FrontPage has compiled a list of quotations from before the Iraq War from well-known Democrat Party leaders. The quotes demonstrate that the Dems were (quite decently and ethically) anti-Saddam until a Republican President overthrew him. Then they went bonkers. FrontPage does well in letting the Democrats make the case for the War on Saddam in their own words. Check it out.

Also check out this post from Samizdata, which includes a graph showing the decline of US / UK dead in Iraq as time goes along. Its title? "We Are Winning". Andrew Sullivan has a terrific column on the just-released Reagan letters. We all underestimated the guy, especially me. During the Eighties I thought Reagan was a dope running the country straight to hell. Was I ever wrong.

Rush Limbaugh has gotten himself into hot water again, this time not for his political opinions but because of his football commentary. Now they're calling him a racist. Limbaugh said that he thought Donovan McNabb, the Eagles' quarterback, was overrated, and that one of the reasons for his overratedness is that he is black. He attributed the Eagles' success last year to their defense, and Duce Staley is a hell of a good running back, too. Limbaugh thinks that the sports media bend over backwards not to criticize black quarterbacks. (What's next, a football player named Fuehrer Jones? There used to be a guy named Stalin Collins, another named Cortez Kennedy, and another named Napoleon McCallum. Dictators and killers all. I'd prefer to name my kids after, like, American World War II generals. I'll name them Marshall, Ike, MacArthur, Patton, Bradley, Stilwell, and stuff like that.)

I generally agree with Rush that McNabb is overrated--he's stunk so far this season and he was not that great last year. I also believe, with Rush, that there is a tendency among the American sports media to support blacks who are moving into positions reserved for whites in the past. The NFL never excluded blacks officially, as far as I know, and the football color line was broken by the Fifties. But there weren't any black quarterbacks until the Seventies and there still aren't many black coaches, especailly head coaches.

I do not think this tendency is a conspiracy, and I don't think Limbaugh does either. What Limbaugh said was "I don't think Donovan McNabb is all that good and I think the media are giving him a break, rather than coming down on him, because he's a black quarterback and they're overcompensating for past racism." That sounds pretty reasonable to me. You might disagree, but you can't call Limbaugh racist over this one.

A lot of people have sure jumped at the chance, though. In Rush's semi-defense, here's Sports Illustrated's Peter King, a writer I generally do not like because he thinks he's God's gift to football commentary and because he wastes his readers' time talking about his damn kids' field-hockey teams for paragraphs on end, calling Limbaugh an idiot but not a racist. Fair enough. I think Limbaugh is probably right, myself, but if King thinks he's a moron he can certainly say so. And King is honest enough to admit he doesn't like Rush but says that it's a smear to call him a racist.

Sports Update: Last weekend Barcelona sneaked out of Madrid with an 0-0 tie against Atletico, making their record 2-3-0 with nine points out of fifteen possible. Not two awful, but I still don't think the team looks very good. Well, we've got to give them a chance--they haven't lost any games yet and there are 38 games in the season, not just five.

Real Madrid got its clock cleaned in Valencia, 2-0; Valencia completely outclassed them with teamwork, hard-nosed play, determination, and fine individual play. Keep an eye out for badass midfielders Albelda and Baraja. Those guys can flat-out play soccer, and they just plain shut Madrid down by not allowing many balls to get to Madrid's superstar forwards. English readers might consider trying to get their team to sign these guys, both of whom are internationals.

The Chiefs are 4-0. Their defense is greatly improved over last year's shitty D, their offense is a steamroller, and kick returner Dante Hall has had three returns for TDs already this year. Somebody's going to break his neck in one of these games, though. Still, can you say Super Bowl? I guess we'll really find out what they're made of next weekend when they play Denver.