Who Is Wesley Clark?
And why is he running for president? From the looks of this story, he was pretty positive about Bush and his foreign policy team not too long ago:

"And I'm very glad we've got the great team in office, men like Colin Powell, Don Rumsfeld, Dick Cheney, Condoleezza Rice... people I know very well - our president George W. Bush. We need them there."

Best of all, it's on tape! What a dumbass. I'm starting to wonder if this guy will still be in the race by NH, or if he'll pull a Perot and bug out.

Marc

Arnie Sez: Nix Sex Pics
HOT!

South Park Republicans
Just read some interesting pieces on the aforementioned phenomenon. I guess I fall into this category, which is ironic, since I can't stand the show.

Anyway, the gist of it is this:

"South Park Republicans each vote Republican for their own reasons. Some agree with every plank in the party's platform, in spite of having a nose ring and purple mohawk. However, most view Republicans as the lesser of two evils. Due to the quirks of our electoral system, candidates require a plurality to win, not a majority. If Libertarians wrested away half of the Republican votes in every major election, Democrats would hold nearly every seat in Congress. South Park Republicans want to avoid that, even if it means voting for Republicans when third party candidates may better reflect their views."

This piece mentions Ehrlich as an example of a Republican who fits this category - being pro-choice and pro-medical marijauna, yet vehemently opposing higher taxes.

This is really just watered-down libertarianism, which is the best I can hope for in this country, I guess.

Ha! South Park Republicans are real! A little Googling turned up this.

Marc

Old Time Hockey
The NHL is circling the drain - teams lost a combined $300 million last year. The league spent 76% of its revenue on salaries.

Are you fucking kidding me? The average NHL salary is $1.5 million. There are 30 teams (including such hockey hotbeds as Columbus, Tampa Bay, and Atlanta) It ain't working.

Bobby Hull is trying to take advantage of the NHL's money troubles and upcoming labor talks (which will almost certainly result in a strike/lockout) by starting a new World Hockey Association.

So long, hockey. Bring on spring football!

Marc

Monkey
The wee one is within a couple or three weeks of arrival.

Hooray.

Draper

Anybody But Dean
After my aborted Clark post - here are some links concerning Clark and the Arkansas gang:

John Ellis (W's cousin) talks about Clark and primary dynamics, namely, 'Fiji Math':

The iron rule of media bias was once explained to me years ago by Henry Griggs, a media and political consultant. He described it as an analog of what he called "Fiji math." "In Fiji," he said, "they used to count as follows: one, two and many. There was no "three" or "four" or "five." There was just one, two and then that third number; "many." That's how the media cover politics. They can only count to two."

Unfortunately for Kerry et al, Dean and Clark are one and two right now.

Clark interviewed with some muckity-muck reporters and put his foot in his mouth several times, even calling on his press secretary for help at one point:

"Mary, help!" he called to his press secretary, Mary Jacoby, at the front of the plane, as he faced questions about Iraq. "Come back and listen to this."

Here's another gem:

Indeed, after caustically comparing the actions of the Bush administration to what he described as the abuses of Richard M. Nixon, he said that he voted for Mr. Nixon in 1972.

Doh!

More Clark tomfoolery from the Miami Herald:

At one point in the interview, Clark endorsed a moratorium on the death penalty, saying there has been "a lot of discrimination and a lot of injustice" and saying cases should be reviewed with DNA evidence. Asked if he would back a halt to executions, Clark sat up straight. "Stop. Stop," he said. "I promised I wasn't going to take a strong position."

The full extent of the Clinton conspiracy is outlined by the Post. That scumbag lawyer Bruce Lindsey is even on Clark's team. That's how you can be sure it's a Clinton operation: they don't get into anything without a platoon of lawyers to cover their crooked asses. Barf.

Marc

With Short Bullet Passes And Long Bombs, He Marches Into Enemy Territory, Balancing This Aerial Assault With A Sustained Ground
Yes, it's that time again!

CBS big game at 1 is Jets-Pats, but we might get Steelers-Bengals. Late game is Ravens-Chargers (the Chargers have faced Priest Holmes, Clinton Portis, and now Jamal Lewis).

Fox has Bucs-Falcons at 1, but no 4PM game - the one time I want to watch a Skins game.

Marc

Plates
Squirrel dancing

Marathon man.
That's me, Jerks. I wrote about 7 more pages last night, typed pages is now over 100, book pages are nearer 115. Over the 40,000 word plateau. Holy shit, it was pouring out of me yesterday. Hooray. We drinking tom?

Draper

FUCK!
I had an extremely long and brilliant post about Wesley Clark - but it was wiped out. I had it copied when I went to preview the post, but then I copied something else. Maybe I'll work on it again later. Goddamn it.

Marc

Iteneraries?
Hey Jerks. How are you plannig on riding this little mess out?

Draper

Clark Is To Jerk As Moose Is To Scumbag
So say Katrina vanden Heuvel and Gregg Easterbrook, respectively.

First, the Generalissimo. Turns out that during the Kosovo mess, he wanted to use Apaches to threaten the Russians who were occupying Pristina. Good stuff. Maybe I like this guy after all - he's the Democratic MacArthur!

As for the Moose - he blackmailed Marriott (which has a headquarters in Montgomery County), after pulling a similar stunt when he was police chief in Portland! Wonder if that will be in the book.

Goodnight everybody!

Marc

I have written more...
Always am adding, but the last few days have been a patchwork affair...well over hundred pages now.

Draper

Fucking weather, city.
No class tommorrow. Fuck.

Draper

Clark to Run
According to sources close to him, Wesley Clark has decided to jump in the race for the Democratic Presidential nomination.

AND NOW FOR SOME HASTILY PUT TOGETHER, UNRESEARCHED ANALYSIS

His military background seems to be his biggest (and only) asset. I guess his military background is what the Democrats are going to be banking on, but his inexperience with politics would allow Bush to look like a policy wonk. His reluctance to get into the race; his desire to be courted, also makes me nervous. Finally, politics isn't at all like the military. Clark won't be able to control the media, his underlings or his enemies the way he's used to. He could get frustrated and say or do something stupid.

Tony