Hey, so here’s Campbell Brown, talking about Ed Rendell’s comments yesterday. Regarding the next Homeland Security chief, Arizona Gov. Janet Napolitano, Rendell said, “Janet’s perfect for that job, because for that job you have to have no life. Janet has no family. Perfect. She can devote, literally, 19, 20 hours a day to it.” Turns out an open microphone picked up on that and CNN broadcast it to the world.
Earlier this year, of course, Ed Rendell said that Barack Obama would have trouble in Pennsylvania because “you’ve got conservative whites here, and I think there are some whites who are probably not ready to vote for an African-American candidate.” (He explained this by saying that if Lynn Swann were white, he would have won by 17 percentage points instead of 22.)
So what’s next for Fast Eddie? Calling John McCain older than dirt? Saying Ron Paul’s followers are bonkers? Maybe making fun of the way Arnold Schwarzenegger talks! Let’s see what he had to say yesterday:
Asked to explain the comments yesterday, Rendell said: “What I meant is that Janet is a person who works 24-7, just like I do. She has no life; neither do I.”
For example, he said he arrived home Tuesday at 10:30 p.m., flipped on the television, and watched a budget program on Pennsylvania Cable News until 1 a.m.
“No person who has a life would do that,” he said. “That’s why, among other qualities, I hope, I am well-suited to be governor. To be governor and do the job well, you can’t have a life.”
Ahh, I see, he has no life, just like that barefoot lady in the Homeland Security office kitchen. Does he also have no family? (Midge and Jesse Rendell could not be reached for comment.) The Inquirer also reminds us that Rendell has not let old people off the hook, either:
Two years later, while running for a second term as governor, Rendell told the editorial board of the Lancaster New Era that gambling brings “brightness and cheer” to some seniors who otherwise “lead very gray lives.”
“But if you put them on the bus, they’re excited,” he said. “They’re happy. They have fun. They see bright lights. They hear music. They pull that slot machine, and with each pull they think they have a chance to win.”
Man, this dude is a one-man comedy machine. Women, white racists, oldheads, his family, even the Philadelphia Eagles… who won’t he insult? I think this man needs to be appointed Secretary of One-Liners in the new Obama cabinet.
Stephen A. Smith (who else?) writes in the current ESPN Magazine that the NBA is not racist, and only has European and white players because it helps the team get better, spreads the game around the world and makes more money for the owners.
Setting aside the question of whether or not Joey Abell can actually become what [promoter Don] Elbaum envisions, he does seem to bring something to the table other than a healthy appetite. In fact, he is a symbol of eternal longing: A heavyweight who is not just American but the color of driven snow. While it is politically incorrect to say so, even Abell understands that when it comes to forging a boxing career, the only thing he has missing at this point is a tattoo on his arm that says MOTHER. “Not to sound racist or anything, but a white heavyweight from America would be a big thing,” said Abell, who would indeed be a big thing for a sport that has slipped so far out of the public consciousness that some would say it could be packed up in a pine box. Because far larger than even the raw abilities of the still unproven Abell is what someone like him represents: The possibility of a new face that can coax the sport out of the crypt.
This is why sports journalists enjoy covering boxing: None of that PC crap; it’s all “yes, the sport would like a white American heavyweight champion.”
While the crowd was indeed diverse, some students at the event questioned the practices of Mrs. Obama’s event coordinators, who handpicked the crowd sitting behind Mrs. Obama. The Tartan’s correspondents observed one event coordinator say to another, “Get me more white people, we need more white people.” To an Asian girl sitting in the back row, one coordinator said, “We’re moving you, sorry. It’s going to look so pretty, though.”
It’s nice to see that Obama’s people are attempting to make every single one of his rallies a giant college brochure. That’s some attention to detail.
Let’s play a game today, shall we? Philly.com’s lead story right now is about after-school policing on SEPTA. (30 new cops!) I haven’t written much about the subway attacks despite being a regular subway rider (from Center City!) because it’s a SEPTA story I can’t really blame SEPTA 100 percent for. And that’s no fun.
We all care about El safety now because a white person died, so SEPTA is adding 30 cops to police the subway between 2 and 5 p.m. (How many will be at York-Dauphin station, I wonder.) Philly.com currently has it as its lead story and (oh no) they are allowing people to write comments. After yesterday’s Sierra Leone boy/Chris Wheeler fiasco, one can only assume roughly 200 percent of the comments posted to this story will contain code words old white people say because they can’t say “nigger” in polite society anymore. Aww, too bad, white people!
Anyway, let’s track this comment thread throughout the day. it’s already at a critical mass where I believe comments will start to be deleted, and then people will cry censorship and wah wah wah. It’s like the Courier-Post comments section all over again!
“They do want to keep you happy, and that will affect down the line with certain things that come up because you can’t just all of a sudden throw everything out at (a player) at the last second and think that’s really going to make him happy, because he’s still got check marks for what they didn’t do in the years before.” Hamels told the Daily News‘ David Murphy, who I know because his name is on my bedroom wall on some plaque.
This is a boom for all the fans, of course, who were worrying about being able to complain about the Phillies being cheap when they’ve actually had a respectable payroll recently. Also, if Cole Hamels doesn’t want Phillies fans to think he’s a greedy athlete, maybe he should pitch the Phillies to the World Series. After that, some fans might be willing to donate a couple thousand to Hamels himself.
Even thought we Americans may not have been all that nice to the people living on this continent before we arrived, at least we honor them with sports team logos. We also honor the American Indians by realizing that, well, they were here first.
Despite the hung jury, the defendant [Columbus, I guess] — played by 11-year-old Ryan Conner — felt victorious. “We had all the proof we needed,” he said after the court adjourned. “The prosecution had a lot of evidence, but they couldn’t prove the Indians had a civilization.”
I want to apologize for the insensitivity of this remark. It was wrong, I shouldn’t have said it, and I am very sorry that I did. It came during the course of an exhaustive day of testimony, and it occurred as I was being shown a number of black and white photographs and being asked whether I recognized any of the individuals in the photos.
When I answered, I was referring to my inability to distinguish the people in those photos, and I just didn’t do a very good job of making that point. My remark really was in reference to the difficulty I was having identifying anyone in the photos.
Hey, kids! There’s a race war going on in East Falls, where the white people are rich and the poor people are poor and even the NAACP is split over it! But whatever, let’s just read why the former principal — looks like this story is over, actually! — upset some black parents:
Robey was one of about a dozen Mifflin teachers and parents who testified about their concerns at a City Council hearing Dec. 27. Another parent, LaShya Taylor, said she heard [principal Allyssa] Schmitt make the comment about Muslim children looking like the “flying nun.”
You know, she should be fired. If she thinks Muslims look like the The Flying Nun she’s clearly unfit to lead a school.
Of all the annoying complaints, #1 on the list has to be a rich white dude complaining about discrimination. It used to be the only white people who could legitimately complain they were being seriously discriminated against were suburban skateboarders, but now that John Street gave money to build the John Street Memorial Skate Park (actually, Franklin’s Paine, which I guess sounds better than Rizzo’s Goode), who knows anymore. But, yeah, white dudes complaining about stuff is pretty much “the Internet,” which explains a lot.
But, anyway, sometimes people complaining will go to great lengths to prove they actually are under attack. Case in point? Princeton University junior Francisco Nava, who faked an attack on himself and reported it to the police. Nava claimed the attack took place because of his conservative views. He even sent threatening emails to himself, fellow students and a professor to give his fake attack some merit!
Nava, you see, is part of the Anscombe Society, a campus group that opposes premarital sex. (It is the most popular group on Princeton’s campus.) The group has pow wows where they fantasize about small government and moving to gay-free countries like Iran, but nobody really pays much attention to them because they’re against premarital sex.
Anscombe president Kevin Staley-Joyce, though, shed some light on the situation after a meeting of the club’s virgin members to the Princeton school paper.
“He wanted something big and showy as opposed to the approach that we set out in our mission statement,” Staley-Joyce said. The statement describes Anscombe’s goals as providing “social support and a voice” for students committed to its ideals and “intellectual engagement” on campus.
Once again, a sub-par mission statement has caused more problems than it’s solved.
