By Jonathan Miller, on Wed Apr 13, 2011 at 12:00 PM ET
I’m a passionate professional golf fan…about 4-5 weekends a year. I half-pay attention to the ups and downs of the PGA schedule during the season when SportsCenter’s on, but I’m glued to the screen only those Saturdays and Sundays when a “Major Tournament” is being played — the Masters, U.S. Open, British Open, and the PGA champtionship — or every other year when the Ryder Cup stirs up my latent gingoism.
C'mon...You cried too, didn't you?
For the past decade, I’ve been a proud, card-carrying member of Team Lefty. Phil “Lefty” Mickelson was known for many years as The Best Golfer in the World Never to Win a Major; and then having shooed the Majors’ Monkey off his back at the 2004 Masters, transformed into The Best Golfer in the World Not Named Tiger Woods. As the son of a cancer victim, my heart broke in 2009 when his mother and his wife, Amy, were diagnosed with breast cancer, and I literally cried when he grabbed Amy for a long embrace after capturing the 2010 Masters.
And what a contrast it was to Lefty’s nemesis, who was going through…OK, if I need to explain Tiger Woods’ annus horribilis to you, then you need to watch television at least once in a while.
But as the 2011 season started to get into gear, I found myself rooting for Tiger, and yes, feeling sorry for a guy whose net worth exceeds many developing nations, and whose reputation for legendary narcissism preceded the recent scandal by many years.
Last Sunday, when he put together an incredible string of birdies during the first nine holes of the Masters’ final round, I was yelling at the screen doing my part to help urge his ball to fall into the hole. And I was disappointed when ultimately he fell just a few strokes short of the championship.
I guess I’m victim of the human instinct to root for the underdog. But, just as this web site’s focus is on the second acts of recovering politicians, I think the love of a good redemption story is built into our DNA.
I’m interested in hearing from you — Tiger fans and Tiger haters: What did Sunday’s round mean to you? Can someone redeem himself through athletic accomplishment? Or does Tiger even need redemption: Is it our business in the first place to judge Tiger for his actions?
By Jonathan Miller, on Tue Apr 12, 2011 at 5:00 PM ET
We will lead off hump day with the introduction of our fifth recovering politician. He was a young, rising U.S. Congressman, who tried and failed to make the leap to the Governor’s office in his home state. He now is a widely respected practicing attorney.
Rather than follow the pattern of previous contributing RPs, this former official will share with you a new book that has inspired and entertained him. And if you enjoy historical fiction, you’ll love the book as well.
The race is officially on. Less than 26 years before the filing deadline, we now have two slates running for Governor in 2037. You may have caught the RP’s announcement earlier today that he was running with 17-year-old John Y. Brown, IV as his running mate. Now read contributing RP John Y. Brown, III‘s statement in response:
Although we were hoping to keep our plans under wraps until 2036, it looks like [The RP] and Johnny have smoked out Emily’s ([The RP’s] daughter Emily, that is) and my plan to launch our campaign for Gov and Lt Gov (I’m running as #2….given I’ll be 74). We, too, were confused about the election calendar and were hoping to run in 2037-so that actually works out well and, given it’s not an official election year will likely discourage other tickets from running that year. I suspected Johnny’s issue of furloughed school days will play well with the younger set….although Emily and I view it as pandering to the youth vote. We will counter that platform with something that involves deficit reduction and job creation and tie it to something that is pro-puppies (Emily thinks this is important and I suspect puppies will poll well in 2037). Game on!
Thoughts? Do you have a favorite ticket? Other ideas for candidates? Did you read Brown’s column about political addiction yesterday and are jonesing to jump in the race yourself?
Please use the comment section below to make any statements, announcements, etc.:
By Jonathan Miller, on Tue Apr 12, 2011 at 12:30 PM ET
This past weekend, the RP showed up as a guest on “Kentucky Newsmakers,” the long running talk show hosted by living legend Bill Bryant. The RP waxed nostalgically about his career in politics and shared his vision for The Recovering Politician.
Inadvertently, he also made some news when Bryant asked him about his political future: The RP announced his bid for Governor in 2037, with running mate, John Y. Brown, IV, the 17-year-old son of contributing RP John Y. Brown, III. Watch the interview below (The RP’s stunning announcement comes about 12 minutes in):
While Bryant accurately noted in the interview that 2037 is not an election year, the RP neglected to respond that his ticket’s top policy goal is to amend the state constituion to hold a gubernatorial election in 2037.
Plank 3, devised by Lt. Governor candidate Brown, is to implement voluntary furloughs, up to 30 days, for high school students: Brown explained, “In these tough economic times, it is important for all of us to share some of the sacrifice.”
Stay tuned to RPTV for all of the latest news on the 2037 campaign…
By Jonathan Miller, on Mon Apr 11, 2011 at 5:00 PM ET
Tomorrow morning, at 8:30 AM, RPTV presents 15 Minutes of Fame with an A-list movie star.
Like the RP, she is a Kentucky native and huge Wildcat basketball fan, a Harvard graduate, an environmental activist, and married to an international beauty. (Mrs. RP was born in Canada.)
Unlike the RP, she is an internationally renowned, award-winning star of stage and screen; she’s an author of a moving new book on her global humanitarian work; and she gets really, really good seats to UK basketball games.
Need another hint? Her name rhymes with Bashley Fudd.
The RP also will share some stunning news about his political future.
By Jonathan Miller, on Mon Apr 11, 2011 at 9:30 AM ET
While the Internet has provided some extraordinary new vehicles for the modern campaign to share its message, a particularly abhorrent one has emerged over the past several months: The Online Petition.
In what appears to be a nakedly transparent method to collect email addresses and/or to raise small-dollar campaign contributions, our email boxes have been filled since the last election cycle with hundreds of banal, completely ineffective, poorly-considered online petitions seeking our virtual signature. I was recently solicited (by a politician/friend, mind you) to “sign” a petition in support of a college basketball team’s efforts to win a ball game. They lost, natch.
So, I am taking the next logical step, and exercising my First Amendment rights — by distributing a online petition, urging politicians to cease and desist in this odious online petition practice.
We, the undersigned, are sick and tired of politicians who send out campaign-related petitions, as a guise to raise money and/or collect email addresses from fellow travellers. We urge you to stop this abhorrent practice, which undermines the constitutionally-protected right of Americans to petition for their real grievances. Such as a better voting system on American Idol. Or to ban mom jeans. Or to allow struggling recovering politicians to build traffic for their new Web site.
By Jonathan Miller, on Sun Apr 10, 2011 at 3:41 AM ET
For those of you who were introduced to this web site by Al Cross’ column this morning (if not, we’ve linked it here), welcome to The Recovering Politician!
By Jonathan Miller, on Fri Apr 8, 2011 at 5:00 PM ET
Thanks to all of our readers for making our first full week such a big success.
Next week, the site gets even bigger and better.
Of course, we will be debuting three new recovering politicians as regular contributors to the site.
Late in the week, two Congressmen who shot for higher office and lost will share their plans for the future exclusively with RP readers.
And starting off first thing on Monday morning, you will be able to enjoy the satiric stylings of one of the funniest people ever to hold statewide office: The third generation of a state political dynasty will share with you — tongue firmly planted in cheek — his method of recovery, and offer you an 18-question test to see if you too might be genetically predisposed to become someday a recovering politician. A must read.
Finally, an A-list movie star will be gracing RPTV to discuss her new book on Tuesday. You can’t miss that.
So enjoy your weekend, and rest up for a busy week ahead at The Recovering Politician.
By Jonathan Miller, on Fri Apr 8, 2011 at 12:30 PM ET
Four days before the 1988 presidential general election, featuring a matchup between then-Vice President George H.W. Bush and Massachusetts Governor Mike Dukakis, I was asked to appear on the cable television program that helped usher in the age of political broadcast incivility: CNN’s Crossfire. At the ripe age of 21, I was serving as Executive Director of College Democrats of America, and I was poised to debate my counterpart at College Republicans, as well as the ultra-formidable Pat Buchanan.
I really didn’t know the Duke’s policy positions that intimately — I had worked for Al Gore in the primaries — so I pulled an all-nighter reading white papers. In addition to being exhausted, I was sick to my stomach: extremely nervous because I WAS GOING ON FRICKIN’ NATIONAL TV TO DEBATE PAT BUCHANAN!!!
So, green in more ways that one, equipped with an all-purpose Watergate one-liner to parry Pat, and sporting my regrettable 80’s era hairdo (Does Justin Bieber owe me a commission?), I had my 10 minutes in the bright lights. Enjoy:
By Jonathan Miller, on Thu Apr 7, 2011 at 5:00 PM ET
Tomorrow at 8:30 AM, we debut our third recovering politician. Since you are probably tired of guys by now, we will introduce our first woman: a vibrant, dynamic former leader of one of the country’s largest and fastest growing urban centers.
And since we’ve given you a Democrat and Republican already, our newest RP is a Founding Leader of No Labels — a new movement that is dedicated to the proposition that we all must put aside our labels on occasion to work for the common good. Check out the No Labels web site today, and sign up if you support the group’s mission.
And yes, we’ll be launching another new feature: RPTV Friday Flashbacks — videos of our recovering politicians when they were young, naive, and very green. Tomorrow’s victim of embarrassment? Why yours truly, of course.
