The big news this week comes to us from the entertainment world, where venerable Wheel of Fortune host Pat Sajak revealed that he and Vanna White were goofed on margaritas for many of their shows in the early days of the program. If anything, this only increases my respect for Pat and Vanna. I mean, to produce that kind of high art day after day while being lit up on Jose Cuervo takes real talent. But of course most of America doesn't see it that way. Most of America is asking, "is that show still on?"
It was the week for the State Ofs. President Obama gave his annual State of the Union address. I thought he did a good job, but the real excitement was the Republican reply by Gov. Mitch Daniels of Indiana.
Republicans are hoping that if Newt Gingrich wins in Florida, they can convince Mitt Romney to join his money in the Cayman Islands (or maybe Switzerland), and they can convince Newt Gingrich to join the space program.
That would leave the door wide open to the guy they really want, the exciting Mitch Daniels. Daniels looks and talks like the reincarnation of Calvin Coolidge, one of our most dynamic presidents, who got 12 hours of sleep every night and liked to go fishing.
Daniels was head of the exciting Office of Management and Budget, but when you hear him speak he's doesn't sound like an accountant. He comes off more as an actuary.
Daniels mentioned in his speech that he didn't think the government should be telling Americans which light bulbs to use. And, in fact, freedom of light bulb choice was a fundamental American right enshrined by our Founding Fathers, except of course it was freedom of candle choice in their day.
There was another Republican debate this week -- or maybe there were a dozen. Nobody can keep track. In the one I saw, Rick Santorum said that he didn't want to see theocracies develop in the Middle East. Apparently, he only wants a theocracy in the United States.
Santorum also got into some trouble for not correcting a woman at a campaign stop who said that Obama was an "avowed Muslim." Santorum explained that he thought she had said, "avowed muslin," and that in fact he had seen the president wearing a nice shirt made of that material last summer, so he thought the charge might be true.
With the state of the union secure, we turn to Gov. Scott Walker's State of the State address on Wednesday night. Several times, Walker said that he would go after "waste, fraud and abuse" in state government. Turns out this is something he knows something about, having presided over a county executive staff that ripped off veterans and ran political campaigns with taxpayer dollars. Isn't it refreshing when a politician sticks to what he knows best?
Staying with politics for now, what is it about New York politicians and new media? First we had Eliot Spitzer arranging hook ups online when he was governor. Then he wasn't governor.
Then we had Congressman Anthony Wiener (he of the unfortunate name in this case) sexting like there was no tomorrow. Then there was no tomorrow for his political career.
Now, it's U.S. Representative Marc Cenedella, a hot prospect for the United States Senate from New York, who is in hot water for his hot blog. The posts had headlines like "Sexy vs. Skanky," "Dating Advice for Girly Girls" (clearly going for the women's vote here), "He Stole My Weed" (shows he's concerned about crime), and "High Quality Dope" (looking out for the consumer).
Cenedella won't talk about it, but his staff said that it wasn't actually his blog. Of course it wasn't. People were apparently fooled by the banner that said that this was "The Personal Blog of Marc Cenedella." How could any reasonable person draw from that the conclusion that this was the personal blog of Marc Cendella? Will the Democrats stop at nothing?
This reminds me of Ron Paul's problems in a similar vein, where racist vitriol was routinely printed as part of something called The Ron Paul Political Report. People once again jumped to the conclusion that somehow The Ron Paul Political Report was associated with Ron Paul. Geez. Don't people realize that when sexist or racist items appear on a politician's website, they obviously had nothing to do with the politician whose name appears prominently on the site? I mean how basic do we have to get here, people?
Now let's turn to the sports pages, where it was only a matter of time before Prince Fielder got a princely sum. The now former Brewer slugger landed with the Detroit Tigers, who are paying him in General Motors and Ford. Not a bad deal, now that GM is once again the largest auto maker in the world.
The really good news here for the Brewers is that they will have to face neither Prince nor Albert Pujols during the regular season, since both wound up in the American League. I would like them to end up on the same team some day, though. That way if they batted, say fourth and fifth in the order, it could be the Prince Albert cleanup combination.
Well, that's all I've got for now, kids. Have a good weekend.
