The Myth of Bowling
By John Amato Wednesday Apr 02, 2008 1:21pmMan, I can't wait for the PA primary. Now we're stuck with endless debates between Obama and Hillary supporters 24/7 while John McCain goes around and around "Re-Branding" himself as a warrior of some kind. Anyway, Digby catches Tweety doing the usual hatchet job for McCain:
Sure enough, the bowling thing seems to have brought old Chris back to his "thesis:"
MATTHEWS: OK. Let me ask you about how he -- how's he connect with regular people? Does he? Or does he only appeal to people who come from the African-American community and from the people who have college or advanced degrees?...
Remember back in the dark days of 2004, when it was assumed that anyone who didn't live in a small town in Nebraska or Alabama was automatically not a Real American? When we were all told to take our latte sipping, New York Times reading asses back to where we done come from? Yep, here we are again. (African Americans, of course, have never been considered "regular people" by conservatives. Nothing new there.)...read on
WTF is "regular people?" The media wants to pick our candidates for us plain and simple. They can't stay out of the way and let the people vote. And we are voting at record numbers. Endless loops of footage that do not teach us anything. I talked to a network reporter who is covering the Dems and he/she said that they never knew McCain flip flopped on waterboarding. They were shocked. I was shocked too. This person is an honest broker of the facts so I realized that it's up to the network heads to make sure they cover McCain. And obviously they are not.
While it might be used as a Letterman punch line for a second, why does it matter if Obama is a terrible bowler to the press? Yet, over and over again we see it. When has Matthews and the Village elites laced up their shoes and gone bowling when they haven't hired the entire alley---all for themselves? Nuff said.
Login or Register to post comments.
BOOM!
I'm just waiting for the Clintons to challenge Obama to another kind of competition.
You rang?
just another non-issue so Matthews dosn't have to say 'sub-prime' or 'iraq' or 'torture' or 'global warming'
...some of us of a certain age clearly recall that Richard Nixon was an avid bowler. Such an avocation doesn't argue well as a qualification, even out here in "regular people" land...
It is increasingly clear how irrelevant Chris Matthews, Tucker Carlson, Wolf Blitzer, Pat Buchanan, et al are becoming.
Matthews is like some drooling senile inbred sitting on a porch in a rocker, obliviously muttering racial and sexual slurs to anyone who wanders by.
The only remaining question isn't why he's still on tv, but why anyone is paying him - or any of them - any attention at all. They are irrelevant, and deservedly so.
If the blogosphere and the punditsphere ignored them, who would be left to listen to their 19th century ravings?
regular people = brainwashed/simpleminded people.
John McCain(cient), unindicted felon.
there was an episode of the Cosby Show once where Theo told his dad he didn't want to go to college he just wanted to be one of the "regular people". his dad grabbed a fistful of monopoly money and basically broke it down to where Theo was destined to be broke as a joke. pointed at all the money nickel and dimed out of Theo's hands and said "... regular people..."
so I guess according to Bill Cosby, "regular people" are broke-asses?
kind of a double standard on the part of the GOP-ass-kissing pundits if you think about it. I mean, I don't think anyone's actually run the official stats, but I'd go out on a limb here and suggest that most really good bowlers in a midwest American bowling league are living without health care and/or facing a foreclosure on their homes. *shrug*
"WTF is “regular people?”
Folks who didn't go to Harvard???
Folks who will NEVER evn get close to running for president??
Seems like a simple question, no?
Well hell, if a guy can't bowl worth a damn, how can anyone trust him to run the country.. know what's best for the economy... start wars of aggression, send someone to die over oil... you know, all that other stuff preznits just gotta do...... You know, if a guy can't bowl worth a damn.... Does anyone think that is some bullshit criteria to worry about regarding electing the president of the United States?? Well, ya know what? Yer right.....It is bullshit criteria to be worrying about....JD
"regular people" comment from the one of the same set of assholes who STILL jump on Obama for the "typical white person" comment. Ironic or stupid?
I tried to bowl one time and almost broke my leg as I brought the ball forward. That was it for me and bowling.
Obama proved he was a good sport for doing that bowling thing. He tried it and laughed at himself afterward. Good for him.
Yeah, I'm hearing that "regular people" thing again. I guess there are "regular people" and the "elites" That covers all Americans according to Chris and his ilk.
It is sad if "regular folks" (Matthews is likely implying regular to mean people that are white, christian, and of average or below-average intelligence and wealth) really do want a regular type prez. Shouldn't we want an exceptional person to lead us? This goes back to the whole anti-intellectualism thang we have going on in the U.S.
"WTF is “regular people?”
Folks who will never make 10 million bucks in their ENTIRE LIFE.
Seems simple...Where did you get confused?
LOL - Oh, you thought you were in THAT class???
What do they say
CLASS CONCIOUSNESS IS KNOWING WHICH SIDE OF THE FENCE YOU ARE ON
AND WHO IS OVER THERE WITH YOU...
You know - R E G U L A R P E O P L E
Who weren't the editor of the Harvard Law Review or NEVER EVEN SAW a Harvard Law Review...
roooth @ 6:
You forgot Joe Scarborough. What a shit he is. And her bitch Mika. "Oh Joe" and "Stop it Joe". Sickning.
It is increasingly clear how irrelevant Chris Matthews, Tucker Carlson, Wolf Blitzer, Pat Buchanan, et al are becoming.
It's true. How many people actually take time out to watch any of these guys? When was the last time anybody quoted Wolf Blitzer's take on anything? Pat Buchanan? He's been a bottom feeder of American political discourse ever since the GOP threw him under the bus after the 1992 convention (Ten years later, his extreme anti-gay, anti-immigrant reichwing agenda would become mainstream in the GOP - who knew??) - and now we have his sister Bay to pollute the airwaves. The corporate media keeps pushing these people at us, saying "These are the real opinion makers!" "These are the guys you should listen too!" Thanks to the blogosphere, and the precious few media people like Keith Olbermann, people are able to see through the bullshit.
See Glenn Greenwald for best analysis of this ever recurring phenomenon among the right-wing msm: McCain "tough", Obama "prissy, sissy". This is 2000 and 2004 all over again. The msm insists they should pick the president and not based on issues. Agree with writer above, this is the msm doing what is does best -- avoiding news. Easy to see how we were lied into war by this same crowd.
"WTF is “regular people?”
Folks who don't tramp around the country with a SECRET SERVICE ESCORT???
It seems like such a simple to answer question.
I'm voting for the Democratic candidate. I don't care if they can't bowl. I don't care if their husband had an affair. I don't care if their pastor is a firebrand. I'm voting for the Democratic candidate.
ps-dear site monitor, I'm aware that I put this in another thread, but I'm just hoping that the trolls can slowly understand that the VAST majority of us is voting for the democratic candidate.
Wait? John McCain bowls? Hell, he can't even pick up a pencil! The reason most Americans would rather bowl with McCain is because they know they'll win.
Is the corporate media really pushing the notion that Obama's bowling score matters? How irrelevant can you get, but then again I am told that Russert and John McLaughlin spent their Sunday morning asking how black was Obama?
Thank goodness the American people see right through a corporate owned media that does not seek to inform but rather keep Americans in the dark.
I could be wrong, but not many Alabamans or Nebraskans were killed, or were the target of 9/11. Most of those were New Yorkers.
roooth @ 6:
LOL - increasing clear...
When were they ever relivant?
burnt @ 9:
ha-ha, off topic, but this is the first time I've ever read anything critical about Papa Huxtable. I thought he gave hideous advice and treated his children as if they were hopeless, doomed morons.
McCain has a bowling ball in his cheek, does that count?
OT, but ... Randi Rhodes was suspended by AAR for calling Hillary a "Big F*cking Whore"!
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/04/03/air-america-host-randi-rh_n_948...
shantiquax @ 23:
That's exactly right, and interestingly enough, the GOP's all terror, all the time strategy during the '04 and '06 elections was effective not in NY or PA or Washington DC (places where lives were lost) but with the pathetic, paranoid bedwetters in the south and midwest - states which were completely removed from the reality of 9/11.
seriously, who the fuck cares if anyone can bowl? the msm is, once again, selling the public short if they think that is something that effects voters' decision making.
oh wait, he missed the 4-10 split!!! i waaaaas going to vote for him, but not after that flub! *sighs*
and, i have been wondering, how is it that pat buchanan is talking on head on every single fucking msnbc show? do they keep him in the broom closet for easy access?
lastly, joe scarborough is a total and complete moron. it is pathetic the way he is allowed to give "his" opinion on TV without the constant reminder that he was a GOP rep... and that dead intern in his office
So many guys like Matthews are angry because no one....not minorities, women, want to listen to their 1940 useless racist, misogynist, "I don't have to earn respect" any longer. Even at this site I'm amazed how SOME people still think it's alright to say the most factless hurtful racist shit and are utterly surprised when called out on it. Sorry old bigots, YOUR free rides are over. The days of saying whatever you want with zero consequences are done.
jimbojames @ 22:
LOL - Yeah THANK GOODNESS we were blind but now we see!!!
You have to love that here in America we have the dumbest of the dumb. Good Bless US
We really need it.
When Cindy McCain has her hair down, she looks like a %^& trying to be 18. It's unseemly. The hair's all fried from peroxide.
I edited it...JA
roooth @ 6:
Hi There,
I have similar sentiments so with every blatant idiocy on msnbc, I send an email to the offending show, to phil griffin & steve capus, to letters@msnbc.com. I don't watch tweety much because it is so irrelevent, but when I do, there is always something foaming from his mouth so I write. Love the blogs, especially this one, but if we spent as much time writing the powers that be as we do bloggin each other, who knows, change may happen if we want it. If everyone who posts here regularly just took 5 minutes to address the outrage of the moment, things would change.
All pundits, shows etc in the msm & cable news information can be found at media matters.com.
"The media wants to pick our candidates for us plain and simple." As written by John Amato, quite true, as evidenced as how the networks and the two major parties conspired to make sure that Ralph Nader was not seen and heard during the debates of 2000. Five will get you ten that the same thing will happen yet again, in this alleged democracy, in the year 2008.
So Obama scored 37 in 5 frames. I don't bowl but the most you pins you can knock down in five frames would be 50. If you can knock down 10 pins per frame. 37 out of 50 doenst sound so bad to me.
"Regular People"
Senator McCain drops his drawers and squats atop Matthews safety-glass topped coffee table.
Matthews looks up from beneath the glass.
Swooning.
"but I’m just hoping that the trolls can slowly understand that the VAST majority of us is voting for the democratic candidate."
Hell I would hope EVERY VOTER here is votting for a dem can. WTF?
Except for the TROLLS and those with serious mental defects who I guess will be voting for That old guy.
nlacey @ 18:
Right on. For a really good analysis of how the newspaper journalists, as well as TV bobbleheads, weave their narrative I've found www.thedailyhowler.com. is a great in-depth look at how subtle they are at this. Great archives on the debates and also the 2004 election and how Al Gore was treated.
shantiquax @ 23:
Oh, that's who Tweety means by "regular people"--the ones who can no longer smell the Aqua Velva.
"...while John McCain goes around and around “Re-Branding” himself as a warrior of some kind."?
McCain is a warrior.
He's also a very old warrior.
Jay @ 35:
I am no EXPERT but I have bowled OVER 200 in a game - So your math or understanding of the scoring seems...Wrong.
37 in 5 frames indicates that he has never bowled before and is CHALLENGED by simple phisical activities.
He is an egg head - Not a jock.
The corporate media has already winnowed out any candidate who might run on a platform they don't approve of, so I don't feel any real shock at their pandering over a flip-flopping loser like John McCain.
Annie @ 41:
I'm a terrible bowler, but I'm a great football player and dancer. Its not the world's most accurate representation of "jocktitude" if you're a great bowler.
The only reason most of these talking heads are on tv is because they have giant uncontrolled egos. They think because they say something we should believe it without question. Maybe some people do, but I think to most of us they are just noise. I do not consider any of their opinions when I make decisions.
Before the Iraq invasion they told me I should think the invasion necessary and support it. I didn't. They were wrong about everything back then and I have no reason to believe they are any fu*king smarter today.
Dr. Acula @ 27:
Argh, R-a-n-d-i...we need you and that isn't helpful!
greg @ 16:
I think I was repressing Joe - I can't think of him without wondering how a Congressman has a dead woman found in his office and both the body and the investigation disappear as if they never existed.
Joe Scarborough's name should never be said without the name of Lori Klausutis being mentioned at the same time.
Where is the article about the liberal moonbat-in-chief telling the world that we are going to turn into cannibals in thirty years? ROFLMAO the global warming religion has GOT to stop before people start eating people.
"MATTHEWS: OK. Let me ask you about how he — how’s he connect with regular people? Does he? Or does he only appeal to people who come from the African-American community and from the people who have college or advanced degrees?…"
"Regular People"...gosh it's right above in black and white. "Regular People" are not of the "African-American community" and not "people who have college or advanced degrees". Or...lilly white, "plain folk". You know the type...watch Fox News, think GW Bush is a great Preznit and a fun guy to have a beer with, and is super cool for defeinding "Murica'.
CD @ 40:
I don't consider someone who dropped bombs from a jet to be a "warrier".
err...warrior
Ask Tweety if he got another one of those "thrills" up his leg sitting that close to Obama on stage.
Otherwise, I'm inclined to say Tweety's off his meds.
I would like to have a martini with Obama and his wife. What category does that put me in?
I think this is important too:
I was shocked. Just think about this passage. They didn't know McCain flipped on torture for the CIA...
geneHUSSEIN214 @ 17:
With 24 hour cable news and all these stations, they have to fill the time with bullshit, any bullshit. All theses experts are cheaper than reporting. I remember Mike Wallace talking about this. So you will get hours of experts talking about Obama's bowling and how Ronald Reagan was such a man. (According to Scarborough) Thank God for Obermann.
Go Obama
deezus @ 43:
Exactly. When was the last time you saw an Olympic in-line skater competing in Olympic skeet shooting? The skater could shoot his/her own damned foot off before hitting the clay pigeon, but that doesn't mean he/she is a bad athlete.
Jay @ 35:
You don't understand how the scoring in bowling works. 37 is pretty poor. 50 is NOT the most you can get in five frames. If you scored strikes in the first five frames, your score is at leat 130 (plus the total of your next two balls rolled in the next frame or frames)
And another thing, I went bowling with a bunch of friends last Saturday, and half of them got around 37 in 5 frames. If that doesn't say "regular people", then I don't know what the fuck will.
Honestly, they should fire her for that. I used to listen to Randi too, I'm ashamed of her. I may not be a Clinton supporter but that really is going too far. If Rush Limbaugh had said that, what would we be saying right now? That's what I thought.
pissed off patricia @ 52:
The Noel Coward Demographic?
Using Tweety logic then Mrs. McCain's beer fortune makes her regular folk, plus she's white. So, therefore, Mr. McCain is regular folk also, plus he's white. And Bush's cowboy pretenses make him regular folk, plus he's white. And they all probably wear Aqua Velva.
But can they bowl like manly [white] men?
"Regular people" is my racist uncle and his ilk, who get drunk, watch football, and tell racist jokes at Thanksgiving (and probably the rest of the year, too; I just wasn't around then).
Regular people suck.
(Though, FWIW, my uncle has since gone to A.A. and become a more or less decent person; so maybe there's hope.)
Will everyone please watch this video and open your eyes?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1_CepS8u9wQ
Jay @ 35:
I don't know if anyone else noticed but his opponent only scored 43 points.
John Amato @ 53:
Someone isn't paying attention. And they call themselves journalists.
pissed off patricia @ 13:
LOL - Yes we have a classless society here in the good ole godsaveamerica...
It is a myth that ever were ELITES...
It is a freakin' workers PARADISE here - A land of MILK, HONEY and REGULAR FOLKS!!
A general tip I was given years ago; If you don't know your ass from a hole in the ground GOLF may not be your game.
Using Tweety logic then Mrs. McCain's beer fortune makes her regular folk, plus she's white. So, therefore, Mr. McCain is regular folk also, plus he's white.
McCain:
The candidate you can have a case of beer with. On the house.
illuminati @ 47:
Got any names or is "liberal moobat-in-chief" a generic term?
Liberal Traitor @ 58:
She should apologize. Limbaugh gets away with much worse.
The bowling thing was old news yesterday. Besides, Chris says he can hoop it up. Regular folks can relate to that.
Obama looks like he can probably dunk. If he did that the race would be over.
Both races.
Annie @ 41:
Bowling is a sport?
illuminati @ 62:
No.
woodguy @ 67:
Yea, Ted Turner
John Amato @ 53:
John, sometimes I think they are just too lazy or something to do the digging and reading required to check on what the candidates do and say. They seem to simply read news releases and parrot one another. I don't want to disparage all reporters. Some of them do their job and bring us the news via facts, sadly just not enough of them.
That maybe why some reporters are not happy with bloggers. Bloggers keep them on their toes. Bloggers check the stories against the facts. They are quick to call out one another as well as reporters.
Leslie @ 68:
Indeed he does, and that is the point. We hold our own accountable, they don't. We shouldn't point to them and say, oh they do it so we can too, what are we, Republicans?
By the way, Illuminati, exactly how much stock should any of us put into an ad made by the Republican party? The Republican party that lied and cheated ts way into the White house in 2000, in 2004, lied us into Iraq in 2003, lied continuously about all their blunders since then, lied about all the laws they have broken since then, lied about the lies about the lies since then, and continues to KEEP LYING?
Dr. Acula @ 27:
Wow, thanks for the scoop. I am listening to AOL right now and was wondering where Randi was. She's great. I know she hates doing the cable news because they put her in a remote studio and try to control her.
illuminati @ 72:
None of us give a flying rat fuck what Ted Turner thinks, you shouldn't either. He's fucking Ted Turner for crying out loud.
deezus @ 43:
My point was perhaps more subtle...
He is where he is because of HIS FREAKIN' BRAIN - He is not a sports hero, he is a eggheadedharvardgrad - Not a man particularly known for his Phisical prowess.
But now we see he drinks beer, he bowls a little - He could be a regular dude if he ever became brain damaged. After all, say what ever you might - The guy is very, very smart and educated, no?
That alone takes him out of the regular guy club.
woodguy @ 67:
Ted Turner said that. I saw a clip of it on tv this morning. Yep, he really said it.
"As democracy is perfected, the office of President represents, more and more closely, the inner soul of the people. On some great and glorious day, the plain folks of the land will reach their heart's desire at last, and the White House will be adorned by a downright moron."
–H. L. Mencken
John Amato @ 53:
I am amazed all the time at how ignorant people really are. Two months ago I mentioned waterboarding to a guy at work and he asked me, "what's waterboarding?" I was so flabbergasted I just told him he might want to pick up a newspaper or watch the news once in a while. I guess all the people who comment here are so involved in the political process we sometimes forget that alot of our fellow citizens live in ignorant bliss.
Richard @ 56:
Ok my understanding of how you score in bowling is extremely lacking (wrong). But doesn't that underscore how lame the whole "Bowling angle" is? Obviously a distraction and a way for the MSM to manipulate and frame this election. McCain = Old, Hillary = Bitch, Obama = Scary black nonathletic prissy/sissy angry leftist. It's all Bullshit and as George Carlin said.... it's bad for ya!
pissed off patricia @ 78:
Turner may use hyperbole, but his points aren't that far off. Global warming poses very serious threats, such as water supplies, and Iraqi "insurgents" are fighting against the US occupation and are viewed as heroes by many Iraqis.
Aren't Americas "regular people" also terrible bowlers?
Obama is a terrible bowler, McCain is a terrible Senator. 'Nuff said.
pissed off patricia @ 78:
Ted Turner is a liberal?
Since when is he the intellectual leader for anyone?
illuminati @ 72:
Well, that was pretty stupid, huh? But, on the other hand, if your guy McShrug is appointed by the Supreme Court we won't have to worry about 30 years in the future, because we'll all be DEAD.
The media have already picked Obama and McCain. The republicans know they can beat Obama. When the 4th estate becomes decimated like it clearly has today there is no hope for justice. The corrupt ruling class do as they please.