# 308, February 4, 2004

COLUMBUS: I’ve been getting all kind of calls this week, asking “what would Will say about the Super Bowl?” Well, based on what everybody has been talking about since Sunday, as a public service let me first tell you that it turned out to be a great game, probably one of the best Super Bowls ever played.

New England won 32 to 29 over Carolina, on a field goal with four seconds left. You football fans already knew that, but I put the score in just for the benefit of the ones that only tuned in for the commercials and half time show.

I didn’t see the MTV half time show myself. Like most older guys, I took a break till they got back to football. But I heard about it next morning.

But you asked me what I think about it, so I’ll tell you. Many folks were offended, and if you had children watching, downright mad. And I sure don’t want to contribute to your outrage. But I figure a lot of older guys, the lifetime football fans, are probably thinking, kinda like Johnny Carson you know, if it had to happen… not that we wanted it to, mind you, but if it was gonna come off…, why couldn’t it have been a few years ago, when the halftime singer was Dolly Parton.

But really, I liked it better when the entertainment was marching bands, and maybe a college drill team.

Despite all this distraction, they held elections in seven states Tuesday, and Senator Kerry took five including Missouri, New Mexico and Arizona. But General Clark took Oklahoma, and that bumped the senator off the Route 66 “road to the White House”. He might still get there, but it’ll be without Oklahoma.

You may have missed the news, but Senator Lieberman dropped out. Nobody seemed to know he was running, and now, hardly anybody knows he quit. It could have been a whole lot better for him if he had just made a bigger splash, got more attention to his stand on things. Seeing all the publicity and notoriety those two halftime singers are getting, he may be wondering today, “why didn’t I think of pulling a stunt like that during an Iowa debate, before Carol Moseley Braun dropped out”.

Senator Kerry is attracting all the Democrats attention now. They say he’s a tool of the special interests, taking money from lobbyists. He explained that, yes, he took their money, but he never let that influence his vote. Earlier, Governor Dean drilled him for not getting any bills through Congress, and Mr. Kerry told him that wasn’t exactly true. He explained to us how Congress really works, that whenever a Senator sees that his own bill won’t pass, he just tacks it onto a good one that’s guaranteed to get the votes.

So this week on television, we got lessons on democracy, and anatomy. One was just as foolish as the other. But they’re nice folks at heart and mean well.

Historic quote from Will Rogers:

“Putting a lobbyist out of business is like a hired man trying to fire his boss.” DT #2704, April 5, 1935