(l-r : Mr. November, Senator I’m Not George Bush, eagerly awaiting an 11th hour audience with Sports By Brooks)
“Only a very few sports blogs have been covering the Presidential election in a way that clearly declares their position,” declares Sports On My Mind‘s MODI, suggesting that just like a daily newspaper, a sports blog oughta weigh in. “A typical week for Deadspin will net more than two million page views. After Al Gore lost the 2000 Florida election (technically speaking) by 537 votes, silence can™t possibly be golden.” Hey, don’t think I haven’t tried to find a way to blame the W. presidency on Deadspin’s former editor.
Deadspin is in fertile territory to potentially influence the political process as any perusal of its comment section will find no shortage of œblithering idiots. Or is Deadspin a 40 Million-Page-View-Slave?
And what about that other big-but-not-as-big blog The Big Lead? TBL is a self-described œIndependent that likes to slip in an important political links when nobody is looking. It might be an SNL video on Palin or this really scary video at the Vegas McCain rally. So here is a very modest proposal to Jason McIntyre: a) Grab your balls; b) come out of your Obama closet; and c) don™t disclaim, preface, or apologize because your article might have some educational significance. If Obama can have great faith in œthe American people, then you can go out on a limb with your readers. Instead of merely linking to Colin Powell™s endorsement as you did (and it was a fine endorsement), why not lay out your systematic reasons for your Obama vote. Go ahead. Just do it. ¦or do Republicans click web sites too?
While I don’t know if any sports blogger is obliged to formally endorse a candidate, I have no objection to someone doing so. At the same time, I don’t entirely agree with MODI that a failure to do so is entirely based on cynicism — some of the most frequently visited sites in the blogosphere feature decidedly dogmatic political content. In many instances, the political blogs rank far ahead of their sporting neighbors when it comes to ad revenue. While TBL could run the risk of alienating some portion of the readership with overtly political content, there’s no shortage of short-fused characters from all over the political spectrum who have axes to grind. Their traffic counts, too!
Though I acknowledge there’s much at stake in the general election, a proper endorsement of Sen. Obama from this corner feels a little too much like grandstanding. Endorsing the front runner a week before the election isn’t exactly going out on a limb. And given that I’ve already voted for Obama in both the primary and in early voting for the national ballot, it did occur to me there’s something far more useful that I can do, an effort likely to have a much greater impact than a mere thumbs-up from a poorly read sports blog.
That’s right. Voter fraud. Any schmuck can vote for Barack Obama once. But it takes a truly committed schmuck to visit a succession of battleground states on Nov. 4 and through a variety of means (stolen ID’s, disguises, chloroform), vote for the Illinois Democrat as many times as possible. And don’t think I’m above supressing the vote, either. Whether it’s a matter of spreading a little “siting around money” through a country club or locking hundreds of people in a gymnasium who think they’re attending a free Lee Greenwood concert, I am prepared to do whatever it takes, even if it means pissing all over the electoral process. Rig the election? YES WE I CAN.
Thank you, and God Bless America.