Usually, when someone is a room short of an apartment, or a bottle
short of a sixpack, it’s a liberal Democrat. You can always point to
an Allan Grayson, or Al Franken, or even our old, dear friend, Fat
Al Gore, who emerged this week to tell us that the extremely cold
December is the result of global warming. (He then retreated into
one of his 10,000 square foot homes to burn more electricity than
all his neighbors, combined. With his Google stock now sitting at
$600 + per share…Fat Al is sitting pretty…even when Tipper gets
her half.)
But the Dunce of the Week is Tucker Carlson, a young, and usually
fairly bright guy. He saved himself from outright damnation, because
he is no longer wearing that hideous bow tie that was a trademark of
his for years. Tucker was sitting in for O’Reilly or Hannity this
week, and he brought up the subject of Michael Vick, the quarterback
of the Philadelphia Iggles, who did some hard time for killing dogs.
After Vick got out of prison, the owner of the Iggles and the head
coach, decided to give Vick a second chance, after talking to the
former coach of the Indianapolis Colts and their own quarterback,
Donovan McNabb. They signed Vick to a 2 year deal, primarily to be a
backup.
This year the tables turned and Vick ended up being the starter in
Philly and a damn good one, at that. Until Tuesday night, he had a
chance to be the league MVP and this whole story, played for all
it’s worth as a redemptive parable, got under some people’s skin.
Tucker Carlson was one of them. He stated on the air that Vick
should have been executed for killing dogs. I watched the segment
three or four times to make sure that was what he said and that he
wasn’t kidding.
What really unnerved some people was the fact that President Obama
butted in to this story, thanking the owner of the Iggles for giving
Vick a second chance. I think this is what blew Tucker’s fuse,
because I agree that Obama had no business making a public statement
about this, no matter what he thought privately.
Now, I don’t think Vick should have been executed for killing dogs
and I’m a huge animal lover. I have more than a few, living here on
the ranch. What he did was horrid and he should have been punished,
which he was. He got a second chance, which the great majority of
those who go to jail don’t get, and he has made the most of it.
But what he did shouldn’t be buried either, like most sportswriters
are doing. The people in Philly have it about right. When Vick got
the quarterback job, the headline in the Daily News read, “TOP DOG!”
As Pete Rose once said, “People in Philly will boo the Easter
Bunny.” And on Tuesday night, they were booing Michael Vick, as the
Iggles lost to the Vikings.
We don’t execute very many people anymore, which is a good thing,
since we have executed too many people wrongly. The old country
lawyer Gerry Spence once said, “There isn’t a prosecutor anywhere,
on any level, city, county, state, or federal, who won’t lie to
make his case.”
https://www.?awt_l=GnZNU&awt_m=1a2wfOQOiIz2rW
Maybe Tucker was just bomb throwing, trying to get the coverage
evened out. I’m all for that. But this isn’t Iran, where stoning is
still in vogue.
I’ll be back tomorrow with more.
With my best wishes for your optimum health,
Dr. Bill