UNREAL, OCT. 2, 2008
We Fooled Bill
Poor thingie got so confused that he puked: I'm sorry, but did anyone actually read the letters written on page twelve from the VP candidates ["The Veep Fair: Greetings from the candidates!" Unreal]? How many awkward, incorrect comments can one type? From Palin sounding stereotypically out of touch with the world and referencing the "Gateway Arch" — our national monument — as a "thingie," to further redundancy by adding in an all too common "bridge to nowhere" joke.
The worst of all, as if we aren't already up in arms with any media reference to our beloved A-B, but the idiot Biden, in a Miller beer joke that had to actually be footnoted in the fine print at the bottom. Something like, "I toast you and your great taste, less filling beer." Come on, VP wannabes, I appreciate the effort to relate, but the brainiacs down at Wash. U. will eat them alive if they continue to sound like this.
Biden literally felt the need to tell us that Obama is a "clean" black man. Who in St. Louis feels this is inappropriate? Is he trying to relate to the white, blue-collars of the '60s who still live here, or some horrible reference that we wouldn't know the difference? I'm sorry, but one in nine paragraphs of idiotic rhetoric made me have to puke and then swallow it in the office!
Bill, via the Internet
STLOG, OCTOBER 2, 2008
Debate Debaters Weigh In
An earful on Ifill: Cute stuff and play by play, Joe ["Further Notes on the Vice-Presidential Debate," Surreal]. Nothing about Gwen Ifill and how this will certainly make it into her book. Oh, let's not comment on that; journalists stick together. She is a good journalist but should have recused herself, don't you think? She had integrity before, now she has sold out. She used to get the story. She now she likes being a story.
I noticed you had no woman reporting. Oops, not supposed to mention that.
Bill Sheppard, via the Internet
Statesman beats hockey mom: Wow, the beauty queen can remember a script. Big deal! She was so annoyingly incorrect on every other detail it doesn't matter. Biden looked like a statesman tonight. Palin paled by comparison, and looked like a hockey mom.
Freddie, via the Internet
Maybe Biden should head the ticket: I thought Palin did a much better job than I thought she would do. That being said, Biden looked and sounded like a presidential candidate. I actually found myself thinking out loud that Biden would be better than Obama. Palin came across as a pretty damn well-informed hockey/soccer mom. And, honestly, I do not want one of my soccer-mom neighbors a heartbeat away from the presidency. No way she could be president!
DanielNYS, via the Internet
A to Z, October 1, 2008
You Betcha Palin Plays the Flute
A question: Do you think she went to band camp ["Sarah Palin's 1984 Miss Alaska Talent Competition Entry: The Flute!" Annie Zaleski]?
Joe, via the Internet
Good question: So, who's going to make the first "skin flute" reference?
Scott Lasser, via the Internet
American bandstand: Perhaps she could team with Mike Huckabee (bass) and Bill Clinton (sax) for the worst (only?) bipartisan jazz trio ever.
Mike, via the Internet
BEST OF ST. LOUIS, September 25, 2008
A Schlafly Salute
Be glad you live in St. Louis: I'm honored to have been selected as the Best Citizen of 2008, especially considering how many great people there are who enrich St. Louis in countless ways, including Joe Edwards, the choice of RFT readers.
To the extent that Schlafly beer has made a difference in the community, there are dozens of people with whom I must share the credit. As I have pointed out in the past, I sign 150 paychecks and I can't do any single one of those jobs. Dan Kopman, the vice president and chief operating officer of the company, can do all of them.
I have a major gripe about St. Louis. It's not the importance we attach to where someone went to high school. It's not our climate, which serves as a kind of petri dish for everything to which I'm allergic. And it's not our accent ("drive to the party on highway farty"). No. What really annoys me is the low esteem so many St. Louisans have for our wonderful city.
When we first opened the Tap Room in 1991, I overheard some students who were home from college for Christmas vacation. One said to the other, "This place is really cool. What's it doing in St. Louis?" Even though they were putting money in our cash drawer, I wanted to kick them out.
Not too long ago, I hosted a reunion for some of my college classmates, who came from four different time zones. Many of them had never been to St. Louis, in the heart of what they considered "flyover country." I gave them a city tour and their jaws dropped. They had no idea such a jewel existed.
My wife grew up in Germany and we have had the occasion to host numerous visitors from Europe. Driving through Forest Park makes their eyes pop out. And their sense of wonder only increases from that point. If people from all over the world can appreciate St. Louis, why can't those of us who live here do the same?
The RFT's annual compilation of the best of what our town has to offer is just a small sampling of what endears St. Louis to me. St. Louis has done more for me than I have for St. Louis. In addition to thanking the RFT for honoring me as Best Citizen of 2008, I want to thank St. Louis for supporting Schlafly Beer and for being such a great place to live.
Tom Schlafly, St. Louis
