Tag: Bill Bradley

The Republican Pastime (Redux).

He may not be able to stay awake during the Superbowl, but Dubya loves him some baseball…and, as it turns out, baseball owners love them some Dubya. “More than a dozen current and former owners and family members are among the president’s top re-election fundraisers…Seven are Bush ‘Rangers,’ each raising at least $200,000, and six are ‘Pioneers’ who have brought in $100,000 or more.
” In contrast, Kerry received a paltry $2000 each from Red Sox chairman Tom Werner and Padres owner John Moores. Hmmm…between this and the Tim Robbins Hall of Fame fiasco last year, I must say I’m feeling pretty proud to be an NBA fan right now. While baseball lines Dubya’s coffers, basketball puts up a Dem for president (albeit one who appears to have fallen off the radar at this critical political juncture.)

The Bitter Fruits of Defeat.

Following up on a Franklin Foer TNR article I first saw over at Value Judgement, Hannah Rosin examines the plight of DC’s Deaniacs now that the party’s over. Although it wasn’t nearly as well reported, I remember a similar purge happening after Bill Bradley went down last cycle, and, trust me, they can get ugly. (But, at least last time, all was forgiven after Al Gore screwed up the general.)

Dollar for Dean.


Well, so much for that dream ticket: Clark says no way to serving as Dean’s running mate. In happier news for the frontrunner, Bill Bradley is expected to endorse Dean tomorrow (by way of Value Judgment.) I’ve been wondering when Dollar Bill was going to emerge from hiding…frankly, I’m a bit disappointed he hasn’t been more visible throughout this cycle. After all, barring something crazy happening in the next two weeks, the board is basically already set until Iowa…the only real question left is which candidate the anti-Deans will coalesce around, and most of ’em have sounded so desperate lately that even they seem to know it’s over. Update: It’s official.

Iowa Stubborn.

Oh, there’s nothing halfway about the Iowa way to treat you when they treat you which they may not do at all. Wesley Clark and Joe Lieberman plan to skip the Iowa caucus in 2004…I’d say that’s a smart call for Clark (my thoughts on Lieberman are below), given how Iowa treated Bradley and McCain respectively last time around — Bradley came in second after Gore’s debate lie (actually penned by my roommate at the time), while McCain had the sense to stay out in the first place.

Dollar Diplomacy.

This is old news at this point, but I missed it back in the day. 2000 Presidential candidate Bill Bradley comes out against the Iraq war after hearing Dubya’s State of the Union address. Particularly with Moynihan now gone, we could use Dem statesmen like Bradley to cultivate a higher profile. The questions facing America today aren’t going to get any easier, even if we took out Saddam tomorrow.

Bradley WetWorks.

One of the many nice things about living in New York rather than DC these days is not having to listen to ex-Gore flunkies gleefully recite war stories from the 2000 primary. But, I must admit, the admission in this article sent to me by a friend brought all the Gore fear and loathing of 2000 (lI’m sure many long-time readers remember it well) roaring back like a mouthful of bile. Seeing that Bill Bradley was up in the New Hampshire polls, Gore ops created a traffic jam on I-93 to discourage Bradley supporters from voting. So, next time you hear some Dem flak blaming Nader voters for the results of 2000, remember it might just have been those same flaks purposely clogging traffic to give us Mediscare Al as our choice of candidate. Grrr…

Assist to Dollar Bill?

According to several sources, Torricelli has dropped out of the New Jersey race, complicating a Senate situation already fraught with peril for the Democrats. Could this pave the way for Bill Bradley‘s return to the political scene? Let’s hope so. To be honest, even Lautenberg, who’s pretty mediocre, would be an improvement over the Torch. Update: He’s officially out…no word yet on who’s in.