ty willingham and the sword of damocles.

So much for the Ty Willingham Era at Notre Dame. After three sometimes-promising seasons at the helm of the self-proclaimed most famous football team in the world, Ty was shown the door to the Golden Dome. What's worse is the move will somehow vindicate the www.fire[insert coach's name here].com ilk that plague sports worse than locusts and cikadas. These folks will proudly wear their anti-Willingham position on their sleeves and somehow claim victory.

Whatever.

Fan uneasiness and rage is a part of being a coach on any level. This has been true as long as there have been newspapers and, more recently, sports talk radio. But the volume is steadily increasing to a cacophonous stir of boos and jeers. Between newspapers, blogs, Web sites, am sports radio, cable sports shows and weekly publications, anti-coach sentiment can run in a news cycle 24/7.

Did any of this do in Ty Willingham? Probably not.

Bigtime football programs are traditionally impatient. Until this firing, Notre Dame has moved in geological time, compared to the Floridas and Southern Californias. Notre Dame boasts championships in all eras, under storied coaches like Leahy, Parseghian, Devine, and Holtz. And oh yeah, some guy named Knute Rockne.

Ty was not in their collective shadow, but he was given a much narrower window.

Even though I was a Ty supporter, I can see the wisdom of Athletic Director Kevin White's decision. After a promising start to his tenure in 2002, the Irish never maintained that success. Furthermore, Notre Dame was no longer considered a dangerous Saturday on anybody's schedule. Yes, they occasionally beat better teams like Purdue, Michigan, Florida State and even Tennessee; but they were no longer the favorites. They couldn't beat Southern Cal. They lost to BYU. Boston College continues to haunt Notre Dame when it comes to perfect seasons.

Notre Dame was no longer shaking down the thunder.

All that's left is speculation on who will assume the role of Most Tortured Man in South Bend. The job pays well, of course, but nothing in the fine print mentions the Sword of Damocles hanging over the coach's head week in and week out.

Already the short list includes Flavors of the Week like Urban Meyer and Butch Davis; but one must proceed with caution when selecting the obvious big-name candidates. Nobody knew who Larry Coker was prior to winning a championship at Miami (a team he inherited from Butch Davis). Pete Carroll was mediocre, at best, in the NFL. And was Jim Tressel on anybody's short list when he was tabbed by Ohio State?

Kevin White has a big decision to make.

There's only one big name I'd keep in mind: Barry Alvarez

But I'm not sure I'd wish this job on my worst enemy.

the 'shut the fuck up' award.

It's been a long time since we've awarded the coveted Shut The Fuck Up Award -- bear in mind that we here at The Fourth Estate do not believe in bestowing such honors based on a calendar. The STFU Award must be earned. And our most recent recipient won this thing going away.

Today's Shut-the-fuck-Up Award recipient is Bob Jones III, president of the racist, sexist and homophobic Bob Jones University.

Jones said, in a letter published on the school's Web site, that President Bush should use his electoral mandate to appoint conservative judges and approve legislation "defined by biblical norm."

"In your re-election, God has graciously granted America - though she doesn't deserve it - a reprieve from the agenda of paganism," Jones continued.

"You have been given a mandate . . . Put your agenda on the front burner and let it boil. You owe the liberals nothing. They despise you because they despise your Christ," said the letter, dated Nov. 3.

It never ceases to amaze me, the sheer arrogance, stupidity and -- is this a word? -- assholiness of fundamentalist, conservative religious leaders.

I wonder if Jesus Himself throws his arms up in exasperation over the utterly stupid ways people invoke Christianity. Maybe I'm just a pesky secularist, but I've got to believe that God has more important things to do with His time than worry about elections.

Granted, Bob Jones and his university have proven time and again that they're nothing more than a group of extremist zealots whose religious fervor is on par with that of Islamic fundamentalists. They just lack the gumption to actually die for their cause. Instead, they'd rather pummel the rest of us with their judgment, invective, and hatred.

I especially love it when the Bushies tout this election as a "mandate," because Bush received the most votes in history. THAT'S BECAUSE THE NATION KEEPS GROWING, YOU FUCKWAD!!! And, let's not forget one important detail: He received 51 percent of the vote. Dickheads like Bob Jones make it seem as though Bush won 99 percent of the vote. He didn't, you horse's ass, motherfucker.

So, Bob Jones, SHUT THE FUCK UP and go fuck yourself. And take your ministry and hate-filled university with you.

give him the ball.

In the wake of Bush's victory last week, the Democratic Party might finally do something right -- DUMP TERRY McAULIFFE!

From cnn.com:

Howard Dean considers DNC chair bid.

I know I'm not alone in my harsh criticism of current DNC chair Terry McAuliffe. He's fumbled far too many times to be given the ball again.

Is Howard Dean the answer? I honestly don't know. But we need a change fast, for the sake of the 48 percent who didn't vote for Bush. The balance of power is tilting further and further to the right, because the left is flying blind. Howard Dean ignited the base and woke up a lot of liberals and Democrats with a spirited and savvy campaign. I'm not sure if that makes him a visionary, but I'm willing to give him the ball.

frisbees and boulders.

Perhaps it's out of cathartic need to understand, but I've spent the past few days soul-searching and reading op-ed pieces, trying to find out upon which donkey to pin the Loser tail. Sure, we all know the obvious ones -- Terry McAuliffe, campaign strategists, and yes, Senator Kerry himself. But the true answer lies deeper than that. Sort of.

It all comes down to one simple principle:

Frisbees and boulders.

Karl Rove gets the same reports Democratic strategists get. He knew Iraq was going to be a messy, messy campaign issue. Even though the Dems were late to the campaign with it, Rove knew they'd be pushing that Iraq War Boulder to every man, woman, and child along the campaign trail. Given enough time and momentum, that slow-moving boulder is going to gather speed as more people get behind it. If the Republicans couldn't find a diversion and fast, that boulder would roll them right out of the White House.

That's when the light went on above Rove's horned head.

"Frisbees."

Karl Rove started throwing frisbees at every red state, undecided, and Fox News hack.

Gay marriage! Whooosh!!!!!

Abortion! Whooosh!!!!!

Stem cell research! Whooosh!!!!!

Swift Boat Vets! Whooosh!!!!!

Ten Commandments! Whooosh!!!!!

Flip-flopper! Whooosh!!!!!

"Kinda French!" Whooosh!!!!! (Hey, nobody said they had to be honest or make sense!)

And so on. Rove zinged every frisbee, knowing accuracy of the throw didn't matter because somebody was going to catch it, and throw it around, creating a cacophonous noise of frisbee throwers. Why weren't the Dems out in front of this? Because they were too busy figuring out how to push that boulder and were sorely behind. By the time they got that boulder out there, all the folks they were looking for were too busy playing frisbee.

That's how you win an election in 21st Century America.

election postmortem from a political outsider.

This is an e-mail response from my close friend, John Carroll, in Kansas City. I've always enjoyed getting his take on issues because he comes at it from a fresh, non-big party perspective. He's a gun-totin' liberal, so he's on several mailing lists as well as FBI watches. :-)

Here's John's take on the 2004 election:

Man, this was a brutal election. Working with a large group of leftist females, I have been uniquely positioned to observe the loonies in their native habitat. The infatuation with Kerry has astounded me. How did he think he was positioning himself when he agreed that Bush did the right thing in invading Iraq, that he would continue the democratization of the Middle East, and that he would hunt down and kill terrorists. Right, that puts Kerry at odds with who, Dennis Kucinich? He wants tax cuts for the "middle class." Where have I heard that before? Yet every Kerry supporter I spoke with (or, rather, was yelled at by) wondered why I couldn't understand the difference between the two candidates. Two sides of the same coin, as I see them.

Until a politician admits what the invasion of the Middle East is all about (oil), we will be trapped in a winless battle with the insurgents. I believe there is no reason why we cannot have the majority of our troops out of Iraq and Afghanistan by the end of 2005. If getting rid of Saddam Hussein was the intent of the operation, we have succeeded. Now it is time to let the Iraqis rebuild their country. If they want us to help, fine. If not, that should be fine with us, too.

The youth vote has never been what the Black or Jewish voting blocs are. In 1972, Nixon won in a landslide. I wondered aloud what morons would vote for the trickster? Every young person I knew was guilty of backing the Republican in time of WAR. I would imagine that the youth vote shakes out to 50-50, Dem v. Rep. So to teach the little bastards a lesson, we should reinstate the draft with no deferments. Let's see how organized a group can get under that kind of pressure.

And what is the matter with the citizens of Indy? They reelected Julia Carson again?!?!?! Let's see, to keep your gig as congresswoman, you have to miss at least 100 votes in the last session, and then campaign from the hospital! Let her die at home! This is close to Ashcroft losing to the dead guy in the last senatorial race here in MO.

Nationally, I encourage you to join me in writing members of Congress to persuade them to do their job. We need representatives who know we are watching. We need to make them read bills before they are passed. We need to make them question appropriations, not just pass them with a rubber stamp.

oh . . . canada!

The fact that the AP published this story is either funny or sad. I can't decide which.

Canada: U.S. immigrants must seek visas

and that's the election.

From the AP:

Kerry Calls Bush to Concede Presidency

By CALVIN WOODWARD and RON FOURNIER

WASHINGTON (AP) - President Bush won a second term from a divided and anxious nation, his promise of steady, strong wartime leadership trumping John Kerry's fresh-start approach to Iraq and joblessness. After a long, tense night of vote counting, the Democrat called Bush to concede Ohio and the presidency, The Associated Press learned.

-------------------------------

Kerry did the right thing. There was no way they were going to make up the votes in Ohio. And even if they could, Kerry still was outnumbered in the national popular vote by nearly four million votes.

Perhaps his concession will be the first step in bridging the gap.

just another day.

It's going to be a miserable, miserable four years. This president has received many more votes than Kerry. The gloating is about to commence. Why? Because this administration has ushered in a frat-boy tone about politics; that "in-your-face" bullshit that I find so unsettling.

This election is less a mandate about Bush and more a statement of the shoddy state of the Democratic party.

I hope Bush actually fulfills the four-year old promise he broke when he said he was a unifier. But I expect nothing out of him. Nothing.

I take that back.

I expect the Supreme Court to change drastically.
I expect the war in Iraq to get worse.
I expect Republicans to treat this as a reason to thump their chests instead of saying, "let's fix this together."
I expect Democrats to continue spinning themselves into the ground.
I expect Bush to continue enacting tax cuts while sending spending through the roof.
I expect Bush supporters to continue to be blinded by the right and refuse to accept that the country is worse instead of better.
I expect our civil liberties to continue to be compromised.
I expect this president to continue listening to his Bible, which is flat out wrong when leading a country.

This is not a sad day for America; it's just another day in the Bush Regime.

I am proud to say I am in the minority.

time to shut it down, senator kerry.

Kerry should concede. He should just concede. Even if he could win Ohio -- and he won't -- he just just lay it down. This is not like 2000 because Bush has three million more votes than Kerry. At least Gore had the popular vote on his side.

There comes a point when the cost of the fight is greater than the spoils. Now is that time.

And if Bush has a brain in his head, he'll reach out to all Americans and promise to fix the shit he fucked up.

I don't think Kerry can win this election. He's trailing in Nevada and Iowa. That's 12 votes he needs to keep a sliver of a chance. Being as how he's not going to carry New Mexico, he can't win.

It's over.

It's truly time to start the process of patching up the divide.

deja vu all over again.

If everything remains constant, we could have another debacle on our hands. Kerry still needs to carry the Midwest -- the ENTIRE Midwest -- for him to be successful nailing Jell-O to a tree.

He's 100,000+ votes behind in Ohio.

Good luck, Sen. Kerry. But I think I'm going to bed.

final election thoughts.

While this election still gets sorted out -- although Bush is really about to win -- there are a few emerging thoughts coming out of this election.

Closing the Great Divide.
No matter who wins – and I still believe it’s going to be Bush (much to my chagrin) – it’s time to truly reach across the aisle with an olive branch. Bush did not do that four years ago and the country suffered as a result. While the Republicans were smug in advancing their agenda, they further polarized the nation.

It’s time for Democrats and Republicans to stop paying lip service to their respective bases and throw a bone to the moderates.

The Youth Vote.
You failed. Pure and simple, you failed. No longer can you use the excuse that “they’re all the same.” That’s a cheap cop-out as a means to further abdicate yourselves from any social or civic responsibility.

Your refusal to take part in the process equates to tacit approval of the status quo – the very system you claim to dislike. What would’ve happened if, say, five million of you decided to vote for Ralph Nader? It might actually awaken a movement toward a viable third party.

Instead, you decided your XBox was more important.

Youth vote? You’re fired.

Gerrymandering.
Former Republican Joe Scarborough was right that the gerrymandering is servile to incumbency on both sides of the aisle and the citizens have suffered. The re-election rate in Congress is positively insulting to a Democracy. This does not help the United States.

The Return of Civility.
It’s time to turn off the Ann Coulters, Michael Moores and all the other hyper-polarized talking heads out there. The trend of running to the polar ends of the political spectrum has dumbed down the discussion to a pathetic, embarrassing give-and-take of invective and lies.

It’s time for a return of civility and LISTENING to one another instead of shouting over one another.

FireTerry McAuliffe.com
Not until this political season did I declare myself a Democrat. As such, it’s time for McAuliffe to go. This will be the third consecutive election he’s bungled, by my count.

Time for you to go, Terry.

Final Thoughts.
So there it is, Bush will win this election. I suppose that's not a surprise. But this is no time for Bush or his supporters to gloat. You preside over a very divided nation. And you must now work to regain our confidence. If you rest on a two or three percent margin of victory, you only continue to lower the standards of America.

it's over.

It's about 1 a.m. EST. Ohio is going to Bush, more than likely.

It's over.

Four more years of Bush.

last gasp?

It's really down to Ohio and New Mexico for Bush. It's almost over.

Kerry has to run the table and can't afford to lose Ohio. He's gasping.

it's all about ohio.

Without Ohio, it's all over. Kerry must win Ohio, or it's four more years of Bush. It really is that simple. He's not going to get Florida.

He may get Nevada, but he won't get both Colorado and New Mexico to off-set Ohio.

florida's gone, if you ask me.

All right, there goes Florida. Though they haven't officially declared it, it's gone.

That's 234 for Bush, 199 for Kerry.

It's all about the Midwest and the Left Coast.

it's come down to this.

Forget Florida. It's time to move away from it.

Given MSNBC's current map (199 votes), here's what Kerry needs to win (71):

* Michigan (17)
* Ohio (20)
* Wisconsin (10)
* Minnesota (10)
* Iowa (7)
* Oregon (7)

That's what Kerry needs to win.

It's down to that. A Midwest/Left Coast sweep. Can he do it?

too close to call.

Yeah, yeah. So Kerry got the Left Coast. No surprises. It's all about Michigan, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, Florida, Iowa, and Ohio.

But I'll take Florida off the board. I think it's going to Bush.

Where's Russert and that damn board? I have no idea what's going on anymore.

'zona goes dubya; mccain continues to suck bush's dick.

And Bush goes to Arizona. Not too much of a shock, I guess. Kerry could've used it, but his buddy John McCain was forced to sit on Bush's lap.

I'm still pissed at the youth of America.

kerry gets a hit.

Pennsylvania! FUCKING FINALLY!

And screw you, young voters. You did not come through.

You have failed your country. No matter what happens, the youth chose to stay at home and watch MTV.

meanwhile, back in the midwest.

Pennsylvania's skewing to Kerry. Ohio is a dead heat.

Kerry needs them and needs them badly.

And that mindless fuck Jim Bunning won re-election. Thanks, Kentucky!

losing florida?

Florida's going to Bush. Ugh.

This is not good for John Kerry.

and there goes missouri

And there goes Missouri.

I'll say it again: Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Florida, Wisconsin. That's 97 electoral votes.

Kerry needs all of them to keep pace.

On the upside, I'm watching Barack Obama speak as the victor in his senate race.

the non-southern strategy.

Kerry just lost Arkansas. This is not looking good. He needs a clean sweep of all the swing states.

no surprises.

It looks like they're going to declare Republican Mitch Daniels the new governor of Indiana. Not much of a surprise. And, to be fair, I'm not disappointed that much. We've had Democrats running Indiana on the gubernatorial level for the past 16 years. Sometimes change is good.

And I said all along that I'd trade a Daniels for a Kerry.

Please, please, please, John Kerry, show us something.

offensive?

So there's talk of Bush going on TV to ask for votes. My question: Why isn't Kerry going on offense??????

almost to halftime.

As of 9:23 p.m. Bush is holding a 155-112 lead. Florida, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Michigan are still too close to call. But Kerry's losing in Florida right now.

This night could be over very quickly.

the 33rd vote.

I did my civic duty this morning and voted. I was the 33rd person to enter a ballot at my particular polling location today. Here's to a high voter turnout today.



Get out and vote.

open call to bush supporters.

I’ve got to believe I’m not preaching only to the choir out here. I know some of you are Bush supporters. I believe I have laid out my reasons for supporting John Kerry in this election; now is your chance to plead your case for another four years of George W. Bush.

This is an honest and sincere plea to hear your reasons for voting for Bush on Tuesday.

So go ahead and hit me with your best stump speech.

The podium is yours.