Their Just Deserts

They spent their years content to keep key constituents dumb.

It is their nightmare right now because of that.

They spent their years lying their gums off just so they could easily become part of the corrupt elite.

It is their nightmare right now because of that.

They spent all their time selling out their race for their own personal game, facilitating in the spread of agendas that have placed the country in the mess we're in while they live lavishly away in their dishonesty.

It is their nightmare right now because of that

And now, Alex Castellanos, Leslie Sanchez, Danny Diaz, and all those Hispanic TV strategists that have helped carry the Sad Obnoxious Party's water are getting what they deserve right now.

In the midst of the SOP's racism in full ugly display since Tuesday's Sotomayor hoopla, those three Hispanic strategists are no where to be found.

Last night, I thought about this:

Hispanic GOP members are having one hell filled week with how some in their party haven't said nice things about their race.

And look what Mr. Sargent reports today in his Weekend Open Thread:

Sam Stein reports that Hispanic GOP strategists are stunned and outraged by the conservative attacks on Sotomayor

It's like a bad guy who realizes he doesn't need his lackey anymore, content to have him be damage goods or a sacrificial lamb. That's the feeling I already felt, and that was before I read Stein's article

Top-ranking Republican strategists who specialize in Hispanic outreach say they are outraged, disturbed and concerned by the type of reception Barack Obama's pick for the Supreme Court has received from conservative activists.

The rhetoric has been enough to make Republican strategists in heavily Latino states cringe -- concerned that such slights could cement Democrats advantages among a growing and increasingly influential political constituency.

"Of course this disturbs me," said Lionel Sosa, one of the more influential Hispanic media advisers in the GOP. "I'm not surprised at Rush Limbaugh but I'm very surprised at Speaker Gingrich because he is one of the key people who knows the importance of the Latino vote to the Republican Party. He must realize how his rhetoric, if it does influence any Hispanics, how damaging it could be. This [confirmation] is something that is going to happen anyway. For a senator to have strong opposition to her, they are either not aware of the impact Latinos will have on the next election or they don't care.

Real translation for Mr.Sosa: We are screwed! We currently have nowhere to go right now! And they know why they don't have anywhere to go. Because they sold out their souls, choosing the decline fighting for what's right and instead thinking solely about themselves by doing whatever they can to abet the S.O.P's marketing misinformation, spin, and egregious lies.

Now it's all coming back to bite them harder than Bush's feisty little dog did that reporter last year. "La Raza is KKK", "that "brown chick lady", "she's only there because of affirmative action." All of these things and more have caused so much infliction for them this week. All of them thanks to their bosses, the ones who orders they followed in order to neglect their people and leave them gasping for air.

This sudden disparaging treatment by their party begs the important still asked question: "Why does any minority in this country, particularly Black, Hispanic, and Asian be a Republican or line themselves up in conservative means?"

Because it gets to a point where they are abused toys that a kid no longer wants (analogous to the evil villain-lackey). That's why I have no sympathy for Colin Powell and how he was unceremoniously dismissed the moment he left the Cheney Administration, the moment he choose to endorse Obama, and the moments he is spending to claim back a good Republican name right now. Because he went right along and had no problems, NONE WHATSOEVER, with the party throughout the years. And he especially wasn't concerned with finding the good rational side when the shenanigans of 2000 went on, wasn't he?

It is their nightmare right now because of that.

That is what Michele Steele is feeling right now (at least i hope for his soul that he is feeling just that, or he is really more lost than he currently is), and that was before his power to spend his party's money was relinquished. Alan Keyes, strategists like Ron Christie and Joe Watkins, world class Uncle Tom's like Larry Elder and Juan Williams, etcetera, etcetera, etcetera.

Look, some of them may truly believe in conservative philosophy, in Republican values, and may not see themselves as going with the party that tried to deny their races rights at least four decades ago. That, despite being horribly misguided, is their business.

But you can just tell that some of them aren't with the S.O.P because of their trepidation for "big government" or "liberalism" leading us to being Commies or something along those lines. Instead, they are there as true Benedict Arnolds to their community, to their backgrounds, to their own skin color. And it is truly unfortunate.

Castellanos, Sanchez, Diaz, those crazy ass Diaz-Lambart brothers, and every other SOP Hispanic are feeling scorned, forgotten, and officially unloved from their own party members. And that goes to all the other minorities as well. It is their nightmare right now because of that.

They all are getting what they deserve right now. I shed no tears for them, and hopefully, neither should you.

180 Degrees

The contrast was already immense.

One black, one white. One tall, one short.

One that went to Harvard for graduate school on his own merits, while the other attended Yale arguably not based on his own accomplishments.

One was leaving town for good. The other, preparing for a job only felt by 43 men, including the one he was replacing. And if you have enough time on your own hands, the lists of differences probably expand to the number of people in the District of Columbia in the last week.

But there was one defining moment yesterday that could be cited as a main source of how these two men are so far apart.

When George W. Bush, the 43rd President with disapproval ratings ranging from the 65 to 80%, took the walk down Capitol Hill for the final time, he wasn’t greeted to sparse claps or even the notorious awkward silence.

He was besmirched with boos.

Boos so bad that you had Chris Matthews on MSNBC say, “Don’t do this, bad form, bad form here.” Boos so bad that you had Rachel Maddow, never one to feel sorry for the man who was the centerpiece of her “Lame duck watch” in his final days of office, cautiously say, “That is not what I expected.” Boos so bad that they just weren’t even boos, because they transformed into a song that plenty of sports fans are familiar with.

“Nah nah nah nah, nah nah nah nah, hey hey hey, goodbye.”

It was so brutal for Bush that the band had to start playing in order to drown out the boos. But it was way too late. The damage was done, the image already embedded into our heads.

Ask yourself this: Can you ever remember any outgoing President getting booed in his final minutes of office, on the day of his successor’s inauguration? If you couldn’t, then you won’t have to struggle with that question anymore, because an experience has been given. For on a day of happiness and unity unlike any other in Washington D.C. (and this country) has ever seen, it also had to produce a historical paradigm of disgust and disapproval like never before.

It is what the country as a majority feels about Bush and Dick Cheney, the latter rolled out in a wheel chair after pulling a muscle in his back moving out. That a decent percentage of the crowd showed their dissent in such a way, on such a day, fully exhibits the current feelings on the ongoing Administration being the obverse of the incoming one.

They couldn’t give a damn about decorum.

I shed no tears for this cabinet that has left town, and for all the damage that has been done not only to this nation, but on the detainees at Guantanamo Bay, the murdered in Iraq, and even despite a much ballyhooed spending spree on AIDS in Africa, a refusal to even send condoms over towards the continent based on that spending consisting of abstinence only program.

That amalgamation of narrow mindedness and hawkish behavior deserves to at least get booed, let alone possibly even something more embarrassing and defecating.

However, it was a stunning thing to witness, right before the more prominent moments of the day took place. Aretha Franklin singing, Rich Warren giving an uninspiring invocation (especially compared to Joe Lowery’s wonderful benediction), the swearing in slips up thanks to John Roberts, and Barack Obama officially becoming the 44th President, the first African-American to hold the coveted office.

Two million cheered in unison, whether they could see him or not. For some, it was their first “New Year’s” in eight years. A role reversal of emotions in a span of 60 minutes for two different men.
And before Bush and his wife got on his helicopter to take the journey back to Texas, they and the Obamas gave each other final hugs. Who knows if those hugs were really genuine or heartfelt? Only those four individuals do.

But on this ultimate day of transition, even with their final embrace, these two men stood totally astray from one another.

180 degrees away, on two direct alternate universes. Where one leaves with boos and song chants like he has just lost in the game of “Public approval” forever, while the other starts his intense journey with a large portion of the nation, of all races and religious, fully behind him.

Utter Rubbish

It is offensive to the word "bad" to describe the 2008 installment of the Detroit Lions as, well, "bad."

For see, bad is not terrible. Bad is not atrocious. Bad is not "Thee worst." (And I was very much inclined to add more than two "E's" there, because it needs to be as emphasized as possible.)

Bad is the year that the Cincinnati Bengals had. Bad is the play of the St.Louis Rams all season. Bad is what the Seattle Seahawks had to endure (and "brutal" is the word for the whole sports year in the Seattle sports fan had to live in).

Bad is 6-10, 5-11, 4-12. Very bad is 3-13, 2-14, 1-15.

But "bad" or even "brutal" would not be sufficient enough to describe what was witnessed this year from the performances of the Detroit Lions. In their 75th year of existence, they performed lower than all expansions teams, then all bad teams, then even the all time losing teams of losing teams.

"Bad", "Brutal", and even "Losers" just aren't the words to label this inept amalgamation of freight.

"Utter rubbish" is what they are. "Utter rubbish" is what 0-16 is.

I could hear Dennis Green say this now:"They are not what we thought they were. And they were never let off the hook."

For the Lions though, they never even got on the hook.

In this ultimate age of parody in the National Football League, you would never expect that this could happen anymore after it transpired with Tampa Bay in 1985. The league has too many competitors, and has too many prideful individuals to have even one team go winless. That just can't happen.

But damn those "what should be's" in both life and sports, for that is why the games are played and the lives are lived. The humiliation either will happen or not, and in this rare, shocking case, it surly did happen.

From Getty Images(These bailout signs were common as the forgettable season came to a close)

Bless Ron Marinelli soul, because he may never coach again ever. Not in the NFL, not in the CFL, not even in High School All-American games. Because he tried hard to get his team that one feeling of happiness. that one feeling of relief not present at all throughout any course of the season. That relief of the misery of loss after loss after 13 more losses looked realistic.

They battled back to tie the score with Green Bay 14-14 going into the fourth quarter. It seemed that, for one day, in the last day of the season, the last chance to just be " very bad", that they would be gladly accept "very bad." How being tied heading into the final 15 minutes of the year at 0-15 was the high point of the ever changing nadirs surrounding the 2008 Lions is truly unbelievable. And it is further indicative of how memorable their futility will forever be.

Just about as baffling is how a rookie third round running back somehow became the leader of this team , as if this unit could even have leaders on its roster. And if it does have leaders, I guess having a rookie be one represents the overall makeup for those to see. (Unless it's Matt Ryan, and just to double check. Nope, it isn't).

Kevin Smith, who earlier in the week rightfully dismissed his thousand yard season as meaningless compared to the full spectrum of his first year, really tried hard to avoid 0-16 too. Bless his soul.

"This offseason won't be much hanging out for me," he said. "I'm gonna work to be the best back in the NFL and hopefully get my team on the path to the Super Bowl. We're 0-16. We made history. My eye's on the Super Bowl next."

Fitting that Smith said this,dedicating himself to being apart of a total 180 reversal for this team. Because he did one of the dumbest things ever in the history of the league. Smith decided it was in his best interest to taunt on the field in the 4th quarter. A player, on an 0-15 team, with a chance to go 0-16, taunting?

That's more idiotic than not wanting to kiss your spouse after you said, "I do."

And what do you know? That taunting led to a penalty being called on him, hurting the chances of a miracle win. On the next play, the very next play, Dan Orlovsky (blessed his soul too, because he tried as hard as he could, he really did) threw an interception to Nick Collins to basically bring out columns such as this one trying to comprehend the collage of terrible an 0-16 team can actually produce.

"It was a very bad, selfish decision," Smith said. "I let my emotions get the best of me. It was tough, but it is no excuse."

But even if it was no excuse, I guess it is the norm for a team that is "utter rubbish." I guess it is common for a team to allow not only two 100 yard rushing performances, but two 100 yard receiving performances in a single game. I guess it is the staple for a team to embarrasses its prideful and blue collar city more than its disgrace of a former mayor or its out of touch, moronic car company CEO's.

Photo from the Associated Press (One of the lone bright spots can't send any light on the darkest of seasons)

So egregious are the Lions, that their season had to be taken into political context. 1-15 teams can't even do that.

All of the bailout signs from those fans trying to find any solace in this, need I say more?

Sadly, I have to, because the disbelief of how "utterly rubbish" they are will be in the minds of all of us for a long time. If you find it shocking that there would be any leaders on this team, then the question of who the MVP is for this bunch is even scarier.

The Lions fans getting that nod? With those bailout signs and even associating themselves with this organization after what has transpired, they should be unanimous choices. But the fans don't even deserve that (though refunds is another matter). Sadly, giving the kicker this award is fitting.

That kicker, 17 year veteran Jason Hanson, please bless his soul. And then bless it some more, because he really really did try to avoid 0-16. His case is better than anyone elses.

In his 22 field goal attempts this year, he only missed one. He was 8 for 8 from over 50 yards. And for that, he is the standout performer of the 2008 Detroit Lions. He couldn't have picked a more awful time to have an All Pro like year.

"It's a bummer because I've put together one of my best years ever, but it gets lost in the season. And I understand why," Hanson said.

Then it really hit, the fact that they were more than bad, more than "very bad."

"It's surreal to be 0-16 with guys you care about; guys that I've seen work hard," he said. "I've seen years past where we've had better records and we've been way worse, but who cares? Nobody cares. All of us have our names on this."

Jason Hanson, the veteran place kicker of the 2008 Detroit Lions, the only man on this team who was nearly flawless this year , performed better than Smith, Orlovsky, Marinelli, and everyone else associated with the Detroit Lions did.

But when you are the best on a winless team, only your close ones will try and not lump you with the fact your accomplishments really mean nothing. And even they, deep inside, may feel the same.

Because there's nothing good at the end of the day for an 0-16 team. And there's nothing even bad about an 0-16 team.

For "bad" would be a massive understatement for how pitiful the 2008 Detroit Lions were this year. For only this pitiful 0-16 team can be labeled as "utter rubbish."

Photo from Getty Images (Thankfully, they won't be seen until next year)