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Wow! What a Sunday morning! The extra hour gave me time to not only get bagels from Rosenfeld’s in Newton Centre (unquestionably the best bagels in greater Boston) but to enjoy a full smorgasbord of Sunday talk show madness while I downed my extra-salty Springfield belly-lox.
The fun started on Fox News Sunday when a very desperate looking Harold Ford made an appearance. In the past, I’ve confessed s soft spot for Fancy – sorry, he strikes me as a nice guy. But Ford’s interview this morning with Chris Wallace was a politicking Hindenburg.
Ford looked haggard and angry. He gave off the unmistakable whiff of a candidate who has been bludgeoned with unfavorable internals the last several days. He also looked like he hadn’t slept since July.
Things got really weird when Chris Wallace replayed the infamous “playboy bunny” ad. Strangely, an indignant Ford furiously referred to the spot as “smut.” Twice. Asked for an explanation for this odd choice of words, a suddenly prudish Ford expressed outrage that Tennesseans had to be exposed to the image of a scantily clad blonde “naked up to here.” Wait a minute – I thought Ford liked girls!
Then Rick Santorum came on the show. If Santorum goes down, he’ll go down fighting. He has emerged as a true rarity in 21st century politics – a candidate who knows what he stands for and knows what he wants to say.
Things went downhill during the next segment when Liddy Dole and Chuck Schumer engaged in a min-debate. Has Dole not done enough damage to the party this cycle with her disastrous stewardship of the RSCC where Schumer has beat her like a drum in fund raising terms? Is it really necessary that we trot her out 9 days before the election to get killed in debates with Schumer, too? In case anyone from the White House is reading, please heed my counsel: Send Liddy on an emergency fact-finding mission to Antarctica that lasts until November 8. November 8, 2022. At least.
From there, I switched over to “Meet the Press” where the conclusion of the show’s Senate Debate Series immediately buoyed my spirits when Michael Steele decisively bested Ben Cardin.
Steele versus Cardin isn’t really a fair match-up. Cardin has all the charm and charisma of a desiccated piece of driftwood. Steele, on the other hand, is an extremely appealing presence. The debate would have been the rout of the season if Steele didn’t stumble a bit during the Roe v. Wade conversation. Nevertheless, the Maryland race has a huge amount of undecideds and leaners. Michael Steele did himself a whole lot of good this morning.
At this point, I’d even say that a Steele victory on Election Day won’t be an upset. Cardin is this cycle’s version of Fritz Mondale circa 2002 – a semi-living, perhaps-breathing example of everything people don’t like about conventional politicians. Seemingly congenitally unable to provide a straight answer to any straightforward question, Cardin comes across as the type of guy who has obfuscation as his default setting. Not that the Cardin people look to this blog for guidance, but if they do I charitably suggest they immediately deploy the Bob Casey, Jr. strategy: Entomb their candidate in a glass case until Election Day and do not break the glass under any circumstances.
Back in a bit with more politics talk.
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