Alex Massie

Alex Massie

Tuesday

Alex Massie

Palin’s Background

Where is Sarah Palin really from? Matt Welch gets the inside dope from an Alaskan who knows, civil liberties campaigner Bill Scannell. This may be the most entertaining commentary on L'Affaire Palin I've yet seen: Q: I was just talking to someone who claimed to have knowledge of Alaska to some degree, and they say where Sarah Palin comes from it's the equivalent of Humboldt or Chico in California, like, of course, you know, she'd have a Girls Gone Wild phase, and smoking pot. Is this just wishcasting, or what can you tell us about her geographical background?A: So the Mat-Su Valley, you know, Matanuska-Susitna Valley, otherwise known as Upper Wingnuttia, is full of right-wing libertarian militia fundamendalist Christian gun-toting, pot-growing dope-heads.Q: Awesome.A: Yeah.

Monday

Alex Massie

Wolverines!

Matt Zeitlin, a Cal golden Bear soon, I understand, to become a Northwestern Wildcat, is kind enough to say some nice things about my piece on college football.  Nonetheless Mr Zeitlin also says this: There’s only [one] glaring problem with Massie’s piece - the love for Michigan. I mean, I guess as a Scotsman, he has free ground to pick a team, and one could do worse with Michigan, but one of the most annoying things about college football is how sycophantic the media is toward old, established, mostly Midwestern teams. Michigan isn’t the best example, Notre Dame is. This is true. In 1996 I was a student at Trinity College, Dublin when Notre Dame played Navy at Croke Park.

Alex Massie

Mooseburgers and other ephemera

So, apparently Tim Pawlenty though it was going to be him. My own suspicion - and it is only a hunch - is that McCain  may have wanted to choose Joe Lieberman but was persuaded that the consequences of doing so would doom his chances in November. The party wouldn't wear a pro-choice candidate (any more than the Democrats could stomach a pro-life Veep). Lieberman's appeal was that he would be a "game-changing" selection; once he was out of the running, what would be the point of a grey nonentity such as Pawlenty or, worse still, someone as well-kent and uninspiring as Mitt Romney. Thus the search was on, as Marc Ambinder reports here.

Alex Massie

Reforming the Vice-Presidency

Just how bad might a McCain presidency be anyway? Happily David Broder is on hand to tell us: By picking Palin, McCain has strengthened his reputation not as an ideologue, not as a partisan, but as a reformer -- ready to shake up Washington as his hero, Teddy Roosevelt, once did. My guess is that cleansing Washington of its poisonous partisanship, its wasteful spending and its incompetence will become McCain's major theme. Because lord knows that what we need is another crazed crusader* in the White House who can't see - or imagine - a windmill without wanting to have a bloody tilt at it. Anyone who thinks McCain - or anyone else - could actually achieve any of the goals Broder sets is, of course, deluded enough to warrant a Washington Post column themselves.

Sunday

Saturday

Alex Massie

The Glass Ceiling Will Shatter in 2012

If McCain loses in November there's no guarantee that Sarah Palin will be a front-runner to secure the GOP nomination in 2012 (though I'd guess she will be a contender). But if McCain wins and, as seems possible, serves just one term then, clearly she would be. Equally, if Obama loses this year there's no certainty that Hillary Clinton will automatically be the prohibitive favourite for the Democratic nomination in 2012 (though that too seems quite possible). But, one way or another, the combination of Hillary's near-miss this year and Palin's presence on the GOP ticket makes me think that it is more likely than not that a woman, even if not necessarily one of these two, will be the Presidential nominee for either the GOP  or the Democrats in four years time.

Alex Massie

McCain’s decision making process

A question for the rest of us: Suppose a President McCain approached every problem, dispute or stramash with the same rigour, diligence and sweet consideration with which he seems to have chosen his running-mate? What might this tell us about a President McCain?

Friday

Alex Massie

Hail to the Victors

I've another piece up over at Culture11, this time it's a hymn to college football, the best of all American sports. Yes, really. Next week I'll invite an American to write about cricket here. Coals to Newcastle and all that. Photo of the Big House in Ann Arbor by Flickr user Mollyali.

Alex Massie

No-one expects the Alaskan Inquisition

Like most people, I guess, I'm still coming to terms with John McCain's decision to select a running-mate young enough to be his wife. Sarah Palin is not the pick I would have predicted. But, what a coup de theatre! Who's that Obama fellow? What was that speech he gave last night? Some of the smartest conservatives I read - Noah Millman, Ross Douthat - declare themselves excited. That counts for something. And, indeed, from what we've seen of her today, there's clearly considerable upside to the pick. Apart form anything else, it gives some "buzz" to a McCain campaign that was beginning to seem prickly, thin-skinned and bad-termpered. It needed a lift, a lightness and a spark. This may be it. (She's probably also better on guns and drugs than anyone else on either ticket...

Alex Massie

What do they know of Maggie, whom only Maggie’s legend know?

More National Review foolishness. This time from Jay Nordlinger: Will Sarah P. [Palin] be considered a woman — by the media, by the “chattering classes”? That is a question worth pondering. Possibly, she’ll be considered just a conservative Republican. Did anyone ever consider Mrs. Thatcher a woman — in a political-electoral context? The answer to this, as anyone with any knowledge of British politics could have told him, is a resounding, unequivocal Yes. Another easy answer to a stupid question. And yes, I should stop reading these people...

Thursday

Alex Massie

If we’d all have been living in California, We wouldn’t have worked at all…

Some things never change. Classicist Mary Beard swaps cold and windswept Cambridge for sun-kissed Berkeley and is immediately overwhelmed by American abundance: Amazingly I have no borrowing limit. Accustomed as we Cambridge academics are to a more or less strictly enforced 10 book limit, I approached the Berkeley borrowing desk with some trepidation. How would I choose between the 12 I wanted to borrow (Berkeley has a wonderful collection – and I had stumbled upon the ‘laughter’ section)? I needn’t have worried. I can borrow as many as I like for up to year. This was like the proverbial child in a sweet shop... On the other hand, this part of her introduction to California seems very strange.

Alex Massie

California is another country, they do things differently there

MattF's comment on the previous post merits a post of its own: My favorite (true!) New England-to-California story: A New England native moved to California and decided to start a garden. He went to the garden store and bought various seeds and bulbs. At the checkout counter the following exchange took place:New England Native: When do I plant these? Guy Behind Counter: When you get home.

Alex Massie

The Lithuanian Conundrum

Matt Yglesias wants to know why Lithuania (population 3.8million) is so good at basketball: As everyone knows, to succeed at basketball you need tall people. Not only do even your backcourt players need to be tall, but you need to be able to pull several freakishly tall big men together. It seems inconceivable that such a tiny country could manage to field so many quality basketball players consistently over an extended period of time no matter how basketball-mad the country may be. Is Vilnius just full of people 6′8″ and taller?

Alex Massie

Of Race and Men

Jonah Goldberg at National Review Online: I was in the car listening on XM when Obama was officially nominated. But I didn’t want to let it pass without saying that it is a wonderful thing that a black man can gain the nomination of a major American political party. The Democratic Party, which didn’t admit black delegates to one of its conventions until 1936 (the GOP did nearly a half-century earlier) has done a great and historic thing. It's another example of America's greatness many fail to appreciate: We are better at racial and ethnic reconciliation and assimilation than pretty much all of these countries that are supposed to be more enlightened than we are. I sincerely doubt the French, British, Germans et al.

Wednesday

Alex Massie

What Hillary couldn’t quite bring herself to say…

Hillary Clinton is, on the whole, enjoying rave reviews for her speech at the Democratic convention last night. Well, it wasn't terrible, I suppose. But she wasn't exactly fulsome in her praise either. I mean, she could have said something like: You know, as I look at all of you here tonight, and I think of all the people watching at home, I don't see Clinton supporters or Obama supporters, I see Democrats. I see a party that recognises the importance of this election, that appreciates that this country faces a choice between the change we need and four more years of the same old Republican policies that have done enormous damage to this country. We enjoyed - perhaps I should say endured -  a campaign that was long and arduous.

Alex Massie

The Don’s Final Century

On to more important matters than the Democratic convention. Today marks the centenary the birth of Sir Donald Bradman, perhaps the greatest sportsman who ever lived and a man whose brilliance becomes more, not less, mysterious as the years pass and no fresh pretender emerges to challenge his claim to the crown. The numbers peak for themselves: Bradman's test average of 99.94 runs per innings is a summit beyond reach. No-one before, or since, has come close to his record of scoring a century every 2.75 innings. His closest comeptitor - of those who have played a serious amount of top-class cricket - is George Headley and even the great West Indian only scored a test century every four innings.

Alex Massie

Culture can be turned up to 11…

I've a wee piece at the new webzine Culture11, which launches today, looking at sports that might profitably be brought back into the Olympic fold in times for London 2012. Also well worth checking out: Rod Dreher's article on keeping chickens in Dallas...

Alex Massie

Farewell, Mushtaq Ahmed

Alas, Mushtaq Ahmed is retiring. Injuries and the grind of the county circuit have taken their toll on the amiable Pakistani spinner, leaving him just 93 wickets short of the magic number of 1,500. Though overshadowed by Shane Warne and (to some extent) Anil Kumble, Mushtaq's role in the revitalisation of wrist-spin should not be overlooked. And he had a better googly than either of his more illustrious contempories. More importantly, he played the game with a joyous enthusiasm that did him great credit. I prefer to remember his Somerset days, even if they were less successful than the six splendid seasons he's enjoyed at Sussex.

Alex Massie

Why-oh-why-oh why does Obama hate the Irish?

In the name of the wee man, has it come to this? Apparently it has. Barack Obama has not "committed" himself to appointing a US "Special Envoy" to Northern Ireland. He believes, a spokesman said, that the "crisis point" in Ulster has passed. Cue much wailing and gnashing of teeth from the usual Irish-American suspects. Cue too, to no-one's great surprise, this response from Team McCain: Barack Obama, once again demonstrating his total lack of experience and profoundly poor judgment on matters of foreign policy, has issued a statement questioning 'whether a special U.S. envoy for Northern Ireland continues to be necessary.' The special U.S. envoy was first appointed by President Clinton and has been critical to fostering peace and reconciliation in Northern Ireland.

Alex Massie

The Deil’s Awa Wi’ the Exciseman (and several others)

Can this really be true? And if so, is it hilarious or horrifying? Or, perhaps, both... David Gest and, of all people, Michael Jackson are recording an album of Robert Burns' poetry: Gest's spokesman said the album is a modern musical take on some of Burns' classic poems, and had been a long cherished project. He explained that he and Jackson were originally planning to do a musical about Burns's life, but decided instead to turn his poetry into show tunes. Poems featured on the album include Ae Fond Kiss and Tam O'Shanter, the story of a man from Ayr who stays too long in a pub and witnesses a satanic vision on his trip home. Gest is now keen to tackle Red Red Rose, he said. "We haven't changed the lyrics but the music is now modern and brought up to date," Gest said.