100% Romney nope

By Frank Moraes

Philadelphia is an interesting place. It is cut up into 1,687 voting divisions. Of these, 59 voted 100% for President Obama. That's right: in 59 divisions, Mitt Romney did not get a single vote. This is the kind of information that makes even the staunchest Democratic partisan suspicious. Not one vote?

It turns out that this is not all that uncommon. In 2008, there were 57 divisions that cast no votes for McCain. What's more, Stanford University political scientist Jonathan Rodden notes that this is just the way things are, "We have always had these dense urban corridors that are extremely Democratic... It's kind of an urban fact, and you are looking at the extreme end of it in Philadelphia."

Three reporters at The Philadelphia Inquirer decided to head into these divisions in a hunt for urban Republicans. In particular, there were some registered Republicans in some of them. But what they found was that the Republicans either did not live there anymore, or they were Obama supporters who were quite surprised to hear that they were registered as Republicans. One person, a chef named Eric Sapp said, "I got to check on that."

In the end, they didn't find any voting irregularity. And really, why would they? If you were a Democratic operative fixing elections, would you really work it so your opponent received no votes? Even apart from how it would look, allowing not a single vote could so easily be used to demonstrate voter fraud; all you'd have to do is find a single uncounted Republican vote.

The truth is that urban voters of all types are strong Democratic Party supporters. And the poorer they are, the stronger their support. These voting divisions are in poor urban areas. And as I've argued: that is the true Republican demographic challenge.

(Cross-posted at Frankly Curious.)

Giving Smokin' Joe Frazier his due

By Richard K. Barry

I've never been much of a boxing fan. My father watched it on television when I was a kid. I remember the big names from back then like Ali, Frazier, Forman, Spinks, and Holmes, and even some of the lesser lights like the Quarry brothers.

Actually, as recently as the 1970s boxing was fairly mainstream. Most would have been aware of the "Thrilla in Manila," which was one of the marquee bouts between Muhammad Ali and Joe Frazier in 1975. And though I am no boxing historian, going back even further into the '50s, '40s, and '30s, there was a certain, I don't know, perceived nobility to the fight game.

It's all crap, of course, grown men beating the snot out of each other for sport and illicit gambling purposes is as despicable as it sounds. And though professional boxing has long since fallen off the radar screen for a great many serious sports fans, I guess it still goes on. I certainly pay no attention to it.

Having said that, I was intrigued by Jessie Jackson's eulogy for boxing icon Joe Frazier, who died last week of liver cancer at the age of 67. Actually, what grabbed my attention was Jackson's comment that Philadelphia, Frazier's base of operations, had long ago erected a statue in honour of Rocky Balboa, a fictional movie character made up by Sylvester Stallone, but never bothered to do anything to honour Frazier, a real flesh-and-blood former Olympic and heavyweight champion of the world.

As The New York Times reported:

In his familiar, incantatory style, Jackson said that if Rocky, a fighter that existed only on the movie screen, deserved a statue in downtown Philadelphia, so did Frazier, a somewhat forgotten figure whose former gym in north Philadelphia is now a store that sells furniture and mattresses.

Apparently struck by the absurdity of it all, Michael A. Nutter, Philadelphia's mayor, has said he is working with the Frazier family to build a memorial, an idea, the Times indicated, "that seemed to gain momentum with the rhythm of Jackson's eulogy."

As Jackson continued:

Rocky is fictitious; Joe was reality. Rocky's fists are frozen in stone. Joe's fists were smokin'. Rocky never faced Ali or Holmes or Norton or Foreman. Rocky never tasted his own blood. Champions are made in the ring, not in the movies.

Okay, Jessie. Take a deep breath. But you do have a point. It's true that I really cannot imagine how anyone can justify boxing, a sport the goal of which is to literally incapacitate one's opponent to the point that he cannot go on, with bonus points if rendered unconscious.

But if Philadelphia insists on glorifying a well-known practitioner of the sport, better they should choose one who did the thing instead of one who pretended to do the thing.

The pugilistic arts are surely beyond redemption as an activity for civilized people, but fair is fair.

Not sure what all of this says about our culture, that we would rather honour make-believe, but it's nothing good.

(Cross-posted at Lippmann's Ghost.)

Another round of boos: Palin drops the puck in Philadelphia

By Michael J.W. Stickings

Sarah Palin, abuser of power, was in Philly this evening ceremonially dropping the puck before the Flyers home opener against the Rangers. Ryan Cormier at Delaware Online (i.e., The News Journal):

So, how did Philadelphia Flyers fans greet Sarah Palin, who was on hand tonight for the ceremonial puck-drop?

Watching on Comcast, it seemed like there was an avalanche of boos when she walked out -- boos that were almost immediately drowned out by blaring, bombastic music.

There is no doubt in my mind that that the music was ordered up to help tamp down what could have been an even more embarrassing moment.

The clip below. It's hard to tell just how loud the music was, but it sounds as if it was intentionally turned up to drown out the boos. And Palin just seems completely oblivious to reality. As usual.

I realize that Philly sports fans are notorious for being, if I may put it euphemistically, ill-mannered, but it's pretty clear what they think of America's self-styled #1 hockey mom.

Cormier's colleague Adam Taylor was at the game and reports here: "At best, the reaction could be described as mixed." The booing started right away, but then "there was a competition among chanters."

Lynn Zinser of Slap Shot, the NYT's hockey blog, has more here:

The biggest problem: when Palin came out onto the Wachovia Center ice Saturday night -- greeted by resounding (almost deafening) boos from the Flyers crowd -- the two hockey players who had no choice but to appear with her in that photo op were turned into props in a political campaign. If Rangers center Scott Gomez [who's from Alaska] or Flyers center Mike Richards wanted to make some sort of political statement, that would be fine, but in this case, they were thrust into a situation not of their choosing. [Flyers owner Ed] Snider put them there with his ill-advised mixing of politics and sports.

Note here that the reaction isn't described as mixed. Palin was "greeted by resounding (almost deafening) boos from the Flyers crowd."

And, yes, I agree. There was no need to politicize the event like this, no need to force politics into hockey, no need to put the players, including Gomez and fellow Ranger and Alaska native Brandon Dubinsky, in a difficult and uncomfortable position.

And the effort to drown out the boos with "blaring, bombastic music" was simply ridiculous.

Can't handle the truth, Mr. Snider?