Ali calls the fight for Kerry!!!

[goclark]

Mid way down in the article, you will see what Ali thinks of Bush!
He knows a knock out punch when he sees one!

How I wish that Ali could make an appearance with Kerry!

Isn't Ali from Kentucky?
Oh, that would be 'outa sight!

http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/story/_/id/6562575?rnd=1098460191406&has-player=true&version=6.0.11.847

Ali:yourock:

[Arkana]

1. My personal favorite passage...

This is why LBJ is one of my favorite Democratic Presidents.

"Back in 1948, during his first race for the U.S. Senate, Lyndon Johnson was running about ten points behind, with only nine days to go. He was sunk in despair. He was desperate. And it was just before noon on a Monday, they say, when he called his equally depressed campaign manager and instructed him to call a press conference for just before lunch on a slow news day and accuse his high-riding opponent, a pig farmer, of having routine carnal knowledge of his barnyard sows, despite the pleas of his wife and children.

His campaign manager was shocked. "We can't say that, Lyndon," he supposedly said. "You know it's not true."

"Of course it's not true!" Johnson barked at him. "But let's make the bastard deny it!"

Johnson -- a Democrat, like Bill Clinton -- won that election by fewer than a hundred votes, and after that he was home free. He went on to rule Texas and the U.S. Senate for twenty years and to be the most powerful vice president in the history of the United States. Until now."

[goclark]

4. I loved the whole article

I have never read Rolling Stone so this opened my eyes to the worth of the author.

It is a must read IMO.

[Philostopher]

2. Ali's from Louisville, yes.

I have to say it -- The Daily Show and Rolling Stone have been incredible sources of information the past year or so on the campaigns. RS has stepped up to the plate again this year, providing lots of coverage of issues that don't get play in the dailies and on TV.

Say what you will about the degradation of Rolling Stone as a vehicle for information about music and musicians, over the years, Jann Wenner's 'one of us' and he's really gone above and beyond the call of duty this time around.

[htuttle]

3. Great Hunter S Thompson article!

Man, nobody turns a phrase like HST.

Right from the starting sentence of the article, he's pulled me in:

"Armageddon came early for George Bush this year, and he was not ready for it. "

Well worth a read! (and talks about a LOT more than just Ali).

[Jeff in Cincinnati]

5. Old journalism rule

The purpose of the first sentence is to get your reader to the second sentence...

Thompson is a master craftsman.

[htuttle]

7. He's certainly the master of the first sentence

The classic still comes from Fear and Loathing, etc...:

"We were somewhere around Barstow on the edge of the desert when the drugs began
to take hold"

[Jeff in Cincinnati]

8. It's in all the truly twisted journalism textbooks!

[goclark]

17. I like his writing style a lot

I need to pick up a copy of Rolling Stone.

[Roland99]

12. Well, Thompson *was* born in Louisville!

:D

[FrankenforMN]

6. Why have I seen him pretending to box with Bush on TV then?

[goclark]

10. Maybe he wanted to knock him out! nt

[von Staufenberg]

9. Ali's early nickname was the Louisville Lip

I'm a Louisvillian, and Ali is still revered here, as well as he should be.
Here's another little nugget: Hunter S. (the author you cite) is from Louisville as well.

[goclark]

11. They are Homeboys! nt

[Sparkly]

13. Didn't Kerry quote him recently -- "Is that all you got, George?"

In reply to the "you can run but you can't hide."

[goclark]

14. Was Kerry quoting Ali

as it relates to Bush? It sure as hell fits the situation.

Or was Kerry using the "Is That All You Got" quote from Ali?

Either way, I would love to see Kerry with Ali in these last few days of the campaign.

Ali is a winner and so is Kerry!

[LittleClarkie]

15. The Texas Dem at our GOTV seemed to think so

She explained the Ali link probably in case some of us didn't follow that fight (wasn't it Forman who kept saying "You can run but you can't hide"?)

We had a great time with that phrase at the GOTV convention.

[goclark]

16. Who is George Forman supporting?

For some reason I think it would be Bush.
Hope not!

I still want Kerry with Ali asap.