Smithers MINNEAPOLIS

Bode Miller goes bust in all five alpine events in Torino. Who cares? At least he tried.

NBC had a story on the evening news regarding the lack of success of American athletes at the Olympics this year. The reporter stated something to the effect of “despite all the build up and the expectations of the American public for gold, US athletes came up short.”

First off, I don’t watch the Olympics to see American athletes win every damn event. I tune in to watch events that I really only get to see every four years and to see the world’s best athletes compete at these events. If there is a competitive American in the field that is great, but I have no expectations that they have to medal. Unless the media has convinced me that they should.

I would bet that most people never even heard of Bode Miller until about 3 months ago. “Despite all the build up?” Where does the media think all this build up comes from? It comes from…the media! Americans watch the games begin and are told “who are the medal hopes” and “who should bring home the gold” and “who is going to win all five events and set the record for the best Olympic medal haul.” It’s nearly inevitable that those who get the biggest build up (Bode Miller, Apollo Ono, Sasha Cohen) are going to be the “biggest disappointments” because they will never be able to live up to the hype and expectations that the media provides. And then the media has the nerve to say that a gold medal is what America expects and these athletes have let us down. Screw that noise.

I love the Olympics. I even enjoyed the ice dancing when all those couples were crashing into each other. It’s just too bad that I have to listen to these idiot sports casters tell me that I should expect medals and now be disappointed.

NRO’s John Podhoretz:

Rasmussen has a new poll up in which — hold on now — Democrats in Congress are outpolling President Bush on national security. By a margin of 43 to 41 percent, Americans say they trust Congressional Democrats more than Bush when it comes to protecting our national security. And by a margin of 64-17 percent, they oppose the sale of the ports to Dubai.

The deal is dead. It won’t survive after a 45-day extension or a 450-day extension. Congressional Republicans have no choice but to be extremely aggressive and nasty toward the president and the White House, because they will be properly terrified of looking like Bush’s lapdogs on a hugely unpopular matter that goes to the heart of the Republican party’s political advantage in the United States.

If the White House doesn’t handle this well in the next three days, the political consequences could be catastrophic.

AP:

The president’s national security adviser said the White House would keep trying to persuade lawmakers there’s more time since the company offered to delay its takeover but the administration wouldn’t reconsider its approval.

“There are questions raised in the Congress, and what this delay allows is for those questions to be addressed on the Hill,” Stephen Hadley said. “There’s nothing to reopen.“

So the question is…