Shots in the Dark

So yes, Mitt Romney won in New Hampshire, and yes, as I predicted, John Huntsman did better than expected, though not enough to make much of a difference for him, I expect. But I think the real story of this primary is that the GOP’s primary season continues to reflect the tenor of the party over the last decade or so, which is, essentially, nasty and angry. During the Obama presidency, the GOP has been destructive, opposing everything no matter how urgent the crisis. And now, campaigning for the party’s presidential nomination, the GOP’s avatars continue that trend, only they have become self-destructive.

More to the point: Where until recently Republicans generally honored what was known as Ronald Reagan’s 11th Commandment–thou shalt not speak ill of a fellow Republican—every candidate except for Romney have been attacking Romney like Reivers (or Reavers, actually).

And as a result of all that pressure, Romney said some truly stupid things, such as having known the fear that he was about to get a pink slip and how much he likes to be able to fire people—then claiming that he was talking about insurance companies. What a liar.

So Romney won, but he lost a lot in the process. He emerges from New Hampshire the likely nominee, but no one seems to like him much and he provided some fantastic ammunition for the Democrats. Really? At a time of debilitating unemployment you tell the world how much you like to fire people?

He’ll be the nominee. But he looks flustered. All because the tenor and tone of the national party has morphed knee-jerk opposition into fratricide.

And the results are pretty amazing, in this video filmed off the coast of Guadeloupe. The shark/s is/are quite beautiful.

Dressed for Dinner from adam kimmel on Vimeo.

In the Times, Charles Blow lambastes Rick Santorum, who is accusing President Obama of “elitist snobbery” for arguing that every child should go to college.

Blow quotes Santorum as saying of Obama:

Who are you? Who are you to say that every child in America go … I mean the hubris of this president to think that he knows what’s best for you. I … you know there is … I have seven kids. Maybe they’ll all go to college. But, if one of my kids wants to go and be an auto mechanic, good for him. That’s a good-paying job – using your hands and using your mind. This is the kind of, the kind of snobbery that we see from those who think they know how to run our lives. Rise up America. Defend your own freedoms.

Rise up, America, indeed.

Of course, as Blow points out, the president has never actually said that.

But if he hasn’t, perhaps he should: As Catherine Rampbell has been writing on the Times’ Economix blog of late, there’s more and more evidence that college-educated workers are gaining ground in American society, while non-college grads are falling farther behind…

Over the last year, an additional 1,068,000 bachelor’s degree recipients have found work, for example, while the number of employed workers with no more than a high school diploma fell by 551,000.

There is certainly virtue in work that does not require a college degree—I don’t think anyone is saying that. And, sometimes, you can make a decent living from it. But if you want to ensure your kid the best chance of employment, send him or her to college.

More to the point, Santorum is an dolt, so convinced that every attack that can be made against Obama should be made that he’s actually downplaying the virtues of a college education—bad policy and, I think, bad politics.

“Citigroup Replaces JP Morgan as White House Chief of Staff”

—Gawker, now

You don’t even have to read the rest of the story….

In the Wall Street Journal, Jason Gay makes fun of Rex Ryan. Certainly worth reading.

Meanwhile the Giants are facing a tough fight against the Packers this weekend, in Green Bay. Wouldn’t victory be sweet?

“I like to be able to fire people who work for me.”

—Mitt Romney. Who may just be capable of losing this race after all.

I’m deeply sad this morning to hear of the death of Tony Blankley, Newt Gingrich’s former press secretary, of cancer at the age of 62.

You might be surprised to hear this coming from me; I’m not an admirer of Gingrich’s.

But I used to know Tony Blankley quite well. After Gingrich left office, Tony went into the media, and one of the things he did was write a column on conservatism for George. I was Tony’s editor. (This was actually Tony’s start in print media, a fact the Times omits in its obituary.)

Tony was, quite simply, a lovely man. He was sophisticated, thoughtful, passionate, courteous, learned, warm and funny. He was a man of deep conviction, but he also believed that people of differing partisan opinions should be able to listen to and learn from each other. (He was far more temperate than his former boss.) It’s safe to say that, when Tony joined the staff of George in 1997, many of us there weren’t quite sure what to make of him; though we were committed to the idea of being a non-partisan magazine, most of the staff at George didn’t know a lot of Gingrich Republicans and probably didn’t want to. Tony charmed everyone; he loved being a part of the magazine, loved working with young people, believed in the power of civilized words to shape important conversations. He was impossible not to like.

Tony had a smart and beautiful wife, Lynda, whom he was absolutely crazy about, and three children whom he adored and he lived on a farm surrounded by animals; if I remember correctly, the number of dogs in the household ran at or close to double-digits. He loved Gilbert & Sullivan; I still remember the time Tony wanted a column titled in a way that played off the Pirates of Penzance song, “I Am the Very Model of a Modern Major-General,” and how horrified he was when I didn’t catch the reference.

Tony was also a loyal man, something I knew first-hand; in the midst of all the controversy about the book I wrote on John Kennedy, he wrote me a letter of support that gave me an immense lift during a very difficult time. While not denying Newt Gingrich’s faults, Tony was rock-solid loyal to his former boss, a fact I found hard to understand but admired nonetheless. Loyalty is a quality that seems to have faded from our public life, but Tony displayed its virtue.

After his time at George, Tony went on to become editorial page editor at the Washington Times and a regular on the McLaughlin Group. I fell out of touch with him, unfortunately; his life and mine were taking very different paths. But I have always felt that my life was enriched by having known and worked with Tony, that I learned far more from him than he from me, and I’m sure that many, many other people feel the same.

WashPo reports he’s fallen into a tie with John Huntsman for 4th place in New Hampshire, due, in part, to dislike of his opposition to gay marriage. Who’da thought that?

My prediction: Huntsman will do better than expected.

Why do I say this? Because he’s the last candidate who hasn’t enjoyed an unexpected surge in the polls. He’s due!

Here’s yet another reason why the Giants are better than the Jets in every respect: Their captains don’t get in fights with the rest of the team and then sulk on the bench like a little boy.

As the Times reports:

“I could not conceive of chaos breaking out in Eli’s huddle,” [backup quarterback David] Carr said after Giants practice Thursday. “It’s not in the makeup of the team or the leaders we pick. In our locker room, we value people who don’t call attention to themselves. So people find leadership in Eli’s understated manner. It’s real and earned.”

…Asked to describe the Giants’ leadership model, Manning winced. Introspection is not a strong suit either, at least not publicly….

These are the kinds of values that I like in people and football teams and politicians, and I think our society and our planet generally would be better if they acted more like the New York Giants.

Then, conversely, you have the Jets, whose physically unhealthy coach boasts every year of winning the Super Bowl—then doesn’t—and posts semi-pornographic videos of his wife on YouTube. (Which, I’m sorry, is just weird. Whatever you’re into at home, who cares, but…YouTube-ing it?)

As a not-that-great-but-on-the-whole-good man once said, The fish rots at the head…

And as a result, you get behavior like a Jets coach tripping an opposing player running down the sideline, and one of the team captains quits on the team in the middle of their most important game of the season, and the Jets lose, lose, lose!

And not only that, but they do it in a way that diminishes our great country and everyone in it.

If you love your country and hope for a better world, you have no choice but to root for the G-Men against Atlanta tomorrow.

(Sorry.)

Nikki Finke reports on a forthcoming documentary of Jerry Garcia.