Managing Editor Scott Wright has been with The Post since 1998. He is a two-time winner of the Society of Professional Journalists' Green Eyeshade Award for humorous commentary. He is also the author of "A History of Weiss Lake" and "Fire on the Mountain: The Undefeated 1985 Sand Rock Wildcats,"  both available at www.amazon.com. He is a native of Cherokee County.

The Wright Angle
Nov. 22, 2010

Plenty of turkey to pass around

By Scott Wright

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Time to pass around a few Thanksgiving turkey legs, and my premise is pretty simple: If, in my humble opinion, someone has done something on the bowling ball side of sharp, they're a “turkey” and get a leg to show for it. Everybody got it? OK, let's eat.

In an attempt to lead off this column with at least a modicum of fairness, I award my first turkey leg to President Barack Obama – but not because I disagree with the work he's doing. Rather, I'm upset that he campaigned so horribly for his party in the run-up to Nov. 2. Obama failed, miserably, to convince the majority of voters in this country that has been doing a good job. After all, he and the Democratic Congress passed health care reform which will cover an addition 32 million Americans and cut the deficit by $140 billion over 10 years. They also created a system of regulators for the iffy financial products that created the banking crisis, and put together a stimulus package that economists across the nation agree helped stave off another Great Depression. Unfortunately, Obama's reward for those accomplishments (and dozens of others) was a thorough drubbing for his party at the polls.

Mr. President, what happened to the communication skills you used so adeptly two years ago? While you contemplate your answer, have a turkey leg.

I award a Talladega concession stand-sized turkey leg to the Alabama Democratic Party. That train wreck of an election contest on Nov. 2 was downright embarrassing. I know, I know … some of you got tied up in a gambling investigation and that didn't help at the polls. But the rest of you – for failing to realize that your message before the election should have been that “all politics is local” – got what you deserved.

Take a look at our very own Richard Lindsey, who repeatedly emphasized his decades of hard work and dedication to folks right here in District 39 on his way to another term in the state House. Lindsey got it right, but many other Democrats got mixed up in the fight the Republicans wanted to wage – that of defending, and differentiating, themselves from President Obama and the Democrats in Washington. That was the wrong fight to try and wage in the state of Alabama, guys and gals. The scant few of you who are still standing might want to write that down somewhere so you don't forget it come 2012.

On the other side of the aisle, the Republican most deserving of a fat, greasy turkey leg has to be newly-elected Maryland Rep. Andy Harris. Harris, who “won his campaign on a message of opposition to repeal of the Democratic health care reform legislation,” was livid last week during a Washington orientation session when he found out his new, health care plan has a 30-day waiting period. A congressional staffer in the room said Harris then inquired about purchasing stop-gap insurance from the government until the regular policy kicks in. The aide was “struck by the similarity [between] Harris's request and the public option he denounced as a gateway to socialized medicine” during his campaign.
So am I. Enjoy your meal, hypocrite.

I wanted to conclude the column with an Iron Bowl-related turkey leg – but who to give it to? At this point, it's hard to say who's most deserving. It might be Cam Newton, or his father, if those pay-for-play allegations turn out to be true. So far, though, the whole things sounds like a bunch of bunk to me. (Thank goodness the NCAA is investigating. By the time Cam's professional football career is over, we should have the whole story straightened out.)

A few regional newspaper nitwits (who've apparently never played football) have been saying Nick Saban deserves a reprimand for slapping his backup quarterback on the behind late in the Mississippi State game. That's ridiculous, because anyone who knows football surely realizes that Saban had no intention of causing any harm. Heck, if Auburn defensive lineman Nick Fairley gets his hands on Alabama's Greg McElroy, sophomore signal-caller A.J. McCarron may be the only shot the Crimson Tide has Friday afternoon.

Goodness knows, we don't seem to be able to run the ball very well.