Who Cares Where Mrs. Huckabee Stayed in Vegas?
February 21, 2008
Unbelievable. Carla Marinucci, one of the San Francisco Chronicle’s political writers, just spit out 1,235 words about where Janet Huckabee stayed during a weekend visit to Las Vegas. Huckabee went to watch a middleweight prize fight featuring Arkansas native - and long time friend - Jermain Taylor. Since she is conservative and a Christian, Marinucci felt it necessary to point out that Huckabee stayed at the Hooters Hotel Casino; certainly not where the wife of a former Baptist preacher and presidential candidate should be staying.
What happens in Vegas doesn’t always stay in Vegas - especially if you’re the wife of a presidential candidate. Just ask Janet Huckabee, who attended a middleweight prize fight this past weekend in Las Vegas - where she stayed at the Hooters Casino Hotel.
That eye-opening combination - a title bout in Sin City, which celebrates gambling, drinking and all things wild, along with a hospitality chain favoring buxom waitresses in low-cut garb - could potentially shock the armies of evangelical conservative Christians who have made her husband, the former governor of Arkansas, the only remaining GOP opponent to party front-runner John McCain.
Guess it must be a slow news day. On top of that, Marinucci couldn’t even remember that there’s another GOP candidate still in the race. Remember Ron Paul? Heck, isn’t Alan Keys still in the race?
The article goes on to mention that spouses of candidates have become celebrities and everyone is watching what they do, say and where they do it. This is really out-of-control.
In a highly charged 2008 presidential campaign, some political observers say Janet Huckabee’s news-making extracurricular activities are just the latest in a string of events that dramatize, as GOP strategist Karen Hanretty puts it, that “the larger story line in this campaign is candidate’s spouses as celebrities - whether it’s Jerri Thompson, Elizabeth Edwards, Cindy McCain or Michelle Obama.”
News-making? You’re kidding right? This isn’t a news-making activity, you’re making the news Carla.
If you’re wondering who won the fight, you’ll have to read down to the last hundred or so words…
Huckabee’s effort to cheer Taylor apparently didn’t bring him much luck this time around; the boxer lost the weekend fight by unanimous decision.
Good News Always Seems to be ‘Unexpected’
January 2, 2008
I think I may start a new category for unexpected good news. The economy, consumer spending, how well a president gets along with another head of state…
Just today, Bloomberg.com has a new one; Construction Spending in the U.S. Unexpectedly Rose. Read the entire article for the bad news that seems to overcome the good news. My emphasis added below.
Jan. 2 (Bloomberg) — Spending on U.S. construction projects unexpectedly rose in November as work on schools, power plants and factories helped overcome cutbacks in homebuilding.
The 0.1 percent increase followed a 0.4 percent drop the prior month that was smaller than previously reported, the Commerce Department said today in Washington.
The report showed private homebuilding fell by the most in more than five years, a sign the glut of unsold properties will delay a housing recovery until at least mid-2008. Commercial and government projects showed gains that help ease concern that economic growth stalled last quarter, economists said.
So now I wonder if bad news is ever reported as unexpected in the mainstream media?
