"He instinctively can find the shining greatness of our American culture and does a good job of highlighting it (although he also does have those rare lapses when he writes about hockey, but that is something caused by impurities in the Eastern waters or something)." Erik Keilholtz
Under the patronage of St. Tammany
Mark C. N. Sullivan is an editor at a Massachusetts university. He is married and the father of three children. Email
In your face, Yanks: The Sox have some fight left in them yet, and as Dan Shaughnessy writes, their campaign has been given a boost.
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To judge from last night's first pitch, John Kerry needs to strengthen his right wing. Sox owner John Henry was on a local sports radio show this morning and was asked about Kerry's bouncing toss: Henry said Kerry told him he had been practicing for the throw, but eased off because the National Guard vet behind the plate appeared nervous. In other words, it was the catcher.
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The Dems plan to showcase their talent on the opening night of the convention tonight with remarks by Jimmy Carter, Hillary and Bill Clinton and Al Gore. Word is the Republicans planned to follow suit at the opening of their upcoming convention, but Warren Harding, Calvin Coolidge and Richard Nixon were unavailable.
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A Sunday Globepiece on delegates descending on the Hub introduces in the fifth paragraph an activist from Maine:
"I've never been involved with politics, but I've just had it, so in February I threw myself out of the house and went to the caucuses," said Carla Bryson, 57, a Verizon service representative from Portland, Maine, who campaigned hard for her delegate seat. "I put out a flier -- I took the money out of my retirement savings and did a mailing -- and I said why being a delegate was so important to me."
Well, that's nice, though you'd think a detail that later surfaces in paragraph 22 about the plucky Verizon service representative-political neophyte from Down East might have been noted at the outset – that she's Al Franken's sister-in-law. She also takes a rather cavalier attitude toward the threat terrorism poses to the national security.
"I'm not really worried about terrorism -- I could have a car accident, you know," said Bryson, the Maine delegate, who is the sister-in-law of Al Franken, the former "Saturday Night Live" cast member who now hosts a liberal talk show on Air America Radio. "The pickets are more of a concern. If they picket the hotel, where am I going to stay?"
Ladies and gentlemen, your Democratic Party…
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The WSJ on the Anybody But Bush Democrats * Interesting piece by Michael Barone on Massachusetts' political tradition * John Fund writes on political bloggers * An urban planner considers the New Boston, home to, among other things, a gleaming new $800-million convention center that isn't being used for the Democratic convention.
Putting aside two of Massachusetts' favorite pursuits, politics and sports, for a moment: A Happy Anniversary to the Holy Whapping: Andrew Cusack offers a tribute.
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