He Did Not Go Quietly Into the Night

He's going to live on. He's going to survive. Today, Thomas J. Whitmore celebrates his Independence Day!

And if this photo is any indication, he looks cool doing it.

Whitmore vs. Garfield

Thomas J. Whitmore	73 (64.6%)
James A. Garfield	40 (35.4%)

James A. Garfield's experience this week was much like Matthew "Mack" Robinson's at the 1936 Olympics. Mack, the brother of some guy named Jackie Robinson, ran the 200m finals in 21.1 seconds, which was a world record. Sadly, he finished second behind some guy named Jessie Owens, who ran it in 20.7 seconds. Similarly, Garfield gathered more votes than any other combatant in HttCttD history, except while he was doing it, he was getting clobbered. By Thomas Whitmore.

Yes folks, we've had a hell of a voter turnout this week. In fact, since we love charts so much, we have something to show you that's quite chart-astic.

Voter Turnout

Weeks 1-6	133
Week 7	113

This week, we were 20 votes shy of tying our combined total of votes for the first six weeks and we have a couple of sports blogs from the Midwest for shoutouts to thank for the sudden spike in hits and voters. We welcome our new readers and hope you stick around for more presidential fisticuffs action.

It's also a possibility that Whitmore's — and Independence Day's — popularity brought some voters in as well; even if Bill Pullman isn't the most recognizable face in Hollywood, as Steve L. points out.

It's true. And we'll never know how many votes Garfield got because they thought he mistreated his younger brother, Wyatt.

The Bill Pullman/Paxton confusion actually reminded me of a funny sketch from Important Things with Demetri Martin, which is sadly unavailable on YouTube or Comedy Central's website.

The guy getting flogged has some trouble remembering the safe word. "He was in that movie and he was president! You know, the actor. Bill! Bill Paxton!"

It's a shame Paxton never played a president. We'll never know who would win in a fight: Pullman or Paxton.

Whitmore is scheduled to fight in the 2nd Round Sept. 26. Next week, Thomas Jefferson takes on Mackenzie Allen from Commander in Chief.