Time To Punt
Today, as all political pundits know, is the opening of football metaphor season! Since football is getting underway tonight, it becomes entirely appropriate and seasonal to once again start talking about politics in the language of the gridiron.
Trump tackles Fiorina! Self-declared refs Bush and Walker call unnecessary roughness!
CNN moves goalposts for debate inclusion!
Obama does endzone dance after Iran deal victory!
Sanders continues to advance the ball against Hillary!
As you can see, the metaphors are all quite easy to apply to politics, because after a while the "horserace" metaphor only goes so far, and football metaphors are so much more varied (and more fun). Admittedly, pundits don't routinely get flagged for use of football metaphors outside of the season, but I personally like to at least emphasize them in a timely manner.
Which is all a roundabout (and hopefully somewhat humorous) way of leading up to my decision to punt on today's column. No, I am not precisely in a fourth-and-long situation here, but I have been woefully neglecting the comments section of my blog for approximately the past two weeks, as the lazy days of summer draw to a close. So instead of writing a column on, for instance, the Senate successfully filibustering the Iran deal disapproval bill, I am going to devote the time it would have taken to write a real column today to answering past comments. I'll post updates on my progress in the comments section of this article, perhaps with links to where my new comments begin on each article.
As for other comments, I throw the doors open to any subject you might wish to comment upon today, from how Stephen Colbert is doing in his new gig to Bobby Jindal comparing Trump to Charlie Sheen (the whole "winning!" thing) -- but in the spirit of the times, I would ask everyone to include at least one football metaphor in your comment. Canadians will be given an extra ten yards to do so (heh), since they play by different rules up yonder.
-- Chris Weigant
Follow Chris on Twitter: @ChrisWeigant
LizM -
Don't know if you follow football as well as baseball (haven't looked at the standings in weeks, since the Orioles collapsed, personally), but yes, that last paragraph was for you!
:-)
-CW
OK, the first thing that needs doing is cleaning out the spam and other filters, and restoring some comments that mysteriously didn't appear...
My apologies to White Hat and everyone else who got caught inadvertently in the automatic filtering system. Mea culpa.
-CW
OK -- whew! -- there were quite a few comments clogged up in the filters, for which I again apologize.
Some of these may appear as duplicate comments on the past few weeks' articles, for which I take full responsibility -- in other words, it's not the commenter's fault they tried to post several times, and I just approved almost all of the ones that should have made it through. Just to be clear, duplicate comments are my fault, not the commenters.
Plowing on through the backlog...
-CW
OK, one down.
http://www.chrisweigant.com/2015/09/09/gop-gang-still-cant-shoot-straight/#comment-64046
More later...
-CW
Second one done (on Trump's polling and the magic 35 percent)
http://www.chrisweigant.com/2015/09/08/gop-presidential-polling-then-and-now/#comment-64049
More in a bit, gotta feed the cat...
-CW
OK, finished Friday's FTP comments, which start at:
http://www.chrisweigant.com/2015/09/04/ftp360/#comment-64055
Still plugging away at things... check out these links to see my responses, and my apologies for the massive delay!
-CW
o Bobby Jindal comparing Trump to Charlie Sheen (the whole "winning!" thing)
Ya know what cracks me up about Jindal and the other GOP candidates???
"It's time we have some civility in this election. Knock off the name-calling and ignore that jackass arrogant egomaniac Trump!!!"
Not that Hillary is any better..
"You know, this name-calling and personal attacks from the GOP side is really disheartening and totally wrong.. You would never catch me doing that. Now, let's talk about those Republican terrorists!!"
Hypocrites, the lot of them..
I would also point out to Jindal that Trump IS, indeed, winning...
Sorry, I can't come up with a SINGLE football metaphor to accompany this...
TWEEEEET!!! PENALTY!!!
Howz that?? :D
Michale
My apologies to White Hat and everyone else who got caught inadvertently in the automatic filtering system. Mea culpa.
I looked for any comments from White Hat..
Can't find any....
Michale
Chris,
I love a great football game with the best of 'em but, I don't know the ins and outs of the sport well enough to come up with a proper analogy for Biden's agonizing decision other than to say he remains on the sidelines and, after that heart-breaking emotional appearance on the Late Show with Stephen Colbert last night, my mind is running in all directions on that score.
Liz,
http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-fix/wp/2015/09/10/the-amazing-honesty-of-joe-biden/
For you....
Joe Biden is practically the ONLY Demcorat that I could see myself possibly maybe voting for..
Michale
Put another way...
Joe Biden is everything that Hillary Clinton ISN'T when it comes to leadership...
Michale
Michale,
Thanks for that.
I think you really could support a Biden run. If nothing else it would be a nice change for you from being against everything.
Of course, you wouldn't agree with everything a President Biden would do or say - neither would I. In fact, we could probably have some pretty good back and forths on any number of Biden policies.
If he doesn't run, it will be a real shame. When he was running, the American people never got behind him. Now, when he may decide against a final run for the presidency, I'm sensing that the American people may finally be coming around to see and appreciate Joe Biden for who is really is.
CNN operatives accused of covertly over-inflating Trump's balls.
http://www.politico.com/story/2015/07/donald-trump-2016-media-coverage-119862
I read the whole article (TWICE) and didn't see ANYTHING in there about Trump's testicles...
"I sat thru this entire disgusting, perverted smut of a film... Twice!"
-Principal, PORKY'S
:D
Michale
CNN operatives accused of covertly over-inflating Trump's balls.
http://www.politico.com/story/2015/07/donald-trump-2016-media-coverage-119862
Now THAT is the football reference to end ALL football references!!
:D
And here I was searching the article for mentions of Trump's testicles...
"Boy do I feel sheepish..."
-Genie, ALADDIN
:D
Disregard comment #14... I couldn't catch it in time...
:^/
Michale
It's too late for that. :)
It's too late for that. :)
Story of my life.. :D
Michale
Obama actually does something I can give him a kewpie for!!
Obama won't stay at Chinese-owned Waldorf Astoria
http://www.cnn.com/2015/09/11/politics/obama-waldorf-astoria/index.html
I am impressed, to say the least...
"And I don't impress easily.. WOW!!! A BLUE CAR!!!!!!!"
-Homer Simpson
:D
Michale
A Democrat pandering to xenophobia? Disappointing but not surprising.
dsws,
A Democrat pandering to xenophobia?
Or.... A LEADER who recognizes the threat that an enemy represents...
Lookey here.. I am DEFENDING Obama!!! :D
Michale
A Democrat pandering to xenophobia? Disappointing but not surprising.
Really, dsws? That is both surprising and disappointing. Hyper-cynicism is never a good thing.
And, by 'that', I mean your comment about President Obama, just to clear.
Yes, really. Xenophobia is very prevalent, and has been for most (if not all) of the history of the country. If a party stopped pandering to it, they would lose a lot of votes.
I obviously don't think it's hyper-cynicism to recognize that. I'm often pessimistic about politics, but I don't think human nature is evil across the board or anything like that. If you want to convince me that he's not pandering to xenophobia, or that such pandering isn't common in both parties, you won't do it just by slapping a label on.
If you want to convince me that he's not pandering to xenophobia, or that such pandering isn't common in both parties, you won't do it just by slapping a label on.
Well, as you know, slapping label on is not my thing, number one ...
And, number two ... I think the president's decision to avoid the Waldorf Astoria has to do with cost and security related factors, none of which have anything to do with "pandering to xenophobia".
Anyone who thinks Obama is pandering to Xenophobia as it relates to a decision not to stay at a hotel is demonstrating a very shallow analysis while ignoring how the US-China relationship has developed over the course of the Obama administration.
Yes, really. Xenophobia is very prevalent, and has been for most (if not all) of the history of the country. If a party stopped pandering to it, they would lose a lot of votes. I obviously don't think it's hyper-cynicism to recognize that.
It is hyper-cynicism to translate your historical perspective on xenophobia in the US to an Obama administration's hotel choice, especially given how President Obama has managed US-China relations.
Let's try that again ...
dsws,
Yes, really. Xenophobia is very prevalent, and has been for most (if not all) of the history of the country. If a party stopped pandering to it, they would lose a lot of votes. I obviously don't think it's hyper-cynicism to recognize that.
It is a sign of hyper-cynicism to translate your historical perspective on xenophobia in the US to an Obama administration's hotel choice, especially given how President Obama has managed US-China relations.
CNN doesn't even know my historical perspective on xenophobia in the US.
Did I use the wrong word, dsws? :) Well, you know what I meant.
Michale [7] -
Failure to provide football reference. Penalty: you have to say five nice things about either Hillary or Bernie. Offset: OK, you snuck in a football reference at the end, penalty rescinded for now, but you're on notice... still first down...
Michale [19] -
And here I thought that penalty was a joke, but you get credit for one nice Obama reference (in your own unique style, of course).
-CW