Posted by
Bill Crawford on Friday, July 10, 2009 11:24:49 AM
Thing One: the travails of Governor Sanford. I was being charitable with him because of his track record in South Carolina. His remarkable candor with the press has devolved into some sort of hallucinatory fascination with romance novels. I think we've all had about enough of all that. If you want to stay the rest of your term, no more press conferences, please.
If he went incognito into South America to drag his wife into some sort of radical cancer treatment, he'd still be on my Presidential wish list. Leaving your staff in the lurch in that position is untenable if you are unlucky enough to do it before a hurricane and the poor Lieutenant Governor wastes three days trying to find you to sign FEMA papers. Doing it to establish you are White House material is a deal breaker.
Thing Two: Pelosi gets a pass? The party is doing their level best to use an utterance by Leon Panetta on June 24th to establish that the CIA does, indeed, lie to Congress regularly. Therefore, the Speaker is not criminally liable for her irresponsible statements, but worthy of office ecause she is correct. The Democrats are welcome to add that to the hopper of 2010 campaign issues.
Thing Three: the legacy of Michael Jackson. Jackson was without doubt, one of the most talented musicians I ever saw. It was not my music, but that is not the issue. I blew him off here because his music was not anything trailblazing. Elvis Presley (not my music, either) fused a few distinct musical movements into his own personal style in the mid 1950's, and many people followed his path. The same could clearly be said for the Beatles.
The great cultural debate here is between those who want to simply remember his music and those who can't get past his personal foibles. The reason why this one stays front and center is because his problems involved children. R Kelly will have the same posthumous problems. Snoop Dogg (no longer Doggy Dogg), on the other hand, has smoked enough grass to support a third world agriculture and has lived a sexual lifestyle that Hugh Hefner would be proud of- when he dies, it will be about his music. When you bring the potential abuse of children into the picture, there is little or no forgiveness coming from many quarters.