Letters to the Editor
Eric Samuelsen
Published Letters: 32 Editor's Choice: 6
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McCain back on track
[Read the article: Another bad week for John McCain]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Unlike some of your other correspondents, I think John McCain is a decent, honorable man who would probably make a reasonably okay president, especially with a Democratic Congress keeping his loonier notions in check. I think Obama's better, though he's by no means the progressive we'd been hoping for. But I think McCain could still pull this out.
Here's what he could do: fire most of his campaign staff, and do it publicly and loudly. Kake a big speech in which he says 'this campaign season, you have not seen the real John McCain. I have listened to bad counsel from people in my own party who wanted to mold me into something I'm not. I apologize. I have made serious errors in judgment, in the people I hired and the people I have listened to. I am not a social conservative. I don't care about abortion. I don't care about gay marriage or school prayer, and I think Kenneth Hagee is a loon. I am not a supply-sider, and loathed the Bush tax cuts. I am who I have always been, and that man is not the man the Republican establishment has tried to force me to become. I ask the American people to forgive me, and I ask you to judge me on my forty years of public service, and forget the cookie cutter Republican some of my advisors have tried to turn me into. I repudiate that candidate. I am John McCain, and I plan to remain John McCain.'
It'd shake things up, anyway.
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So how about some second half predictions?
[Read the article: First-half predictions: Predictably bad]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]1) The Giants will set a team record for most rookies used in a single season. They will also set a major league record for least productive rookies.
2) The Colorado Rockies will finish 72 and 90, good enough to win the NL West.
3) The Yankees will finish the season platooning Barry Bonds and Richie Sexson at DH.
More seriously:
4) Josh Hamilton will make a run at Hack Wilson's RBI record, but will finish with 178.
5) Big second half surge for the Tigers, the Brewers and the A's. Second half fade for the Marlins, the Mets and the Rays.
Angels/Phillies in the World Series, won by Philadelphia.
Can I just say, BTW, as a life-long Giants fan, how much I'm enjoying this season for my favorite team. No more Barry, no more soap opera and steroids. It's just guys like Aurilia and Molina and Randy Winn, tough old professionals, no longer good enough to actually contend, but there to provide stability while the farm system revives, plus every fifth day, we get to watch The Freak. Obviously, it'd be nice if the team were actually good, but we baseball fans are a hardy bunch--it's possible to enjoy the game even in down years.
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They just don't know him
[Read the article: A tale of two campaigns]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]I live in Utah, a very different kind of bubble. I have a neighbor, Aaron, who thinks of me as sort of exotic--I'm the first Democrat he's ever been friends with. He could see himself voting for Obama, he says--he's disgusted with Bush, and thinks McCain is a decent guy who's way past his prime. But . . . Obama's got that Arab-sounding name. He's untested--what's he ever done in life? Europeans like him--that's a huge problem for Aaron, who served his mission to France, loved it, loved the country and the people, speaks the language with native fluency, and thought the French system of government completely insane. Aaron told me that voting for Obama feels like giving the keys to the family car to his sixteen year old. Yeah, it's probably okay, but . . . scary.
People just don't know Obama yet. They'll pay attention to the convention speech, they'll watch the debates. And Obama will win, probably pretty easily.
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Yeah, but Ueno was magnificent
[Read the article: Softball stunner]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Okay, but how about some props to Yukiko Ueno? All she did was pitch two extra inning complete games yesterday, then another complete game today, all the while exuding coolness and poise. She was clearly tired, but kept wiggling out of jams, getting the outs she needed, aided by spectacular defense. I'm as jingoistic as the next guy, but by the end, I was rooting for Japan.