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Posts Archived Under U.s. Elections
The Milestone Mo-Tel today. Winners get one
free night. Losers get two. (That's the second
time we've used that joke today.) |
If the whole world loves a winner, we have a weekend full of love ahead of us. Let's get started!
The most obvious winners will be declared Thursday when either Clint Robertson or Brandy Kuentzel wins the right to become Donald Trump's latest Apprentice for one year. (We hope that the loser isn't stuck for two years ...) One of the three remaining teams on "The Amazing Race" will win a million smackers on Sunday. (Perhaps eating that sheep's head may have been worth it.) It's almost guaranteed that none of these winners will make Barbara Walters' list of the year's "Most Fascinating People," (most fascinating to her, anyway ...) but we’ll find out for sure Thursday. (Our guess for #1 on her list? The cameraman who smears the Vaseline all over the lens that photographs her.) And on Friday, they'll be handing out the Nobel Prizes. The Nobels aren't like the Oscars; everyone already knows who won and the winners have actually accomplished something that matters, rather than playing loveable oddballs.
Saturday we'll see some sports winners. In the afternoon, someone (Cam Newton? Andrew Luck? LaMichael James?) will win the Heisman Trophy as the nation's finest college football player, and in the evening, either Georges St-Pierre or Josh Koscheck will take the welterweight championship at UFC 124 in Montreal. We assume the combatants will not resort to wheeling around the ring in roller skates, but while it would be appropriate (given that Thursday marks the anniversary of their 1884 patent), we'd have to warn them that such a thing would be just plain dangerous.)
Sunday also marks the 10th anniversary of the U.S. Supreme Court's ruling in Bush v. Gore, which ensured that George W. Bush became the nation's 43rd president. Whether that made the country a winner or a loser, we'll leave up to you. Falling into a similar category is Larry King's retirement from his CNN talk show on Friday. (As with President Bush, we won't say whether that's a plus or a minus.)
Weary travelers were winners 85 years ago Sunday, when the Milestone Mo-Tel, the world's first motel (short for "motor hotel"), opened in San Luis Obispo, California.
If we stretch the definition of "winner" to include those whose birthdays fall this weekend, then we're lousy with winners. For example, Thursday sees the birthdays of both Margaret Hamilton (1902) and Redd Foxx (1922). Hamilton is best known for her role as the Wicked Witch of the West in the 1939 classic, "The Wizard of Oz." Despite her indelible portrayal of one of the screen's great villains, Hamilton loved children and was a lifelong advocate for charities that benefitted kids and animals. Foxx was someone whose work, on the other hand, was decidedly not for kids. A veteran of the black vaudeville entertainment venues known as the "Chitlin' Circuit," Foxx recorded a series of "party records" in the 1950s that were both filthy and hilarious. He reached a mainstream fame in the '70s when he starred in "Sanford and Son," where his frequent feigned heart attacks were one of the show's running gags. In a supreme irony, he suffered an actual heart attack while rehearsing for another television show, but no one believed was it real until it was too late.
Sunday would have been the 95th birthday of Frank Sinatra. The greatest popular singer of the 20th century, Sinatra was also an Oscar-winning actor, starred in numerous TV specials that consisted of nothing but him singing with his guests, and was the biggest attraction in Las Vegas when that title actually meant something.
Monday, we celebrate the 192nd birthday of Mary Todd Lincoln, wife of Abraham Lincoln who was criticized in her time for her extravagant and spendthrift ways, and committed to a psychiatric hospital by her son Robert. While she was undoubtedly depressed, wouldn't any woman who’d lived through the death of three sons and the murder of her husband (while sitting next to him) feel the same? She was eventually declared competent and released, but her health was broken, and she died three years later.
If birthday celebrants are winners, so too are those is show business who meet success, like performers and lovers of country music, who can celebrate the 83rd anniversary of the first broadcast of the Grand Ole Opry on Friday. The Opry has been a staple of radio and television in the decades since it debuted, highlighting the best in country, from Hank Williams and Minnie Pearl to Clint Black and Carrie Underwood. Someone who's appeared at the Opry (but has yet to be inducted into its member ranks) is Taylor Swift. Perhaps the Opry has been waiting for her to turn 21 - in which case, it need wait no longer! The Grammy-winning singer reaches her majority on Monday.
Thursday will see the annual airing of the Rankin-Bass animated Christmas special, "The Year without a Santa Claus," which features memorable turns by Snow Miser and Heat Miser (who are also not members of the Opry).
Friday is also the 55th anniversary of the "Mighty Mouse Playhouse's" television premiere. In TV's early days, broadcasters were desperate for material to air, so old movies and cartoons were natural fodder, and Paul Terry's "Mighty Mouse" cartoons were some of the oddest programs to come to the screen. Mini operatic melodramas, they featured the eponymous rodent singing his was through battles with the villainous Oil Can Harry. Mighty made a brief comeback in the 80s in a brilliant TV series produced by Ralph Bakshi, but he's been in retirement since self-appointed censor Donald Wildmon mistook the mouse's flower sniffing for drug use. (No, really.) Wildmon isn't the only well-intentioned, if-misguided, protector we mention, though, since Thursday is the anniversary of the founding of the John Birch Society, which has been protecting Americans from the Communists lurking under their beds for 52 years.
Legitimate do-gooders have something to celebrate this weekend, too. Thursday is the U.N's annual International Anti-Corruption Day, dedicated to wiping out, well, corruption and promoting the rule of law, and Friday is both Human Rights Day and the beginning of Human Rights Week.
We end by noting a delightful juxtaposition on Thursday. December 9, 1792, saw the first cremation in America, when statesman Henry Laurens died at his plantation in Charleston, South Carolina, and per his will, his body was burned. On the same date in 1886, Clarence Birdseye, inventor of frozen food was born. We're reminded of the choice Curly Howard was given in a Three Stooges short: to be burned at the stake or to have his head cut off. He opted for the former, on the reasoning that a hot stake's better than a cold chop. Good night!
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Will Rogers, 1879-1935 |
Today is Election Day (as you just might have heard somewhere). While the snarky thing might be to write about election screw-ups of the past, we couldn't help but notice that it's also the birthday of two of the most influential voices of the 20th century on American politics: Will Rogers and Walter Cronkite.
From our 21st century vantage point, it may be hard to remember just how important these men were in their heydays. Rogers was born in 1879, and by 1902 had begun a show business career, which took him from rodeos to vaudeville to starring in the Ziegfeld Follies, From there, he branched into Hollywood (becoming the country's number-one box office draw), the most popular newspaper column in America, and radio, where his weekly show was the nation's top-rated program. Rogers's act consisted mostly of ad-libbed comments about the day's political events, and led to his 1928 mock campaign for president (though he might well have won a serious race). In 1935, at the peak of his popularity, he was killed in a plane crash, throwing the world into mourning.
Cronkite may not have been as beloved as Rogers, but for decades, he was considered the "most trusted man in America." He closed his newscasts with "And that's the way it is ...," a statement that might have seemed presumptuous coming from another reporter, but given his background, avuncularity, and nonpartisanship, was the opposite of hyperbole. He led America through some of its greatest crises and triumphs, and through it all, his calm authority was so powerful that Lyndon Johnson declared that if he had "lost Cronkite" on Vietnam, he had lost middle America.
So on this day that celebrates democracy, we salute two men who represent the best of what Americans can be.
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Archived under: Actors, American History, Biographies, Birthdays, Celebrities, Coincidence, Comedians, Cowboys and Cowgirls, Elections, Entertainment, Humor, Journalism, Journalists, Movies, News, Presidential Candidates, Reporters, TV, U.S. Elections, Walter Cronkite, Will Rogers |
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V.P. Dick Cheney |
The vice presidential candidacies of Sarah Palin and Joe Biden have turned an unusual spotlight on the potential residents of Number One Observatory Circle. We started to wonder about the veeps of campaigns past. Who were these guys?
Mostly, they were chosen to deliver their home states and remain anonymous, but some stood out for their ability to attack the opposition; for their gender; their perceived lack of readiness; or for their controversial views: Curtis LeMay wanted to start World War III, and Fielding Wright was a segregationist.
In spite of not being elected, some went on to distinguished careers. Frank Knox ran against Franklin Roosevelt, but was later appointed by him to be Secretary of the Navy. Earl Warren became Chief Justice of the Supreme Court.
FDR had three VPs: "Cactus Jack" Garner, Henry A. Wallace, (whose crypto-Buddhist philosophy was too strange for the 1940s), and Harry Truman, who succeeded him.
Some candidates had unique careers. Charles Fairbanks was elected in 1904, retired in 1909, then ran again (unsuccessfully) in 1916. Nicholas Murray Butler was originally just a delegate to the 1912 Republican Convention, but took James Sherman's place when Sherman died just days before the election. Adlai E. Stevenson I served as Grover Cleveland's number two in 1892, then lost with William Jennings Bryan in 1900. In 1896, Bryan achieved something that no other candidate has managed: running on two tickets (Democratic and Populist) with two different running mates (Arthur Sewall and Thomas Edward Watson).
Of course, not every vice president is as close as Dick Cheney is to George Bush. Dwight Eisenhower didn't really get along with Richard Nixon, and Woodrow Wilson wouldn't even let Thomas Marshall relay his messages to the Senate.
The last word about the office probably comes from Garner, who famously summed it up as being "not worth a bucket of warm piss."
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Archived under: American History, Candidates, Democratic Party, Franklin D. Roosevelt, Government, Presidential Candidates, Presidents, Republican Party, U.S. Elections, U.S. Senate, Vice Presidents, William Jennings Bryan |
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Election Day 2007 is history, and we have 363 days until we elect a new president in the United States. Even if you live in a bubble, you likely know at least one of the mainstream candidates running for the chance to move into 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. In addition to those top tier politicos, there are a plethora of long shot candidates -- fellas named Orion, Lanakila, and Steve who also hope to occupy the Oval Office. While these candidates might be on the fringe, they do offer a healthy dose of color, honesty, and humor to what can often be a bland stage show. And outsider candidates are not new to American politics.
Every election cycle, candidates come out of the woodwork claiming that they're the best one to run the country. Some have no experience in government, some haven't led people in any capacity, and most weren't born in a log cabin. This year is no different. Candidates from all walks of life, including a psychiatrist, a paramedic, an art gallery owner, an average Joe, and even a self-proclaimed vampire are up against the heavy hitters. We may think they're tilting at windmills, but they think they can do a better job than the usual lot of senators and greasy palms that normally run for the highest office. It's doubtful any of the fringe candidates will succeed, but the U.S. is a better country because they're trying.
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Archived under: American History, Elections, Government, History, Politics, Presidential Candidates, U.S. Elections |
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Cheerleading is not only pretty girls encouraging a sports team and entertaining crowds by singing, tumbling, and dancing with pom-pons. Cheerleading can be serious, manly business.
On November 2, 1898, Johnny Campbell gave birth to the sport of cheerleading by directing the first organized squad of six male "yell leaders" to support the University of Minnesota's football team. Minnesota defeated Northwestern 17-6, electrified by the "Rah, Rah, Rah! Sku-u-mar, Hoo-Rah! Hoo-Rah! Varsity! Varsity! Varsity, Minn-e-So-Tah!" cheer still used today. Until the 1920's, no mini shorts or skirts appeared on the field; cheerleaders were almost exclusively male, and few college sports had female teams. Today, 97% of all cheerleaders are girls.
Being a cheerleader, you're on a mission: lead to victory, fight for your ideas. Activists and politicians must have perceived this inner strength that moves cheerleaders: no wonder then that Franklin D. Roosevelt, Dwight Eisenhower, and George W. Bush all animated sports fields before entering the political arena. Does anyone know if Barack, Rudy, Hillary, or Mitt were cheerleaders? The results of the 2008 elections may be one pom-pon throw away.
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Archived under: Cheerleaders, College and Universities, Football, Presidents, Sports, U.S. Elections |
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