SteveSilver.net

In DC

We interrupt this hiatus for a three-part description of my recent two-day business trip to our nation's capital:

Part I: National Paul

I was in town to cover a conference by a certain industry association, and for the Wednesday night keynote address, this group elected to bring in former Clinton White House aide and CNN co-host Paul Begala. A bit of a curious choice, especially considering that Begala a) has nothing whatsoever to do with that industry, and b) is a liberal Democrat, whereas the majority of that industry's legislative agenda is solidly Republican. But still, Begala gave a funny and memorable speech. Some highlights:

- Begala's opening statement, when he discussed how "Crossfire"'s format wasn't exactly conducive to multifaceted, nuanced political debate, was almost exactly in line with Jon Stewart's famous takedown of the program last October. Then again, I guess Begala can agree- unlike Tucker Carlson, Stewart never called him a "dick."

- He discussed how when Clinton entered office, Begala and his wife had no children, and now they have four- so Bill was an inspiration, in more ways than one. He also did a flawless Clinton impression, better than Darrell Hammond's but not as good as Phil Hartman's.

- He pointed out that America isn't that divided after all, especially since the two parties mostly agree on the big things (Chris Matthews has said this, calling it "arguing within the 40-yard lines.") He also said that the Bush White House wants what's best for America, they just go about it the wrong way- which is a lot more charitable than most partisan Democrats would view it (but probably less charitable than Alan Colmes).

- Begala, who opposed the Iraq War, nevertheless denied that we invaded Iraq for the oil. "If we wanted oil," he said, "we'd have invaded Venezuela- it's closer, the weather's better, and they have no army."

- He denied liberal bias in the media, saying that they have more of a scandal and sensationalist bias than a liberal one (see this asinine Hugh Hewitt column for the opposite view- that the liberal press "loves" Howard Dean because he always gives them scandals to write about. If that were true, the Democratic presidential nominee would be Michael Jackson.) Begala, meanwhile, didn't deny that Dean is "nuts," but defended his recent comment that the Republicans are the party of "white Christians" because, in fact, it's true.

- His predictions for '08- if Hillary runs she's the frontrunner, but he talks to her all the time and isn't sure she will. On the Republican side, he thinks the best bet is George Allen (I tend to agree there).

- I got to talk to Begala afterward, and while I didn't have the courage to ask him about either the Stewart thing or Chris Kattan's SNL impression of him ("you're a virgin, aren't you, Begala?"), I did ask him if he remembered my sister, a "Crossfire" intern a couple years ago. He said he did, but she assures me he's full of shit.

All in all a good speech by someone who's much more affable and likable in person than on TV- and I'll try not to be too resentful that he was probably paid more to give the speech than I'm making this year or next.

Part II: Nationals Tall

With nothing to do in DC on a nice night, and having looked at the MLB schedule earlier in the week, I decided to take in a Washington Nationals game. And I lucked out- as I was approaching the ticket window, three college kids told me they had an extra ticket and asked if I wanted it for $20. Great seats too- 12 rows up on the first base line. Again, a few notes:

- I'd been hoping for years that Washington would finally get a team, and judging by my first game there, it was a very good idea on MLB's part. The entire lower bowl of the stadium looked completely full, and the crowd was with the Nats on every pitch, as they beat Oakland 7-2. The crowd even stood up for the entire ninth, which I'm not used to seeing outside of World Series games. They're really the perfect fans- they've got all the passion of East Coast fans, but none of the cynicism.

- RFK's not much of a baseball stadium, but they did a decent enough job configuring it, with the crowd close to the action and large enough dimensions that not every batted ball flies out of the park. Plenty of them did though- the Nats hit three homers, all to right field, and rookie outfielder Ryan Church had three hits.

- There's a bust outside the stadium of Clark Griffith, who owned the Washington Senators for much of the first half of the 20th century. There is so such bust of his son Calvin, who moved the team to Minnesota in '61 and is thus responsible for the creation of the Twins.

- The Nats, now in first place, looked quite good- but the A's? Yecch. Doesn't seem as though that Moneyball stuff is working out so well this year. But it was still nice to see old friend Bobby Kielty get a couple of hits.

- In front of us was a 13-year-old kid, with his father, and the kid joined every one of our baseball conversations, even correcting any mistakes we made (such as when I couldn't remember who Oakland got from Atlanta for Tim Hudson). When I was 13, I was that kid.

- Speaking of which, one of my earliest baseball memories was going to a Twins game in '85 or so, and at the end looking down into the Twins dugout and seeing the utility infielder Ron Washington taking off his batting gloves. Washington is now Oakland's third base coach, so it was nice to see him again.

- And when I got back to my hotel, I turned on the TV to find that the Twins were about to beat Arizona 10-0, with Johan Santana going the distance. What a great baseball night- the only other time I'd gone to a game on a Washington trip was in '92, when my dad and I took a train trip to Camden Yards.

Part III: National Mall

- Never one to skip out on the historical side of DC while on a trip there, I decided to take a late-night walk along the Washington Mall- except I misjudged where to get off the Metro, so I ended up walking all the way from the Washington Monument to the Lincoln Memorial. Though on the way I passed by the World War II Memorial, which is absolutely breathtaking, especially at night. Then I took a walk by the reflecting pool- so strange that I could be standing somewhere that practically every single American is familiar with, yet be completely alone, at 11:00 on a Wednesday night.

And finally, reaching the Lincoln Memorial brought back one of my favorite memories, from that same trip I took with my dad. We were standing next to the Lincoln statue, when another kid and his dad came along, and had this exchange (which you'll especially appreciate if you're Jewish):

Son: What kind of a name is Abraham, anyway?

Dad: Why, it's a Christian name. Like, from the Bible.

I'm off to Pittsburgh- be back Monday, with more tales from the ballpark tour.

Posted by Stephen Silver at June 10, 2005 12:36 PM