This is Pretty Scary

Coach Boone: You think Yoast is trying to let them score on purpose?
Coach Tyrell: What?
Coach Boone: do you?
Coach Tyrell:  Oh, come on, Herman.

Anyone who's had a blog for more than 10 minutes and is a whiny, pinko commie liberal like myself has bitched about the days when if you questioned the Bush administration for one moment you were considered a traitor that hated America. Or, as they're called now, "the good ol' days," as look how far we've come, so quickly:

Today when the IOC announced that the United States was eliminated from the running to host the 2016 Olympics, a room of conference attendees [xmas: the ironically-called "Americans for Prosperity’s Defending the American Dream Summit"] immediately laughed and applauded.

I don't really know what to make of this. I cannot fathom this happening at any other point in the 100+ years of the modern Olympics. I know politics is gamesmanship, and I know we're in absurd times, but I never thought I'd see the day when it's perfectly reasonable to start wondering that if an Olympic athlete is black from Illinois, will certain Americans be rooting against him/her?

Of course that sounds crazy. But less than a year ago, so would have the thought of a crowd of Americans erupting into applause over not being chosen to host the Olympics. And nobody would have particularly cared or even noticed if the president had taken a single day to lobby for this, in the name of economy/jobs/American Exceptionalism etc. Matter of fact, if reported by the media at all, it probably would seem kinda odd if a president DIDN'T take a day to do this, with the upside being so great. It looks to me now like maybe "American Exceptionalism," which Republicans love to rant and rave about 24 hours a day as being license to do anything around the globe America wants to, has taken a back seat to putting someone "in his place."