The Stockdale Rant

On the way to work yesterday, I heard on the radio that Admiral James Stockdale has passed away in California at age 81.
He was Ross Perot's running mate when Perot ran for president in 1992.
I'll never forget the rant of righteous indignation that Dennis Miller unleashed during the election campaign, after Stockdale bombed on TV during the televised vice presidential debate. I found it on another blog and I want to quote it here, not just for your benefit. but to save it for myself:

"Now I know his name has become a buzzword in this culture for doddering old man, but let's look at the record, folks. The guy was the first guy in and the last guy out of Vietnam, a war that many Americans, including our present President, did not want to dirty their hands with.
The reason he had to turn his hearing aid on at that debate is because those f***ing animals knocked his eardrums out when he wouldn't spill his guts. He teaches philosophy at Stanford University, he's a brilliant, sensitive, courageous man. And yet he committed the one unpardonable sin in our culture: he was bad on television.
"Somewhere out there Paddy Chayefsky must be laughing his ass off. "

Submitted "Business as Usual" to Futurismci last night. Also sent off "The Man Who Ran" to Gothic.net by e-mail.