Kobe Bryant, Patriot

In an interview about the honor of representing America at the Olympics with NBC everyman, Chris Collinsworth, Kobe Bryant had this to say:

COLLINSWORTH: Where does the patriotism come from inside of you? Historically, what is it?

BRYANT: Well, you know it’s just our country, we believe [the U.S.A.] is the greatest country in the world. It has given us so many great opportunities, and it’s just a sense of pride that you have; that you say ‘You know what? Our country is the best.’

COLLINSWORTH: Is that a ‘cool’ thing to say, in this day and age? That you love your country, and that you’re fighting for the red, white and blue? It seems sort of like a day gone by.

BRYANT: No, it’s a cool thing for me to say. I feel great about it, and I’m not ashamed to say it. I mean, this is a tremendous honor.

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Quote Of The Day II

Jason Lezak, anchor leg of the U.S. Men's gold medal winning 4x100 relay, on how he was able to pull off the improbable win over the French in the final leg:

When I flipped at the 50 and saw how far ahead he was ... I thought for a split second, 'there's no way.' And then I changed and I said, 'this is ridiculous, it's the Olympics and I'm here for the United States of America.'

To the French swimmer, who said he would "smash the Americans:" think, before you speak.

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Bob Costas Interviews President Bush

We don't care what anyone says, it'll be a sad day when George W. Bush is no longer President of the United States. He's so like-able and trustworthy. And such a good guy. Think you won't miss him? Ask Britons how they feel about Gordon Brown and if they miss Tony Blair. We suspect the same thing will happen in the U.S. if Barack Obama is elected.

While watching the Olympics tonight, we caught Bob Costas' interview with President Bush. Their interview was wide ranging but we were particularly impressed with the discussion of China and it's human rights/liberty issues.

Transcript here

Costas noted that China remains an authoritarian state despite what you maybe believe as a result of all the positive press surrounding the Olympics. Good on Costas for pointing this out when everyone else seems to forget.

President Bush, a man whose religious sincerity has sometimes been questioned by the haters, pointed out that increased religious liberty is a positive and important step in creating a more free and open society. As he said, 'once religion takes hold, it doesn't leave.'

Religious liberty is often overlooked in broader discussions of human rights. President Bush has made it a priority to push for religious freedom in all his interactions with oppressive regimes. This is something for which he should be given more credit.

It may be that as China continues market liberalization, while resisting the broader freedoms that normally come as a result, that religious liberty will be the catalyst to bringing about deeper democratic reform.

As President Bush noted, it's important for America to stay engaged with China--on every level--and continue to encourage reform at every opportunity.

We already included these links as part of the "Editors' Picks" over at Newsbusters.org, but we don't want anyone to miss out on reading them. W/o further ado, Jay Nordlinger's series on China & the Olympics:

Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
Part 4
Part 5


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Fine Time For A Vacation

The grand dame of conservative politics, Peggy Noonan wrote about the almost imperceptible shift in the Presidential race yesterday. She wrote that for the first time in the election, it looks like John McCain just might maybe have a shot.

She's not alone in thinking so.

The trend & projection lines at fivethirtyeight.com seem to agree with her.

It doesn't help that Democrat leaders in Congress and Obama* are on the wrong side of the drill-here-now question. This really looks like a winner for Republicans in November. At the least it staunches the bloodletting everyone has predicted for the last 2+ years.

The Democrat brand has been taking hits. First, the news that wasn't new--John Edwards' affair. Then, Detroit Mayor, Kwame Kilpatrick (D) was arrested, again. We hate to bring up Eliot Spitzer, but, well, there he is too.

If Spitzer were still around, he likely would have had a prominent part to play in the DNC later this month. We know for certain John Edwards would have after his endorsement of Barack Obama when Hillary was still in it.

And speaking of Hillary, there are rumblings about how much of a symbolic show she wants to make of her run at the convention. After endorsing Obama, Hillary wasn't treated super well and that didn't sit well with Bill.

Imagine how this could play out at the convention. Former President Clinton speaks one night and we all know how good he is at the convention speaking thing. Then his wife, once-time-would-be President Clinton speaks the next night. Obama is good. But he and his speech writers are going to have to come with something extraespecially good for his speech to close things out.

Watch the trend lines and opinion polls. It's not unlikely that we get to the convention, listen to Bill and Hillary, and have mass nostalgia among the Democrat conventioneers.

All of this is to say that it is probably not the best time for Obama to join Congressional Democrats on vacation. Sure, Americans have said that they're on Obama-overload. But to whom, exactly, is he going to cede political airtime?

Oh yeah, the Olympics. Thank goodness for the Olympics.


*Guitar Hero: Over-the-top performance, no real skill or experience.


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(Late) Sunday Night Links

These are the stories we've been reading this weekend.

- From the Daily Press, the unintended consequences--black market goodies--of public schools' crackdown on high calorie snacks. Libertarians & econ enthusiasts like us will love this one. (hat tip: Matt Lybbert)

- The Guardian reports on an female Iraqi sprinter who will compete in the Olympics this summer. Our feel-good story of the week, this definitely wouldn't have happened when Saddam was chairman of the Iraqi Olympic Committee.

- Before the Supreme Court is a very interesting case regarding the criminal trials in Iraq of men holding dual citizenship (US/Iraqi & US/Jordanian). Spiker, what say you?

- Writing in the LA Times, former Ambassador to the UN, and a man for whom we hold a great deal of respect, John Bolton, addresses Taiwan's complicated position. We know very little about this area of the world--what we learned in our Chinese history course at BYU and what we've read since then. Hopefully resident China/Taiwan expert, Dallas Stahle, will weigh in.

- Last, but never least, the only columnist we read every week no matter what (okay, we pretty much always read Daniel Henninger, too)--Mark Steyn. This guy is great. Smart, clever, and insightful. We're sure our liberal friends wish they had someone like him.

This week Steyn analyzes the state of Hillary's campaign. Writes Steyn,

The other day I gave a talk and a Democrat in the audience demanded that I disassociate myself from the sleazy attacks of some Republicans who’ve been referring to “Barack Hussein Obama.” I said I’d be happy to disassociate myself from (Clinton supporter) Bob Kerrey who’s been floating the whole nudge-nudge-Hussein-the-secret-Muslim thing, and to disassociate myself from (Clinton supporter) Bill Shaheen who’s been pushing the Obama-spent-most-of-the-Seventies-selling-cocaine rumors, and to disassociate myself from (Clinton supporter) Andrew Young who’s boasted that Bill Clinton has slept with more black women than Obama. And golly, after I’d got through disassociating myself from all the Democrat sleaze about Obama, I had no time to peddle any sleaze of my own.

Pretty much sums up how we feel.

*UPDATE 31 March 2008 4:38pm MST: Check out Ryan Decker's review of WFB and one of his recent books.


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