The Pink Flamingo :: John McCain, Ted Williams, Endicott Peabody, and Wyatt Earp

If I weren’t voting for John McCain, I would after the beginning of this ad, which features Ted Williams as a hero. Then, when we find out the teacher honored, William B. Ravenel taught at an Episcopalian high school, well, how much more could one ask? (Powerline) I gather this tells us something about who Big Mac views as heroes. Nothing wrong with Teddy Roosevelt or Ted Williams, who was a board certified war hero and fighter pilot! This leads to the old argument, just how great a ball player could Teddy Ballgame have been had he not served in both World War II and the Korean War. I can see why John McCain would put him in a hero list.

TED WILLLIAMS & ME
Word of advice: Don’t cut school all day and end up with your photo on the front page of the local paper – with Ted Williams. I did. It was a good thing the principal and vice principal were such big baseball fans! (I have the framed article somewhere). One teacher never forgave me for cutting her class.

Thus began my friendship with Ted Williams. After meeting him that day in Anderson, SC, we became friends. I have several letters from him. I would meet him in Florida at Spring Training. (Got to watch him hit one time – when he was managing the Senators). I was nearly kicked out of a Braves game because he told me to wait by the dugout to talk. Security tried to kick me out. By this time I was well known at the ballpark. One of the Braves broadcasters, Ernie Johnson, went over to my parents and ask what they were going to do about it. My mother told him that was my problem. (I was maybe 16 at the time). Mr. Williams walked over to me, gave me a big hug – security just melted into the woodwork. He was the greatest there ever was and ever will be – and no steroids – just natural talent.

CAN’T MAKE THIS UP
Once again they are on McCain’s back over his temper. So what? Any half-way reasonable person who knows the difference between right and wrong should have one. If this keeps up I’m going to get mad and say something tacky. Everyone has a temper. When did it become a POTUS job qualification not to have one? This is news to me. George Washington was infamous for his temper – and he wrote the book on how to behave as a President. If it was good enough for George Washington, it is good enough for John McCain. Now, get off his back!

“…The Arizona senator admitted that “as an adult I’ve been known to forget occasionally the discretion expected of a person of my years and station when I believe I’ve been accorded a lack of respect I did not deserve.

“Self-improvement should be a work in progress all our lives, and I confess to needing it as much as anyone,” McCain said. “But I believe if my detractors had known me at Episcopal they might marvel at the self-restraint and mellowness I developed as an adult.”…”

After all, if you go by Race42008’s Electoral Map for the end of March, if the election were held today, it would be President Elect McCain! Pajama Pack has a John McCain thing from yesterday. (Not today – April 1). You deal with it. I give up.

And then there is Big Mac’s opponent. Like I said, you can’t make this stuff up. You deal with it: Is Obama Still Taking Drugs (or just that stupid)? Does Bambi understand defeat?
I think this is important: Does Barack Obama even know anything about America?
We do know Rev Wright is movin’ on up! (Thanks SV) And, how badly is Obama going to hurt the Dems, if the current trends continue. I continue to hope and pray John McCain is simply not peaking early and that this is going to be a blowout.

THE ROOSEVELT CONNECTION
In his new ad, John McCain mentions Teddy Roosevelt as an American Hero. Teddy Roosevelt was one of the early patrons of Groton School. The Roosevelts send their kids to Endicott Peabody (admirer of Wyatt Earp) to be educated. Endicott Peabody literally wrote the book on how Episcopal schools were to be run and how young Episcopalians were to be educated. (Okay, once again it's a Tombstone Thing).

EPISCOPALIAN SCHOOLS
John McCain is a product of an Episcopalian school system. That heartens me much, because the system was perfected by Endicott Peabody at Groton School. (Peabody’s Tombstone diary can be purchased from the author by contacting moi. It is $19.95 plus shipping). In Groton, Endicott Peabody created the model Episcopalian school in this country. His time in Tombstone, building St. Paul’s Episcopal Church greatly influenced his life. (Tombstone diary available) If you are interested, the 2nd biographical paragraph in the Wiki version of Peabody’s life in Tombstone, comes directly from my book.

Unfortunately Endicott Peabody never left much of a paper trail. He insisted on doing everything by hand, then tossing it when he was finished. If there had been a paper trail, he would be known as the American C. S. Lewis. He believed in “Muscular Christianity”, honor, decency, and service. Because of my book about him, November 17 has been designated as the celebration day for his life, in the process of becoming an Anglican Saint. He is now considered the “patron saint” of the Episcopal Diocese in Arizona.

And so, once again we go back to Arizona, Tombstone, and Wyatt Earp and the ongoing connections to John McCain.