Huckawhat!?!

On an historic night that saw an unprecedented swing of political jockeying,nothing in the entire world was more shocking, more gutsy, more brilliant than Governor Mike Huckabee. Yes, ladies and gentlemen, Governor Huckabee did something tonight that he had never managed to before in his entire 52 years of existence: he said something cool.

In a race that he never should have been in, touting crazy, wacky! ideas like pursuing Jesus as a possible VP and convincing the late Oral Roberts to raise up from the grave to handle directorial duties at the Office of Homeland Security, Governor Huckabee finally stood up and did the right thing. He quit.

And though it came 6 months later than it should have, he followed his resignation from the race with one of the greatest concession speeches ever. He quoted George Brett:

Well, George Brett was one of the greatest baseball players of all time. And in his career for the Kansas City Royals, he was asked, when he was nearing the end of his career, how he wanted his last play in the major leagues to go. Well, everyone assumed that he would say that he wanted to hit a grand slam in the bottom of the ninth to win a game, perhaps even a World Series. He surprised all of the sportswriters, because what he said was, "I want my last play at bat to be that I hit an easy, just one bounce to the second baseman, and they throw me out at first. But I was running as hard as I could toward the bag when they got me."

And he said, "Because I want it to be said of George Brett that, no matter what, he played his best game, he gave it his best, all the way to the very end." And he certainly did just that.

I have to admit, that is a great story. Governor Huckabee’s use of it says great things about George Brett—who everyone knows was a legendary ballplayer. The quote certainly was the shining star of Huckabee’s political career so far. And like my educated, level-headed contemporaries, I hope it is the last. But let us not be completely blinded by the simple-mindedness of the far right. Let us let them have this great baseball quoting moment, for it is a very rare occasion when the Christian conservative movement resembles anything like humanity…humans…from Earth.

George Brett was a paragon of the baseball working class.  He didn’t have the raw talent of an Alex Rodriguez, the natural snap on a fastball like Nolan Ryan, the pure power of a Babe Ruth. He didn’t have the luxury of being pampered in Boston, New York, L.A.  He didn’t end up on the front page of the New York Post every morning flashing Versace shades and a $500K Rolex. No. He ran out every groundball, chased down every pop-fly foul-ball and knocked the catcher on his tail at home plate.

He was heroic. Mythic. He was an all-too-often overlooked champion of what baseball was meant to be.

Governor Huckabee, it sure sounded cool and I give you mad props for that, but dude, comparing yourself to George Brett is a huge stretch.

In other news, John McCain gave his victory speech in front of a banner with “1191” written on it. For those of you who didn’t understand what the number meant to suggest, “1191” is the year that Senator McCain was born.

And a final note: is there anything cooler than John King’s ginormous touch-screen computer on CNN’s Election Center? I wonder how much one of those thingys costs…

Of course, please don't hate me 'cuz I'm right...

Peace,

Jeffy