I'm John McCain, and I approve this nap

Did you see the video from Huggy Bear's appearance in Panama City, Fla., on Friday? Take a look at this, as he attempts (with Gov. Charlie Crist at his side, notably not whispering correct responses to Huggy as Joe Lieberman once did) to answer a question from the audience about Obama's alleged use of the "race card." (He finally begins to answer it on the third camera angle ...)



Okay, I know it's impolite -- even uncivil -- to suggest that maybe, just maybe, Huggy is too old to be president. In other words, no one wants to "play the age card."

Look, folks, we're not talking here about Strom Thurmond or Robert Byrd in the Senate or Thurgood Marshall (whom I once personally saw fall asleep on the bench) on the Supreme Court. We're talking about president of the United States ... the person with the proverbial finger on the button. This is not a position -- at least not anymore -- where one can hide one's mental shortcomings, despite the fact that Reagan and Drunky McStagger did so with varying degrees of success.

I'm sorry, but I believe the presidency requires a certain mental and, yes, even physical vigor that Huggy just doesn't have. Whether that's because of his advanced age or some other physical condition, I don't know, and besides, it's not relevant -- I am sure there are 72-year-olds with energy and mental sharpness out there, just as there are infirm 47-year-olds (happy 47th birthday, Sen. Obama!). Add Huggy's notoriously short temper to his obvious infirmities and it's a real recipe for disaster. Put simply, Huggy Bear is not fit to be president.

One wonders if, when told he was speaking in Panama City, Huggy thought it would be nice to visit his birthplace again ...

Is the McCain campaign racist?

Well, they say they aren't, but security around Huggy Bear has some 'splainin' to do after an incident the other day in Tallahassee Panama City:

Tallahassee Democrat senior writer Stephen Price on Friday was singled out and asked to leave a media area at the Panama City rally of presidential candidate Sen. John McCain.

Price was among at least three other reporters, and the only black reporter, surrounding McCain's campaign bus — Gov. Charlie Crist and his fiancee, Carole Rome, were already aboard — when a member of the Arizona senator's security detail asked the reporter to identify himself. Price had shown his media credentials to enter the area.

Price showed his employee identification as well as his credentials for the Friday event.

"I explained I was with the state press, but the Secret Service man said that didn't matter and that I would have to go," Price said.

When another reporter asked why Price was being removed, she too was led out of the area. Other state reporters remained.

Okay, the campaign says that "access to the senator is tightly controlled," but what reason would they have to kick Price out (and one reporter who stood up for him) and leave the other reporters unmolested?

Huggy Bear campaign advance man Jonathan Block digs the hole deeper:

Block said the area where Price was standing was restricted to members of the traveling national press corps that accompanies McCain on the campaign trail.

"At the end of the day, your reporter was in the wrong place. I do not know why the other reporters were not moved. The rest of the local press should have been moved as well," Block said.

The campaign advance man said there were many reasons that could have prompted Price being asked to move, depending on how visible his press identification was, whether he had a bag and possibly information about McCain's movement, which could have prompted the security person to move people in one area and not in another.

"It's really like a pressure cooker with security," Block said.

Okay, let's assume for the sake of argument that the removal wasn't racist. According to Price, he had all the appropriate identification, and the security people should have and could have said that he did something potentially threatening, or that the area was restricted to national press.

But, either way, the campaign steps on its dick again. Whether it's racism or just hamhanded security, Huggy's campaign continues to show that it's one of the most unfriendly and incompetent in modern times.

It does raise the question, though: how do you think security for Huggy will be at the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally tomorrow?

UPDATE (5:23 pm 8/4/08): As Jennifer reminds me in comments, the incident took place in Panama City, not Tallahassee. I've corrected that above. I knew that -- but I had Tallahassee on the brain, apparently. Apologies.

In loco parentiis, emphasis on "loco"

Thank Jeebus for the Bay County School Board. Without them, how could we possibly prevent our children from reading *gasp* profanities? And, worse, blasphemy?!

Fortunately, the Board decided to ban a book of historical fiction from its schools rather than expose our dear, chaste, pristine young people to such filth.

Oh, did I say "filth?" Judge for yourself.

A book called "The Fighting Ground" was banned from Bay District Schools' library shelves at Wednesday's School Board meeting after a split vote.

Board members Ginger Littleton and Johnny Brock voted against removing the book, which was written by a man named Avi, an award-winning author of more than a dozen books for young readers. According to the School Board policy, the book ban will be in effect until the official end of the school year. This year, the school year ends June 30.

"The Fighting Ground," published in 1984 and intended for the fourth-grade reading level, is about a 24-hour period in the life of a 13-year-old boy during the Revolutionary War. The boy dreams of fighting in the war and being a hero. Against his father's wishes, he joins a fighting unit. He witnesses soldiers dying and is captured by the enemy. He escapes and returns home, happy to be back on the farm with his father.

Avi is the pen name of Edward Irving Wortis, [who] has won the Newberry Medal, one of the most prestigious honors in children's literature, and two Newberry Honors.

A parent complained about the content of the book after noting several profanities uttered by some soldiers.

When a complaint is received, a committee reviews the issue and give its findings to the media specialist, who presents them to the school principal. If the principal is unable to mediate the complaint, it moves on to the district office, where the superintendent considers the findings and makes a recommendation to the School Board.

"He read two pages," Brenda Toole, supervisor of instructional media for the district, said of the parent who made the complaint. "If you read the whole book, you'll see the importance of the book. It's historical fiction."

Toole said she was a member of the committee that recommended keeping the book in libraries. She said the profanities in the book were "not used in a lewd manner;" they were more an expression of fright by soldiers waiting for replacements to fight off approaching Hessians.

"We haven't had a challenge in five years," Toole said, adding that she was "surprised" by the board's vote to remove the book.

Board member Pat Sabiston said she voted against keeping the book because of a section she read under 8.505 of the School Board policy on "controversial issues."

"Because of the way our policy is currently written, I felt I had to vote on it that way," she said. "I don't like censorship, but I felt I had no choice."

Sabiston referred to the second paragraph of section 8.505 for her reasoning. That paragraph deals with the study of religion or the Bible and relates to course materials. The policy states: "No teacher shall present or permit it to be presented any material which holds up to ridicule any religious sect, belief or faith." Sabiston said she believes the use of the phrase "My God" and a profanity with the word "God" in it puts the book in that category.

Sabiston believes the School Board's policy is not restrictive enough and presented a copy of Bay Haven Charter Academy's library policies for board attorney Franklin Harrison to use in rewriting the board's policy. Sabiston said that under Bay Haven's policy, books considered controversial are kept in a separate area and, if students want to check them out, they must provide written permission from their parent.

Board member Jon McFatter, who said he had not read the book, also found the profanities offensive and voted to have the book removed.

"It's disturbing to me that anyone would be interested in reading a book to a fourth-grader that has language which, in my mind, is the worst of profanity. You can't tell a child that character development is important, then not uphold the principles of good character."

If a child used this language in school, he would be suspended, McFatter said.

I believe Panama City's motto is "Proudly Legislating Morality Since 1909."

What? It's not? Oh, sorry. I guess it just seems that way.

Anyway, under the standard of section 8.505, think of all the things that must be banned from Bay County schools. Jon Stewart's "America" book ... The Satanic Verses ... anything from The Onion ... hell, they can't even let the students read Blast Off!, can they? (Okay, I'll give them a pass on that last one.)

But this is just a symptom of a larger problem. We live in a state, and to a great extent, a nation where the party that controls the government insists that they want less government, but then they want what government there is to take an authoritative role in private matters -- here, in place of the parents. Hypocrisy, thy name is Republican ...