From Peggy Noonan's WSJ column

I've quoted this passage from her 12/19 column to several folks so far. I guess it kind of captures my sentiment.

People are angry but don't have a plan, and they'll give the incoming president unprecedented latitude and sympathy, cheering him on. I told a friend it feels like a necessary patriotic act to be supportive of him, and she said, "Oh hell, it's a necessary selfish act—I want him to do well so I survive. We all do!"

A year of quotes from Women's Wear Daily

Similar to last year, here goes.....

////////////////////////

Year in Fashion: They Said It

Year in Fashion: They Said It

by Dianne M. Pogoda

Posted Monday December 15, 2008

Last Edited Thursday December 18, 2008

From WWD Year In Fashion Issue 12/15/2008

.................................

“I live by astrology. I am a Libra. I can’t make up my mind. We never find a balance. We like it all.” — Donna Karan, discussing her zodiac-inspired handbag line; Jan. 10

“Mostly I like that they [my Bottega Veneta sunglasses] cost $400….I just got two new cars. I paid cash for both of them. One was a Range Rover; the other was a Cielo AMG Mercedes. They cost $112,000 and $109,000. Next, I’m getting a Lamborghini. I’ll pay cash for that, too, and get it over with. I’m going to have, like, 10 cars by the time I’m done, and I’ll pay for all of them up front. Credit just gets you f---ed up. I don’t care if it costs me $600 to fill up my tanks. I’m gonna have six cars with $600 worth of gas and I’ll just go on overseas and buy my gas by the barrel.” — Music producer Terius Nash, Jan. 10

“What would I rather be doing? I’d rather be doing anything other than talking about what I’d rather be doing.” — Casey Affleck at the National Board of Review awards, Jan. 17

“I think the people react too fast and scare themselves. People who start the day thinking about catastrophes have no chance at the end of the day. I wake up in the morning so happy to be alive and healthy.” — Max Azria, Jan. 31

“Tommy Tune interviewed me this morning for Interview. I think I was in heaven for a minute.” — Brooke Shields, Feb. 6

“I had Gucci and UNICEF on my side, so that helped. It’s pretty chic, isn’t it?” — Madonna, at the U.N. fund-raiser concert for Malawi; Feb. 8

“The women’s business is the craziest business in the world and it’s been hard for us to get out of the gate, but we’ll get there. When we do, it’s going to be big.” — Sean “Diddy” Combs, after not showing his women’s collection on the runway as promised; Feb. 11

“He was hip when everyone else was still hep.” — Sidney Kimmel about Max Raab in Raab’s obituary, Feb. 25

“My life’s dream has been to promote self-esteem for women and wellness for the entire family. Through the Wal-Mart stores and Web site, I can reach more people and affect more lives than in any other venue.” — Norma Kamali, on her deal to create a line with Wal-Mart Stores Inc.; Feb. 28

“I have to admit that Domenico is much more of a soccer fan than I am. However, when you go to a game and see an architect, a politician, a lawyer, a worker — young and old together — you realize how important soccer is culturally and thus it’s something that interests me and something I need to be involved in.” — Stefano Gabbana, on Dolce & Gabbana’s affiliation with the AC Milan soccer club; Feb. 13

“How long does fashion week last? Is it really a week?” — Amy Winehouse, March 3

“My publicist just called me a dork. Doesn’t she know I’m the sexiest woman alive?” — Charlize Theron, March 13

“It’s like a sculpture you can walk in.” — Karl Lagerfeld, on the Chanel Mobile Art pavilion in Hong Kong; March 14

“Some woman just asked me to make her wedding dress. I took one look at her ring and was like, ‘Let’s go, girl!’” — Newly minted “Project Runway” winner Christian Siriano, March 14

“I make these clothes as if they are unisex. I mean, some of the clothes are clearly just for girls, you won’t see me wearing a dress or anything, but I do like to wear a slimmer jean.” — Fall Out Boy Pete Wentz, on the line he’s designing for Nordstrom; March 20

“Temptation has to be permanent.” — Karl Lagerfeld, April 7

“It’s fascinating to me, because in England we don’t have campaign contributions, we don’t have primary elections. Rupert Murdoch just decides.” — Tracy Ullman, April 7

“Of course, I’m still in love with fashion and couture. But I think today they have to share other areas. Fashion for me is just a little bit over. That’s why I like to have some new blood by working in hotels, theater and other projects inherent in art…. Life is short. Sometimes you have to be a workaholic.” — Christian Lacroix, April 15

“Women’s apparel at Kmart looked like a big bazaar.” — Lisa Schultz, Kmart; April 15

“Money is an extraordinary club. It’s a global club, and money talks very loudly. And business runs the world, whether we like it or not.” — Rita Clifton, Interbrand consultants; April 22

“She’s the biz.” — Paul McCartney, about his daughter Stella, at a show of her collection in Liverpool; June 3

“I think it’s beautiful they’re finally coming together. That is family power.” — Yoko Ono, at the McCartney show and concert in Liverpool; June 3

“When you’re just getting started, you take whatever you can get. Starving had no appeal to me.” — Actress Margaret Colin, June 17

“At the end of the day, sentiment is sentiment, and people want these things that people have always had. It just might be Mike and Jack instead of Mike and Mary.” — California jeweler Neil Lane on same-sex marriages’ impact on business, June 18

1892394

“How do we compete [on] a peanuts budget with Ralph Lauren, who does 140 [ad] pages in The New York Times? The greatest ad you can have is having people wearing the clothes, which starts with Matilda the housewife or Matilda the secretary.” — Bud Konheim of Nicole Miller, on product placement; June 18

“Had I been tall and blonde I might have gotten more roles and made tons of money, but then I probably also would have gotten hooked on drugs and ruined my career by now.” — Salma Hayek, June 19

“I’m a girl. I’m weak in front of beautiful dresses.” — Natalia Vodianova, at the Valentino exhibition in Paris; June 19

“One of the things I have not liked in the past two administrations is this extraordinary inner-house awe for their president. You know, I loved Reagan, but he was a man and he was flawed and I wrote about that in my first book. I am astonished that the Bush people are so robotic. I am astonished that if you ever criticize your guy, he will banish you from the kingdom.” — Peggy Noonan, June 20

“When you figure out your suitcase, you figure out your life.” — Diane von Furstenberg, June 20

“To be dressed in clothes produced by Russian designers has become hip, not outdated. Before, these were clothes someone with a lot of money would never wear.” — Anna Lebsak-Kleimans, Fashion Consulting Group of Moscow; July 3

“Chanel doesn’t do country-western.” — O.J. Shansby, July 8

“It’s less hard-core than New York, which is still my city. I’m just having a love affair with San Francisco.” — Koos van den Akker, July 17

“I was hoping for someone with a more developed pectoral region and more chiseled features for the part of the editor. But in a pinch, Jeff [Bridges] will just have to do.” — Graydon Carter, editor in chief of Vanity Fair, on the casting for his character in “How to Lose Friends and Alienate People”; Sept. 12

“I’ve never been banned before, It’s very rock ’n’ roll; I kind of like it.” — Eva Mendes, on the controversy around her appearing nude in Calvin Klein fragrance ads; Sept. 12

“We can afford to be patient. We will have five to seven years in red figures, but you have to feed the cow before it gives milk.” — Heinz Krogner, ceo of Esprit on the brand’s U.S. plan; Sept. 18

“The future of fashion is sleeveless. Who needs sleeves anymore? You need to be able to move and be comfortable. To layer. Seasons don’t exist like they used to. Now it’s cold in summer and hot in winter. Things have changed. Fashion needs to look forward.” — Pierre Cardin, Sept. 25

“I’m not Valentino and I’m not retiring.” — Suzy Menkes at a party marking her 20 years at the International Herald Tribune, Sept. 29

“We haven’t been on vacation in two years or something like that. We’ve been holed up in the house taking care of babies.” — Jennifer Lopez, on attending Domenico Dolce’s 50th birthday party in Milan with husband Marc Anthony; Sept. 30

“The only restriction I’ve given him is that I must be able to move easily. If I have to concern myself with a dress sleeve or a sequin or things coming out that shouldn’t — that’s a problem.” — Tina Turner, on her stage costumes by Bob Mackie; Sept. 30

“I have been a designer for a lot longer than many of them have been journalists. I find it strange to speak with a kid with an earring here and a piercing there who comes in front of me and judges me.” — Giorgio Armani, Oct. 27

“[Since] John McCain is unlikely to give two gay hoots about my gay civil rights, I’m going with the good-looking one. Apart from being the right candidate, Mr. Obama looks better in a suit, which can only be a good thing.” — Simon Doonan, Barneys New York; Nov. 4

“Remember where you came from and how important that is, and that will sustain you.” — André Leon Talley, Nov. 3

“I am the Yves Saint Laurent girl, for a long time and forever.” — Betty Catroux, Nov. 3

“If you had $50 million and you’ve got $15 million left, you’ll still drink expensive whiskey and Champagne and smoke expensive cigarettes, and you won’t stop buying dresses for your wife as long as they don’t cost more than 35,000 euros [$44,600].” — Russian businessman Andrei Foman, on the economic downturn; Nov. 4

“When you see things on television, you don’t know if it’s true. I wanted to see it with my eyes and touch it myself.” — Donatella Versace, visiting the site of the earthquake in Sanjiang, China; Nov. 12

“The number-one role of the boss or the leader is to manage your people in a way that it’s their company. I see company after company after company where the boss does not understand that he or she is one of thousands. If they don’t like you, or if they think that you’re a nutcase, you’re going to be dead.” — Allen I. Questrom, Nov. 12

“People who know me know how much I love television. I used to absolutely love ‘Wheel of Fortune’ when I was here in America. I used to run home at 7:30 and used to tell everybody that I had a class. Watching ‘Wheel of Fortune,’ I discovered America.” — Alber Elbaz, Nov. 12

“In our country, for 70 years we really had nothing. It was a Communist country and everybody had to be equal. Everybody had to be in gray. Everybody had to be the same. People were afraid to be different.” — Alla Verber of Russia’s Mercury Distribution, Nov. 12

“One of the hallmarks of great leadership is communication and the ability to make complicated subjects easy to understand.” — Roger Farah, Polo Ralph Lauren, Nov. 12

“Shame on us.” — Financial adviser Suze Orman, Nov. 14

Ever wake up with a particular lyric running through your head?

Don't know why, but Zappa's Po-jama people was running through my mind this morning. I haven't heard it in years, I don't own the album and haven't listened to the Zappa that I do have in, probably at the least, 3 years.

And that brought to mind another song with the lyrics "something that you told me, stayed in in my head, all night long." It's another good song. I used to really love the music of TP.

Go figure.


//////////////////////////////////
Some people's hot
Some people's cold
Some people's not very
Swift to behold
Some people do it
Some see right through it
Some wear pyjamas
If only they knew it

The pyjama people are boring me to pieces
Feel like I am wasting my time
They all got flannel up 'n down 'em
A little trap-door back aroun' 'em
An' some cozy little footies on their mind

Po-jama people!
Po-jama people, people!
They sure do make you sleepy
With the things they might say
Po-jama people!
Po-jama people, people!
Mother Mary 'n Jozuf, I wish they'd all go away!

A sentiment with which I completely agree

From Frank Deford's "Sports Curmudgeon" site,

I am filled to capacity – nay to overflowing – with news about both OJ Simpson and Fred Goldman. If I never again have to hear about either person, it will be just fine with me. Since his days as a football player/bad announcer/minimally competent actor, OJ Simpson has been uninteresting. That puts him ahead of Fred Goldman in my mind who, despite his tragic loss, has managed to become such an annoying hominid that you would call him a shrew or a fishwife if he did not have external genitalia. If I could garner a 15-year reprieve from hearing from or about either of these two numbnuts, I would be a happier person for it.

I've always been annoyed by Fred Goldman. You can tell the guy is a jerk just by his look. As an example, I used to tell folks, imagine being in charge of some business that deals with the directly with the public, retail, restaurant or lodging for instance. Now imagine that some staff person reports that a customer has asked to speak with you. And imagine you look over and see the fierce visage of Fred Goldman. You're certainly unlikely to anticipate a pleasant exchange.

Wake-Vandy Game

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It rained and it was cold.

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The tailgate party...



















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The Game.
This was halftime. Note the abundant crowd.

The Clothes Have No Emperor....

The Clothes Have No Emperor: A Chronicle of the American '80s

I was just doing a little spring cleaning, sorting the detritus of my life and came upon this title, authored by Paul Slansky, which I suppose I've had for almost 20 years. It's still pretty funny.

We have, clockwise from top,

• "The President does something he's always wanted to do"
• "The First Lady turns up where shes least expected"
• "Geraldo Rivera suffers for his art"
• "Dan Quayle holds a pumpkin next to his head"
• "Gary Hart takes a much needed break"
  

Gun shop owners reaping benefit of Obama's election.

From this week's Economist.

I guess the bright side is that at least business is booming for some folks.

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Gun sales

Booming

Nov 20th 2008 | TAMPA, FLORIDA
From The Economist print edition

A surge in the run-up to the election

MANY sorts of Americans are happy that Barack Obama has been elected to be their 44th president: blacks, rich whites, Hispanics, women, the young. But no one seems happier, at the moment, than the owners of gun shops.

AP

Just in case

According to the National Instant Criminal Background Checks System (the FBI body that oversees applications for people who want to buy guns), the number of checks run between January and October this year rose by 9%, compared with the same period in 2007. Even more dramatically, the body reports that 15.4% more checks took place in October 2008 than in October 2007.

Gun enthusiasts reckon there is a simple reason: Barack Obama. “It’s clear from President-elect Obama’s voting record and statements that gun-control policies, including gun bans, will be back on the table. Law-abiding Americans are recognising this and acting accordingly,” says Ted Novin, director of public relations for the National Shooting Sports Foundation.

Mr Novin is perplexed by, and therefore wary of, the seemingly contradictory messages on guns that Mr Obama has put out during his time as an Illinois senator and as a presidential candidate. Back in the old days, Mr Obama used to sound supportive of the District of Columbia’s ban on handguns. But when this was overturned by the Supreme Court in June, Mr Obama welcomed the decision. Mr Novin says he does not understand what the president-elect means when he calls for “commonsense safety measures” for guns. To add to his perplexity, he notes that Mr Obama’s website stated that he “believes that the Second Amendment creates an individual right, and he respects the constitutional rights of Americans to bear arms.” What to believe?

The National Rifle Association (NRA) is equally unimpressed. “The President-elect’s campaign rhetoric did not match his voting record,” states Andrew Arulanandam, an NRA spokesman. The NRA thinks that next year the Democratic president and the incoming, more strongly Democratic, Congress will start by going for a ban on semi-automatic assault rifles, such as the Russian-made AK-47, or AR-15’s, which are a favourite with police departments. The association has sponsored a website, www.gunbanobama.com, whose title is self-explanatory.

Meanwhile, gun sales are going like gangbusters. Chuck Wiggins, manager of the Patriot Arms gun shop in a suburb of Tampa, Florida, says that ever since Mr Obama became a contender “the sales of assault rifles here have at least tripled; I can’t keep enough of them stocked. And ammunition is selling out so fast that I’m calling manufacturers to try to find some more to buy.”

Copyright © 2008 The Economist Newspaper and The Economist Group. All rights reserved.

Sad and tragic news

Some months ago I parodied Marcus' "some of the many reasons to live here" photos from his blog.

One of the photos I shot and chose was that of "Red Mike Grocery" on North Elm Street.

Well, I was shocked this morning to see, above the fold, on the front page on the local paper, an image of Red Mike Grocery.

There's just no sense in it.























Greensboro police investigate a robbery and homicide at Red Mike Grocery. (credit: Lynn Hey / News & Record)

The story from the News-Record follows:

Fatal shooting of grocer stuns, saddens residents

Monday, November 10

(updated 1:35 pm)

By Gerald Witt
Staff Writer

GREENSBORO - Police launched a homicide investigation Sunday morning at a busy corner in one of Greensboro's oldest and most distinguished neighborhoods.

About 9:40 a.m. Sunday, Mohammed "Mike" Ali, 28, co-owner of Red Mike Grocery, was found with gunshot wounds by a customer in his store at 600 North Elm St., in the Fisher Park neighborhood.

As he lay bleeding, his storefront was reflected in the mirrored windows of the First Presbyterian Church business office.

The shooting happened as it and several other nearby churches held Sunday services.

His fiancee and friends confirmed that Ali was the victim. Greensboro police have not identified next-of-kin and would not confirm the victim's name.

By noon, the victim was pronounced dead at Moses Cone Hospital while police searched for two men who fled on foot.

One was described as a black man, 5 feet 8 inches tall, 25 years old and weighing 180 pounds. He wore all black clothing. The other man was black, 5 feet 7 inches to 5 feet 11 inches tall, 175 pounds and 28 to 30 years old. He was wearing a gray and black shirt with a hood and bluejeans.

"We're doing follow-up canvasses of the neighborhood," said police Capt. Janice Rogers. Some cash was taken from the register, she said, but did not offer many other details.

Ali, originally from Jerusalem, was a thick man with olive skin and a head of wild, curly black hair.

"Hello, friend," he would say to anyone stopping by. Though he only opened the store a year ago, friends and customers got to know him well. He'd listen to political arguments and crack jokes, and it was common to see Ali working at both noon and at midnight on the same day.

"He was a hard worker," said Mounir Hani, Ali's best friend. "He always worked more than 80 hours a week."

The red-and-yellow store sold usual neighborhood convenience goods - such as toilet paper, cigarettes, soda, chips and beer. During the summer, Ali also added a wine selection.

"He had just gotten my organic wine in," said Jennifer Scott, who lives on nearby South Park Drive.

But to his fiancee, Nikki Tipton, Ali was far more than a hard worker.

"We were going to get married Thursday," she said with red-rimmed eyes while sitting on the patio at Fishers Grille, next door to the convenience store. "He would've been 29 on the 16th."

Ali moved to Greensboro from Charlotte to open the store in Fisher Park, a tree-lined neighborhood with expensive old homes where many of the city's attorneys, doctors, professors and businessmen live.

Among those professionals, Ali planned to seek more success himself. He was three classes away from earning a bachelor's degree in computer science from UNC-Charlotte. And though running Red Mike kept him busy, he sometimes mentioned opening another store in the city.

"He was basically a self-made person," said Dwight Bowers, who lived with Ali and Tipton.

"I don't know," Bowers said of Ali's death and that he may have been shot over money. "Desperate times makes desperate people."

By 3 p.m. Sunday, the patio was full next door at Fishers Grille with people remembering Ali.

"He was even nice to the homeless people," Scott said. "If they asked him for money, he'd give them $10."

Shoppers would often find Ali sitting behind his counter, watching an action or comedy on DVD. He originally intended to keep the store open 24-7, but Ali recently scaled back his hours. But that wasn't a firm rule.

"If he knew that you were getting off work late, he'd stay open a little longer," Bowers said.

His store was a late-night stop for crowds headed north on Elm Street after a night of fun downtown.

"It's tragic, shocking. Mike was a nice guy," said Joshua Johnson, who also lives on South Park Drive.

Word of the shooting spread fast through Fisher Park on Sunday via text message and its online forum.

"We all contacted each-other, and I got the text message saying that there had been gunfire," said Nicole Crews, whose house is behind Fishers Grille on Magnolia Street. She posted a forum message on the shooting with the subject line, "Oh My God."

More than a dozen messages followed with police whereabouts and warnings for residents to stay inside.

"Police were taking the dogs through the neighborhood," she said, "and we were all outside trying to figure out what was going on."

Police said they caught the scent of one of the men, but could not follow it for long.

Rogers said they don't believe the shooting is linked to a homicide that happened Saturday night at 1704 Hidden Forest Drive, near Lees Chapel Road.

"You could've seen something and not thought much about it," she said, "but we'd like to know."

Anyone with any information is being asked to call Crime Stoppers at 373-1000.

Contact Gerald Witt at 373-7008 or gerald.witt@news-record.com

Mighty pretty in NC this time of year!

Can you guess which of these guys had a 14 year career in the NBA?

That would be the little fellow in the "1" jersey.
Muggsy Bogues was the shortest player ever in the NBA at 5'3."


































































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Offsides Virginia

Election night party

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/////////////////////

Senator Dole & President Bush

Wake defeats Duke, 33-30 in overtime

Alphonso Smith, who became Wake's all time leader in interceptions sealed the deal with his 19th interception in overtime.

• • • • • • • • • • • •

Duke had the chance to win in regulation, but Maggio's 42 yard attempt went wide right. The poor fellow felt so bad.

• • • • • • • • • • • •

Maggio is consoled here by Joe Surgan, who two years ago had what would have been a game winning field goal attempt blocked by Chip Vaughn. Surgan threw his own little temper tantrum on the sideline earlier in this game after his on-side kick was botched, setting up a Wake field goal. Funny the way history repeats itself.

• • • • • • • • • • • •

A photo of Surgan from 2006, after his blocked FG attempt.

• • • • • • • • • • • •

Money...

• • • • • • • • • • • •

LB Aaron Curry in hot pursuit...

• • • • • • • • • • • •

Touchdown coming

• • • • • • • • • • • •

That #77 is a big boy.

• • • • • • • • • • • •

Joe Surgan has an eery resemblance to Christopher Moltisanti.

Brings to mind another John Prine song

...regarding an image from back in the day...

Mary Lois commented that the photo which I estimated to have been taken in July, 1998 could have been made in any year, albeit between hurricanes.

All of these things are true, but there is another truth as well....

Memories can't be bought.
They can't be won at carnivals for free

Souvenirs
© John Prine & Steve Goodman

All the snow has turned to water
Christmas days have come and gone
Broken toys and faded colors
Are all that's left to linger on
I hate graveyards and old pawn shops
For they always bring me tears
I can't forgive the way they rob me
Of my childhood souvenirs

Chorus:
Memories they can't be boughten
They can't be won at carnivals for free
Well it took me years
To get those souvenirs
And I don't know how they slipped away from me

Broken hearts and dirty windows
Make life difficult to see
That's why last night and this mornin'
Always look the same to me

I hate reading old love letters
For they always bring me tears
I can't forgive the way they rob me
Of my sweetheart's souvenirs

(Repeat chorus)

An image from back in the day....

Point Clear

I'm guessing July, 1998

Living In The Future

For some reason yesterday, I was reminded of the John Prine song, "Living in the Future"

I found some liner notes this morning where Prine tells us a little about writing the song.

"...the idea I had came from Parade magazine in the Sunday papers. When I was growing up, it seemed like once a year some guy would write a story about how this is the way your city is going to look in 20 years. And the only city that ever looked like that was Seattle, and they built all that for the World's Fair. None of the other places had monorails. Instead, everybody's standing in soup lines or looking for jobs."

...(first stanza and chorus only)....

Living In The Future
(Originally named "Jumpin Jehosaphat")
© John Prine

Jehosaphat the mongrel cat
Jumped off the roof today
Some would say he fell but I could tell
He did himself away
His eyes weren't bright like they were the night
We played checkers on the train
God Bless his soul he was a tootsie roll
But he's a dead cat just the same

Chorus:
We are living in the future
I'll tell you how I know
I read it in the paper
Fifteen years ago
We're all driving rocket ships
And talking with our minds
And wearing turquoise jewelry
And standing in soup lines
We are standing in soup lines


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FDR, hardly a man of the people?

Saw this in the Economist' Democracy in America blog.



//////////////////////////

Quote of the day

Posted by:

The Economist | WASHINGTON

A “confidant” of Barack Obama’s talks to New York magazine’s John Heilemann:

“When times are good, people say they want someone like them to be president, but when times are bad, they want someone who can solve the problems, no matter how unlike them he is,” says the Obama confidant. “FDR was hardly a fucking man of the people, you know?”

Frank Deford on the Phillies...

Heard this on NPR this morning.

Philadelphia P-A is the toughest sports burg in the country. The Red Sox fans are a nation. The
Cubs fans are a support group. Philly fans are a pandemic.

The Phillies are to losing what the Zimbabwe dollar is to currency.

Some Martinsville pictures

////////////////////////////////
Breakfast of Champions.



















9:50AM. At the "Budweiser Fan Zone" we received a continental breakfast of champions.


////////////////////////////////////
Kyle Bush

















Not quite as offensive in person.

///////////////////////////////////
A face in the crowd.




















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Camper Village



















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The most distinctive feature of this race track may be the train track that runs parallel to the backstretch.














/////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
Teresa Earnhardt is not the most popular team owner.













///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////

The Martinsville Earnhardt Impersonator, and, another face in the crowd, a young one.

/

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Some enthusiatic fans.

////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
Some fellows high above turn 3.













////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////

One of these guys is a Dale Jr. Fan. The other isn't.

///////////////////////////////////////////////
An incredibly atrocious Jeff Burton shirt.

Martinsville Weekend

Have a nice group this year.

"Bucky the Plumber", "John the Bassist" and "Junior", the erstwhile moonshiner from Wilkes county, are all going.

We are gearing up. I'm advising John the Bassist to leave the Obama pin at home.

A pretty decent Noonan article

Some more commentary by erstwhile Reagan speechwriter Peggy Noonan.
The third and fourth paragraphs are particularly right on:

There is now something infantilizing about this election. Mr. Obama continued to claim he will remove wasteful spending by sitting down with the federal budget and going through it "line by line." This is absurd, and he must know it. Mr. McCain continued to vow he will "balance the budget" in the next four years. Who believes that? Does even he?

More than ever on the campaign trail, the candidates are dropping their G's. Hardworkin' families are strainin' and tryin'a get ahead. It's not only Sarah Palin but Mr. McCain, too, occasionally Mr. Obama, and, of course, George W. Bush when he darts out like the bird in a cuckoo clock to tell us we are in crisis. All of the candidates say "mom and dad": "our moms and dads who are struggling." This is Mr. Bush's former communications adviser Karen Hughes's contribution to our democratic life, that you cannot speak like an adult in politics now, that's too austere and detached, snobby. No one can say mothers and fathers, it's all now the faux down-home, patronizing—and infantilizing—moms and dads. Do politicians ever remember that in a nation obsessed with politics, our children—sorry, our kids—look to political figures for a model as to how adults sound?

///////////////////////////////////

• DECLARATIONS
• OCTOBER 17, 2008

Palin's Failin'

What is it she stands for? After seven weeks, we don't know.

• By PEGGY NOONAN

"Sometimes the leak is so bad that even a plumber can't fix it." This was the concise summation of a cable political strategist the other day, after the third and final presidential debate. That sounds about right, and yet the race in its final days retains a feeling of dynamism. I think it is going to burst open or tighten, not just mosey along. I can well imagine hearing, the day after Election Day, a lot of "You won't believe it but I was literally in line at the polling station when I decided."

John McCain won the debate, and he did it by making the case more effectively than he has in the past that Barack Obama will raise taxes, when "now, of all times in America, we need to cut people's taxes." He also scored Mr. Obama on his eloquence, using it against him more effectively than Hillary Clinton ever did. When she said he was "just words," it sounded like a bitter complaint. Mr. McCain made it a charge: Young man, you attempt to obscure truth with the mellifluous power of your words. From Mrs. Clinton it sounded jealous, but when Mr. McCain said it, you looked at Mr. Obama and wondered if you'd just heard something that was true. For the first time, Mr. Obama's unruffled demeanor didn't really work for him. His cool made him seem hidden.

There is now something infantilizing about this election. Mr. Obama continued to claim he will remove wasteful spending by sitting down with the federal budget and going through it "line by line." This is absurd, and he must know it. Mr. McCain continued to vow he will "balance the budget" in the next four years. Who believes that? Does even he?

More than ever on the campaign trail, the candidates are dropping their G's. Hardworkin' families are strainin' and tryin'a get ahead. It's not only Sarah Palin but Mr. McCain, too, occasionally Mr. Obama, and, of course, George W. Bush when he darts out like the bird in a cuckoo clock to tell us we are in crisis. All of the candidates say "mom and dad": "our moms and dads who are struggling." This is Mr. Bush's former communications adviser Karen Hughes's contribution to our democratic life, that you cannot speak like an adult in politics now, that's too austere and detached, snobby. No one can say mothers and fathers, it's all now the faux down-home, patronizing—and infantilizing—moms and dads. Do politicians ever remember that in a nation obsessed with politics, our children—sorry, our kids—look to political figures for a model as to how adults sound?

There has never been a second's debate among liberals, to use an old-fashioned word that may yet return to vogue, over Mrs. Palin: She was a dope and unqualified from the start. Conservatives and Republicans, on the other hand, continue to battle it out: Was her choice a success or a disaster? And if one holds negative views, should one say so? For conservatives in general, but certainly for writers, the answer is a variation on Edmund Burke: You owe your readers not your industry only but your judgment, and you betray instead of serve them if you sacrifice it to what may or may not be their opinion.

Here is a fact of life that is also a fact of politics: You have to hold open the possibility of magic. People can come from nowhere, with modest backgrounds and short résumés, and yet be individuals of real gifts, gifts that had previously been unseen, that had been gleaming quietly under a bushel, and are suddenly revealed. Mrs. Palin came, essentially, from nowhere. But there was a man who came from nowhere, the seeming tool of a political machine, a tidy, narrow, unsophisticated senator appointed to high office and then thrust into power by a careless Franklin D. Roosevelt, whose vanity told him he would live forever. And yet that limited little man was Harry S. Truman. Of the Marshall Plan, of containment. Little Harry was big. He had magic. You have to give people time to show what they have. Because maybe they have magic too.

But we have seen Mrs. Palin on the national stage for seven weeks now, and there is little sign that she has the tools, the equipment, the knowledge or the philosophical grounding one hopes for, and expects, in a holder of high office. She is a person of great ambition, but the question remains: What is the purpose of the ambition? She wants to rise, but what for? For seven weeks I've listened to her, trying to understand if she is Bushian or Reaganite—a spender, to speak briefly, whose political decisions seem untethered to a political philosophy, and whose foreign policy is shaped by a certain emotionalism, or a conservative whose principles are rooted in philosophy, and whose foreign policy leans more toward what might be called romantic realism, and that is speak truth, know America, be America, move diplomatically, respect public opinion, and move within an awareness and appreciation of reality.

But it's unclear whether she is Bushian or Reaganite. She doesn't think aloud. She just . . . says things.

Her supporters accuse her critics of snobbery: Maybe she's not a big "egghead" but she has brilliant instincts and inner toughness. But what instincts? "I'm Joe Six-Pack"? She does not speak seriously but attempts to excite sensation—"palling around with terrorists." If the Ayers case is a serious issue, treat it seriously. She is not as thoughtful or persuasive as Joe the Plumber, who in an extended cable interview Thursday made a better case for the Republican ticket than the Republican ticket has made. In the past two weeks she has spent her time throwing out tinny lines to crowds she doesn't, really, understand. This is not a leader, this is a follower, and she follows what she imagines is the base, which is in fact a vast and broken-hearted thing whose pain she cannot, actually, imagine. She could reinspire and reinspirit; she chooses merely to excite. She doesn't seem to understand the implications of her own thoughts.

No news conferences? Interviews now only with friendly journalists? You can't be president or vice president and govern in that style, as a sequestered figure. This has been Mr. Bush's style the past few years, and see where it got us. You must address America in its entirety, not as a sliver or a series of slivers but as a full and whole entity, a great nation trying to hold together. When you don't, when you play only to your little piece, you contribute to its fracturing.

In the end the Palin candidacy is a symptom and expression of a new vulgarization in American politics. It's no good, not for conservatism and not for the country. And yes, it is a mark against John McCain, against his judgment and idealism.

I gather this week from conservative publications that those whose thoughts lead them to criticism in this area are to be shunned, and accused of the lowest motives. In one now-famous case, Christopher Buckley was shooed from the great magazine his father invented. In all this, the conservative intelligentsia are doing what they have done for five years. They bitterly attacked those who came to stand against the Bush administration. This was destructive. If they had stood for conservative principle and the full expression of views, instead of attempting to silence those who opposed mere party, their movement, and the party, would be in a better, and healthier, position.

At any rate, come and get me, copper.

Please add your comments to the Opinion Journal forum.

Scotch tasting, take two

Dow Declines 733;
S&P Tumbles 9%

The Dow slumped to below 8600 amid an across-the-board drop following grim economic data and a mixed round of earnings reports. Oil futures dropped to around $75 a barrel.

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Well, not a particularly good evening to enjoy a tasting of premium scotches and feel good about it. So, I selected Johnnie Walker Black Label, the cheapest on the menu and enjoyed three of 'em.

So there!

Scotch tasting

Early on last week, I was increasingly craving a series of scotches as the financial markets continued to hemorrhage...day after day after day. Alas, I was unable to indulge due to work demands that kept me at my office 12-14 hours each day.

HOWEVER, I read the following article, pasted below, in the Wall Street Journal over the weekend and thought to myself, the subject matter might warrant further investigation.

I enjoy scotch. I have some favorites but usually if I'm drinking out, I order Johnnie Walker Black Label. The Village Tavern's house scotch is Famous Grouse, which is perfectly acceptable to me and, at $6.25 vs. $12 or $14, I'm glad to order it. Otherwise, I stay away from the well liquors, which in many cases are simply the cheapest liquors available.

Which brings us to the point of this article....good cheap liquor. The column says:

GOOD/VERY GOOD

Teacher's Highland Cream $16.99
Robust, chewy malt taste gives this whisky ballast. Above deck, the Scotch gets dressed in the elegantly restrained smokiness of the lightly peated Ardmore single malt.

Ballantine's Finest $13.99
A rich, rounded, malty sweetness balanced by dry herbal notes.

So, I go by the liquor store tonight and buy a 750ml bottle of the Ballantine's for $13.95 and a 1.75 liter bottle of the Teacher's for $23.95. I bought the big bottle of Teachers because that's all they had. There were lots of 750ml bottles of single malts and what not, but not of the this stuff. I asked the clerk about 750 size bottles and he opined that people who buy Teacher's like to buy in quantity. Hmmm.

My thoughts: Not bad, so far. I can drink the stuff, but really prefer, for a lower end blend, Famous Grouse which retails for about $20 for a 750. Johnnie Walker Black goes for about $32 for a 750 and is quite satisfying. When I want a treat, I'll go for the Laphroig 10 year which is about $50 for a 750.

While trying the two bargain blends tonight, I also poured a taste of Macallan 12 year as a reference point. The Macallan was, predictably, more intense with a cleaner finish.

I'm going to try these two blends some more over the next week or two. Sometimes it takes me a bit to settle in on an opinion for wine and scotch, so maybe I'll decide I like one or the other more than on my initial impression.




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• HOW'S YOUR DRINK
• OCTOBER 11, 2008

What to Down in a Down Market

By ERIC FELTEN

Next week, a new offering of 40-year-old Highland Park single-malt Scotch is slated to roll out in Manhattan -- perhaps not the most auspicious time to bring a $2,000-a-bottle whisky to the market. My guess is that there will soon be a premium on spirits without premium prices. Which makes now a good time to sample the standard brands of blended Scotch whisky to see which are good bets for the austere days to come.

Dylan Cross for The Wall Street Journal

I picked up bottles from among the most famous of Scotch brands, including such blends as Johnnie Walker Red Label (the most popular Scotch in the world), Dewar's White Label, and J&B Rare. I also picked up such venerable -- but no longer fashionable -- brands as Black & White, Ballantine's Finest and White Horse. Prices ranged from $12.99 to just over the $20 mark.

These whiskies are a deal, not only compared with single malts, but in relation to the historical cost of blended whisky: Back in 1938 a liquor price war broke out, with retailers slashing what they charged for Scotch. In New York, the price of Black & White fell to $2.29 from $3.29. In today's dollars that discount price would work out to about $35. But I was able to buy a bottle of Black & White for $14.99. Maybe times aren't so bad after all.

But are the whiskies worth drinking? Yes and not really. Let's start with the not-reallys. I've never been much of a fan of Johnnie Walker's Red Label (as opposed to the much tastier Black Label variety), and in my blind tasting I found no reason to change my opinion. In the movie "Mister Roberts," William Powell concocts an imitation of Red Label for Jack Lemmon to use a-wooing. Powell makes the ersatz Scotch out of plain alcohol, cola for color and iodine and hair tonic for taste. You could do worse in describing a sip of Red Label (in fact I did -- writing "burned rubber shoe" on my tasting sheet).

I wasn't too enamored of Dewar's either, a whisky that, in striving for complexity, ends up an inharmonious muddle of flavors. Cutty Sark was watery; The Famous Grouse was blandish; plain sweetness and alcohol burn contested for primacy in Grant's; Black & White was just blah.

Sampling Whiskies

GOOD/VERY GOOD

Teacher's Highland Cream $16.99
Robust, chewy malt taste gives this whisky ballast. Above deck, the Scotch gets dressed in the elegantly restrained smokiness of the lightly peated Ardmore single malt.

Ballantine's Finest $13.99
A rich, rounded, malty sweetness balanced by dry herbal notes.

GOOD

J&B Rare $18.99
A grassy-green young whisky in which you can taste the light and flowery Knockando single malt, one of its constituent parts.

White Horse $12.99
A soft whisky with hints of vanilla, cinnamon, and caramel.

Better was White Horse, a soft whisky with hints of vanilla and cinnamon. I also liked J&B, a green and grassy whisky in which you can taste the light and flowery Knockando single malt that is one of its constituent parts. But my two favorites were Ballantine's and Teacher's. Ballantine's has a rich, rounded, malty sweetness balanced by dry herbal notes. Teacher's has a robust, chewy malt taste as ballast and, above deck, the restrained smokiness of the peaty Ardmore single malt.

Teacher's is a brand that has always been around, but which I had never bothered to try. It has become incredibly popular in some big Scotch-drinking markets, such as India and Brazil, but the brand has been allowed to atrophy in the U.S.

It was once heavily advertised, with slogans worthy of Mr. Blandings. By the 1970s, Jerry Della Femina had the account, and the ads were decidedly more quirky. He hired a slew of comedians to pen comic testimonials to the whisky, among them Mel Brooks and Redd Foxx. Groucho Marx shilled for Teacher's in a rollicking advertorial that ran in Playboy and Esquire in 1973: "Whenever I think of Scotch, I recall the Immortal Words of My Brother Harpo."

Groucho's story went that he woke up one morning to find that his liquor cabinet had been robbed. Someone had taken a sample of every Scotch on the shelf, "Except in the case of Teacher's Scotch where the case was taken." Groucho suspected Harpo, at whose house, "there, big as life, were my bottles of Teacher's." Harpo honked that "Teacher's tasted better to him than any of the other scotches I had."

The funny thing is that, in real life, not only did Harpo dislike Scotch, but he hated spirits of every sort. The mere prospect of having to take a gulp of liquor was enough to make him throw up. "There was something wrong with my chemistry," he wrote in his autobiography "Harpo Speaks!" A friend had joked that Harpo couldn't even serve alcohol -- if he opened a fresh bottle of rare old Scotch and started to pour, "by the time the liquor got in the glass the drink would be ruined."

Harpo and liquor may have been a bad mix, but not nearly as disastrous a combination as alcohol and Jack Kerouac. The Beat poet and novelist drank himself to death less than a year after making a boozy fool of himself on an infamous episode of William F. Buckley Jr.'s "Firing Line." A month after the riots at the 1968 Democratic convention in Chicago, Buckley assembled a panel to discuss "The Hippies." Among the guests was a spectacularly drunk Kerouac, who drifted off when not blurting non sequiturs -- at one point Kerouac shouted, apropos of nothing, "Flat-faced floogee with the floy, floy!" Buckley was kind enough not to point out that the actual lyric to the swing-era tune begins "Flat foot," but he did turn to the audience and crack, "Give that man a drink."

But of course, Kerouac had a drink. He had been slurping whisky all the while from a coffee mug at his side, and according to biographer Dennis McNally that mug had been filled with what was left of a bottle of Teacher's Highland Cream that Kerouac had started in the green room.

You can't blame the Teacher's folks for leaving Kerouac out of their ad campaigns. Though they did enlist the help of another drinker of some renown, Fats Domino. His "Domino Theory of Drinking" went: "Once you down a Teacher's Scotch, a second one will soon follow in its place. And maybe a third. Sometimes even a Fifth."

Best not to so over-consume, notwithstanding the anxieties of the moment. And best not to get overstretched buying expensive liquor. That is, unless I can get the Highland Park 40 with an I.O.U. and persuade Henry Paulson to pay off the scrap of lousy paper for me.

Mr. Felten is the author of "How's Your Drink?: Cocktails, Culture and the Art of Drinking Well" (Agate Surrey)

Gracie & Molly

It's 100% coincidental, but I once dated a girl from Louisiana named Molly and once knew
(stopped short of dating) a stripper from the Cheetah III named Gracie. Gracie's stage name was Monique and as she explained to me, "who ever heard of a dancer named Grace?"

Noonan on Palin, "Palin the Populist"

Peggy spins the debate and takes an opportunity to skewer GWB's squandered final years,

"We have never seen an economic meltdown like this? We've never seen a presidential meltdown like this. George W. Bush's weakness is not all lame-duckship. In the last year of his presidency Ronald Reagan met with Mikhail Gorbachev in Moscow and helped change the world. In the penultimate year of his presidency, Bill Clinton sent U.S. troops, successfully, into Kosovo.

After the first bailout failed, Mr. Bush spoke like a man who was a mere commentator, not the leader in a crisis."

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• DECLARATIONS
• OCTOBER 3, 2008

Palin the Populist

Joe Biden was no match for "Joe Six-Pack."

• By PEGGY NOONAN

She killed. She had him at "Nice to meet you. Hey, can I call you Joe?" She was the star. He was the second male lead, the good-natured best friend of the leading man. She was not petrified but peppy.

The whole debate was about Sarah Palin. She is not a person of thought but of action. Interviews are about thinking, about reflecting, marshaling data and integrating it into an answer. Debates are more active, more propelled—they are thrust and parry. They are for campaigners. She is a campaigner. Her syntax did not hold, but her magnetism did. At one point she literally winked at the nation.

As far as Mrs. Palin was concerned, Gwen Ifill was not there, and Joe Biden was not there. Sarah and the camera were there. This was classic "talk over the heads of the media straight to the people," and it is a long time since I've seen it done so well, though so transparently. There were moments when she seemed to be doing an infomercial pitch for charm in politics. But it was an effective infomercial.

Joe Biden seems to have walked in thinking that she was an idiot and that he only had to patiently wait for this fact to reveal itself. This was a miscalculation. He showed great forbearance. Too much forbearance. She said of his intentions on Iraq, "Your plan is a white flag of surrender." This deserved an indignant response, or at least a small bop on the head, from Mr. Biden, who has been for five years righter on Iraq than the Republican administration. He was instead mild.

The heart of her message was a complete populist pitch. "Joe Six-Pack" and "soccer moms" should unite to fight the tormentors who forced mortgages on us. She spoke of "Main Streeters like me." A question is at what point shiny, happy populism becomes cheerful manipulation.

Sarah Palin saved John McCain again Thursday night. She is the political equivalent of cardiac paddles: Clear! Zap! We've got a beat! She will re-electrify the base. More than that, an hour and a half of talking to America will take her to a new level of stardom. Watch her crowds this weekend. She's about to get jumpers, the old political name for people who are so excited to see you they start to jump.

Her triumph comes at an interesting time. The failure of the first bailout bill was an epic repudiation of the Washington leadership class by the American people. Two weeks ago the president of the United States, the speaker of the House, the secretary of the Treasury and the leadership of both parties in Congress came forward and announced that the economy was in crisis and a federal bill to solve it urgently needed. The powers were in agreement, the stars aligned, it was going to happen.

And then the phones began to ring, from one end of Capitol Hill to the other. And the message in those calls was, essentially: We don't trust you to fix the problem, we suspect you may have caused it. Go away.

It was an epic snub, aimed at both parties. And the bill tanked.

We have simply, as a nation, never had a moment like this, in which the American people voted such a stunning no-confidence in America's leaders in a time of real and present danger. The fate of the second bill is unclear as I write, but the fact that it has morphed from three pages to roughly 450, and is festooned with favors, will do nothing to allay public suspicions about the trustworthiness of Congress. This, as a background, could not have helped Mr. Biden.

We have never seen an economic meltdown like this? We've never seen a presidential meltdown like this. George W. Bush's weakness is not all lame-duckship. In the last year of his presidency Ronald Reagan met with Mikhail Gorbachev in Moscow and helped change the world. In the penultimate year of his presidency, Bill Clinton sent U.S. troops, successfully, into Kosovo.

After the first bailout failed, Mr. Bush spoke like a man who was a mere commentator, not the leader in a crisis.

We witness here a great political lesson. When you are president, it matters—it really matters—that a majority of the people support and respect you. When you squander that affection, you lose more than mere popularity. You lose the ability to lead when your country is in crisis. This is a terrible loss, and a dangerous one, for the whole world is watching.

Young aides to Reagan used to grouse, late in his second term, that he had high popularity levels, that popularity was capital, and that he should spend it more freely on potential breakthroughs of this kind or that. But Reagan and the men around him were wiser. They spent when they had to and were otherwise prudent. (Is there a larger lesson here?) They were not daring when they didn't have to be. They knew presidential popularity is a jewel to be protected, and to be burnished when possible, because without it you can do nothing. Without the support and trust of the people you cannot move, cannot command. You are left, like Mr. Bush, talking to an empty room.

We saw this week, too, a turn in the McCain campaign's response to criticisms of Mrs. Palin. I find obnoxious the political game in which if you expressed doubts about the vice presidential nominee, or criticized her, you were treated as if you were knocking the real America—small towns, sound values. "It's time that normal Joe Six-Pack American is finally represented in the position of vice presidency," Mrs. Palin told talk-show host Hugh Hewitt. This left me trying to imagine Abe Lincoln saying he represents "backwoods types," or FDR announcing that the fading New York aristocracy deserves another moment in the sun. I'm not sure the McCain campaign is aware of it—it's possible they are—but this is subtly divisive. As for the dismissal of conservative critics of Mrs. Palin as "Georgetown cocktail party types" (that was Mr. McCain), well, my goodness. That is the authentic sound of the aggression, and phony populism, of the Bush White House. Good move. That ended well.

We must take happiness where we can. Tina Fey's Sarah Palin has become, in that old phrase, a national sensation, and Ms. Fey is becoming, with her show "30 Rock," and now the Palin impression, one of the great comic figures of her generation. Her work with Amy Poehler (as Katie Couric) in last weekend's spoof on "Saturday Night Live" was so astoundingly good—the hand gestures, the vocal tone and spirit—that it captured some of the actual heart of the Palin story. Ms. Poehler as Couric: "Mrs. Palin, are you aware that when cornered you become increasingly adorable?" Ms. Fey as Palin mugs, adorably.

To spoof someone well takes talent, but to utterly nail a political figure while not brutalizing him takes a real gift, and amounts almost to a public service. After all, to capture someone is a kind of tribute: it concedes he is real, vivid, worthy of note. We are not as a nation manufacturing trust all that well, or competence, or leadership. But some things we do well, and one is comedy. Ms. Fey plays characters who are sour, stressed and who, on "30 Rock," live in a world that is cynical, provisional and shallow. But to observe life so closely takes a kind of love.

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