The end of Mark Madden? UPDATED: He's FIRED!

Too often, politics (and you could easily substitute sports/entertainment/any sort of celebrity) happens in a vacuum.

I'd love to hear Madden or Savage have a conversation with the folks in my wife's office. It's their job to be partisan; fighting for conservative principles is, essentially, the core of their job. Yet to a person, they were shaken up when the news of Kennedy broke. My wife was deeply saddened and really worried about the guy from Kennedy's office that she works with virtually every day.

She told me the story of how he called his wife with the news and broke down crying. How he called his mom back in Michigan and broke down crying again. The guy's spent most of his working life under the same person - a person who would always be there with congratulations at the good events in life and an encouraging word when things weren't so happy.

I'm saddened Madden or Savage or any other the goofballs on both sides would come to a point in their life where their life was so bereft the only joy was bashing another. Or maybe I'm saddened that their true selves are revealed, their scruples are worthless and they'll say anything just to get attention. Or maybe I'm saddened that politics - particularly, one flavor of politics - is so important to them, they'll stop at nothing to denigrate those who don't agree with a certain viewpoint. I'm not sure which it is.

Or maybe I'm just generally saddened at the loss of any sort of personal responsibility, which covers an awful lot of ground - this being a square foot or two.

I can't say I'm sorry Madden got fired.

 

Scary misconceptions about the First Amendment in that response thread. I weep, again, for civics education in this country.

 

Does anyone know if Madden showed up at the Penguins game tonight?

 

http://www.sounddogs.com/previews/28/mp3/282396_SOUNDDOGS_Bu.mp3

 

FWIW, Savage's defense was that you don't stop talking about all the bad somebody has done just because something bad has happened to him, that there's something disingenuous about talking about Ted Kennedy like he's a saint after all the damage he's done to the country.
Then there was the usual obligitory "If this happened to a Republican, you know the liberal media would keep on ripping him."

 

Savage is a bigger blowhard than Madden but he has a point -- that if you are a famous person, the sins of your past are somehow painted over and forgotten if you die tragically or get a disease.

Obviously calling for a man to be assassinated is stupid and crosses the line, but a better example to me is Jimmy Valvano -- who cheated his way to a national title then brought a program down when he was caught -- he was no different than Tark or any of these other so called "maverick" coaches that are always villified by the media.

Yet he gets cancer -- tragic no doubt -- and all of the sudden becomes slobbered over as if he had lived one of the greatest lives ever and is someone we should all emulate.

To me that is wrong -- if you were an asshole and a cheat when you were healthy and alive, you are still an asshole and a cheat when you get sick or after you die.

 

I never once said that you should wish bad things go even worse, in fact if you read my last post I said Madden clearly crossed the line with his Kennedy remark.

What I said was this need to push sainthood on every person that gets sick or dies tragically -- as if the life they actually lived gets erased magically is ridiculous.

In other words, Rush Limbaugh and Savage and Hannity shouldn't be rooting for Bill Clinton to get sick or say he deserves cancer -- but if Slick Willy gets cancer, why in the world would it all of the sudden be out of bounds for the aforementioned three to continue to point out what a lying, cheating SOB the guy is?

 

Time does seem to make people forget certain things.

You should never wish bad things on a person, but Ted will have to answer for Chappaquiddick someday (if you believe those things happen when you pass on).

Ronald Reagan is a good example. He did not leave office the most popular person in America, but when he passed away, he was looked upon as a great man. So was Gerald Ford when he recently died.

I will be fascinated to see the future reaction when W leaves us. Hopefully I will be able to see it. Not in a bad spirited way, but just to see how a President who is so unpopular will be remembered in death.

 

Reagan was fairly well regarded when he left office. Some dents, like Iran-Contra, but all in all, folks were fairly pleased with his eight years. Thinks were certainly improved for the country overall in comparison to when he came into office.

Can't say the same for W. And Nixon is pretty much regarded in death with all the scars and wounds he bore for his actions. My guess is the same will follow W.

 

Chappaquiddick is always fair game -- especially given the way Teddy was huddled
up with the crack spin squad for twelve hours, before he faced the music.

But the day after the diagnosis is not the day to bring that up.

 

Wasn't Nixon's opening up of China played up when he passed?