Talk:Bill Bradley

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Contents 1 Very solid work on taxes 2 Count 3 Possible copyvio? 4 Rewrite! 5 Free Throw Count 6 Cornbread, MO 7 religion needs to be fixed

[edit] Very solid work on taxes

I read Bill Bradley's sports autobiography LIFE ON THE RUN. And I also listened to most of one of his books about politics as a book-on-tape.

Bill's a cerebral guy. He likes people just fine, but he also likes having time on his own to think through issues in his own way and at his own pace. And regarding taxes, this absolutely played to strength. When he first ran for the Senate in '78, he really picked up on on the fact that people had deep objections to the way the income tax system was then working. Now a politician who was more of the backslapping variety may have just written this all off as, well, of course people are going to complain about taxes. But Bill really listened, and came up with the idea that people don't like the complications both because such are directly frustrating and also because of the nagging idea in the back of your mind that other people are getting out of their taxes while you are paying your fair share. And he moved toward the idea "less deductions, lower rates." It was not a blazingly original idea. Academic tax reformers had had the same idea for years. But Bill was among the forefront of elected officials, plus the fact that he had worked through this himself gave him a lot of confidence in publicly proposing and publicly discussing this. Then there was the question, what about the deductions that have built up a political constituency over the years, that are kind of a vested part of the system, like the deduction for home mortgage interest? Bill and other Senate reformers came up with the idea of the "really sacred cows." This is perhaps somewhat cynical, somewhat realistic, probably both, and we can argue how much of each. However, all this was in public view. With the voters in New Jersey, it was as if Bill was having a conversation in slow motion, and an honest, sincere conversation at that. The voters told him that they wanted him to find solutions, he looked sincerely, gave periodic progress reports, and continued to listen. There is indeed a good case for simplifying the system a whole bunch, maybe ten-fold, but also keeping the few deductions that people both like and are familiar with.

The result was the 1986 Tax Reform Act. A success, by any realistic standard. Some people think it's a failure because it didn't last forever and complications inevitably crept back. Of course they did! That's the overall cycle, periods of simplification and then longer periods when complications creep back in. It's only a failure if we give up on the overall cycle. Now in 2007, a good twenty years later, it might be time for another simplification, again keeping only the deductions that are working the best, this time perhaps adding the tuition and fees deduction to the list, along with perhaps a few others.

Would Bill Bradley have made a good president? I think he could have done the same type of thing with health care reform and I think successfully. However, a president also needs to do administrative tasks and make a number of small and medium decisions relatively quickly. Like so many areas, it's hard to find a person good at both.

Regarding the article itself, "less deductions, lower rates" probably should be included as quote (which you can almost repeat as a mantra!), and maybe "really scared cows." The article mentions that Bill was sometimes perceived as aloof. Okay. But there's the whole other side to it, that he's thoughtful, and that he's a sincere listener. Not every politician is. FriendlyRiverOtter 07:20, 11 March 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Count

I've heard Bradley credited with a Final Four record for points/game, but can't find what it was. Anybody know? Include it? Trekphiler 08:56, 26 December 2005 (UTC)

He scored 58 in the consolation game of the '65 tournement being named MVP despite not being in the final game where UCLA beat Michigan.

[edit] Possible copyvio?

The style in which the Oxford University section is written--very literary tone, little Wikification, and other telltale signs--smacks of copyvio. Perhaps the most obvious sign is the following passage: "He and Smith squeezed onto a Vespa motorbike, large men both, ridiculous figures with knees bent to their chests. Gown flapping behind him, Bradley clowned and waved to passersby." The mysterious "Smith" is never before referred to in the article. The most logical explanation for this is that this was an unmodified excerpt cut-and-pasted in midstream. A google search turns up nothing but Wikipedia results. For lack of definitive evidence, I will leave it in the article for now. Does anyone know the story behind this? StarryEyes 13:15, 7 March 2006 (UTC)

This is obviously either copied from another source or original research, and as such I have no problem deleting the entire section. Wikipedia is not the place to print chapters of your unpublished book.

[edit] Rewrite!

This article needs a complete rewrite. It's currently an overwritten, unsourced, fluffy narrative of his life, and doesn't even resemble an encyclopedic entry.

I think I eliminated a lot of the most unencyclopedic writing, but the tone of the article still feels a little off to me. Also, there are no sources whatsoever.

[edit] Free Throw Count

What is the 57 consecutive made free throws refering too? It has been surpassed many times in professional basketball, as opposed to what the article says. 71.236.169.89 09:41, 3 September 2006 (UTC)

Apparently, this refers to a record at the time (the early 1960's). I'm not familiar with college records, but in the early 1960's Bill Sharman still held the professional records of 55 in a row during the regular season (1956) and 56 in a row during the playoffs (still a record in that context). Sharman's 55 consecutive regular season free throws remained a record until Rick Barry broke it with 60 in a row in 1976. Of course, the NBA record for consecutive free throws has evolved upwards and now stands at 97. Myasuda 20:56, 18 November 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Cornbread, MO

Where the heck is Cornbread, MO? I can't find it in Google Maps or Mapquest. But it is making me hungry.

[edit] religion needs to be fixed

please fix his religion from 'kkk' to Presbyterian (dang wiki-terrorism)

Roger3b 05:40, 20 November 2006 (UTC)