xmas, too...
OBAMA UPDATE:
But as we head into Christmas, we must acknowledge that, in politics, President Obama's actions have not at all lived up to his words of 2008, as Jonah Goldberg points out well today:
"...Clintonian means cannot further Obamaian ends. For the last year, Obama’s party has made a mockery of everything Obama was supposed to represent. The tone has gotten worse as his communications staff spent the year demonizing Rush Limbaugh, Glenn Beck, and Fox News. House speaker Nancy Pelosi and Majority Leader Steny Hoyer called opponents of their health proposals “un-American.” Over the weekend, Rhode Island’s Sheldon Whitehouse insisted that Senate opposition is being driven in part by “Aryan support groups.” Everywhere you look, the sizzle doesn’t match the steak. He won the Nobel Peace Prize as he (rightly) sent even more men off to war. He promised that the oceans would stop rising but delivered a nonbinding something-or-other in Copenhagen. In his special health-care address to Congress in September, he said, “I am not the first president to take up (the cause of health-care reform), but I am determined to be the last.” Those were just words, and everyone, including Obama, knew it. Indeed, the only grounds for supporting the bill, according to progressives, is that it is a “first step” or a “starter house” that they’ll build on for years, even generations, to come. In other words, the health-care debate is not only not going to end, it’s going to get uglier for as far as the eye can see."
MAUREEN DOWD BEING DOWDY DEPT:
Oh, gosh, Ms. Dowd of The Times has soured on John McCain:
"John McCain is no longer the media’s delight and his party’s burr, bucking convention with infectious relish. The man used to be such a constructive independent that some of his Republican Senate colleagues called him a traitor. Now he’s such a predictable obstructionist that he’s in the just-say-no vanguard with the same conservatives who used to despise him."
So let's translate that: McCain was a "constructive independent"---as long as he opposed George W. Bush.
Now that he's opposing Barack Obama, and acting like a conservative, oh, goodness, Dowd and her fellow progressives in the media have no use for him, none at all. The establishment news media loves "maverick" conservatives--but only when that supports liberal outcomes.
NCAA HOOPS DIARY:
I actually thought Michigan State played fairly well on the road against a Final Four-caliber Texas team, but they lost 79-68. But 22 turnovers are too many. Will MSU improve as the season goes on? Izzo's teams have a habit of doing so...
The University of Michigan's hoops team meanwhile needed a win, and got it...but it was only vs Coppin State, 76-46. Michigan's 3-point shooting though was still lacking. It needs to improve. But Michigan opens its Big Ten season New Year's Eve against a team it can beat, Indiana. Let's see if they can get it done, and get this season back on track...
And Notre Dame's men's hoops team played well again, jumping off from their past weekend's win over UCLA with a thumping of Bucknell last night, 101-69. But, it was only Bucknell. The Irish are 11-2 this year so far, with their next game in conference next week. But will their defense be good enough???
