Entries for March 2008

CLEARWATER, FLA.—The 2008 Major League Baseball season opened this spring in Japan. For a look at our national pastime, here is an interview with Bill Giles, chairman of the Philadelphia Phillies and a 50-year executive at the minor and major league level. (Full disclosure: Giles has been a close friend of mine for the past 40 years.) Excerpts:

Do you see another record year in attendance in 2008?
Based on what we know in advance ticket sales, we should see a record year for the third year in a row. The final number should be around 80 million. Of course, the teams in the major market areas will do better than the smaller ones and the two teams in Florida.

ST. PETERSBURG, FLA.—Florida may deserve the title of the nation's banana republic. Florida's problems with elections dating back to the chaotic presidential race in 2000 are well known. To the north, Michigan is making a name for itself in Democratic turmoil.

It is beyond time for Florida's Democratic officials to stop moaning about their loss of delegates to the party's convention in Denver. They knew exactly what they were doing when they violated party rules and pushed their primary ahead of the national party schedule.

Let's compare trips to war zones by two legitimate military heroes who went into politics: Dwight Eisenhower and John McCain.

Eisenhower, a retired general running for president in 1952, promised voters he would go to Korea. As the commander of all forces in Europe in World War II, Ike was the right man to clean up the mess created by Gen. Douglas MacArthur.

Leave it to the leaders of the Bush administration for their marvelous gift of timing. Whether it is the war(s), the economy, or a domestic emergency, this crowd gets the gold medal for failure.

On the fifth anniversary of the war in Iraq, Vice President Cheney makes an unannounced trip to Iraq. He is an appropriate visitor to the war zone, since he and former Defense Secretary Don Rumsfeld, along with a compliant Bush, have led the country into a never-ending conflict.

Some Democrats are already moaning that Sens. Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama and their surrogates are risking defeat in November with their sniping over race and gender.

Other Democrats are worrying that Howard Dean, the party's chairman, is not taking a lead regarding the delegation dispute over Florida and Michigan delegates to the convention in Denver.

There is heartfelt sympathy across the land for the wife and daughters of soon-to-be-former Gov. Eliot Spitzer. For him, there is nothing but scorn in this corner and elsewhere.

Stupidity is the first word that comes to mind to explain Spitzer's conduct. He originally called this situation "a private matter." That incredible comment only underscored the arrogance of a once promising public official who betrayed the public trust.

In a long and grinding presidential race like this one, supporters of the candidates often cause more trouble than rivals. "God save me from my friends, because I can handle my enemies" is the refrain.

John McCain has already had to disown an anti-Catholic rant from a backer. With so many Catholic voters up for grabs, the presumptive GOP nominee can't fool around with those kinds of bigoted screeds.

Republican Rep. Steve King of Iowa said al Qaeda and Islamic extremists will be dancing in the streets of Baghdad if Barack Obama is elected. It is part of the nasty whispering campaign that Obama is a secret Muslim.

McCain needs to tell King to start dancing in the streets of Sioux City and shut his mouth. He doesn't need that kind of help from a fellow Republican.

Hillary Clinton's spokesman, Howard Wolfson, said Obama's campaign was engaged in "Ken Starr tactics" by calling for Clinton to release her tax returns. Huh?

The tax return issue is a genuine one. It only underscores Wolfson's reputation for blasting anyone who dares say anything or write anything he doesn't like. Clinton should muzzle him before he goes any further.

Of course, Obama's foreign policy adviser did him no favors by calling Clinton a "monster" in an off-the-record comment to a Scottish reporter. Nothing is off the record in this battle! She should have known better.

Also, McCain's reputed bad temper has already hit the testy stage just a short time after he secured the nomination. He was sharp with a reporter who asked about McCain being offered the vice presidency by liberal Democratic Sen. John Kerry in 2004. McCain wants no reminders of that event lest conservatives mistrust him anew.

It is only March, folks. It is a long way until the November election, and you haven't seen anything yet.