Lance Armstrong: Politician?

[Posted by kris]

Our favorite French-looking Senator, John Kerry, was at the Tour de France today. While there, he speculated on Lance Armstrong's potential political future:

"What's made him so special at the Tour de France, and as an athlete, is the level of focus, discipline, intelligence, strategic ability, and obviously, his endurance -- his ability to just take it on and go," Kerry said.

Those qualities would serve Armstrong well in politics, Kerry said. But Armstrong is also friendly with fellow Texan George W. Bush.

"I think he'd be awesome, he'd be a force. I just hope it's for the right party," said Kerry, an avid cyclist and longtime fan of the Tour de France.

Not so fast, my Vietnam-veteran friend. While it's true that Armstrong is an amazing athlete whose story and appeal transcends his sport, I'm not sure those qualities are what make a successful politician.

Armstrong is great at the Tour because he does nothing but prepare for it. He has a single-minded determination to win. While that drive may help him get elected, it probably won't help him in office. A successful politician needs to compromise sometimes. They need to work the system to get things done. They need to rely on other people.

Maybe Armstrong could do that. He's a father, an author, a cancer survivor and movement starter, so it really isn't just about the bike. But, my question is whether someone like Lance Armstrong would be happy in politics. I don't think he would be. I think people like Armstrong set goals for themselves and know (and do) what they have to do in order to achieve them. Even the most successful politicians are going to fail a lot, regardless of the effort they put into things. Could Armstrong deal with that kind of failure without getting disillusioned?

Finally, I think a great politician needs to be in government for other people. I mean this in the nicest way possible, but Armstrong is selfish. He's selfish in the way that all great athletes are selfish. On the Tour he has 8 riders who are dedicated to helping him win. There's nothing wrong with and that's the way things work on the Tour. But, a politician should be doing the work for the benefit of others, not the other way around. In fact, Lance's "faithful Lieutenant" George Hincapie might be the better politician as he's shown the kind of selflessness we want from our representatives.

I have no doubt that Armstrong could easily be elected to almost any office he wants to pursue. But just getting elected doesn't mean he'd be a great politician. Contrary to what John Kerry has shown throughout his career, getting elected isn't all that matters. It's not just about the election, it's about what you do once you get there.

Click here for more Tour de France coverage.

 

Working Out: It Does a Body Good and a President Bad

[Posted by kris]

Nothing is too insignificant to make a big deal out of when it comes to the press and conservatives. If your kids look too nice, then you're suddenly The Man. An out-of-touch throwback to the 50s who wants all women to be like Donna Reed and children to be just like Wally and the Beav. If you casually ask potential employees whether they work out, then you're a creepy exercise freak.

Yep, not only is President Bush Hitler, the devil, a moron and evil, he also "has an obsession with exercise that borders on the creepy". Or so says Los Angeles Times reporter Jonathan Chait in his latest hit piece.

Like the simplistic moron he obviously thinks the President is, Chait assumes that because Bush asked potential Supreme Court nominee Harvie Wilkinson about his exercise habits, that someone those habits were a deciding factor in choosing the ultimate nominee. Could it have just been small talk? Or getting-to-know-you conversation? Oh, of course not! Nope, Chait wants to use this tidbit to create some kind of insight into the President, whether there's any truth to it or not:

My guess is that Bush associates exercise with discipline, and associates a lack of discipline with his younger, boozehound days. "The president," said Fleischer, "finds [exercise] very healthy in terms of … keeping in shape. But it's also good for the mind." The notion of a connection between physical and mental potency is, of course, silly. (Consider all the perfectly toned airheads in Hollywood — or, perhaps, the president himself.) But Bush's apparent belief in it explains why he would demand well-conditioned economic advisors and Supreme Court justices.

Bush's insistence that the entire populace follow his example, and that his staff join him on a Long March — er, Long Run — carries about it the faint whiff of a cult of personality. It also shows how out of touch he is. It's nice for Bush that he can take an hour or two out of every day to run, bike or pump iron. Unfortunately, most of us have more demanding jobs than he does.

These are two of the most ridiculous paragraphs I've ever read in a major newspaper. Is Chait really trying to say that President Bush is some kind of crazy man for thinking that a) regular exercise is a sign of discipline and that b) what's good for the body is also good for the mind? Seriously, who doesn't think that?

Chait also tries to claim that Bush demands "well-conditioned" advisors? Really? The fact that he asks an interviewee about his workout habits has suddenly been turned into a "demand". In Chaitland, it's not only Presidential staff that have to workout or else, the President is also insisting that all Americans follow his example. That's funny, I haven't noticed any black helicopters swooping down to take those of us who skip a day at the gym to "re-education camps". I must have missed that part of my tax return where all Americans get to deduct the cost of their gym memberships. And, don't tell anyone, but I cheated and didn't pay my "fat tax".

For as stupid and evil and just plain wrong as members of the press seem to think Bush is, you'd think they could find something more to bitch about than that fact that he makes time in his busy schedule to work out.

 

The Guide to Appropriate Footwear

[Posted by kris]

Given the recent White House flip flop flap and my informal standing as something of a footwear expert, I thought I'd post a little something to help the ladies in the audience with their future footwear choices...

If you have any specific footwear questions, I'd love to address them in the comments. :-)

 

Bush's Interview Style

[Posted by james]

This piece in the NYT is interesting. Judge Wilkinson, a candidate for the Supreme Court gig, revealed some of the questions that the President asked him during his interview.

- he asked him how much he exercised

- he was asked about his personal life and about where he came from

- he was not asked about his views on issues like abortion or even a particular legal case

- "(The President) just could not have been more gracious," he said.

These are exactly the right questions to be asking in any interview, not just an interview for the Supreme Court. You just can't teach decision-making skills like this in B-school. (and believe me, they try...)

 

The Shortening Of Summer

[Posted by kris]

I was looking around the web at lunch today and noticed that more than a few major retailers are already pushing fall and back-to-school deals. It's only July 21st! Schools in Madison, for example, have only been out for 5 weeks. These poor kids are still in the middle of their summer vacation and they're already being assaulted with back-to-school ads.

I remember that feeling of dread when the first back-to-school flyer would come out. It's the same dread I feel today if I watch 60 Minutes on a Sunday night. I still feel like that damn clock is just ticking down toward the end of my weekend. I hate it, and I'm sure kids hate being told that summer's almost over, when it's only just begun.

I don't know why we all try to rush through the present to get to the next big thing. We rush through the fall to start thinking about Christmas. We go through the motions for a month, just waiting to really live on a vacation. Even if we adults can't learn to settle down, relax, and enjoy the moment, we should at least let kids do it.

 

102 Minutes

[Posted by kris]

I've been reading 102 Minutes by Jim Dwyer and Kevin Flynn. The 102 minutes, of course, refers the time between the first plane hitting the World Trade Center on 9/11 and the collapse of the towers.

I've read quite a few books on 9/11. I feel like there's so much that went unreported that day. Americans didn't see people jumping from the building. We didn't see the carnage in the plaza between the Towers or on the streets. I was taken aback by a passage in 102 Minutes about how the police had to kind of shake people escaping out of stupor when they caught a glimpse of the charred bodies, plane parts and debris in the plaza. I don't think we get a sense of that kind of horror on the ground that day. Maybe it's impossible to, but I do think that some of the images of 9/11 were so spectacular (planes crashing into buildings, buildings collapsing, mountains of smoke) that our brains still kind of read it as a movie, as something that didn't really happen.

I like reading individual's stories of that day because I can wrap my brain around that. Unfortunately, doing that also gets me so angry. Angry at the murderous bastards who want to kill us because of our freedoms and prosperity and angry at HC asshats like Ward Churchill. I've spent the last couple of days reading about some of the people he refered to as "little Eichmanns". People like Frank DeMartini, who sent his wife down 88 flights of the stairs in the North Tower and then went up the stairs with a colleague, Pablo Ortiz, and rescued approximately 50 people near the first plane's impact zone. DeMartini and Ortiz didn't make it out alive. Similarly, there was Windows on the World assistant manager Christine Olender. Olender was heartbreakingly capable that morning. She gathered her guests (she still referred to them that way in many calls for help) and staff away from the smoke and did everything she could to try to get help or information or anything. Unfortunately, their fate was sealed. These weren't "evil" symbols of capitalism and imperialism. These were ordinary Americans, who, like many people, became extraordinary Americans that day.

The book is actually kind of controversial because it rather strongly criticizes some of the heroes of the day: the police and fire departments. On one hand, I understand why people are uncomfortable with that kind of criticism. Those departments lost hundreds of men that day. And, furthermore, there's the danger of saying things like "poor communication caused 500 people to die". When we say things like we shift the blame from Islamofascist terrorists to American bureaucrats. The Twin Towers didn't really collapse because of poor fireproofing. They collapsed because terrorists crashed planes into them.

This isn't to say that we shouldn't critically examine the events of 9/11. Police and fire departments all over the country should be able to learn some invaluable lessons on crisis communication from it. We should be able to improve high rise safety by looking at what went wrong at the Towers. But, at the end of the day, I think it's important that we all understand that the way to make America safe from terrorism isn't to make our buildings stronger.

 

Quotes

[Posted by Laura]

There’s no question that Judge Roberts has outstanding legal credentials – Senator Charles Schumer

I don’t think the American people are going to put up with any more crap from the Judiciary Committee – Senator Orin Hatch

So we're all agreed, Roberts deserves an up or down vote. Right? I would dearly love to see him refuse to answer questions that were not asked of Judge Ruth Bader Ginsberg during her confirmation process.

Update: Lorie Byrd at Polipundit remembers

when John G. Roberts, Jr. had the pleasure of his second confirmation hearing in 2003 before the Senate Judiciary Committee (committee print here) in connection with his D.C. Circuit nomination, Senator Orrin G. Hatch (R-UT) told Senator Charles E. Schumer (D-NY) that Senator Schumer was asking “dumb-ass questions.”

Emphasis mine.

 

How Liberals Support Women, As Seen Around The Blogosphere

[Posted by Laura]

John Roberts is Bush’s nominee for SCOTUS, and the reaction from the Kos Kidz is predictable…

“If Bush appoints a man to O'Connor's seat it would be an affront to anyone who cares about the rights and interests of women. Since it seems highly unlikely that he will appoint a woman to replace Chief Justice Rhenquist, Bush's appointment of a man tonight will send an unmistakable message to America's women: You're on your own.”

"Remember that the subtext of Rove's leaking Plame is "what a sissy boy this Wilson is to let his wife get him a gig." That's how they think. Oh, they might think it's good PR for Laura to tell a few jokes about Dubya at the annual media whores dinner, but when it gets down to crunch time -- you know, when men make Big Decisions -- they're not going to depend on women. Ask Santorum what women are good for. Laura Bush publicly calling for him to nominate a woman probably eliminated any chance that he would do so."

To these people, it’s all about the legal abortion, and the concept that only people from your demographic group can support you. The concept that a judge should rule fairly, regardless of race, gender or other classification seems beyond their ken.

I don’t spend more than an hour a day viewing Kos and other liberal sites, because I already have high blood pressure. But I find it interesting that the same liberals who claim women will suffer if a man gets O'Connor's seat aren’t absolutely howling at the abuses of women in Islamic society. Here’s a good example from Ace, where a woman who was raped is told by a Sharia court that she must now divorce her husband and marry her rapist. Numerous examples of attempted and actual honor killings, in Michigan, Sweden, Berlin , Zambia (attempted to kill the wife and actually killed the hen :-) ), Turkey and Rochester.

In a similar example, liberals are all for increased aid to Africa which most often ends up in some dictators Swiss bank account, but when it comes to stopping Muslim enslavement – yes, enslavement! - and genocide of Africans, they are surprisingly quiet. Slavery is happening in the United States also. The same people who were horrified at Abu Ghraib seem happy to overlook murder and slavery, even when it occurs in America, as long as people deemed to be in a protected class do it. Just imagine the media melt-down if a minority-race homosexual murdered their converted radical Islamist family member. I can see the headline now: "Human Found Dead." But, hey, as long as we have a "diverse" SCOTUS, that's all that matters.

 

Tour de France Recap #2

[Posted by BVBigBro]

We’ve reached the second rest day and the general classification is for all practical purposes over. Barring a crash or severe illness, Lance Armstrong will win the tour again. How did it happen? I think this year’s Tour was almost solely the result of Armstrong himself. In some past years particularly in 2003, his team won it with him. This year the Discovery team was noticeably weaker than in years past, allowing Armstrong to be isolated on several occasions, and not controlling the tempo on every climb, but it didn’t matter. After the team time trial, all Armstrong needed was the occasional water bottle. The first climb in the Alps, Stage 10, did the damage and it was largely the result of Armstrong himself, with help from Mancebo, Valverde and Rasmussen. Watch this stage on replay and look at the pace of the climb and the looks on all the riders’ faces. This was an all out effort by Armstrong that took everything he had, but paid off. In the Pyrenees, there were attacks, and there was strategy, but the riders looked tired for the most part, and Armstrong was easily able to counter the moves even when he had little support.

Stage 15 featured a win by American George Hincapie on the Tour’s toughest stage, but he did it without working in the breakaway and then passing Oscar Pereiro in the last kilometer, which is legal, but considered bad form.

Additionally, Michael Rasmussen gained enough climbing points to all but assure himself of winning the polka dot jersey for the best climber, and with Valverde’s abandon, Popovych will almost certainly win the white jersey as the best young rider.

So what’s left? Today’s stage features an HC climb, but it is a long way from the finish. You may see some of the higher placed riders try to drop each other on the climb as they fight for places 2 through 10, but expect Discovery to just protect Armstrong successfully. After that, it will largely be flat stages that determine the green jersey winner. With Tom Boonen having abandoned, this is now a battle between Thor Hushovd, Stuart O’Grady and Robbie McEwen. Hushovd has the lead, and O’Grady is second, But I think McEwen is strong enough to overtake them and collect the jersey. This one could very well be decided on the Champs Ellysees, and given McEwen’s demeanor on the bike could make the final stage exciting to watch.

For the riders racing for second overall, the race will come down to the final time trial on Stage 20. I keep hearing and reading this stage described as flat, but in reality it has 2800 feet of climbing in only 55km, with two significant climbs and one very technical descent. I can’t imagine Armstrong losing significant time on the stage, but I don’t think the stage necessarily favors the traditional time trial specialists. Only the top riders on the GC, and anyone else who thinks they can win the stage, will be motivated to ride hard, and I think any one of them could win it. The climbing should reduce the speed and favor both the climbers and the less aerodynamic riders like Basso. Basso really suffered in last years’ long time trial and lost time as the stage progressed. Ullrich is also not the best descender that ever lived, so he could have some trouble here. Rasmussen is a poor time trialist, but he should be motivated now, and it will be interesting to see if he can hold off the others for a spot on the podium when it matters. Mancebo is also not a great time trialist, but given the nature of the stage, and with two poor time trialists, Basso and Rasmussen, within reach, he could squeak by for a spot in the top three. It will be interesting to see what kind of bike setup people choose on this stage. The specialized time trial bikes are more aerodynamic, but are also heavier and do not handle as well as a standard road bike. Given the amount of climbing, and the technical descent, we could see some people give it a try on a standard bike with some clip on time trial bars and without the disc wheels. Any of places 2 through 8 could change hands on this stage. We’ll see.

So that’s the update for now, I’ll be back at the end to talk about the race, look forward to the rest of the race season, and talk about what to watch for bike racing in the future.

Click here for more of our Tour de France coverage

 

Weather Induced Rage - The Summer Edition

[Posted by kris]

Last March I wrote about Winter Induced Rage (W.I.R.), the phenomenon by which normally mild mannered Midwesterners turn into raging maniacs when the winter lasts a little too long. After the first half of this summer, however, I realized that W.I.R. really stands for Weather Induced Rage. Because, after suffering through a seemingly unending winter, Wisconsinites now face one of the hottest, most humid summers in memory.

Day after day the temperatures soar into the 90s. Night after night the humidity hangs in the air. There's no relief. Sooner or later, someone's going to crack and go on a shooting spree. I'm expecting, but dreading, the news.

Those of you from the South are probably laughing at my bitching about 90 degree weather. That's nothing, you say. And true, Southerners are better equipped to handle hot weather. But put yourself in the shoes of the Midwesterner for a moment. In the course of a mere twelve months, we go from snow and temperatures that dip to 10 or 20 below zero up to highs in the 90s. That's a 100 degree swing.

Midwesterners have to learn how to deal with these extremes. We learn how to drive in the snow and how to beat the heat. In fact, the weather is one of the reasons I stand behind my Geographical Theory of Presidential Candidates. All things being equal, I say, opt for the candidate who either grew up with, or now deals with, extreme seasons. I firmly believe that the candidate who has spent a lifetime overcoming these everyday hurdles won't be hampered by such insignifant obstacles as Congress, a hostile press, or even Islamofascist terrorists. Seriously. They are simply tougher than that.

So while the rest of you will hem and haw over who's a truer conservative or a less wacky liberal, I'll start to think about who has the toughest weather, Bill Owens' Colorado or Tim Pawlenty's Minnesota or Rudy Guilani's New York.

 

Ten Most Embarrassing Songs On My iPod

[Posted by kris]

Eric, the Viking Pundit, posted a list of the last 15 songs he downloaded from iTunes. Not surprisingly, people started ripping on some of his selections. And really, Ace of Base? Ew.

Anyway, it got me to thinking about what songs I'm most embarrassed to have on my iPod. As you read these, you'll have to keep in mind that I've always been a fan of alternative music, and, coming of musical age in the late 80s and 90s, that meant I listened to stuff by the likes of the Replacements, Sugar, Matthew Sweet, etc. Well, that's what I usually listened to. Clearly, I'm not always so discriminating in my tastes.

So here's what I've got. Please be gentle in your criticism.

10. "Girl on the Verge", by Sarah Hudson: Most of you have no idea who Sarah Hudson is. But, those of you that know (and hint, if you watched Project Runway, she's the "rocker chick" they brought in to judge a round) are, I'm sure, horrified. I'm well aware that Ms. Hudson is just an Avril Lavigne wannabee. And, no, I don't like Lavigne either. But, for some reason, this song just caught my fancy. It's not only on my iPod, I actually listen to it!

9. "Kiss" by Tom Jones with the Art of Noise: Yes, Tom Jones is on my iPod. No, I'm not planning on going to a show in Vegas and throwing my panties at him. Well, I'm not planning on it. You never know what might happen in Vegas. So yeah, Tom Jones covers Prince here. The addition of the Art of Noise ups the cool quotient. But still, you gotta cringe a little when the name "Tom Jones" comes up on the display.

8. "Do They Know It's Christmas?", by Band Aid: This song is infinitely better than "We Are The World", but it's still a cheesy charity song that should really only be played around the holidays. I could leave it off the iPod until December rolls around, but I don't want to. I have to confess, I love Bono's part (Well tonight thank God it's them, instead of YOU) and I'll listen to it whenever I want. Hey, it's Christmas in July!

7. "Total Eclipse of the Heart", by Jessica Sierra: Now, I suspect many people have Bonnie Tyler's version on their playlists. But no, not me. I had to get American Idol contestant Jessica Sierra's (she was on this past season) version. It's not that good, but I don't want to delete it because I actually paid for it. You know, I'm not so much embarrassed by that as I am ashamed by it.

6. "Space Truckin'", by Deep Purple: I'm sure all the guys out there are like "No way! Deep Purple rules!". I appreciate the support, and yes, Deep Purple does rule, but it's for stuff like "Highway Star" and "Smoke On The Water", not for goofy stuff like this about meeting groovy people on Venus and Mars (Man, those cats could swing).

5. "Islands In The Stream", by Dolly Parton & Kenny Rogers: I must confess a weakness for both of these artists. Since Dolly Parton embraced her bluegrass roots, she's respectable again. But not my poor Kenny Rogers. I think I'm one of the few people who appreciate the genius of songs like "Coward of the County" and this little gem.

4. "Strokin'", by Clarence Carter: Ah, here's the song that inspired the post. While the name of the song is certainly suggestive, the song itself is anything but. It's so explicit, in fact, that I'm sure I blush whenever I listen to it. Oh, that Clarence...

3. "Angel of the Morning", by Juice Newton: I believe it'd be acceptable to have Juice's bigger hit "Queen of Hearts" on my iPod (and yeah, I have that one too), this one's a different story. The lyrics are godawful and melodramatic, but that's exactly what makes it fun to sing along to it. It's the musical equivalent of my favorite LifeTime-esque miniseries Bare Essence.

2. I'd Die Without You", by P.M. Dawn: This song was featured in the Eddie Murphy movie Boomerang. As an aside, in that movie Robin Givens was the beautiful femme fatale while Halle Berry played the plainer girl next door. Yep, Halle Berry was the plain one. Isn't Hollywood funny? Anyway, this was the romantic theme of that movie. I still like the song, but I can't but think that The Onion's Smoove B. wrote the lyrics.

1. Stars on 45: I made fun of someone for having this medley in his collection, but what do you know, it made it onto my iPod too. Hey! It's got a good beat and I can dance to it ;-)