With the resignation of Andrea Barthwell from the Bush administration last Friday, speculation turned to the chances of a black female physician emerging as the Republican candidate for U.S. Senate. While serving in the Bush administration, Republican faithful say they are leery of Barthwell's history of giving to Democrat candidates and never giving to Republicans.
Well, yes, I should think that might concern one or two people. Kind of makes you wonder why on earth she calls herself a Republican. Then again, one wonders the same thing about Colin Powell, when one looks at his stand on the issues. Apparently, there's a devoutly massochistic streak in some people that revels in public embarrassment and humiliation. But I digress.
... over the weekend, the drum beat continued to draft former Bears' coach Mike Ditka , a rough and tough George W. Bush supporter, and known over the years as a Republican supporter.
Ditka's wife insisted over the weekend that there was no chance her husband would consider running for U.S. Senate.
But Monday morning, Chicago's Fox WFLD-32 Darlene Hill interviewed Ditka. In the interview, Ditka began to reveal some of his positions on political hot button issues that could face a U.S. Senate candidate.
". . . You think the people in Washington now are the best people for this country? I'm talking about Senators, Representatives. Are they doing the best job for the people who put them there? That's all I'm asking," Ditka said to Hill. "If you really believe that then I don't belong in politics. I don't believe they're doing the best job for the people who put them there."
Then Ditka made a reference to his position on abortion: "You talk about banning smoking. Okay, why don't we ban abortion? Let's talk about things that are really important. You know you talk about well you think one thing can harm your health, the other one takes a life," he said. "Come on here, you know you're talking to a guy that is ultra-ultra-ultra conservative. So you know people who don't like that, you won't like me one bit. . ."
Of course, it's entirely possible to feel both that the people currently in Washington aren't the right ones for the job AND that Ditka isn't either.
If nothing else, Ditka as a senator has the potential for entertainment, as well as language that would make Cheney's recent "fuck yourself" moment seem positively tame. The FCC would wind up massively fining CSPAN every time a Senatorial debate was shown. (For that matter, the debates on the way to the election, if there are any, would be vastly entertaining all by themselves; Da Coach has never shown particular patience with people who vehemently disagree with him in public.
Posted by iain at July 12, 2004 03:40 PM
