Took yesterday off — both from the gym and the office — because it was Annie’s birthday. So, hit the treadmill today on three days rest and ran six miles in 50:57. Nice run.
Music: Bob Dylan, Modern Times
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Feb. 7 can’t come fast enough now. That’s assuming the Mets sign Johan Santana (pictured from MLB.com site) to a contract extension and the trade being reported today becomes reality.
The deal — Santana for prospects Carlos Gomez, Philip Humber, Deolis Guerra and Kevin Mulvey — makes sense for both sides. The Mets need a big man to top the rotation, a monster pitcher to match up with Cole Hamel and Tim Hudson, as well as with Jake Peavey, Brandon Webb and Brad Penney. The Twins, who were not going to win this year, need to retool.
So, as a Mets fan, lets hope they can work out a deal and Johan Santana and his two Cy Young awards can make his way to Shea.
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Bob Rixon explains my own reasons for avoiding the president’s State of the Union.
I’ll skip tonight’s State of the Union address. I detest Bush & his speaking style. Can’t tell the difference between nuance & clumsiness in his voice. Takes only five minutes to read the transcript.
I did catch a few minutes, but I was left with a queasy feeling. I will, as Bob says, read the transcript in the morning.
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Frank Rich’s column in Sunday’s edition of The New York Times gets to the core of why a large number of Democrats are concerned with the potential Hillary Clinton candidacy, especially if he ends up facing off against Sen. John McCain.
His point is that the “two for the price of one” that a Hillary Clinton candidacy implies — her 35 years of experience schpiel only makes sense if her years as first lady are included as a prime component, which begs the question of why the former president would play any less of a role in her White House than she says she played in his — will inject the fall campaign (which will start well before the conventions should she distance herself from Barack Obama next week) with all of the baggage that the former president carries.
And Rich is not talking about Monica Lewinksy and the rabid hatred on the right of the Clintons, though that will be a factor. Rich points to something else — Bill Clinton’s post-presidential activities.
Yes, Clinton has seemed a positive force, working with the senior George Bush to raise money for a number of causes. But we shouldn’t let that overshadow the more questionable activities:
To get a taste of what surprises may be in store, you need merely revisit the Bill Clinton questions that Hillary Clinton has avoided to date.
Asked by Tim Russert at a September debate whether the Clinton presidential library and foundation would disclose the identities of its donors during the campaign, Mrs. Clinton said it wasn’t up to her. “What’s your recommendation?” Mr. Russert countered. Mrs. Clinton replied: “Well, I don’t talk about my private conversations with my husband, but I’m sure he’d be happy to consider that.”
Not so happy, as it turns out. The names still have not been made public.
The question of who has contributed are important because they can be viewed as an effort on the part of contributors to skirt campaign-finance rules and win influence via other means.
The Times found an overlap between library benefactors and Hillary Clinton campaign donors, some of whom might have an agenda with a new Clinton administration. (Much as one early library supporter, Marc Rich’s ex-wife, Denise, had an agenda with the last one.) “The vast scale of these secret fund-raising operations presents enormous opportunities for abuse,” said Representative Henry Waxman, the California Democrat whose legislation to force disclosure passed overwhelmingly in the House but remains stalled in the Senate.
The Post and Times reporters couldn’t unlock all the secrets. The unanswered questions could keep them and their competitors busy until Nov. 4. Mr. Clinton’s increased centrality to the campaign will also give The Wall Street Journal a greater news peg to continue its reportorial forays into the unraveling financial partnership between Mr. Clinton and the swashbuckling billionaire Ron Burkle.
Rich goes on about this and other matters, including the contrast between Clinton and McCain, a contrast that strips Clinton of the central plank of her campaign — her experience. In fact, the intersection of change and experience that she has lately been touting will not play against McCain, who can offer the same argument — along with his (undeserved) reputation for independence.
Democrats, who have been so concerned about electability (overly concerned, I’d say), really need to consider how a so-called Billary candidacy will play in the fall. This is not about a woman candidate, but about this candidate and whether the country is ready for a reprise of the Clinton years.
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I’ve been a fan of Tom Petty for a long time, both because of his music and because of his image as a rebel willing to flaunt the current rock conventions.
So, when the announcement came out the other day that Petty would be playing the Rock and Madison Square Garden, I was intrigued.
But the announcement came with something a bit surprising. Petty would be selling $40 memberships to his fan club that would allow members access to a presale.
This isn’t an unusual strategy – U2 did the same thing on the Vertigo tour – but it struck me as a bit hypocritical of Petty because he’d written a pretty pointed lyrics on The Last DJ that left me believing that Petty was different than the other big bands out there. The song, “Money Becomes King,” tells the story of a rocker (Johnny) who is distanced from his audience through the corporate marketing machine, a story of an industry that had lost its soul. It is both a romantic and angry song, one that mourns for a lost time of innocence, “a time when everything / Wasn’t up for sale.”
Johnny was a pure rocker, in Petty’s telling, who excited the passions of his young fans, who always could scrape the necessary cash together for some tickets.
But then money became king and “everything got bigger” and “they’d double the price of tickets.” Johnny now “lip-synched / His new lite-beer commercial” to a new corporate crowd.
They sat in golden circles
And waiters served them wine
And talked through all the music
And to John paid little mind
Petty was singing of the evils of corporate sponsorship and the new paradigm that created a special class of ticket buyers. Petty was a man who was a friend of the kids in the “nosebleeds,” who identified with them.
Five years ago, you could still get Petty tickets for a modest $50. Two years later, his tickets in Atlantic City were going for more than $150. Now he wants us to buy $40 so we can get a shot at decent seats. Why doesn’t that sit well with me?
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Hank Kalet 