Quick Hits: Volume LXXXIII

- Mitt Romney was defeated in the presidential race more than a year ago. Other than a rare "I told you so" regarding the quagmire that is the Obama administration, Romney has mostly kept to himself and his tight knit family.

But to leftists, the failure of the Romney candidacy is still useful to them. That is, they can use it as a narrative for the Republican party being nothing but a bunch of rich white guys. And hey, more power to 'em. We on the right side of the political aisle know full well that GOP policies do more good for all Americans than do Democrat plans. But we also know full well we have to convey that much more effectively.

With all that said, the left can't rely solely upon policy to show the stark differences between the parties. They lose that fight. So it's back to the ol' playbook of ad hominen attacks, which is bad enough. But it doesn't get any lower than using opponents' family members as props to make their point.

On MSNBC’s Melissa Harris-Perry on Sunday, the panel was discussing several topics of the “of the year” variety. In the below clip, panelists are shown photos ‘of the year” and asked to offer humorous captions. Host Harris-Perry shows a Romney family photo that includes his adopted grandchild, who happens to be black, and this is the reaction:



The panelists start laughing the moment the photo is on the screen, because obviously. Then the first response is Pia Glenn off-camera sing-songing “one of these things is not like the others, one of these things just isn’t the same” and the rest of the panel chuckles along. It’s funny because Romney is white and his grandson isn’t, which is obviously hilarious. Because as everyone knows, the races should not mix.

But it’s even better than just hilarious, it also makes you think! Because, as the final comment from the panel tells us, this pic is a microcosm of the GOP. “It sums up the diversity of the Republican party and the RNC, where they have the whole convention and they find the one black person.” Ah the never tired accusation, borrowed from every single left wing blog and talking head during every gathering of two or more (or fewer) Republicans: He’s not a child adopted by loving parents prepared to provide him with a better life in keeping with the family’s values. Nope. He’s just a token. A punchline, not a person. But it’s funny, because Republicans are racist, see? So it’s all fine!

Rather ironic that these folks on MSNBC would imply tokenism while appearing on the show of the only black host on that network's lineup. Alas, it's difficult to take seriously a talk show hosted by someone who would substitute tampons for earrings or possess the belief that other people's children "belong to whole communities."

But I digress.

To Ms. Harris-Perry's credit, she went well beyond the obligatory "I'm sorry you were offended" non-apology apology.

She may now return to her regularly scheduled irrelevance.


- This past Friday was the final day I would work in 2013. By my calculations, Friday evening at about 10:00 PM through Monday evening/Tuesday morning at 2:15 AM covers about 76 hours. I'm almost embarrassed to admit that I spent nearly a third of that time in front of the TV indulging in the Breaking Bad marathon on AMC.

For the first couple of days it seemed the commercial breaks consisted of those sad, heart-wrenching spots for the ASPCA or UNICEF.

But on Monday afternoon/evening, there were airings for HDIS.com, a website advertising home delivery of products geared towards assisting those with bladder control problems. Seems to me those ads were perfectly placed (and more relevant) given the millions of adults not wanting to move from their respective chairs during a weekend-long TV marathon.


- The Minnesota Vikings fired head coach Leslie Frazier on Monday. No real surprise, though I would have been OK keeping Frazier if it meant scrapping that antiquated Tampa 2 defense, thus saying goodbye to Defensive Coordinator Alan Williams.

The prevailing sentiment on Frazier was that he was "loyal to a fault" which meant his judgement may have been clouded regarding personnel. This Vikings team clearly improved the second half of the season once QB Christian Ponder, middle linebacker Erin Henderson and CB Josh Robinson were no longer regulars. That's not to say the club would have made the postseason had Matt Cassel, Audie Cole and rookie Xavier Rhodes been starters from day one. But one of the main objectives of a head coach is to put in place the personnel that gives you the best chance to win. Though I believe general manager Rick Spielman was behind Ponder receiving more chances than he deserved, the fact of the matter is the Vikings had a league wide reputation of woefully under utilizing the talent on their roster. That's on the coaching staff. The fact the Vikings traded back into the first round of the draft last April (giving them three first round selections in 2013) to select WR/KR Cordarrelle Patterson and yet rarely used his dynamic talent the first half the season is alone a borderline fire-able offense.

I honestly have no prediction who will end up as Vikings coach starting in 2014. Reports surfaced a couple of weeks ago that the organization inquired about Penn St. head coach (and former New England Patriots offensive coordinator) Bill O'Brien. However, O'Brien has a $4-$5 million buyout which would need to be picked up by the team which hires him. Since the Wilf family already has to pay Frazier approximately $2 million not to coach next season, it's unlikely they'd want to invest all that money outside of what they actually have to pay someone to coach the team. Another name considered is Denver Broncos O-coordinator Adam Gase. That one seems obvious given he coaches the offense which featured a QB (Peyton Manning) who set the all-time single season record for touchdown passes and yardage. We'll see.

One thing is certain: the next coach will have to be willing to cede much of the personnel decisions to GM Spielman. That would pretty much eliminate some of the bigger names (i.e. Bill Cowher, Jon Gruden) who may consider coaching next year. And now that Frazier is gone, the organization's hot seat is now occupied by Spielman. If he once again whiffs on the selection of a franchise QB (a la Ponder in the 2011 draft), he likely won't be around when the Taj MaZygi opens in 2016.

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