Month: August 2004

No, I’m not that Kevin O’Reilly

/ Kevin B. O'Reilly

A Chicago woman is filing a civil suit against William Kennedy Smith — yes, him — in relation to an alleged rape several years ago. Her lawyer is Kevin O’Reilly. Kevin E. O’Reilly, that is.

I first learned of the news on Thursday night, when a producer for ABC News left a voice mail for me saying she was looking for “Kevin O’Reilly, the attorney representing the woman suing William Kennedy Smith.” And Mom said I didn’t have what it takes to be a lawyer!

Having been on the other end of the “let’s call everyone in the phone book with this name” reportorial approach, I didn’t bother to call back, assuming she’d find her target sooner or later and didn’t need to hear back from me.

Surprisingly, she called again a little later and Karen politely told her she had the wrong Kevin O’Reilly. How much of my 15 minutes is left now?

Libertarians for Kerry?

/ Kevin B. O'Reilly

I guess not!

Tim Lee says the Democratic convention was a giant smoke-blowing exercise to cover up that Kerry has no coherent message:

Here’s my theory. Kerry seems to have taken the advice of a New Republic article a few weeks ago to run to the right of Bush on national security, the way Kennedy ran to the right of Nixon in 1960. By turning the tables and accusing Bush of failing to fight the War on Terrorism adequately, the theory goes, Kerry can neutralize his party’s traditional disadvantage on the issue and simultaneously put the administration on the defensive.

But the problem is that Kerry appears not to have a clear message. Kennedy, for example, went on endlessly about the “missile gap” and the inadequacy of American military preparation vis a vis the Russians. Reagan and Clinton had similarly clear and compelling critiques of their respective incumbent opponents, and drew clear contrasts between themselves and the other guy.

Kerry’s message, in contrast, is that Bush lied (sort of, although he doesn’t want to be too explicit about it because that would be “negative”). And that Bush is incompetent (well, maybe, although Kerry doesn’t seem to be too clear on what he’d do differently). And… um… that the world is more complicated than those conservatives say it is. Oh, and that he fought in Vietnam and Bush didn’t! And he got three purple hearts!

Gene Healy writes that Kerry isn’t quite the flip-flopper Dubya & Co. say. Rather, he has consistently favored letting someone else take the heat:

Kerry hasn’t changed his position on Iraq. In October 2002, when the congressional vote was held, Kerry, like most members of Congress, was in favor of punting the question of war or peace to the president and avoiding accountability for the decision. And Kerry remains firmly in favor of avoiding accountability for Iraq today. That tells us something about John Kerry as a candidate. More importantly, it tells us a lot about the health of Congress as a political institution, and about the erosion of Congress’ power to declare war.

And Steve Chapman concludes that after all the bluster, Kerry has been as squarely behind the Iraq debacle as Dubya:

It has been said by many critics that President Bush, after bungling his job in the Iraq war, has stubbornly refused to admit he was wrong. The same goes for John Kerry.

If John Kerry manages to be a slight improvement over Dubya as president, it will be a happy accident.

Can you trust this man to be president?

/ Kevin B. O'Reilly

OK, Dubya has stretched the truth on a few trivial matters, such as the relationship between Al Qaeda and the Hussein regime, Iraq’s nonexistent weapons of mass destructions, etc. But lying about cheese on his Philly cheesesteak? To wit:

Jim’s Special, in fact, is altered to whet the “W” appetite. No. 43 prefers his steak absent of the usual Cheez Whiz and provolone, accompanied only by cheese of the American variety, Barnabei reported.

The commander-in-chief, however, fooled thousands Tuesday to believe he eats like the epicureans here — with the Cheez Whiz and fried onions.

“This is the 32nd time I’ve been to your state of Pennsylvania,” he told the Boeing crowd, “and, you all know the reason why, don’t you? It’s because I like my cheesesteaks Whiz Wit’.”

At long last, Mr. President, have you left no sense of decency? Of course, we all know that John Kerry actually ordered his cheesesteak Whiz Wit before he ordered against it.

Now I am somewhat more American

/ Kevin B. O'Reilly

Here are a few photos of my oldest new toy, a 1958-vintage Royal All-American manual portable typewriter. It’s great fun to write with, as long as my correspondents don’t mind a few typos here and there.

Check out Independence Business Machines for all your Chicago-area typewriter needs. Steve Kazmier, the owner, is a very friendly and knowledgeable man.

Royal All-American Typewriter

The funny thing about our encounter is that even though I was already determined to buy a typewriter (why else would I visit his store?), Mr. Kazmier insisted on making some perfunctory and altogether unpersuasive arguments for why a manual typewriter might be preferable as a writing tool and not mere kitsch.

Royal All-American typewriter 2

For instance, he said: “Now you can write even if the power goes out!”

Royal All-American typewriter 3

“Uh-huh,” I said. “So how much is it?”

All hail Hendry

/ Kevin B. O'Reilly

How should one react to his second-favorite team trading its biggest name to his very favorite team? Rejoice!

The Cubs’ acquisition of All-Star shortstop Nomar Garciaparra by no means assures them of a playoff spot, but it addresses their most serious need. The Cubs have hovered near the top of the National League in team ERA all season long, but are only seventh in the league in runs scored. And that figure is pretty misleading because the Cubs, in spite of leading the league with 143 home runs, have tended to hit those dingers with few men on base thanks to a woeful .324 team on-base percentage (good for 12th).

The only spot the Cubs had open to really improve offensively was shortstop, and General Manager Jim Hendry went out and got the best shortstop available. While Garciaparra is still recovering from an Achilles’ tendon injury, he has done well so far since returning in June, with 5 home runs, 21 RBI and a .367 OBP. And the Cubs didn’t give up anyone currently on their major-league roster, thus making it a pure addition with regard to this year’s club.

Still, there are no guarantees. One hitter rarely makes a difference. As illustrated by yesterday’s 4-3 loss (their 20th one-run loss of the year), there are have been too many days when the Cubs just haven’t been able to get over the hump on offense. It’s unclear whether Garciaparra, not fully healthy and new to National League pitchers, can jumpstart the offense. But he was the best shot at the playoffs the Cubs had, and Hendry made it happen.

As for the Red Sox, they made the best of an impossible situation. Garciaparra obviously was not going to re-sign with them at the end of the year, upset over the team’s refusal to meet his contract demands and its serious flirtation with Alex Rodriguez last winter. Considering that any team trading for Garciaparra was gauranteed only two months of a physically iffy player, it was hard for GM Theo Epstein to get the pitching the Red Sox desperately needed.

Speaking of re-signing Garciaparra, if he continues to insist on taking nothing less than $60 million over four years, it would be unwise of the Cubs to meet that price. They could much better use the money to get equal or better production from an outfielder to replace Moises Alou. But that is months away. Perhaps Garciaparra will fall in love with Cubdom and take less money over less time for the chance to play on the North Side. Perhaps he will be reinvigorated by his trade to the Cubs, and will help lead them to the promised land.

Perhaps.