Author: boom booms room staff

America’s Favorite Pastime

Posted on by boom booms room staff

Welp!  That didn’t take long.

About 3 days into the delayed launch of the 2020 Major League Baseball season, a game or two and counting have been postponed.  Usually, its 27 degrees and snowing in Chicago in early April and we hear the annual whine about starting too early in Spring or scheduling season-opening series in the northern climes.

This time four then seven more players and two coaches and counting on the Miami Marlins went from negative to positive on COVID-19 testing from when Friday’s opener v. Philadelphia concluded Sunday.  And just like that, a positive late start to the shortened season became a negative.  Is anyone surprised?

Miami’s home opener scheduled for last evening with Baltimore was a no go.  MLB also said yesterday “that out of an abundance of caution, the Yankees game versus Philadelphia was postponed.”  No Phillies have yet tested positive.

So the league that often looks like its own worst enemy faced a decision about the enemy that wears #19 on its invisible uniform.  And the league took one for the team.

There are win-win situations from time to time. This isn’t one of them.

There are no-win situations from time to time.  Perhaps this is one of them.

But, MLB and the other leagues that are champing at the bit to roll out a ball, are at a crossroad.  It’s the same one that all of America and the world for that matter faces.  Is anyone surprised?

What to do, what to do?  Like bunting a guy to second you could play it safe.  Or, you could swing for the fences.

Individuals don’t have to play.  Individuals don’t have to go into work.  But when teams crank up or businesses reopen individuals feel the need to go.  Whether it’s pride, work ethic, financial need, or job security the need to do so outweighs any want to do otherwise.

Wear a mask, stay six feet apart, try to stay in the open air, etc, etc. You’ve heard it all before.

It works, doesn’t it?  The problem remains- we don’t really know.  But we do know that the survival rate is now over 99%.

The fine line between herd immunity and herd stupidity is as blurred as the first base chalk line in an extra-inning game.

There once were metal cleats, doubleheaders, brushbacks, brawls, and home plate collisions.  They were good until it was decided that they were bad.

How bad does bad have to get for the league to take its bat bag and go home?  Or, is it past time for America’s Favorite Pastime to play through pain?

The other leagues and America are watching.

Play ball!  For now.

Ten Piece Nuggets- Sports (sort of)

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Pro sports are slowly returning.  Did you notice?  Did you watch any over the weekend?  Unfortunately, the “great escape” that watching the games has provided, it doesn’t do so any longer.  Intertwined are political statements and COVID-19 rules and precautions.  Such is 2020, but hopefully not much beyond.  We’ve got some nuggets on all of this below.

  1.  Major League Baseball threw out the first pitch late last week and played hardball all weekend.  The Miami Marlins beat the Philadelphia Phillies in Philly yesterday to open the season 2-1.  Instead of flying home last night, the team plane remained grounded in Philly as four Marlins tested positive for “you know what.”  Jose Urena, Miami’s starting pitcher was one of them.  Updated: The Marlins positive tests now number 14 players and tonight’s home opener is canceled.
  2. The NFL is playing its own version of hardball. Its final player protocol, expected to be released as early as today, has some harsh realities built-in.  Players were told on a conference call with NFLPA leadership that they could face discipline, including fines, for conduct detrimental to the team if they are found to have contracted COVID-19 through reckless activity away from the facility.   All of the details are here.
  3.  We assume the NFL would not be happy if one of its players decided to act like NBA LA Clipper’s player Lou Williams. The NBA has placed him in 10-day quarantine after the guard was investigated by the league for what he did while on an excused absence from the Orlando, Florida, campus.  Williams was photographed by the rapper Jack Harlow at an Atlanta strip club. Harlow quickly deleted the post from his Instagram story and tweeted Friday, “That was an old pic of me and Lou. I was just reminiscing cuz I miss him.”  There is but one small problem with that story-in the photograph, Williams is holding a drink and wearing an NBA mask given out on the Orlando NBA bubble campus.
  4. Williams admitted that he went to the Magic City strip club in Atlanta for a short time on Thursday, but said that there were no entertainers present while he was there.  Sure.   Don’t you go to a race track when no horses are running?  He records the first double-double of the NBA season before it even starts.  The only thing worse than a lie is a bad coverup.
  5. The WNBA swung into action as well.  Like MLB they are playing their games sans fans.  Of course, the WNBA always plays their games without any fans, don’t they?  The Seattle Storm tipped off the 2020 WNBA season in Bradenton, Fla. with an 87-71 win over the New York Liberty.  Before the opener, both teams walked off of the court and “respectfully,” per the press release, stayed in their locker rooms during the playing of the National Anthem.  Respectfully, we wonder how a league significantly subsidized by the NBA, and with no fans in the stands, exists.  If a tree falls in the forest, well, nevermind.
  6. Mike Ditka shared his thoughts on all of this kneeling and/or protesting around pro sports and the flag and the national anthem.  Iron Mike said, “If you can’t respect our National Anthem, get the hell out of our country.”  If Ditka were still relevant on the NFL scene as a coach or commentator he’d likely be fired for that statement in today’s cancel culture.  Free speech is quite costly these days, but we digress.
  7. Charles Barkley, a big-time BBR favorite, shared a thought on who should vote for whom in the upcoming fall elections.  “Poor people have been voting for Democrats for 50 years and they are still poor,” Chuckster lamented.   Like Ditka, Barkley likes to keep things simple and to the point.
  8. Swinging back to baseball, surely by now you’ve seen Dr. Anthony Fauci throwing (we use that word very loosely) out the first pitch Friday at the Washington Nationals game?  Arizona Congressman Andy Biggs got in the best of the digs.  He tweeted, “Fauci’s first pitch came closer to the plate than any of his COVID-19 predictions.”
  9. And surely you’ve heard that the NFL team formerly known as the Redskins will, for now, be called the Washington Football Team.  Some on Twitter suggested “Washington Team Football,” or WTF for short.  Kids these days.
  10.  Remember the guy that was going to be MLB’s first bigtime two-way player since Babe Ruth?  He was so good that he would bat on days that he wasn’t pitching, and pitch on days that he wasn’t batting.  That was 2018 sensation Shohei Ohtani of the Los Angeles Angels.  In his first 2020 start, after 20 months on the shelf repairing an ulnar collateral ligament, Ohtani lasted 20 minutes and did not record a single out.  He did give up four singles while walking three batters though. Not to worry, it’s a long season.  Wait, no it’s not.

If you get an extra three minutes today, be sure to catch those Storm v. Liberty highlights.

If a tree……..

 

And the Winner Is?

Posted on by boom booms room staff

We have interesting developments to share as the “peaceful” protesters continue defacing buildings, looting, committing bodily assaults, and toppling statues.  President Trump has sent in the “federal police.”  Except that isn’t the development of interest.

The Democrat mayors of 15 cities across the United States have signed a letter asking Attorney General William Barr and Acting Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security Chad Wolf to remove or not send federal law enforcement officers to their municipalities, calling the deployments an “abuse of power.”  Except that isn’t the interesting development either.  For now, the deployment is limited to the most unruly of all-Portland.

In the countdown of most interesting, the action of Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot finishes a strong third.  “I’m calling on all Chicagoans that if you see something that doesn’t look right, please, don’t hesitate to report it,” Lightfoot said during a press conference. “We are going to remain diligent.”

Finally, she is urging residents to take action to take back their beloved city from its year’s long violent crime wave.  Isn’t she?  Nope.  She continued,  “if we see any steps out of line, particularly with DHS or Border Patrol, we are not going to hesitate to take the president to court and stop any unconstitutional actions.”  Let the crime wave roll all the way to Waveland Ave.

Portland Mayor Ted Wheeler joined a violent demonstration in his city Wednesday night at which “protesters” threw flaming bags of garbage at a federal courthouse.  He also was jeered by the crowd before being tear-gassed by federal officers.  How woke is Wheeler?  In one day’s time he marched with the offenders and got mocked by them.  Then he got gassed by the federal officers he had signed a letter against earlier in the day.  His wokeness finished a close second.

But the hands-down winner is Hiden Joe Biden’s hot take.  Wednesday during a remote union town hall meeting, the Democratic presidential nominee and former Vice President called President Trump the country’s “first” racist president.  This should save the few statues that still stand that have George Washington or Thomas Jefferson atop the pedestal.  It seems like just days ago we were told they were racist.

All of the peaceful protesters are now free to go back home to mama’s basement, but we digress.

Long live Mt. Rushmore too?

 

The Golden Rulers

Posted on by boom booms room staff

What do Ghislaine Maxwell and Tucker Carlson have in common?  On so many levels they have nothing in common.

Maxwell is the disgraced, and now arrested and held without bail, former girlfriend of the now-deceased Jeffery Epstein.  She procured many of the underage girls that pedophile Epstein used to his personal advantage or used to gain an advantage over some very noteworthy global figures.

Carlson is a revered conservative voice and stars nightly in the prestigious 9 PM EST slot for Fox News.  His show is the most-watched cable news broadcast every night, and has become must-see TV for the righteous right.  Carlson’s TV work is darn near the level of Rush Limbaugh’s radio work.

But on one very important level they have something in common.  And, it’s a simple one.  They both now have great fear for their personal safety.  And, that fear emanates from the same source.  Some very powerful people want them gone.

Maxwell sits in a cell and hopes to be able to tell her side when her day in court comes.  She very much believes that Epstein’s death in a similar NY jail was no accident.   She brought 99% of this upon herself.  You swim with the sharks, you get eaten.  When you have the “goods” on the Royal Family of England, on the royal want to be William Jefferson Clinton family, and who knows who else, you’ve got a target on your orange prison uniform.  The sooner they silence her, the better.

Carlson was going about his business of calling out every injustice he sees in this rapidly evolving US political landscape.  He very much believes that the New York Times was very soon going to publish a story about a whole lot of nothing that would have included the physical address of his family’s place of residence. He brought none of this upon himself if you still believe in free speech.  But, if you deliver the “goods” nightly to the opposition of the opposition’s Movement, you’ve got a target on your fine silk suit, crisp white straight collar shirt, and woven repp tie.  The sooner they silence him, the better.

For Maxwell the problem is that they don’t want to get exposed for being exposed.   For Carlson the problem is that they don’t want him exposing their ulterior motives.

And, this is where we are in America today.  It’s the golden rule.  He who has the gold ultimately makes the real rules.

The rich and the powerful play in their own sandbox.  Maybe they always have.

It just feels like America is extra dirty right now.  You know how that sand can get caught up in all of those untoward places.  It could use a bar of soap and a warm shower.

And, soon.

 

Ten Piece Nuggets-Life as We Know It

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Our summer of discontent rolls along as the year 2020 continues to disappoint.  We’ve got some nuggets to get you through the start of the workweek.

  1.  Redskins owner Daniel Snyder is a little red in the face.  A few days after announcing that the Redskins nickname and logo were gone, he announced that three of his close inner circle coworkers were as well.  A third party investigation confirmed 15 claims of sexual harassment within.  Snyder wasn’t directly implicated, but his leadership, or lack thereof, was.
  2.  In his statement, Snyder condemned that behavior, and said he wants to set “a new culture and standard for our team.”  Snyder has owned the team for 21 years.  All claims occurred under his reign.  Sometimes it just takes time.  Would he have relented on the Skins name if he didn’t know ahead of time that he was going to get taken to task for this mess as well?  Better to keep the team and say mea culpa than to stand on heretofore principle, eh?
  3.  Speaking of people who had heretofore principle,  Drew Brees thought it wise to tweet out his concerns for the NFL’s lack of concern for the players this coming season.  He’s worried that the league isn’t doing enough to combat/minimize/eliminate that pesky virus that you can’t see that hits you like a blindside linebacker.  Sounds like more Brownie points with his teammates to us.  Perhaps tomorrow he’ll tweet out how unjust the virus is to those facing systemic racism.  Oh, say can you see (see what we did there?) Brees kneeling for the first game’s national anthem?  His two WWII grandfather vets would be so proud of his leadership recently.
  4. A local Arizona TV station scored a rare TV interview with Joe Biden.  News anchor Mark Curtis said, “Arizona is very much in play in 2020, so we appreciate you taking some time and talk to the people of our state.”  “Oh, you’re an important city.  You guys are going through hell right now, are ya?” Biden responded.  Like Phoenix, Biden has risen from the ashes.  Well, sorta.
  5. Speaking of TV, CNN reported “breaking news” yesterday.  Eighty-five infants under the age of 12 months have tested positive in one Texas county they tweeted.  The Nueces County health examiner took to the podium after hysteria broke out and clarified that these have been recorded cumulatively since mid-March.  One is too many, but is 85 too many?  No context was given relative to any other county or age group.  No infants died directly due to the virus, though one died of as of yet undetermined causes.
  6.  Down in Florida, an incredible story is developing.  Nearly 150,000 new cases of COVID-19 have been reported.  The change in the number of hospitalizations or ICU beds needed is negligible.  Are the elderly staying inside?  Is the medicine used in combinations improving outcomes?  Is it a somehow weaker strain?  Maybe CNN can enlighten us on what should be a real story of great interest.
  7.  The peaceful protesters in Seattle decided to spray paint and break the front windows of a downtown Amazon Go storefront yesterday.  Amazon put the “Black Lives Matter” statement front and center on its web page and contributed over $10 million to the cause weeks back.  For the Antifa militants and the other rioters that apparently wasn’t enough.  Is it ever?
  8. Police in Seattle were nowhere to be found as this went down.  Are they ever when it comes to this?  Wait until they get defunded.  Would three out of ten rioters even be able to tell you why they targeted Amazon?  Could it be that over 1,000 police departments across the U.S. have partnerships with Ring, the smart doorbell security owned by Amazon? Additionally, human rights groups have called for the ban of Amazon’s facial recognition technology, Rekogntion, which they argue poses a threat to immigrants and religious minorities.   Why identify criminals in this woke world?
  9. Kamala Harris is the likely VP candidate and running mate for Joe Biden, don’t you think?  Biden has delayed the announcement twice.  He didn’t delay while she recovered from plastic surgery, did he?  Botox?  She got her money’s worth on the high and tight part.  We aren’t judging.
  10. Or did he delay due to warring factions within the party?  A group of “progressives” representing a large proportion of delegates won by Sen. Bernie Sanders in California has signed a letter to Biden urging that he pick a running mate from a shortlist of candidates that does not include local Sen. Kamala Harris (D-CA).  She has long had trouble consolidating support from the left because of her record as a prosecutor in San Francisco and California.  Like Amazon, she should not identify nor punish criminals in this woke world.

If the NCAA announces a postponement or cancellation of the upcoming fall season this week, you should pray for one BBR staff member.

 

 

 

It Ain’t Over Till It’s Over.

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It’s over!

A Quinnipiac Poll released Wednesday showed Joe Biden leading President Trump nationally by double-digits, widening his lead over the last month.

The former vice president leads Trump 52 percent to 37 percent.  That’s up from the eight-point lead he saw in the June 18 poll.

And, it gets worse for Trump when you look at the underlying responses.  Biden even overtook Trump according to respondents as best to handle the economy 50-45%.  And, that’s the best of the worst.  For handling a crisis it’s Biden 57-38.  For COVID-19 it’s 59-35.

And, the worst of the worst is when it comes to addressing racial inequality.  Biden gets the nod by a whopping 62-30.  Of course, he does.  Trump is a racist.  Everyone has been telling us that for four years and counting.

But, is it over?  Is the poll as accurate as the August Quinnipiac 2016 poll that showed Clinton dominating Trump by double-digits as well?  Trump hopes so.

“We are starting to hear the faint rumblings of a Hillary Clinton landslide as her 10-point lead is further proof that Donald Trump is in a downward spiral as the clock ticks,” Quinnipiac University Polling Analyst Tim Malloy said at the time.

Malloy still has a job with Quinnipiac.

Yesterday he said that the survey provided a “very unpleasant real-time look at what the future could be for President Trump.  There is no upside, no silver lining, no encouraging trend hidden somewhere in this survey for the president.”

If you take a deeper dive it turns out that Quinnipiac surveyed 1,273 self-identified registered voters across the country.  Republicans only made up 24 percent of the respondents.  Democrats were 34%.

He pondered in the late summer of 2016, “wow, is there any light at the end of this dark and depressing chapter in American politics?”  Given where we are in 2020, he at least was prescient on that one.

It’s Biden’s election to lose.  We heard the same about Hillary.  There are conventions (maybe virtual), debates(maybe very bad for Biden), stump speeches (where Biden always stumps himself), and the sheer rigor (Biden would be older entering the presidency than any other predecessor when they left it) of conventional state to state campaigning left.

Singer, not pollster, Lenny Kravitz might have it right.  It Ain’t Over Till It’s Over.

Pollster, not singer, Tim Malloy might have it wrong.

Again.

 

Boycotts Don’t Amount to a Hill of Beans.

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Tomatoe, Tomato.  Potatoe, Potata.  Boycott, Buycott.

Saturday Raul Reyes, a member of the USA Today board of contributors (whatever that means), wrote an op-ed piece for CNN Business.  It began with “Adios Goya!”  Why?  Surely you have heard by now.  Goya Foods CEO Robert Unanue praised President Trump at a White House ceremony on Thursday afternoon. Speaking at a Rose Garden event, Unanue said, “We’re all truly blessed, at the same time, to have a leader like President Trump who is a builder.”

And the left roared.  Social media’s daily outrage turned its short attention span to a can of refried beans.  Hashtags like #Goyaway and #BoycottGoya started trending faster than Speedy Gonzalez can say “undelay!”

And the right went to the store and bought enough cans of Goya garbanzo beans to spread hummus from sea to shining sea.  Buycott.

In the emotion of the moment, a boycott and a buycott are such an “I’ll show you!”  But, even in the era of the new normal, we go back to the old normal.  If you bought Goya products before you likely will buy plenty more.  If you never heard of them you’ll likely stare at your emotional purchase of canned black beans sitting in your panty till the expiration date nears.  Hopefully, the local food drive knocks on the front door before then.

Don’t believe us?  Do you remember 2012?  Way back then Chick-fil-A President Dan Cathy made comments expressing his opposition to gay marriage.

And the left roared. Boston Mayor Thomas Menino wrote a letter to Cathy urging him to back out of plans to open a restaurant in the city.  Then, according to the Boston Herald, he warned, “if they need licenses in the city, it will be very difficult — unless they open up their policies.”

Meanwhile, Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel said that he would work to stop any attempt by Chick-fil-A to expand in the city.

“Chick-fil-A’s values are not Chicago values. They’re not respectful of our residents, our neighbors, and our family members. And if you’re gonna be part of the Chicago community, you should reflect Chicago values.”  He could barely be heard above the constant staccato of gunfire emanating from the respectful south side neighbors, but we digress.

And the right lined up around the building to eat overpriced chicken and waffled fries.

How is Chick-fil-A doing today?  In spite of stepping in the political chicken, um, waste, again and again, it’s doing quite well.  In fact, its location count is 2363 and counting.  If you still don’t believe us, go wait in an ever-present double drive-thru line for some.

How will Goya do?  The largest Spanish owned company in the U.S. will likely continue to do quite well.

Right now it’s in some hot sauce.

But, by tomorrow The Movement will have moved on.  In cancel culture you are always looking for the next outrageous moment.

Salsa Verde anyone?

You Can’t Handle the Truth!

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Sources tell BBR that the Washington Redskins will officially announce today that they are dropping their 87-year-old nickname.  While no new nickname will be announced, gone is the name “Redskins.”  We have a few questions about this decision.

Did you know that Washington’s logo of an American Indian chief had been designed by a Native American in 1971?  He was probably called an Indian in 1971, but we digress.  Do you think the Native American designer found the name “Redskins” offensive back then?  Probably not since he designed the logo to promote the team.

Did you know that owner Daniel Snyder was strong headed in his desire to keep the name until very recently?  Snyder had, for years, resisted any consideration to change the name.  He told USA Today in 2013 to “put it in all caps” that he would never make such a move. Some who have worked for Snyder said they believed he would rather sell the team than have a new name.

Does that make him a racist?  Probably.  Or, probably not.  We guess his crime didn’t rise to the level of Donald Silver’s offense as the owner of the LA Clippers a few years back.   Oops!  The NBA doesn’t call its owners “owners” anymore.   Plus Snyder is obviously getting to a more kind and sensitive way of thinking just 21 years after purchasing the team, that as of today, will be formerly known as the Redskins.  Or, is he bowing to the pressure created by others?

Amazon said it would stop selling Redskins merchandise. Then, Walmart and Target followed the online leader. And, according to The Washington Post, FedEx said it would remove its signage from the stadium unless the name was changed for the 2021 season.  Did the almighty greenbacks help decide the Redskins fate, forcing the pale-faced (is that offensive?) owner to change?  Someone once said, “follow the money.”

Wouldn’t it be a turnabout if the team would not allow the sale of the new logoed merchandise to one of these retail juggernauts?  You show me, and I’ll show you. That won’t happen.  “Follow the money,” someone said more than once.

Does the NFL change the name of the team on all of its historical records to the new name?  Will they “retire” all of the old footage of the football team?  Will Joe Theisman and John Riggins vaporize?

Doug Williams was the first black quarterback to win a Super Bowl.  Who did he play for?  The Redskins.  It would be a shame if that Super Bowl film was never seen again don’t you say? If there was a statue of him outside of FedEx Field in his Redskins uniform should it be torn down?  Tough call.

Did Colonel Nathan R. Jessup order the code red?  “You’re got damn right I did!” he shouted when prodded in the movie A Few Good Men.

“You can’t handle the truth,” he exclaimed.  He might be right.

 

 

 

Go On, Take the Money and Run.

Posted on by boom booms room staff

Schools out for summer.  Schools out forever.  So sang Alice Cooper.

We always got the summer part.  We never understood the forever part.

Perhaps, now we do.  During these (are you ready?) new normal, COVID-19 pandemic, #aparttogether, together apart, times are changing.  Unprecedented is the time we are told repeatedly.

And with it, our sacred fall NCAA football season is in peril.

It’s one thing for the Ivy League to cancel its fall sports season.  No one watches them anyway.  How about paying a full year’s tuition to Harvard for virtual classes and no sporting life?  If they keep this up pretty soon they won’t have anyone falsifying records and puffing up resumes to get into that dump, but we digress.

But it’s quite another thing when the Big 10 announced yesterday that at best they will only play an in-conference schedule of football games this fall.  Gone amongst other matchups are Oregon and THE Ohio St. U, and Notre Dame v. Wisconsin at Lambeau Field.

Isn’t the appropriate question “why?”  Why drop non-conference games?   The smart money yesterday told us it was about player safety and schedule flexibility.  We think that the smart money forgot to tell us that it’s about money as well.  Isn’t it always?

The argument for safety is that the Big 10 (and when others like the Big 12 and the PAC 12 schedule similarly) can insure across the conference protocols for regular testing and appropriate quarantining while out of conference teams may not have the same.  We can’t have this virus spreading you may have heard.

The argument for flexibility is that you can start the season earlier, later, or provide off weeks within as medical needs warrant.  If you’re only going to have 10 games you’ve found two more weeks within the season plus already scheduled off weeks to rearrange all of it as needed.

Ah, but the argument for money is very real as well.   If you’re going down to ten games, you play bigger opponents every week.  More gate if there is a gate and more TV money follows.  If you’re Michigan St. do you keep Ball St. on the schedule and not pick up a game against Nebraska?  Duh.  Plus you can collect insurance for the canceled Ball St. game.

So, the bottom line is that the Power 5 conferences will find a path, if there is one, to maximize the money.  It’s refreshing that they think his way when the malcontents run around wanting socialism and guerilla gardens in its place, but we digress.

But what about the non Power 5 teams like Ball St.?  Apparently, the answer to the question is the question, “what about them?”  Their guaranteed pay of a million or more to get waxed by the big boys is gone.  If their fans cannot attend their games most all of their revenue is gone too.

Then the question becomes, “are their sports programs gone?”

If they have no football they have no revenue to support the other programs.  If no football, no women’s lacrosse.  For the little guys, is football out for fall?  Is football out, as they currently know it, forever?

Go on, take the money and run.  So sang The Steve Miller Band.

Two Wrongs Don’t Make a Right.

Posted on by boom booms room staff

Two wrongs don’t make a right.

CNN’s Don Lemon called for former President Barrack Obama’s chiseled likeness to be added to Mount Rushmore last evening.  “I think, listen … if they are going to put someone on Mount Rushmore, considering the history of the country, the first black president should be front and center,”  he reasoned.

The anchor that he was handing off to, Chris Cuomo added,  “Add to Mount Rushmore. I think that’s first of all, it’s a more salable idea than the idea of taking away Founding Fathers.”

The exchange continued.   Lemon said, “So what’s wrong with all of us together thinking or reshaping our country so that more people rethink our country in the way we think and where priorities are so the country it belongs to everyone.”

Cuomo said, “Nothing is wrong with it.”

Except everything about the premise is wrong with it.  If statues of Washington, Jefferson, and Lincoln don’t deserve to be in town squares anymore, they why should they be on Mt. Rushmore?  If you can find a statue of Roosevelt let us know.  If Barrack Obama deserves to be on Mt Rushmore, start carving out the stone.

The conversations should be 100% independent of one another.

America strives for greatness.  America demands greatness.  America applauds greatness.  America builds libraries, museums, monuments, statues, and mountainside likenesses to honor distinguished men and women who helped America achieve its status as the envy (regardless of what some might want you to believe) of the world.  You might have heard that it is the “land of the free and the home of the brave.”

America got to where it is with little compromise. Why start now?

It’s easy to be average.  It’s hard to be excellent.

It’s great that America has now had a black president.  He was voted in as qualified by its citizens to lead us.   Soon enough it will likely have it’s first female president as well.  She will need to be deemed qualified to lead us as well.   May there be a day when these occurrences are commonplace.

But having a certain skin color or being a certain gender doesn’t make you great.  And being the first this or that doesn’t make you great either.  It just gets you noticed more than others.  Accomplishments and leadership of all of its people do.

So, did the four presidents accomplish enough for our country, in spite of any shortcomings, flaws, or mistakes along the way, to deserve to be forever admired in stone?  America said yes then.  Does it still say yes now?

Did Obama do the same?  America will, or will not, mull that over for years to come.

But don’t keep one(or four) up as a negotiation ploy to get another.

Can’t you just see Ronald Reagan shaking his head, coiffed hair and all?