Dallas Morning News: Craig James to run for Senate

[MountainOkie]

ESPN relaying Dallas Morning News article:


Report: Craig James to enter politics
ESPN college football analyst Craig James will run for an open U.S. Senate seat from Texas, the Dallas Morning News reported Tuesday.

James, who played collegiately at Southern Methodist in Dallas, will file papers to run in the Republican primary by a Thursday deadline, the paper said, citing sources close to James' campaign.

An ESPN spokesman issued a statement for the network, saying: "Craig told us today that he hasn't decided if he plans to run."

The Texas Republican primary is March 6. The general election is next November. The seat is currently occupied by Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison, a Republican who is not running for re-election.

Link: http://espn.go.com/dallas/ncf/story/_/id/7349826/espn-college-football-analyst-craig-james-ready-run-texas-republican-primary-report-says

[SoonerinSouthlake]

ESPN relaying Dallas Morning News article:



Link: -run-texas-republican-primary-report-says[/COLOR]"]http://espn.go.com/dallas/ncf/story/_/id/7349826/espn-college-football-analyst-craig-james-ready-run-texas-republican-primary-report-says (http://espn.go.com/dallas/ncf/story/_/id/7349826/espn-college-football-analyst-craig-james-ready[COLOR="#000000)

wow....I finally found a reason to vote democrat

[EatLeadCommie]

Against Cornyn? He has no chance. Probably just a dry run for Kay Bailey's seat.

[EatLeadCommie]

oh wait, my bad...this is for Kay Bailey's seat. Ugh. He has a chance then.

[SoonerDood]

so ESPN won't get to fire him? :(

[ictsooner7]

wow....I finally found a reason to vote democrat


First see my signature below, second more proof that teabaggers are ruining America!

The Mike Leach Saga Cannot Be Good News For Craig James’ Political Aspirations

ESPN’s Craig James has political ambitions. That much was obvious when he considered a run for U.S. Senate last year. And in case that didn’t get the point across, there’s his group Texans for a Better America, which doesn’t say anything explicit about a run for office, but says it’s “about reconnecting people with the values, ideas, and founding principles that have not only made Texas the envy of our nation, but would transform our country.” The core values of the group are the Constitution, free markets, and American exceptionalism – pretty much pulled straight from the Tea Party playbook. Make no mistake: James is thinking politically.

There is, however, one problem with all of this, and it’s a problem that got a lot worse yesterday. As you might have heard, former Texas Tech coach Mike Leach, fired after alleged mistreatment of James’ son (and Tech receiver) Adam, has a new book out. It doesn’t make the James family look good – indeed, it presents documented evidence that Craig James employed a PR firm – not to mention his own influence as an ESPN analyst – in order to manipulate media coverage of the Leach-Adam James situation and undermine the coach.

Craig James PR Firm Blogged Using ‘Pseudonyms’

Posted by Brooks on Mar. 14, 2010, 3:27pm

On Jan. 10 I reported that Craig James hired Dallas-based public relations firm Spaeth Communications before he went public to complain about Texas Tech football coach Mike Leach’s treatment of his son Adam.



That followed a Jan. 8 piece I wrote about the James-hired p.r. firm, which was the architect of the “Swiftboat” public relations campaign launched against 2004 presidential candidate John Kerry.

Melinda Alvarado of FOX 34 in Lubbock and Katie Bauer of NBC’s KCBD-TV in Lubbock report Craig James testified under oath on Saturday about Spaeth’s role in, based on James’ comments in his deposition, what appears to be a concerted public relations campaign designed to discredit Leach.


Alvarado reports for FOX 34:

Ted Liggett, counsel for Mike Leach, says Craig James admitted he has hired Spaeth Communications Group out of Dallas, and that Spaeth Communicated with Texas Tech in a manner to manipulate messages to the media regarding Adam James and Mike Leach. Including actually using pseudonyms to go online and blog and try to shake the nature of the news.

Bauer of KCBD also noted of James’ sworn testimony:

Liggett says during the deposition, Craig admitted he hired a communications group out of Dallas to manipulate messages to the media, including those closet videos that were circulating on the web.

The “closet videos” of Adam James first surfaced when posted on WFAA-TV’s website in Dallas on Dec. 30 with the following attribution:

“This video link was given to WFAA.com by representatives of the James familiy. We have found that it is Adam James in a electrical closet, but we do not know if it was during a practice.”

Until his deposition on Saturday, Craig James never identified who was responsible for uploading the videos and circulating them to the media via a pseudonym.

Though Spaeth Communications founder Merrie Spaeth confirmed to me on the record on Jan. 10 that her firm was behind providing the unattributed Adam James video to WFAA. From my Jan. 10 post:



Spaeth also provided previously unreported details about the Adam James cellphone video. She said that James actually shot two videos during his separate confiments at Texas Tech practices and, “showed them to his parents.”

Those videos were part of the impetus for Craig James taking the complaint against Leach public. Immediately after the second video was shot, Craig James contacted Spaeth to advise him.

Spaeth said the public release of the Adam James cellphone video was based on prior statements by Leach: “We came to a consensus that the video should be released to the public after Leach said some things that were at odds with Adam’s story.”

Adam James also gave a sworn deposition Saturday in Lubbock. Alvarado of FOX 34 reports of his statements under oath:

Liggett also says they stand by sworn testimony from Trainer Steve Pincock and several others, that Adam James was never told to go into an electrical closet. Liggett says Adam admitted under oath, that while in the media room, he was told to stay there, and that he didn’t follow instructions and that he went into the electrical closet and he took the film.

As an aside, on Jan. 1, Pete Thamel and Thayer Evans of the NEW YORK TIMES reported that according to a sworn statement by Tech Trainer Pincock, Leach never had knowledge of where the trainer placed Adam James.

Based on sworn statements from Adam James and Tech Trainer Steve Pincock, Adam was never ordered confined to the electrical closet and only went into the area to shoot video. That video was later released anonymously by Craig James-hired Spaeth Communications on Youtube with an accompanying blog post that stated in part:

This video was taken by Adam James, a player on the Texas Tech Red Raider football team on Saturday, December 19th, after being confined by Coach Mike Leach in an electrical closet off the Press Room at Jones AT&T Stadium.

At 2:02pm on Dec. 30, 2009, the ASSOCIATED PRESS reported Mike Leach was fired by Texas Tech. That dismissal was met with shock and outrage by Texas Tech fans, students and donors. Donors who have subsequently stop giving money to the school, causing academic program cuts.

At 7:50pm on Dec. 30, 2009, the Adam James video that was uploaded under a pseudonym on Youtube was posted to WFAA-TV’s website in Dallas and subsequently broadcast on ESPN, the network that employs Craig James.

Based on on the record comments from Merrie Spaeth to me, sworn statements from Craig and Adam James and Texas Tech Trainer Steve Pincock, it appears that it would not be inaccurate to observe that Craig James used a public relations firm to spread misinformation about the nature of Adam James’ confinement.

That misinformation was then reported and broadcast by James employer ESPN, along with other main media outlets, and may have damaged the reputation of Leach and affected the coach’s subsequent wrongful termination lawsuit against the school.

[soonercoop1]

Has to be a joke. He would have to be delusional.

[Lott's Bandana]

Let him run for a state office, keep him out of Washington.

Texas deserves him if he is elected, we don't.


:hopelessness:

[I Am Right]

Reading his own press.

[ictsooner7]

Reading his own press.

or the press from the pr firm he hired to get Leach fired..

[sooneredaco]

So what's new? Another slime ball in politics? Nothing to see here folks, it's business as usual. You are now free to go on with your regularly scheduled programming.

[VA Sooner]

What a putz... run for congress... should be very entertaining, Pony Man.

[sooneron]

I'm not really surprised about the hiring of the PR firm. Yeah, he's supposed to be a "journalist", but he's not even close, he's a pundit/talking head. If I were going after someone to get them fired and I knew there would be a media ****storm, I would prolly hire a PR firm, too.

[Breadburner]

Yes...Because he cant do anything else right......

[EatLeadCommie]

Has to be a joke. He would have to be delusional.
like every other politician...

he's perfect for DC and politics with his history of destruction (his part in the SMU death penalty and the firing of Leach)

[Prodigal]

He is a perfect example of the kind of person we need to get out of Washington.

Personally I think the Texas Republicans usually figure out what guys like this are all about, but God help us if he has no good Repub challengers.

[ictsooner7]

He is a perfect example of the kind of person we need to get out of Washington.

Personally I think the Texas Republicans usually figure out what guys like this are all about, but God help us if he has no good Repub challengers.

REALLY??? you are talking about the same people who gave us dubya and rick "idiot" perry. Seems those folks down there like incompetent morons!

[nighttrain12]

wow....I finally found a reason to vote democrat

Or you could vote for another Republican in the primary. That way you won't have to hold your nose and vote Demo in the General election.

[bluedogok]

Has to be a joke. He would have to be delusional.
He is plenty delusional enough....

[hawaii 5-0]

I find that James would even consider a Senate run laughable.

5-0

[TanTanFeil]

What a dumba**

[BajaOklahoma]

The 10 o'clock news reported that Staubach, Aikman, and several other former Dallas Cowboys have announced support for his opponent.
Does this mean that eSpin will have to black him out in Texas during the campaign - that would be great.

[WileyCoyote]

And IF he were elected, the question then becomes... Does the Phony Pony run for the White House in 2016/2020 ? Gawd... the depths to which we have sunk. (Make mine a double, straight up, no rocks.)

[sooneron]

REALLY??? you are talking about the same people who gave us dubya and rick "idiot" perry. Seems those folks down there like incompetent morons!

Keep it to football or CJ's general dooshery. Otherwise, go to the politics forum. plz

[GreenSooner]

Keep it to football or CJ's general dooshery. Otherwise, go to the politics forum. plz

That ought to give everyone plenty to talk about. See this hilarious SI item (http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2011/writers/richard_deitsch/08/22/collegefootball.television/index.html) from earlier this year.

[TheHumanAlphabet]

Against Cornyn? He has no chance. Probably just a dry run for Kay Bailey's seat.
This,it is Kay's seat, he will lose nontheless.

[Soonerfan88]

There are enough Leach fans throughout the state that I doubt he even makes it out of the primaries.

He's such a dousch..

[ictsooner7]

Keep it to football or CJ's general dooshery. Otherwise, go to the politics forum. plz


Did you not read the title of the thread? The whole thing is politics! I notice you didn't tell the repub's to keep it to football.

[hawaii 5-0]

I just hope Mack Clown doesn't decide to run for elected oriface.


5-0

[hawaii 5-0]

I just hope Mack Clown doesn't decide to run for elected oriface.


5-0

[Keller Sooner]

I hope he gets Jesse Palmer to be his Campaign Manager!

[SoonerLaw09]

This needs to be moved to the political forum, plzmods.

[Frozen Sooner]

I agree. People, nobody wants to hear your pet political theories on the Football board.

[badger]

Craig James: Hello, my name is Craig James...

Texas: :mad:

Craig James: Let me start over. My name is REPUBLICAN.

Texas :)

Craig James: Back when I played football

Texas: :)

Craig James: At SMU and taking benefits to put em on the death penalty...

Texas: :mad:

Craig James: Let me start over... I support the DEATH PENALTY!

Texas: :)

Craig James: I used to play football in the USFL!

Texas: :confused:

Craig James: And the NFL!

Texas: :D

Craig James: And my son got Mike Leach fired from Texas Tech!

Texas: :mad:

Craig James: Let me start over...I work for ESPN!

Texas: :rcmad:

Craig James: Oh yeah, half of you are Aggies...

[texd]

He's completely delusional. Whether or not CRAIG JAMES KILLED FIVE HOOKERS WHILE AT SMU is beside the point, as he doesn't stand a chance in this race.

[IBleedCrimson]

If al franken can be a senator, anyone can. God Bless America.

[ictsooner7]

If al franken can be a senator, anyone can. God Bless America.

He is a hell of a lot smarter than any treasonous republicant, look at the band of idiots you have running for president

[SoonerLaw09]

He is a hell of a lot smarter than any treasonous republicant, look at the band of idiots you have running for president

I agree. I'd rather replace that airhead in the White House with somebody who can think straight and speak for himself without a script. And who will actually lead the country as opposed to just making campaign and fundraising speeches, dotted with a few golf outings and pickup hoops games. The people I wanted to run, didn't, so I'm stuck with the least objectionable of several bad choices.

[OULenexaman]

you left out his world wide apology tour...:miserable:

[ictsooner7]

you left out his world wide apology tour...:miserable:

What appology tour? Show me. PROVE IT as you people like to say.

[ictsooner7]

you left out his world wide apology tour...:miserable:

Find me one quote from The President where he apologized! FIND IT. Show it to me, it is a lie, it never happened. IGNORANT!


Obama's 'Apology Tour'
By Glenn Kessler


"I think he had made a practice of trying to apologize for America. I personally am proud of America."
--Former defense secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld, Feb. 20, 2011

"I will not and I will never apologize for America. I don't apologize for America, because I believe in America."
--Former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney (author of "No Apology: The Case for American Greatness"), Feb. 11, 2011

"Mr. President, stop apologizing for our country."
--Former Minnesota governor Tim Pawlenty, Feb. 11, 2011


The Fact Checker senses a campaign theme emerging: Obama the apologizer.

As the above quotes illustrate, it is an article of faith among top Republicans that President Obama has repeatedly apologized for the United States and its behavior. Even more, the argument goes, he does not believe in American strength and greatness. The assertion feeds into a subterranean narrative that Obama, with his exotic, mixed-race background, is not really American in the first place.

The claim that Obama is an apologist for America actually began to take shape shortly after he became president. It had been bubbling in the conservative blogs before Karl Rove, the former political adviser to George W. Bush, published an article titled "The President's Apology Tour" in the Wall Street Journal on April 23, 2009, just three months after Obama took the oath of office.

By June, the conservative Heritage Foundation began running a list: "Barack Obama's Top 10 Apologies: How the President Has Humiliated a Superpower."

Public-opinion polling suggests the idea has resonance among the American public. A December Gallup poll found that only 58 percent of those surveyed agreed that Obama believed the United States has a unique character that makes it the greatest country in the world; 37 percent said he did not. By contrast, 74 percent thought George W. Bush did, 77 percent though Bill Clinton did, and 86 percent thought Ronald Reagan did. Among Republicans, 61 percent thought Obama did not believe in the greatness of America.

Let's look at the evidence.


The Facts

Most of the criticism stems from a series of speeches that Obama made shortly after taking office, when he was trying to introduce himself to the world and also signify a break with the Bush administration with new policies, such as pledging to close the detainee facility at Guantanamo Bay.

This is typical of many new presidents. George W. Bush, for instance, quickly broke with Clinton administration policy on dealings with North Korea, the Kyoto climate change treaty and the international criminal court, to name a few.

Rove built his case around four quotes made by Obama:

Mr. Obama told the French (the French!) that America "has shown arrogance and been dismissive, even derisive" toward Europe. In Prague, he said America has "a moral responsibility to act" on arms control because only the U.S. had "used a nuclear weapon." In London, he said that decisions about the world financial system were no longer made by "just Roosevelt and Churchill sitting in a room with a brandy" -- as if that were a bad thing. And in Latin America, he said the U.S. had not "pursued and sustained engagement with our neighbors" because we "failed to see that our own progress is tied directly to progress throughout the Americas."

In none of these cases does Obama actually use a word at all similar to "apologize." The Latin American comment might have resonance with Rove's old boss, since that was Bush's charge against the Clinton administration in the 2000 campaign. The Prague and London quotes are not apologies at all. The Paris quote, which is often cited as an apology, is taken out of context.

In Paris, Obama was trying to rebuild relations with Europe, where opposition to the Iraq war had run high. The quote in Paris often cited by conservatives is this: "In America, there's a failure to appreciate Europe's leading role in the world. Instead of celebrating your dynamic union and seeking to partner with you to meet common challenges, there have been times where America has shown arrogance and been dismissive, even derisive."

That doesn't sound like much of an apology, more of a statement of fact that few international-relations experts would quarrel with. But Obama was making the case that both sides had misunderstood each other, and so he also said: "But in Europe, there is an anti-Americanism that is at once casual, but can also be insidious. Instead of recognizing the good that America so often does in the world, there have been times where Europeans choose to blame America for much of what's bad."

The two sentences are a matched pair; there is no apology.

The Heritage Foundation list is also a stretch. Again, nothing akin to the word "apology" is ever used by Obama. In most of these cases, Obama is trying to make a clear distinction with his predecessor, much as Ronald Reagan did with Jimmy Carter, or George W. Bush with Clinton. Guantanamo or the war on terrorism figures in four of the so-called apologies -- and it is noteworthy during the 2000 campaign that Obama's GOP opponent, Sen. John McCain, also had said he would close the facility. Obama's comments express a disagreement over policy, not a distaste for the nation.

Another Heritage example is a speech Obama gave in April 2009 to the Turkish parliament, in which he was trying to urge that country to come to terms with its tragic history with the Armenians: "The United States is still working through some of our own darker periods in our history. Facing the Washington Monument that I spoke of is a memorial of Abraham Lincoln, the man who freed those who were enslaved even after Washington led our Revolution."

But compare what Obama said to what George W. Bush said at Senegal's Goree Island in 2003. Bush called the U.S. constitution flawed and said that America is still troubled by the legacy of slavery. This does not seem like an apology, either -- but it is even more sharply framed than Obama's comments.

We can fairly judge the past by the standards of President John Adams, who called slavery "an evil of callosal magnitude." We can discern eternal standards in the deeds of William Wilberforce and John Quincy Adams, and Harriet Beecher Stowe and Abraham Lincoln. These men and women, black and white, burned with a zeal for freedom, and they left behind a different and better nation. Their moral vision caused Americans to examine our hearts, to correct our Constitution, and to teach our children the dignity and equality of every person of every race. By a plan known only to Providence, the stolen sons and daughters of Africa helped to awaken the conscience of America. The very people traded into slavery helped to set America free. My nation's journey toward justice has not been easy and it is not over. The racial bigotry fed by slavery did not end with slavery or with segregation. And many of the issues that still trouble America have roots in the bitter experience of other times. But however long the journey, our destination is set: liberty and justice for all.

Why would Obama's comment on slavery be considered an apology and not Bush's?

Similarly, Bush's secretary of state, Condoleezza Rice suggested in Cairo in 2005 that U.S. policies were directly responsible for the terrorism that had struck the United States: "Our policies to try and promote what we thought was stability in the Middle East had actually allowed, underneath, a very malignant, meaning cancerous, form of extremism to grow up underneath because people didn't have outlets for their political views."

Obama, meanwhile, has refused to apologize for past CIA meddling in Latin America. "I'm interested in going forward, not looking backward," Obama said after talks with Chilean leader Michelle Bachelet. "I think that the United States has been an enormous force for good in the world. I think there have been times where we've made mistakes. But I think that what is important is looking at what our policies are today, and what my administration intends to do in cooperating with the region."

But Bush on several occasions apologized to foreign governments for actions taken by U.S. soldiers, such as for the shooting of a Koran or prisoner abuse in Iraq. "I told him I was sorry for the humiliation suffered by the Iraqi prisoners and the humiliation suffered by their families," Bush said at a news conference with Jordan's King Abdullah.

Finally, critics point to another April 2009 statement by Obama as evidence that he does not believe in American exceptionalism.

Asked by a British reporter if he thought the United States was uniquely qualified to lead the world, Obama answered: "I believe in American exceptionalism, just as I suspect that the Brits believe in British exceptionalism and the Greeks believe in Greek exceptionalism." As Romney put it in his book, this "is another way of saying he doesn't believe it all."

But Obama was just getting warmed up. His very next sentence was: "I'm enormously proud of my country and its role and history in the world." Obama continued: "If you think of our current situation, the United States remains the largest economy in the world. We have unmatched military capability. And I think that we have a core set of values that are enshrined in our Constitution, in our body of law, in our democratic practices, in our belief in free speech and equality, that, though imperfect, are exceptional."

In the early months of his presidency, Obama had a way of backing into his answers, starting off with a humble tone ("just as I suspect the Brits...") that some supporters of American power may have found grating. But snippets of his answers do not do justice to his complete remarks.

The Pinocchio Test

The claim that Obama repeatedly has apologized for the United States is not borne out by the facts, especially if his full quotes are viewed in context.

Obama often was trying to draw a rhetorical distinction between his policies and that of President Bush, a common practice when the presidency changes parties. The shift in policies, in fact, might have been more dramatic from Clinton to Bush than from Bush to Obama, given how Obama has largely maintained Bush's approach to fighting terrorism.

In other cases, Obama's quotes have been selectively trimmed for political purposes. Or they were not much different than sentiments expressed by Bush or his secretary of state. Republicans may certainly disagree with Obama's handling of foreign policy or particular policies he has pursued, but they should not invent a storyline that does not appear to exist.

Note to GOP speechwriters and campaign ad makers: The apology tour never happened.
Four Pinocchios

[OULenexaman]

holy crap.....even the biggest and baddest *** commercial grade washing machine made doesn't have that fast a spin cycle.

[okie52]

SAVE AMERICA AND VOTE DEMOCRAT!!


Thought provoking and inspiring.

[MountainOkie]

I truly feel that Craig James's bull plop is of such a fine and pure grade that it transcends the limitations of party.


All hail the great uniter! All hail the doosh-weasel!