Jay Kersting's Blog

I heard about this latest gaffe from the naive junior Senator from Illinois yesterday.

Apparently, while talking to a veterans group on Memorial Day in New Mexico, Barack Obama told a story about an uncle who encamped in the attic for six months after returning from World War II.   Why?  Because he was with the army when they liberated Auschwitz.

OK, so by now you have heard the uproar and outrage. I will spin it in another direction for you.

First, some folks like to pick at nits and point out that it was a Great Uncle.  BIG FLIPPIN' DEAL!  

Second, I did not realize that Obama's Great Uncle served with the Red Army.  Ha ha ha....  But he may have simply misspoke on this one.  Just because I knew in MIDDLE SCHOOL that it was the SOVIETS who liberated Europe up to Berlin coming from the East, doesn't mean that he should know that.  I am certain that East Troy Middle School is much better than Occidental College, Columbia University and Harvard Law.  And to go a step further, really, what can we learn from history anyway?

OK, OK...let me get back on track.  Let's assume that he simply misspoke and that he wasn't trying to gain some (MORE) political points.  And this is, in my opinion, a STRETCH.  But let's make the dangerous move of ASSUMING this to be the case.  Has he NOT been following current events?

Has he not seen how angry the Russian Communists are about "Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull" being shown in Russia?  They are mad about how the Soviet Union and their people are being portrayed in the movie. 

Can you imagine how outright PISSED OFF they will be when they learn that a leading American Presidential candidate is taking away the credit of liberating Eastern Europe from the Soviet Union too?????

No word from the Russians on this as of yet.  Hopefully, spin from the Obama campaign is enough to quell this potential storm.  I am certain that no one in THIS country will continue to talk about it.

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Yesterday, I commented on Hillary Clinton's mention of the Robert Kennedy assassination.  My brother added a comment that laid out a reasonable explanation as to why what she did was wrong and flawed.

Let me clarify something here.

Most everything she does is neither reasonable nor clear and without flaws.  My point was really that the outrage was outrageous.

My brother is correct, but that doesn't make me wrong.  Let me call the outrage what it really is, Bullshit!

Something I cannot do on the show.  Thank you Federal Communications Commission.

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Not a Super Delegate, but maybe the DNC will make an exception.

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The local story of the most outrage has been surrounding the dismissal of local sportscaster Rod Smith.  

I will open by admitting that I know Rod in passing.  We golfed a round together last year, damn good golfer by the way, and I have seen him around on occasion since that time.  Great guy.  In fact, my last conversation with Rod was to thank him for my new golf shoes.  They were paid for, mainly but not completely, with the gift certificate that our team won due to his efforts last year.  (He did, of course, give me some credit, for comic relief, for assisting in his game that day.)

Barrington Broadacasting, who purchased KRCG (Channel 13) a few years back, made the move to fire Rod for budgetary reasons.  They cut sports department down to one person, they announced, across all of their stations.  

OUCH!  

Now Rod had been with KRCG for 23 years and is pretty much a legend in local sports media.  Letting him go has been received as a big mistake pretty much across the board.  I tend to agree.

Bad for programming, and certainly bad for public relations.  And for a media company with corporate ownership, this is all that we have. 

Go see the article and comments posted on the Jefferson City News Tribune webpage to get a feel over how this was handled. 

Rod Smith is a good man and because of that, I feel confident that things will work out for him.  I wish him well.

Which is a lot more than most people seem to be saying about his former employer.

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And finally, from Sweden, comes this story. A woman claims to have been married to the Berlin Wall for 29 years. 

Commenting from the United States, Tipper Gore says, "You go, girl!"

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Have a great Wednesday.  Comment as you see fit and feel free to click on any of the ad banners to buy stuff.  I just got billed for the next quarter of my webhosting.  (Ha ha ha...)