On Bush, baseball and balloting baloney

FROM A FRIEND comes a report of a speech by ex-President George W. Bush to a loving business group in Erie, Pa. in which he first asserted that he would not criticize President Obama - and then spent the next hour attacking Obama's policies on a wide range of issues from the plan to close Guantanamo Prison to the stimulus package. (I'll assume that he didn't also attack his one-time military guru, Gen. Petraeus, for supporting the closure.) The conservative audience responded gleefully to Bush's non-assault assault. As for me, it has often occurred to me when I see Dubya that his mien is much like what inspired Lillian Hellman to say of Norma Shearer: "A face unclouded by thought."

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FROM ANOTHER FRIEND comes word from Baseball America, the go-to publication for all things baseball, that the shrinking newspaper world is impacting on how BA gets its reports from the beat correspondents on the hometown newspaper's sports pages as newspapers shut down or the baseball writers resign for other jobs. This is not the sort of shifting sand that would help us cope with melting glaciers. But it does add another downside piece to the fallout from the industry's melt-down.

On that point, Journalism.Org reported earlier that while the number of Washington-based reporters for American newspapers has shrunk dramatically by more than a third since 1985, the number of foreign media based in DC has increased ten-fold since the late 1960s. There has also been a huge increase in so-called niche newsletters and magazines of interest to special audiences. The decline in the mainstream media has been accompanied by less accountability for whomever is running the government. "Symbolic of the state of this relationship, George W. Bush is the first president since Theodore Roosevelt not to address the National Press Club during his his years in office," Journalism.Org. noted. In this instance, I'd say all's well that ends well.

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It's conclusively OVER! In response to a column by the Beacon Journal's Steve Hoffman, on the recall campaign against Mayor Don Plusquellic, former Councilman Warner Mendenhall, the messy effort's icon, declared "success in many ways." That being the case, should there still be a costly election on Tuesday by Akron's voters? In years of covering elections , I found this one to be the first that failed to connect any of the dots. Could it be that the dots were never there in the first place?

The nasty politics of blame

GRUMPY THOUGHTS:

     A couple of friends attended one of Warner Mendenhall's neighborhood attack-fests this week  to learn more about the Akron lawyer's historically ceaseless effort to unhinge Akron Mayor Don Plusquellic,  the city's longest serving chief executive  - summarily kick him out of City Hall - to cap a personal vendetta that may have started long before a teenage Plusquellic became known as a high school football star.  Who knows, as the Shadow often asked, what evil lurks in the hearts  of men?  My friends were not impressed with what they heard, largely warmed over charges from earlier assaults by Mendenhall and his pestiferous crony, Robert Smith.  But folks, this is no longer a parlor game.  With a requirement of no more than 3,000 signatures on the recall petitions, this gang of political  outriders shouldn't be taken lightly.  Whether one is a  Plusquellic loyalist or has been offended by him for one thing or another,  be aware that this is no time to be uprooting an administration that has far more pluses than minuses - including Plusquellic's own national standing with the White House and other urban mayors.  (Most recently he was honored by Tufts University for his leadership qualities, a citation that apparently fell through a huge crack in the recallers' facade.)  For any foe to attempt this disruption at a time   when urban  survival should be on everybody's minds these days tells me that the perps are more interested in settling their own grievances rather than serving the welfare of their city.  The actual economic costs in paying for an election as well as the distractions to an administration otherwise committed to improving the city should be more than anyone would be willing to pay.   Fair warning. 

      Considering all of the yelping from the churlish Republican losers about President Obama's stimulus plan, including the drone from Bobby Jindal, it seems to me that the  GOP is shouting FIRE in an empty theatre. 

      As long as I'v e  turned up Jindal, I should mention that the good Rush Limbaugh, the rotund one-man emergency squad,  has salvaged Bobby  god-like from oblivion as the GOP crashed more deeply into Sarah Palin's  Alaskan permafrost.  Rush blamed the media for Sarah's demise.  But now he is hysterically blaming liberals and conservatives for Jindal's bad opening night reviews.  The Louisiana governor, Limbaugh argued, is saying all the right things to lead the conservatives' core values back into the first tier of positive thinking.  Let's all hope that Katrina 2 doesn't occur.  But if it does, they'll need more than Jindal's core values to sustain the dikes.  

       Thanks to the Columbus Dispatch,  I learned Thursday  (in an E-mail from a former Columbus journalist)  that the Democratic field for George Voinovich's senate seat has expanded to three, which, of course,  now qualifies as a valid crowd. The latest entry is State Rep. Tyrone Yates, former vice-mayor of Cincinnati, and ex-Ohio Asst.  Attorney General.  A four-termer in the Ohio House, Yates joins Secretary of State Jennifer  Brunner and Lt. Gov. Lee Fisher in the rush to head to Washington.  But wait:  the Dispatch also noted that a possible fourth candidate, Hamilton County Commissioner Todd Portune,  may also join the group.   When the number grows to nine or 10 in the Democratic primary, the race may have to be outsourced  to the Indy 500.   The only Republican to announce so far is Rob Portman, also of Cincinnati.  

         Does anybody wonder  about the whereabouts of John Widowfield, the unfortunate Republican state representative  who lost his job when he tried to cash in on the sale of Ohio State football tickets on eBay?  Probably not, but I'll tell you anyway.  He is working the overnight shift (midnight to something or other) at the Akron Municipal  Clerk of Courts office for about $28,0o0 a year.   At least he has a job, which is not what you can say about more and more people these days.  

UPDATE: Joe Hallett, of the Columbus Dispatch, which is nicely keeping busy taking attendance these days, now reports that the Democratic gold rush for George Voinovich's  U.S. Senate seat could expand again with the possible addition of two wannabes  from the Cleveland area:  Cuyahoga County commissioner Peter Lawson Jones and Chris Celeste, son of former Ohio Gov. Dick Celeste.  Both are said to be thinking about it.   That would make it six on the Democratic side and -Yikes! - it's only February, 2009.  Rob Portman, the lone Republican to announce for the job, must be feeling quite lonely these days.