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The Rise of the Underdogs
Author: BobR    Date: 02/22/2010 13:45:38

People love the underdog story. Everyone finds inspiration when a competitor quietly works hard and ends up coming out ahead of the more heavily hyped front-runner. It's a "Cinderella story", as the saying goes. What might be surprising is the number of times that has occurred in the last few days.

For sports aficionados, the US beat Canada in their hockey game last night, on Canadian soil. Canada was supposed to be the team to beat, coming into the Olympics riding on a "we invented the sport" wave of nationalist fervor. The US team was the underdog, expected to play well, but not be the best. Anyone who was lucky enough to watch the game last night saw the hype melt away faster than the ice beneath the US team's skates. Sad that it was played on MSNBC which is not only cable, it's not even basic cable for some customers.

Last week, DC hosted CPAC, the national conference for conservatives. This was supposed to be their zeitgeist meeting for looking toward the 2010 and 2012 elections (it's never too early to start grooming the next presidential candidate). To everyone's surprise Ron Paul was the preferred candidate in a straw poll. Not Sarah Palin (3rd), not Mitt Romney (2nd)... Considering that in 2008, the GOP forced Paul to the sidelines, this was a huge upset. Of course, it's the GOP primary voters that ultimately decide, but they can be influenced by advertising.

This seems to have knocked FAUX News off their tracks as well. Their response? Discredit the whole thing:
Remember the big conservative conference Fox News has been hyping over the past 10 days?

The Conservative Political Action Conference's presidential straw poll, a key marker of the mood among conservative voters, apparently didn't mean anything to the network. And if it did mean something, the only real result is bragging rights for the individual candidates who were so well exposed. And hey, even Dick Cheney showed up.

Or, at least that's how Fox News characterized the poll, after it was reported that Congressman Ron Paul (R-TX) had won it by a wide margin.
[...]
"It is way early, it is unscientific," said a Fox News host, even as the split-screen showed Glenn Beck on stage at the conference. "Perhaps it offers nothing more than bragging rights, uh, through the course of this year. But, it is quite a, uh, enthusiastic crowd. What a difference a year makes."

Woopsie - looks like the dark horse candidate is popular... and FAUX News hitched their wagon to the wrong horse.

In other party news, it's Darth Cheney that's being thrown under the bus. Try as he might, his snarling on the weekend talk shows has not helped much. In fact, one of the more respected members of the Bush Administration, Colin Powell, has said he's full of doodoo, and backs Obama on national security:
In a Sunday appearance on CBS, former Secretary of State Colin Powell defended President Obama's national security strategy, suggesting that former Vice President Dick Cheney's attacks were not "borne out by the facts."
[...]
"In eight years the military commissions have put three people on trial. Two of them served relatively short sentences and are free," Powell said. "One guy is in jail. Meanwhile the federal courts, our Article 3 regular legal court system has put dozens of terrorists in jail. They’re fully capable of doing it. So the suggestion that somehow a military commission is the way to go isn't borne out by the history of the military commission."

Wow - the Obama administration is doing a better job against terrorists than a Republican administration? Call Jimmy the Greek and get the odds on that one!

Another Republican supporting the Obama administration (at least in regards to the stimulus money) is Ahnold Schwarzenegger:
With so many Republican politicians railing against the stimulus while taking stimulus money for their districts, one prominent Republican governor is calling out his colleagues' hypocrisy.

California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger was proud to accept stimulus dollars for his state and praised the program for creating or saving over 150,000 jobs.

"I have been the first governor, of the Republican governors, to come out and to support the stimulus money because I say to myself, this is terrific," Schwarzenegger told ABC's Terry Moran Sunday.

In contrast to many Republicans, the California governor believes the stimulus has created and protected public and private sector jobs. "Anyone that says that it hasn't created the jobs, they should talk to the 150,000 people that have been getting jobs in California," he said.
[...]
Schwarzenegger also lashed out at GOP politicians who voted against the bill then took credit for benefits provided to their states.

It's always refreshing when hard work and doing the right thing brings rewards, despite popular "truths" which are proved to be false. It's especially rewarding when the opposition admits and agrees you had the better approach. Hopefully, we'll see more of that.

 

24 comments (Latest Comment: 02/23/2010 00:27:24 by Scoopster)
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Comment by wickedpam on 02/22/2010 14:07:51
Morning

Comment by Raine on 02/22/2010 14:26:39
good morning!

Comment by wickedpam on 02/22/2010 14:42:13
it sucks so much I went out and was able to buy a laptop (finally)

Comment by Raine on 02/22/2010 14:43:50
Excellent news for today.



I wanted to add this tidbit to the constant Drone of Cheney saying how bad Obama is on National Security.



Obama has caught more Taliban Leaders in 1 month than Bush/Cheney did in 6 years

Comment by Raine on 02/22/2010 14:45:51
Quote by wickedpam:

it sucks so much I went out and was able to buy a laptop (finally)


oooOOooo congrats!

Comment by Raine on 02/22/2010 14:50:37
So Hal was in the studio for a 1/2 hour and then left? All I caught was the last end.

Comment by wickedpam on 02/22/2010 14:55:55
Quote by Raine:

Quote by wickedpam:

it sucks so much I went out and was able to buy a laptop (finally)


oooOOooo congrats!






Thanks I've very excited to be able to be online downstairs - just have to work out the kinks tonight when it comes to the wifi

Comment by wickedpam on 02/22/2010 14:56:36
Quote by Raine:

So Hal was in the studio for a 1/2 hour and then left? All I caught was the last end.




Yeah, he's staying with Steph this week - should be some good stories to follow



Comment by BobR on 02/22/2010 15:00:06
Quote by wickedpam:

it sucks so much I went out and was able to buy a laptop (finally)


so spill! watcha get??

Comment by wickedpam on 02/22/2010 15:16:39
Quote by BobR:

Quote by wickedpam:

it sucks so much I went out and was able to buy a laptop (finally)


so spill! watcha get??




I ended up getting a Gateway, initially I was looking at a Toshiba or an Asus that were about 899 but I realized they were probably too much machine for what I needed and would use (I don't need a Blueray player in my laptop). The Gateway seemed more my speed

Comment by Raine on 02/22/2010 15:18:10
Quote by wickedpam:

Quote by Raine:

So Hal was in the studio for a 1/2 hour and then left? All I caught was the last end.




Yeah, he's staying with Steph this week - should be some good stories to follow



Oh dear.

Comment by wickedpam on 02/22/2010 15:28:05
Quote by Raine:

Quote by wickedpam:

Quote by Raine:

So Hal was in the studio for a 1/2 hour and then left? All I caught was the last end.




Yeah, he's staying with Steph this week - should be some good stories to follow



Oh dear.






I'm thinking its more like

Comment by Raine on 02/22/2010 16:00:15
Oh maH lawd.

State Delegate Bob Marshall of Manassas says disabled children are God's punishment to women who have aborted their first pregnancy.







He made that statement Thursday at a press conference to oppose state funding for Planned Parenthood.



"The number of children who are born subsequent to a first abortion with handicaps has increased dramatically. Why? Because when you abort the first born of any, nature takes its vengeance on the subsequent children," said Marshall, a Republican.



"In the Old Testament, the first born of every being, animal and man, was dedicated to the Lord. There's a special punishment Christians would suggest."


Comment by Raine on 02/22/2010 16:03:04
A very serious question: will Sarah Palin call for this man's resignation? An apology? Or has Sarah had an abortion? <-- that last part was snark to point out a little problem with his horrible suppositions.



Comment by livingonli on 02/22/2010 16:05:18
Good morning folks.



Of course the modern GOP will never admit that Obama is doing the right thing even if he does something they want. They are just knee-jerk opposition now.

Comment by livingonli on 02/22/2010 16:07:23
Quote by Raine:

Oh maH lawd.

State Delegate Bob Marshall of Manassas says disabled children are God's punishment to women who have aborted their first pregnancy.







He made that statement Thursday at a press conference to oppose state funding for Planned Parenthood.



"The number of children who are born subsequent to a first abortion with handicaps has increased dramatically. Why? Because when you abort the first born of any, nature takes its vengeance on the subsequent children," said Marshall, a Republican.



"In the Old Testament, the first born of every being, animal and man, was dedicated to the Lord. There's a special punishment Christians would suggest."


Has the new governor of Virginia brought all the right-wing whack jobs into government. It seems like the insanity of Georgia and Florida has moved north.

Comment by wickedpam on 02/22/2010 16:23:24
I think Bob Marshall has been around for a while, I think he just feels free enough now to let his true colors show

Comment by Raine on 02/22/2010 17:27:40
Did Thom read my Susan B Anthony blog from last week? :D

Comment by wickedpam on 02/22/2010 18:23:13
okay my laptop has a camera, I haven't used it or anything, how to I make sure its not on?

Comment by Mondobubba on 02/22/2010 20:51:49
Hey all, looking for a job is hard work. Ahm tard, I think I'll go home now.



In other stuff sorta on topic with Bobber's blog today: today is the 30th anniversary of the Miracle on Ice.

Comment by Mondobubba on 02/22/2010 20:53:55
Quote by wickedpam:

okay my laptop has a camera, I haven't used it or anything, how to I make sure its not on?




Um there is a thingy in the control panel for it, right? If you haven't monkeyed with the software for it, it isn't running. Now that is 2K of A+ training on display, I call the application that runs the camera a thingy.

Comment by Raine on 02/22/2010 22:00:47


Comment by Scoopster on 02/23/2010 00:27:24
Quote by Raine:

A very serious question: will Sarah Palin call for this man's resignation? An apology? Or has Sarah had an abortion? <-- that last part was snark to point out a little problem with his horrible suppositions.


I highly doubt we'll hear anything from her about this one.