Just depends on who you ask
Warren Bell at the Corner beat me to this. I was listening to this on the way back to the office from a Doctor's appointment that-wasn't and it raised an eyebrow. I'll let him explain:
Lamps[Jim Lampley], subbing for Jim Rome on his daily sports radio show, thinks that anti-Iraq War sentiment cost New York in the bid for the 2012 Summer Olympics, but think anti-Iraq War sentiment did not cost London support, as London won in a final runoff against Paris. Lampley's "reasoning" suggests that George Bush and by extension the U.S. and New York are seen as the prime movers of the Iraq War in world opinion, and Tony Blair is seen as a "fellow traveler" (interesting choice of words.) When his logic was questioned by an e-mailer, Lampley admitted that he had no proof of this, but said he was basing his assumptions on "polling data" he had seen on the IOC members. Lampley, as we know, loves polling data.
The crack on Lampley's grasp of polling and research methodology not withstanding, Bell is right; an interesting choice of words. "Fellow traveler,"..."Lap dog." Just depends on who you ask I guess...
1 comment:
Of course none of this had anything to do with the West Side stadium deal falling through. Ahhh, I can remember the TV commercials now. "Firehouses are closing all over the city, and Michael Bloomber wants to spend $600M on a football stadium????" Yes, people. On a football stadium. The centerpiece of the Olympic push. Tax revenues. Tourist dollars. The Jets back in New York. Even more tax dollars. A new convention center to replace the decaying Javitz Center which is part of the reason NY is no longer a convention destination. Yes, more tax revenues. Doing something with the West Side railyards which sit idle, generate no revenue for the city and are an eyesore.
Bloomberg and Doctoroff did an incredible job rebounding by getting Plan B done in short order (a new Mets stadium in Queens), but you have to admit that the reputations of Queens and Brooklyn don't measure up to Manhattan because so few visitors ever venture into the outer boroughs.
Lampley is so far off-base that it isn't even funny. New York was the only city that didn't have a federal commitment to make up for cost overruns. That hurts. The unique security issues almost certainly played a major factor, as well.
As someone who lives in NYC, I can honestly ask whether it is the right place to even host an Olympics. To be sure, there are a number of pros. But while Bloomberg's team put a strong bid together, it seems like a very, very tough city to try and host an Olympics. Last year's Republican Convention (which had some political baggage which affected things) showed how all the city's greatness gets sucked out when everyone leaves and the security regime is so suffocating.
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