It's been an odd day for political videos, and on both sides of divide, no less.
On the right, there's a preview for a movie about the Tea Parties floating around. And yes, it's just as corny, melodromatic and self-important as you'd think.
Then there's a public service announcement, scheduled to air over Thanksgiving, that features NFL players tossing a football around with kids and, um, President Obama. That one, too, is just plain weird -- you don't often expect to see New Orleans Saints quarterback Drew Brees on the White House lawn. Plus, the shot in that commercial that involves Obama slowly appearing on screen in order to catch Brees' pass is so forced that it just looks like unintentional self-parody. (Also, Obama, who's almost 50 years old, can apparently burn an All-Pro safety. Who knew?)
Both videos are below.
"Y'all look like a bunch of dumb-asses out there!"
Coach Taylor is at his wit's end. After a few triumphant seasons as head coach of the Dillon Panthers football team, he finds himself trying to rally together a brand-new team at a brand-new school, East Dillon High, after the town is redistricted. The field is brown and dusty. The players have never played football before. (Um, wouldn't a few of the good players have ended up at the new school?) Some of the players have criminal records. Others are unaccustomed to being yelled at, or unwilling to run grueling drills in the withering Texas heat.
Although Taylor (Kyle Chandler) may be facing a losing battle for the first time in his career, in its fourth season, "Friday Night Lights" (premieres 9 p.m. Wednesday, Oct. 28, on DirecTV, airing next year on NBC) is just as thoughtful and restrained as it's ever been, with its focus firmly planted on the small-town disappointments of ordinary people.
Thankfully, one of the show's best characters, Matt Saracen (Zach Gilford), who received a scholarship to arts school in Chicago, chose to stay in Dillon to take care of his grandmother. "You're the only person who's never left me," he told her at the end of last season. "I'm not gonna leave you." Despite his talents, Matt takes a job delivering pizzas, and naturally lands on the front doorstep of Dillon star quarterback J.D. McCoy (Jeremy Sumpter), the guy who was gunning for his spot for so long. J.D. has slowly but surely transformed from a naive, alienated rich kid to a certified dick (we knew he'd get there eventually!).
OK, so the rich kid thing is a little cartoonish – while everyone else in town lives in ramshackle little dumps with scrubby front yards, the McCoys inhabit a gigantic mansion. Who knew Dillon even had a nice part of town? And admittedly, some of the scenes in the first episode where jerk quarterback flirts aggressively with Matt's girlfriend Julie (Aimee Teegarden), then engages in shouting and fisticuffs with Matt, do feel a little bit like a flashback to the stereotypical high school clash ("Welcome to the O.C., bitch!"). But there's a major difference: The underdog in this picture had his day as a celebrated hero, and now he's delivering pizzas to them.
But that's a trajectory that "Friday Night Lights" (and the book and movie before it) always set out to trace. High school football stars are heroes in small American towns, but when those glory days are over, what are the kids left with? A pitiful few get football scholarships to college, and a tiny fraction of those eventually go pro. The rest pin their hopes on terrible odds, buoyed along by a cheering crowd, but then wake up one day as nobodies in a place with few job opportunities, wondering what to do next.
Tim Riggins (Taylor Kitsch), who once looked determined to go to college, sits in class for about three seconds before bailing on the whole thing. Obviously Riggins isn't exactly a scholar, but what is he going to do in Dillon, beyond getting drunk, getting batted around by mean rednecks, and sleeping with high school girls? ("What's it like being the guy who used to be Tim Riggins?" one stranger asks him.) This is why longtime characters like Brian "Smash" Williams (Gaius Charles), Jason Street (Scott Porter) and many others had to leave the show -- how many stories about rudderless high school graduates in a small town can you service at once?
Nonetheless, the real glory of "Friday Night Lights" is its uncanny ability to take something that shouldn't really make a TV show -- regular people, butting up against life's major disappointments -- and squeeze stories and characters out of it that resonate beyond the dusty limits of Dillon County. We may have seen Riggins fall on his face drunk and Saracen grapple with his grandmother's health problems one too many times before, but there's always some fresh way of approaching a well-beaten path that these writers find for the show's best characters. Just look at Coach Taylor, with his team full of broken, inexperienced players, crestfallen over their limited chances at victory. There's no way this team will make it to a state championship, but somehow it's hard not to suspect that we'll get lots of moments straight out of the Little Football Player That Could movie "Rudy" -- former sidekick Landry (Jesse Plemons) finds his footing on the East Dillon team, former naysayers and screw-ups become big Coach Taylor fans, former criminal Vince (Michael B. Jordan -- yes, that's Wallace, the teenage drug dealer-turned-informant from the first season of "The Wire") transforms into a star running back before our eyes.
All of which probably sounds predictable if you've managed to miss the first three seasons of this fine drama (sure, even the much-maligned second season had its moments). But the writers of "Friday Night Lights," even when they're challenged with reimagining "Rudy," know how to make us believe in the heartbreaks and small victories these characters face. And after all these years, when Coach Taylor looks out over the heads of his new team of mediocre talents, outcasts and misfits, and whispers, "Clear eyes, full hearts, can't lose!" you'll still want to storm the field and prove him right.
You might think that, given the near-unanimous opposition around the NFL to the idea of having Rush Limbaugh as part owner of one of its football teams, conservatives wouldn't be trying to find a way to blame the whole thing on some malicious maneuvering by President Obama.
You would, of course, be wrong.
Sure, conservatives have been angry about Limbaugh's failed bid, but this latest theme is fairly new, and pretty far out there. In short, what people like American Thinker's Joseph Ashby are pointing out is that DeMaurice Smith, the executive director of the NFL players' union, used to work for Attorney General Eric Holder, and that he also served on the Obama transition team. That's true -- but here's where Ashby takes this, based on Smith's having come out publicly against the idea of Limbaugh being part of a team ownership group:
Smith’s gross conflict of interest and apparent political targeting of Obama’s top foe is a huge story. Unfortunately the media appears too blinded by their prejudice of Limbaugh to report on it.
To summarize, we know that a former Obama official and political ally -- who was chosen by the NFLPA specifically for his political clout and connections to the highest rungs of power in government -- directly attacked Limbaugh for the radio-talker’s political commentary.
Historically politicians have been prone to vindictive and petty behavior, but never in American history has someone had so much power to pummel his political opponents as President Obama. With control over banks, insurance companies, car companies, media (sports media included) and unions (like the NFL players union), Obama tentacles seem to penetrate into nearly every corner of the nation.
Limbaugh, too, has apparently made a charge like this. And Glenn Reynolds, who as Instapundit is one of the more influential bloggers on the right, linked to Ashby's post, and added this, an e-mail he received from a reader:
BTW this is a big, big deal, and something Nixon ( or maybe Gene Talmadge or George Wallace in his heyday.) would have done. The difference is the press wouldn't have played along then. Not because it was wrong. The press could care less about that (Go look up Walter Duranty), but because Nixon wasn't a Democrat. It's all about power with the press... their power. You get in between them and it, heaven help you.
This is, frankly, sort of amazing. Forget the amount of disbelief you have to suspend in order to believe that the Obama White House would, for no other reason than political retribution, direct an ally to torpedo Limbaugh's participation in the effort to buy the St. Louis Rams. Forget that Smith was hardly the only NFL figure to come out against Limbaugh; players did that too, as did the owner of the Indianapolis Colts and even Roger Goodell, the league's commissioner.
No, what's most incredible is the way in which people supposedly devoted to free-market principles forget basic rules of capitalism when convenient, and imput everything to political bias against them. What's the simplest reason for Smith to have opposed Limbaugh's part in the bid? How about his own economic self-interest?
The players' union head has only been in his job for a little while, and he was a total outsider when he was elected to the post; by the time he spoke out, some of his players had already done so. He has an interest in keeping them all happy in order to keep his job. Beyond that, the NFL and the union are headed for a serious labor battle next year -- there's just no way Smith wants a new ownership group that's likely to have a strongly anti-labor viewpoint entering the picture right now. That's especially true because of the microphone Limbaugh has, the ability he'd have to sway public opinion in the owners' favor.
On a somewhat different subject, but still worth examining for other reasons, is a piece on the American Spectator's Web site. In it, writer Jeffrey Lord, an aide in the Reagan White House, also went after Smith, crying racism -- against Limbaugh -- at every turn in a particularly nasty way. Lord wrote:
[T]he dirty little secret of the NFL seems to be that it is in the charge of people caring less about football than left-wing politics and all the implicitly racial and intolerant ideas that have been the vivid hallmark of the progressive movement and the Democratic Party from its inception in slavery days. Right down to the notion of which blacks will remain on the intellectual plantation in return for a PR pat on the head...
So what does Mr. Smith do in his real life when he isn't busy juggling the massive conflict of interest that is using the facade of football to zap one of the leading opponents of Mr. Obama, the man to whom Smith has channeled $3,300?
Lord also wrote, of sports writer Kevin Blackistone of FanHouse.com, "Bull Connor would love this guy."
That's Bull Connor, the infamous public safety commissioner in Birmingham, Ala., who used police dogs and fire hoses on peaceful civil rights marchers. What did Blackistone (whom Lord referred to as "Black Kev") do to deserve this? Why, he wrote, "If the league accepted whatever bid the group including Limbaugh puts up, it would be a slap in the face to at least two-thirds of its players, and that is selling short the other third. The two-thirds I am referring to are the NFL players who are black. The other third are players of every other hue."
If you can figure out how someone like Connor, who turned police dogs on defenseless children in an attempt to defend segregation, would "love" that quote, well, you're a more imaginative person than I.
Conservatives are all about taking responsibility for one’s personal actions, or at least they used to be. Rush Limbaugh is facing the consequences of the buffoonish, offensive cartoon persona that’s made him a gazillionaire: The controversy-averse brotherhood of NFL owners harrumphed disapproval of Limbaugh’s role in a bid to buy the St. Louis Rams, and within a few days the group Limbaugh was part of dropped the radio bully from its bid.
I’m sure the snub is causing Rusty to relive childhood traumas, and I feel a little sorry for him. It must be awful to be kicked to the curb by guys who used to admire you, and the deep pockets you brought to their bid. And Limbaugh sure got angry that his bid ran into choppy water. “This is not about the NFL, it's not about the St. Louis Rams, it's not about me. This is about the ongoing effort by the left in this country, wherever you find them, in the media, the Democrat Party, or wherever, to destroy conservatism, to prevent the mainstreaming of anyone who is prominent as a conservative."
Limbaugh’s self-pity and paranoia is on red-alert again. The idea that prominent conservatives aren’t part of the American mainstream is ridiculous. But more important: Let’s be clear who’s denying Rush his chance to own an NFL team: the other rich guys who are trying to buy the team, who dropped him from their group at the first sign of trouble. It’s true Indianapolis Colts owner Jim Irsay speculated that Rush’s team would have a hard time getting the required support of three-quarters of team owners, and that NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell commented, “Divisive comments are not what the N.F.L. is all about,” but the Limbaugh group didn’t mount much of an effort to buy the team.
It’s certainly possible their bid would ultimately have been rejected. When he became an ESPN football commentator, Limbaugh thought it was a good idea to take a gratuitous racial slap at Philadelphia Eagles quarterback Donovan McNabb, arguing that he “hasn’t been that good from the get-go,” but “the media has been very desirous that a black quarterback do well.” And while Limbaugh this week insists he’s "colorblind" and "treat[s] everyone equally," Media Matters assembled a list of two dozen other racially questionable Limbaugh remarks, from comparing the NFL to “a game between the Bloods and the Crips” to insisting Democrats won’t brook criticism of President Obama, “the little black man-child.” Of course, my favorite was when he said he was expected to “bend over, grab the ankles” for Obama because he’s black, since that let us explore Limbaugh’s strange anal obsession, which rivals (and sometimes overlaps with) his racial obsession. If NFL owners decided they didn’t want the baggage someone like Limbaugh carries, or the invidious garbage he peddles to gin up his ratings, they’d be within their rights.
But the funniest aspect of the collapse of Limbaugh’s bid is the reaction on the right. At “Big Hollywood,” John Ziegler was inconsolable. “Even in these times when the once unthinkable is becoming increasingly unremarkable, the current controversy over whether Rush Limbaugh is potentially worthy to be an NFL owner crosses over from the simply outrageous to the utterly infuriating. I strongly believe that it also represents a seminal moment in our cultural history as well as the sad state of free speech in this country.” Whoa! Like a lot of challenged thinkers, Ziegler seems to think Rush’s right to free speech also guarantees he’ll face no consequences for that speech. “I’m getting a lot of ‘boycott the NFL’ emails,” huffed the National Review’s Kathryn Lopez on Twitter this a.m. I’m sure the NFL is atwitter about that right now.
And a Red State diarist went so far over the top, I thought it was satire, but t-square has been on the site for four years and is easily moved to hysteria. In a blog post titled “Tonight … We are all Rush Limbaugh,” t-square told us … well, you just have to read a little:
Earlier this evening, as most of you now know, one of our own, Rush Hudson Limbaugh, while taking withering fire, crashed and burned.
Tonight, Rush is no longer ‘just’ a radio personality.
Tonight, Rush is no longer ‘just’ a NFL owner denied
Tonight, Rush is us. And we are him.
Tonight Rush became the metaphor for all of us… every man woman and child in this great nation of ours.
The enemy of this great nation, the enemy of you and me, Rush’s enemy … those on the left, inside and outside of this nation abhor success … and when faced with it will destroy it … by any and all means possible.
It went on and on like that and ended with the famous anti-Nazism parable attributed to Pastor Martin Niemöller, “First they came for the communists …” I'm serious.
Let’s ignore the fact that if anyone ever "came for the communists," it would be Rush and the red-staters. The paranoia and self-pity would be funny, except it’s fueling an opposition to Obama that seems increasingly unhinged. Even as he denies it, Limbaugh is making himself the face of the Republican opposition, and today that face is puffy and tear-streaked and red with self-pitying rage. I can't wait to hear what he says on his show today.
Looks like all those people proposing alternate names for the National Football League's St. Louis Rams -- for use if case an ownership group that includes Rush Limbaugh succeeds in buying the team -- will have to find something else to do with their time. If the group does buy the team, Limbaugh will reportedly not be part of it.
ESPN's Adam Schefter is reporting that Dave Checketts, who's leading the effort, will drop Limbaugh from the group, perhaps in the next week. The odds that Checketts' bid will be successful are still small, but Limbaugh has become radioactive over the past week, and his presence in the group dooms its chances. NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell made that crystal clear by coming out against the idea of having the radio host as a part owner of a team, a strong signal that there's no chance the other owners, who must approve any sale, would let it happen.
Limbaugh isn't likely to take defeat lying down. That's not his style, for one thing, and hes' already drawn a line in the sand.
"I'm not even thinking of exiting," Schefter quotes Limbaugh as saying on his show Wednesday. "I'm not even thinking of caving. I am not a caver. None of us are. We have been betrayed by too many who have caved. Pioneers take the arrows. We are pioneers. It's a sad thing but our country over 200 years old now needs pioneers all over again, but we do."
Update: It's official -- Limbaugh's out.
"It has become clear that [Limbaugh's'] involvement in our group has become a complication and a distraction to our intentions, endangering our bid to keep the team in St. Louis," Checketts said in a statement released Wednesday afternoon. "As such, we have decided to move forward without him and hope it will eventually lead us to a successful conclusion."
The National Football League's St. Louis Rams aren't exactly a hot commodity these days. They're stuck at 0-5, and have commentators asking if they can be the team to repeat the feat the Detroit Lions were the first to accomplish last year -- going through an entire 16-game season without a single victory.
But at least some people are interested in buying the team. One group exploring the possibility includes conservative radio talker Rush Limbaugh, and that's inspired quite a bit of talk about the Rams lately. More, it seems like everyone in the NFL's coming out of the woodwork to oppose the idea of Limbaugh -- who lost his job as a commentator for ESPN after racially charged comments he made about Philadelphia Eagles quarterback Donovan McNabb -- having any part in owning a team.
That the Revs. Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton would state publicly their opposition to Limbaugh buying the Rams isn't surprising. (In other breaking news, the sun rose today.) But there have been a few NFL players who've already said they don't want the radio host to become part of the league, and that attitude's shared at the highest levels. The NFL likes its owners seen and not heard, especially when it comes to controversial issues unrelated to football.
Even Commissioner Roger Goodell has said he's against the idea of a Limbaugh-owned team; "divisive comments are not what the NFL is all about," Goodell said. "I would not want to see those comments coming from people who are in a responsible posiiton in the NFL." Goodell and his counterpart in the players' union, DeMaurice Smith, aren't seeing eye to eye on much these days, but they agree on Limbaugh.
"[S]port in America is at its best when it unifies, gives all of us reason to cheer, and when it transcends. Our sport does exactly that when it overcomes division and rejects discrimination and hatred," Smith said in an e-mail to his union's executive committee.
Still, progressives and football fans are having a little fun with Limbaugh's bid. On Twitter, they're coming up with ideas for new names the Rams could take if the radio host does succeed in buying a piece of the team. There is, for instance, "St. Louis Whiteys" and the "Missouri Manboobs," along with "St. Louis Pharmaceuticals" and "St. Louis Birthers." One other suggestion that's been made: In order to dissuade Limbaugh, change the name now to "St. Louis Rahms," after White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel.
The team may not have to take that kind of step just yet. The current owners have apparently not made a final decision about selling majority control of the team, and if they do, Limbaugh's group is still a longshot.
