accountabilitybloke

Franklin Pierce — New Hampshire’s “saddest president”

http://tinyurl.com/y9frowx

Besides the Presidential Primary and “Live Free or Die!” (the state motto and, for many, an aspiration of sorts), New Hampshire (my “work state” — I reside in Massachusetts) has one more claim to fame as the home state of Franklin Pierce, 14th president of the US who served one term (1853-1857). Pierce is typically regarded by all as worthy of an extremely low rating in that job, and there is no doubt that he was a nice but incompetent gentleman who will probably best be known for his support of the South during the Civil War.

Despite this, his name adorns a college in NH that is best known for its law school (which may separate and become part of the University of New Hampshire in the not too distance future).

That all said, and despite a very informative Wikipedia entry, there is perhaps no better insight into Pierce than a short radio piece titled The Saddest President. Worth a listen, especially if you are in the mood to hear about someone who just could not cut a break….

November 20th, 2009 Posted by mjd | accountabilitybloke | no comments

“Ted” Kennedy as Cosmo nude….? Nah….

This morning’s profile of US Senate candidate Scott Brown in the Boston Globe was very interesting on a number of counts — quite a character. I especially liked the bit about him being the third best known person in his family.

There is also a few whiffs of “juicy” stuff as well — from his wild childhood to his nude centerfold pic in Cosmopolitan. One episode not mentioned was a public “meltdown” he had in early 2007 in front of an audience of high school kids. See here, where you will also get a look at that centerfold photo.

But what is really interesting about that write up in CapeCodToday was the fourth comment posted below the article from “Ted from Hyannis Port”: Cosmo approached me for that photo shoot, but their magazine wasn’t wide enough.

Given what we now know about Ted Kennedy’s sense of humor, I thought it is a good bet as to the author’s identity. But alas, Ted from HP is still commenting in CCT, which makes my “find” highly suspicious…. Oh well, it seemed worth a good speculation and blog post….

November 20th, 2009 Posted by mjd | accountabilitybloke | no comments