Even ESPN takes potshots

You know, Bush doesn't have a lot of friends by any stretch. But when columnists at ESPN take completely random, apropos-of-nothing potshots at you, you've really hit some new lows. Check this out:

Stalin Memoir Shocker: "I Always Opposed That Gulag Idea": When he had a book to sell in 2004, former George W. Bush anti-terrorism advisor Richard Clarke sought publicity by declaring he always had been opposed to the invasion of Iraq. Now that he has a book to sell, former CIA director George Tenet is seeking publicity by declaring there was no case for invading Iraq. Oh -- so the two of you knew it all along, you just forgot to say so! Government officials have freedom of speech -- no one would have stopped Clarke or Tenet from speaking up when their views might have mattered. When silence advanced their careers, they said nothing. Only when they had something to sell did they suddenly loosen their tongues.

Folks, this appears between Detroit and Green Bay in an ESPN.com column grading NFL team's draft-day performances. This isn't some Bush-hatin' commie blog. It's just sports. And it comes from out of nowhere. Seriously, go read it. If you're not interested in football or draft, just skim along, and you'll see how much this stands out from everything else.

But this isn't all!! No, after getting back to sports and getting all the way down to the Oakland Raiders, our friendly sports writer suddenly decides to go on and on about Barack Obama and the idiocy of Fox News focusing on his middle name. Check this out:

The parking-ticket story was absurd, yet there has been serious discussion about the fact that Obama's middle name is Hussein. This is a weird coincidence -- but strictly a coincidence, so why does anyone care? His father, who died in 1982, was Barack Hussein Obama; the Illinois senator simply carries his father's name. Obama was given the middle name long before "Hussein" had any political connotation. And as with all birth names, Obama was not consulted in the matter! Suppose somebody named Willard becomes a dictator somewhere, would we hold this against Mitt Romney? (Willard is his real first name.) That cable news fixated on Obama's middle name is an indicator of the incredible superficiality of contemporary politics. As was talk radio fixation on the four years Obama lived as a child in Indonesia, since he wasn't consulted about that either. Anyway, Obama spent most of his childhood in -- do you have any idea? -- Honolulu. Strangely, Fox News has not suggested there is a sinister Hawaii connection in his candidacy.

There's a lot more here, some of it kinda funny. Honestly, go skim through the sports stuff and read it. What is going on here?

I read ESPN.com almost obsessively. Bill Simmons, the Sports Guy, is like a writing god to me, and mostly because of his stream-of-consciousness style and willingness to occasionally get political (he's on my side, w00t!). ESPN has its fair share of progressives, and you see them mention politics from time to time, but it's usually in the form of a metaphor (i.e. 'Oakland's front office is run so badly you almost want to see if George W. Bush replaced Al Davis'. Not a real quote, but a reasonable facsimile). Today's quotes were really, totally, completely out of place and unexpected. And quite telling.

The first segment was so jarring and so strongly worded, I enjoyed it thinking that the author had written it for their personal political blog and 'accidentally' snuck it into their ESPN post. But the Obama bit is long, and it's clear this is just part of the landscape. The impressive thing: it's really good. I mean, not just opinions I agree with, but actual good political writing. From a sports columnist.

The mouth-breathers have lost; they have no more safe havens. You can't even read about the NFL without finding reminders that the modern GOP is among the most devastatingly failed political parties in our country's history.