Monday, March 15, 2010

Basketball over politics

In Kentucky, everyone knows that you should never go public with being a Duke fan. That's Rand Paul's mistake. Trey Grayson is a Kentucku graduate.

Trey Grayson, as I reported yesterday, posted a video on his website with regards to Rand Paul and Duke.

An ESPN blogger picked up on the story.
In an ideal democracy with informed citizens and open public debate about important issues, you wouldn't think basketball allegiances would come into play. As we don't live in an ideal democracy, and as the political issue in question here happens to be the race for a U.S. Senate nomination in Kentucky, you'd have thought wrong. It is.

Current Kentucky secretary of state Trey Grayson is in a pitted fight against Rand Paul, son of iconoclastic 2008 presidential candidate Ron Paul, in the U.S. Senate Republican primary in Kentucky. Seeking to pull the timeless "he's not one of us" political gambit, Grayson created a truly hilarious political ad featuring video of Paul saying the words "I'm Rand Paul, and I'm a Duke Blue Devil." Ah! Outsider! Get him away!

In the ad, which was posted on Grayson's site with the URL descriptor "beat-duke," Grayson says: "There are big differences between Rand Paul and me. But in Kentucky in March, there's one big difference." The Paul video rolls, and Grayon continues: "I'm proud to say I'm a Kentucky Wildcat. I'm Trey Grayson, and I approved this message because I will always cheer for the Big Blue." Groan.[...]

Anyway, to put it bluntly, both of these candidates are very smart men with very impressive academic résumés running for a very important position in a very important branch of the United States government. And the primary issue at hand here is Kentucky basketball. What's even sadder is that Wildcat love and Blue Devil hatred run so deep in Big Blue Nation that I wouldn't be surprised if Grayson's shallow strategy actually works. It seemed like a good idea for a reason, after all.

The only solution to this mess? Spurning both candidates and electing John Calipari to the Senate. It's the next logical step.
I think, in the end, this will help Grayson's candidacy.

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