Phyllis Schlafly Whiffs at All American Baseball

Phyllis Schlafly returned to the headlines today endorsing Donald Trump for the Republican Presidential nomination.  This Schlafly endorsement probably is intended to give the Manhattan Mogul some sway among social conservatives.

But a commentary that Schlafly published on the Eagle Forum may give conservatives consternation.  Schlafly urged that the Major Leagues ban foreigners from playing in America's Pastime.



Ironically, Schlafly is making her pitch as the Major Leagues have been earnestly endeavoring to expand their influence worldwide. In 2014, the MLB season kicked off in Australia. There has been lots of talk (along with trepidation) about moving a franchise to Mexico. And currently, the Toronto Blue Jays aren't playing their home games on US soil (and it is dubious if Canada will withhold foreign players' visas).

While it is lamentable that there is not as much sandlot baseball that progresses player into the Major Leagues, reimposing bigotry barriers goes against the grain of the civil rights movement.

It is bizarre to believe that sports fans today worry about the ethnicity of an athlete as opposed to their athletic abilities.  Anyone who suggests an "America First" on the fields of competition is out of this zeitgeist.

Granted, Phyllis Schlafly is 91 years old.  Her notoriety skyrocked in the mid 1970s  fighting against the willy nilly imposition of the Equal Rights Amendment.  This was around the same time that then Senator Bob Dole (R-KS) was selected as President Ford's Vice Presidential running mate in 1976.

Perhaps it is time for Ms. Schlafly along with Senator Dole and President Jimmy Carter to gracefully surrender the public spotlight before they further embarrass themselves.

Jimmy Carter Runs the Race Yet Again

  

Recently, former President Jimmy Carter gave a provocative interview with AARP magazine which alleged that many Americans have racist tendencies. Perhaps the 90 year old former President still ruefully remembers his own role in the Civil Rights movement and that colors his judgment. 

 After the U.S. Supreme Court handed down the Brown v. Board of Education s in 1954, Jimmy Carter served on the Sumter County (Georgia) School Board which did not school desegregation in Carter's home town.  In fact, this school board tried to block construction of a new "Negro Elementary School" in 1956 because it was too close to a "white school" and "the children, both colored and white, would have to travel the same streets and roads in order to reach their respective schools.”  To that end, Carter requested that the state school board stop construction until a new site could be found.  The state rejected the proposal because of the staggering cost.  So Carter and the rest of the Sumter County School Board reassured parents that they “would do everything in its power to minimize simultaneous traffic between white and colored students in route to and from school.” 

People can change or learn to hide their seamy side better.  But the nonagenarian former President both impugns many Americans for harboring racist tendencies.  Moreover, Mr. Carter has  tarred of Southern Republicans and Tea Partiers as racists.

Prior to the Obama Administration, many Americans considered Jimmy Carter to be the worst President in American history.  In his post-Presidential years, Mr. Carter had redeemed much of his reputation by his association with Habitat for Humanity and the Carter Center by "waging peace and fighting disease".  

Yet in the last 10 years, "the Elder" Carter has stridently injected himself into politics. If advisors cared to protect Mr. Carter's flagging reputation, they ought to ease him out of the limelight for his own good.  Or maybe he wants to reclaim the mantle of being the Worst President in American History.  

 h/t Hans Von Spakovsky 

      Laughlin McDonald  

There's More Than a Snowflake's Chance that Ted Cruz is Running for the White House

At this point of the 2016 Presidential election cycle, most prospective Presidential nominees are playing coy about their intentions to run for the White House.   Many media personalities will jocularly try to get a story by coaxing the candidate to declare his or her intentions on the air.  Serious candidates need to sound interested to prospective supporters, yet not proverbially put the cart before the horse by declaring not at a time and place of their own choosing. 

So Glenn Beck's exchange with Senator Ted Cruz (R-TX) at the end of a lengthy radio interview included the obligatory "ask".  However, the junior senator from Texas gave a memorable deflection.  

When some politicians claim quote their children, it sounds as if the kids were cued off of a teleprompter. An infamous example was President Jimmy Carter's alleged exchange with daughter Amy about the dangers of nuclear war during a 1980 debate with Ronald Reagan. 

The quote from Caroline Cruz certainly sounds like a six year old's logic.  While the quip intimated that the family blesses Senator Cruz intention to throw his hat in the ring, it also served as a light hearted feint to the question of declaring. 

Running for President is a grueling effort to constantly travel, raise funds, react to opposition in real time and try to project a positive prospective policy.  Many politicians refrain from continued combat in the political arena to supposedly spend more time with family.  It is a twist to conventional logic to a family to encourage a campaign to gain a back yard for a dog.

Yes Caroline, there is more than a Snowflake's chance in Texas that Ted Cruz is running for the White House. But now was not the time to color in that picture and say it with surety. 

Jimmy Carter on Islamic Extremism

Celebrating Failed Presidents?

  Jimmy Carter, the 39th President of the United States,  celebrated his 90th birthday by going on a media campaign to redefine his legacy.  Carter's interview with MSNBC insisted that had he authorized robust military action, he would have won re-election.  Instead, Ronald Reagan beat the malaise from Plains Georgia.  On President Reagan's first inauguration day, Tehran released the 52 American hostages after 444 days of captivity. 

 Mr. Carter's self-serving quote failed to account for two factors as he celebrated his foreign policy strategerie (sic).  Firstly,  President Carter did attempt a military operation to free the hostages in April, 1980.  

Operation Eagle Claw was an abortive attempt by the US military to rescue the hostages.  As the eight US helicopters advanced to the Desert One staging area, only five were in operational conditions  (hindered by fine sand, hydraulic issues and a crack in the rotor blade).  The assault was called off, but one of the helicopters crashed into a transport aircraft full of jet fuel, which destroyed both aircraft and killed eight servicemen). 

 Although Operation Eagle Claw may not have been an apocalyptic military operation, it may have been propelled by politics.  President Carter was engaged in a tough battle for the Democrat Presidential Nomination with Senator Edward Kennedy (D-MA).  In fact, President Carter lost several key primary contests in April 1980 (Pennsylvania, Michigan and Vermont) and was seriously losing momentum. 

Although the failed rescue attempt did generate a lot of scorn for Carter, it also seemed to quash his political insurgency. After Operation Eagle, the rally around the flag instinct which Democrats of the day still had for the military cut Kennedy's mojo.    So Mr. Carters self righteous reminiscing about not using the powers of the Presidency to get re-elected is  questionable. 

 In addition, Mr. Carter intimates today that the hostage release was an answer to his prayers and in the end it all worked out.  While one should not dismiss the power of prayer, it seems more likely that  the Islamic Republic of Iran worrying about what "that crazy cowboy" Reagan  in the Oval Office would do.  Moreover, one should not discount the gesture from Tehran to be one last insult to the Peanut President. 


To celebrate President Carter's milestone birthday, President Barack Obama chose to celebrate himself on social media by posting a photo featuring the 39th and 44th Presidents together.   Of course, Mr. Obama has a history of using his image for branding when supposedly celebrating others, like his social media tribute to Neil Armstrong's death or Rosa Parks' passing. 


 Funny how failed President's celebrate themselves.  Some things never change, despite the rhetoric to the contrary. Some wags have wondered if Barack Obama is the second coming of Jimmy Carter.  

  

However, now Carter can take solace that he is no longer considered with worst President in modern American  history.

Errant Elders Advocate Homogenizing Hamas

Former President Jimmy Carter authored a piece published in Foreign Policy along with ex Irish President (and UN Human Rights Commissioner) titled:  "How to Fix It" which suggests that ending the Gaza War begins with recognizing Hamas as a legitimate political actor.

Really?  The United States lists  Hamas as a terror organization. Wonder why?  The Hamas Charter is thoroughly anti-semitic and vows to extinguish Israel. When Hamas took over Gaza in 2007 after winning an election, they literally threw one Fatah legislator out a window, targeted Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas for assassination with 118 people dead and 550 people wounded. Hamas directed $100 million of Western humanitarian aid to build terror tunnels as offensive weapons in the current Gaza War. Then consider Hamas tried and true tactic of hiding weapons in UN schools, placing missiles in mosques as well civilian neighborhoods, yet complaining to the international community about all of the civilian deaths. No wonder why one can think that Hamas stands for Hiding Among Mosques and Schools

When Mr. Carter spoke at the Elders event at the Oxford Center for Islamic Studies, the 89 year old former President joked that Elders are "Has Beens" who do not have any real power.  Considering Robinson's and Carter's modest proposal on "How To Fix It" is a good thing.

What might be a better thing is for aides who care about preserving any remaining modicum of Carter's good reputation and keeping him off the center stage.  Carter has become increasingly anti-semitic as he has aged. However,  this latter day foray in foreign policy serves as a reminder as to why Carter is considered by many to be the second worst President in modern history.  President George W. Bush has scrupulously avoided commenting on current affairs so as not to interfere with his successors.  This is a courtesy which Carter can not claim. 

Hank Aaron Strikes Out at GOP as Political Commentator

As Hank Aaron reflected upon America in the forty years since he surpassed  Babe Ruth's then record of  714 Home Runs, the former Braves slugger offered a provocative political answer.  The 80 year old slugger claimed that not much has changed in race relations since his 22 years in the Major Leagues, where he received some cruel correspondences as he chased the legendary mark of the Sultan of Swat.                                                                                                                           To underline his assertions, Aaron essentially asserted that Republicans have treated President Barack Obama like the KKK, except that they wear neckties and starched shirts rather than hoods.  USA Today summarized theses reflections with the headline: "40 Years Later, Hank Aaron's grace a beauty to behold."  It is dubious that those in the GOP smeared by this biased broadside of bigotry would agree with that assessment. 

Although Barry Bonds now holds the MLB  record of 769 Homers surpassing Aaron's mark of 755 in 2007, even Baseball Commissioner Bud Selig still consider Aaron the Home Run King.  Aaron's strength, skill, longevity and perseverance without steroids to pass Babe Ruth was commendable. It is a pity that he tarnishes his legacy with a polemic political philippic.

While public policy partisans may quibble about priorities or programs, no one is entitled to their own facts. It is rich irony that Hank Aaron compares the GOP to the KKK.  Perhaps he has forgotten that Jackie Robinson and Martin Luther King supported Republicans, because of what the Grand Old Party did to ensure Blacks freedom in the 1860s as well as their key role in enacting civil rights protections in the 1950s and 1960s and rejecting the Klan.

Of course, there is also the legacy of Senator Robert Byrd (D-WV), who had had actually been a Grand Kleagle in the KKK. Some dismiss this charge noting that Byrd was not in the KKK long enough to get his sheets broken in.  Yet Byrd was an ardent opponent of civil rights legislation in the Senate during the 1960s. 

Yet Hank Aaron has the audacity to imply that the GOP are doing the high tech lynching, to borrow a phrase from Democrats excoriating  President George H.W. Bush's nominee  Clarence Thomas during his Supreme Court confirmation hearings. 

In his time, Aaron was an outstanding slugger behind the plate.  But as contemporary political commentator, Hank "the Hammer"  strikes out badly.  May Aaron not continue to follow the lead of his fellow Georgian octogenarian, President Jimmy Carter, who makes outrageous opinionated outbursts which sully his legacy.

h/t: Eric Allie