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You are here: Home / Politics / Media / The first pitch

The first pitch

by DougJ|  July 16, 20095:00 pm| 47 Comments

This post is in: Media

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Speaking of Obama’s first pitch, it’s always good to remember what the very liberal Chris Matthews said about the first pitch Bush threw out in 2001:

“Either you can throw a strike from sixty feet or you can’t. Either you can rise to the occasion on the mound at Yankee Stadium with 56,000 people watching or you can’t. On Tuesday night, George W. Bush hit the strike zone in the House that Ruth Built…. This is about knowing what to do at the moment you have to do it–and then doing it. It’s about that ‘grace under pressure’ that Hemingway gave as his very definition of courage.”

As crazy as our media discourse is now, I sometimes forget how much crazier it got from 2001-2005.

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Reader Interactions

47Comments

  1. 1.

    r€nato

    July 16, 2009 at 5:04 pm

    And he’s the kind of guy you would like to have a beer with, so obviously he had the makings of a great president.

    gack.

  2. 2.

    JGabriel

    July 16, 2009 at 5:05 pm

    OT, but when the AMA announced that they support the health care bill, did anyone else think, “Really? What’s wrong with it?”

    .

  3. 3.

    DougJ

    July 16, 2009 at 5:06 pm

    OT, but when the AMA announced that they support the health care bill, did anyone else think, “Really? What’s wrong with it?”

    Yes.

  4. 4.

    asiangrrlMN

    July 16, 2009 at 5:06 pm

    @JGabriel: Me. It was my first thought.

    As for Chris Matthews, he ain’t nothing but a power-fucker.

    lovethebomb, breathe! DougJ is being sarcastic.

  5. 5.

    lovethebomb

    July 16, 2009 at 5:07 pm

    The “very liberal” Chris Mathews? Are you ill? This fucknut is an establishment scold in the mold of Tim Russert. He famously went soft and then hard at the sight of GW’s cod piece on the aircraft deck. He had more purple bombast than David Broder over Clinton’s now rather benign affair. The guy is a major douche and no liberal.

  6. 6.

    demkat620

    July 16, 2009 at 5:07 pm

    Shorter Pat Buchanan right now on Hardball: Frank Ricci died for all white people.

    Sotomayor is the antichrist.

    How is it better now?

  7. 7.

    demkat620

    July 16, 2009 at 5:09 pm

    @lovethebomb: Welcome to BJ lovethebomb.

    Sarcasm, its what’s for dinner.

  8. 8.

    asiangrrlMN

    July 16, 2009 at 5:09 pm

    @demkat620: He’s going to be on Rachel’s show tonight, presumably so she can rip him apart. I won’t be watching. He’s disgusting.

  9. 9.

    demkat620

    July 16, 2009 at 5:12 pm

    @asiangrrlMN: What I can’t stand as much as the racist shit he throws everywhere, is when one of his wingnut talkinhg points gets knocked down he just moves on to the next.

    “Alright but ..”

    I hate that guy. Nixon-loving cocksucker.

  10. 10.

    Calouste

    July 16, 2009 at 5:14 pm

    I’m surprised that Chris Matthews could speak when he had a c0ck that far down his throat. But then again, considering it was George W. Bush’s c0ck, there was probably plenty of space left.

  11. 11.

    asiangrrlMN

    July 16, 2009 at 5:18 pm

    @demkat620: Yeah, but that’s the way to ‘win’ the argument. Never acknowledge that you were bested and move on to the next item on your crazy list. It’s one reason it’s difficult to argue with a nutter.

  12. 12.

    demkat620

    July 16, 2009 at 5:18 pm

    Did Tweety just predict that Ricci derailed Sotomayor?
    WTF?

  13. 13.

    MikeJ

    July 16, 2009 at 5:18 pm

    is when one of his wingnut talkinhg points gets knocked down he just moves on to the next.

    And he’ll use the same discredited talking points on the next show he goes on, even after having it pointed out to him that it is bogus.

  14. 14.

    GregB

    July 16, 2009 at 5:22 pm

    It is funny to see the media so concerned about strikes when they spend most of their time getting right wing balls bounced off their chins.

    Sunny nobility, gobble, slurp, snuffle…..

    -G

  15. 15.

    cleek

    July 16, 2009 at 5:26 pm

    ahhh 2001…. back when we thought W was a harmless idiot.

    Bush’s throw was accurate, no doubt. but it had no speed at all, it was just a toss.

    Obama shoulda warmed-up a bit, though.

  16. 16.

    JGabriel

    July 16, 2009 at 5:27 pm

    @DougJ, @asiangrrlMN:

    Ah. So none of are going to be surprised if it turns out that there’s some sort of crazy ass poison pill loophole that the AMA somehow got embedded in the bill.

    Though I’m still hoping for the best …

    .

  17. 17.

    linda

    July 16, 2009 at 5:28 pm

    matthews is not a liberal. and it aggravates me that he’s rebranded himself as opposing the iraq war and was one of the few voices standing against the cheney cabal.

    he’s a freaking loudmouth who tries to pass off political gossip as astute analysis. well, i guess, that’s what most of the chattering class trades in.

  18. 18.

    Tax Analyst

    July 16, 2009 at 5:28 pm

    “Either you can throw a strike from sixty feet or you can’t. Either you can rise to the occasion on the mound at Yankee Stadium with 56,000 people watching or you can’t. On Tuesday night, George W. Bush hit the strike zone in the House that Ruth Built…. This is about knowing what to do at the moment you have to do it—and then doing it. It’s about that ‘grace under pressure’ that Hemingway gave as his very definition of courage.”

    Wow, and some people still consider Chris Matthews a “serious” person.

    Hmmm…blockquotes don’t seem to be working now. Guess I’ll throw some quotes around that part now.

  19. 19.

    Jen R

    July 16, 2009 at 5:29 pm

    @JGabriel: My first thought was more along the lines of “Wow, things have gotten so fucked that even the AMA is onboard with reform,” but yeah.

  20. 20.

    asiangrrlMN

    July 16, 2009 at 5:32 pm

    @cleek: Hey! Speak for yourself. I never thought he was harmless–not with Cheney by his side.

    @JGabriel: Nope. Not surprised at all. In fact, and this is very sad to say, I will be surprised if there isn’t some kind of poison pill buried deep inside this reform bill.

  21. 21.

    jayackroyd

    July 16, 2009 at 5:36 pm

    And when the most devastating attack on US soil took place, he, um, went and hid for a while. Bush spent more time prepping to throw that pitch than he did tasking people to investigate terrorist threats.

  22. 22.

    linda

    July 16, 2009 at 5:36 pm

    @demkat620:

    pretty much. and he’s going to do his damnedest propelling that meme. expect him on morning joe tomorrow.

  23. 23.

    gopher2b

    July 16, 2009 at 5:37 pm

    @r€nato:

    But this one actually drinks a beer at the game where the previous one couldn’t. This is all so very confusing.

  24. 24.

    Lev

    July 16, 2009 at 5:38 pm

    Strike two.

  25. 25.

    demkat620

    July 16, 2009 at 5:40 pm

    Oh okay.

    Tweety: If Obama loses the gov races in Jersey and VA he’s a lame duck.

    W. T. F.

  26. 26.

    Zifnab

    July 16, 2009 at 5:41 pm

    @asiangrrlMN: I know one of the bills had some public option plan that was only available to twice divorced single mothers born on the third Sunday of months ending in a vowel.

    The more I read about this legislation, the more I get sick of seeing quality health insurance treated – alternately – as a luxury or a charity. It’s not enough to just put forward a “good alternate plan” – which I’m betting would render all the other reforms redundant. They’ve got to make one system “just” for the poor and another “just” for those with pre-existing conditions and another “just” for people in rural areas and another “just” for the military.

    There’s going to be a big fat donut in all of these bills that affords the middle class virtually no benefit whatsoever. That much I’m pretty clear on.

  27. 27.

    JGabriel

    July 16, 2009 at 5:42 pm

    Jen R:

    My first thought was more along the lines of “Wow, things have gotten so fucked that even the AMA is onboard with reform,” but yeah.

    That’s still a possibility. The AMA’s membership is down to less than 20% of doctors nationwide, and their opposition to health care reform may have generated so much public hostility that they had no choice but to reverse their position.

    But it does seem out of character for them.

    On the other hand, maybe they decided the only hand they had left to play was to make us libs paranoid by agreeing with us.

    .

  28. 28.

    Zach

    July 16, 2009 at 5:44 pm

    In Matthews’ defense, Bush’s post-9/11 pitch was pretty fucking fantastic. Check out the video – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=631knZM9Uiw

    Now, I was expecting that to be on par with Obama’s pitch (which is roughly in the ballpark with every other first pitch I’ve seen thrown by someone with a similar level of age/fitness/baseball experience). Bush’s is quite possibly the best first-pitch-by-amateur that I’ve ever seen. I’m seeing starbursts here. Just trying to show some candor since my intention was to find a picture of Bush throwing a poor pitch there and say it was no different.

    All that said, is it surprising that Bush would value preparing to throw a first pitch over preventing us from another terrorist attack immediately post-9/11?

    His pitch to open the Nats’ stadium years later was more pedestrian, but he still brought the heat: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3h-mjgstw_U

  29. 29.

    JGabriel

    July 16, 2009 at 5:45 pm

    @demkat620: Stop watching Tweety! It’s bad for your brain. Go do some dangerous mind-altering drugs instead, it’s much safer.

    .

  30. 30.

    JGabriel

    July 16, 2009 at 5:47 pm

    Zifnab:

    I know one of the bills had some public option plan that was only available to twice divorced single mothers born on the third Sunday of months ending in a vowel.

    Wonderful. We can look forward to building up a whole body of legal jurisprudence over the question, “When is y a vowel?”

    .

  31. 31.

    Demo Woman

    July 16, 2009 at 5:48 pm

    I know this is on the wrong post, but firefox won’t even let me access the comments in the correct post. The warning is still coming up and accessing comments is difficult. I feel like BOB when he has a time out.
    Please don’t go galt on us, I’m not sure that I could survive.

  32. 32.

    demkat620

    July 16, 2009 at 5:49 pm

    @JGabriel: I can’t. It’s like a train wreck. I just can’t look away. And yell at the tv at the same time.

  33. 33.

    DougJ

    July 16, 2009 at 5:52 pm

    In Matthews’ defense, Bush’s post-9/11 pitch was pretty fucking fantastic.

    That doesn’t excuse all the Hemingway crap Tweetie said about it.

    I’m against the “Obama is a genius for killing that fly” stuff too.

  34. 34.

    JGabriel

    July 16, 2009 at 5:52 pm

    @cleek:

    ahhh 2001… back when we thought W was a harmless idiot.

    Yeah, cleek, I gotta agree with Asiangrrl on this one – I always thought Bush and Cheney were evil fuckers, especially after they stole Florida without any compunction back in 2000.

    The only thing that was surprising was that they exceeded even my expectations for evil arrogant incompetence. And that’s saying: a lot.

    .

  35. 35.

    Zach

    July 16, 2009 at 6:08 pm

    @DougJ: Oh you’re right I guess. Besides, I found a better first pitch that’s happened since – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P0UNgbA6xoU

    I guess Americans should’ve taken it to heart a bit more when Bush was touting his baseball ownership experience as a primary qualification to be President. In retrospect, it was probably the thing most predictive of his performance. Wasn’t his most notable move overpaying an aging Nolan Ryan before starting a controversial and personally beneficial stadium deal?

  36. 36.

    Robertdsc-iphone

    July 16, 2009 at 6:12 pm

    I just liked the fact that Obama stuck to his Sox gear. Major props for that. Otherwise, I don’t care.

  37. 37.

    Jay B.

    July 16, 2009 at 6:53 pm

    This is a bad time for Republicans to bring up “baseball” and “Obama” .

    http://news.yahoo.com/s/ynews/20090716/pl_ynews/ynews_pl805

    Key quote from actual baseball player David Cone:

    “With one decision Judge Sotomayor changed the entire dispute,” he said. “I believe all of us who love the game — players, owners and fans — are in her debt.”

    OK, so Obama won’t be signed by the White Sox, but the judge he nominated — the same one freaks like Andy McCarthy and the morons on the right have been braying about — saved the fucking sport.

    That would be Strike Three, GOP.

  38. 38.

    JK

    July 16, 2009 at 6:54 pm

    As usual, Chris Matthews is completely full of it

    Musings of the ultra liberal Chris Matthews:

    I try to look for Republicans to vote for. I do. I‘ve always voted for local Republican candidates for Congress. I voted for Michael Steele once. I voted for Arlen Specter when he ran for mayor as a reformer, back in the old days. I look for good Republicans to balance the act out. I think the south keeps us a little conservative. The north keeps the south a little secular. The marriage works. Any way, thank you, Rick Hertzberg, Michael Smerconish. It‘s like, you know, a Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers.

    h/t ‘Hardball with Chris Matthews’ for Tuesday, April 28, 2009, http://rss.msnbc.msn.com/id/30476157/ns/msnbc_tv-hardball_with_chris_matthews/

  39. 39.

    Jen R

    July 16, 2009 at 7:12 pm

    @JGabriel:

    On the other hand, maybe they decided the only hand they had left to play was to make us libs paranoid by agreeing with us.

    I like the way you think.

  40. 40.

    r€nato

    July 16, 2009 at 8:18 pm

    @gopher2b:

    he also picks his nose every now and then. I guess that really makes him just like one. of. us.

  41. 41.

    gex

    July 16, 2009 at 8:32 pm

    @Zach: Think of it as a preview of the taxpayers’ money propping up big business. It was practice for bending over for Goldman Sachs.

  42. 42.

    Mumphrey

    July 16, 2009 at 9:34 pm

    I’d like to say for the record that when I was 20 or 21 or 22, I couldn’t throw a baseball from left field to third base. I’m Mickey Rivers, man. I’d (and still do) take a few running steps toward where I wanted to throw the ball, heave my whole body and fling the ball as hard as I could, and the ball would land twenty feet short of where I wanted it to go, and most often, a little to one side.

    But what the hell? How does that affect how good a president I’d be? (For the record, pretty bad, but far better than Bush was.) It doesn’t mean I can’t be a good father or do my work well. It doesn’t even mean I can’t HIT a baseball, which I can do pretty well for a no-talent guy who just plays for fun.

    All being a bad thrower means is that–big shocker–I can’t throw a ball all that well. But these shallow asses think you can read all kinds of stuff into what kind of leaders people are by their athletic skills. I wonder how well the big mouthed idiots squawking about Obama’s “bad throwing” can throw themselves…

  43. 43.

    Sarcastro

    July 16, 2009 at 9:43 pm

    In Matthews’ defense, Bush’s post-9/11 pitch was pretty fucking fantastic.

    Dude played ball through high school (college?) and owned the freakin’ Rangers. It’s no surprise whatsoever that he can toss a baseball fairly well.

    Let’s see him sink a three… or ride a Segway.

  44. 44.

    kth

    July 17, 2009 at 2:29 am

    Christ, just think if Hillary had won, how much crazier yet it would be (through no fault of hers, it goes without saying). Every one of these stupid macho rituals, they would have to pick over anew because a woman was doing them (or not).

  45. 45.

    gwangung

    July 17, 2009 at 2:35 am

    Dude played ball through high school (college?) and owned the freakin’ Rangers. It’s no surprise whatsoever that he can toss a baseball fairly well.
    Let’s see him sink a three… or ride a Segway.

    Put it another way…Michael Jordan, one of the best basketball players ever to walk the earth, absolutely SUCKED as a baseball player.

    Critics can’t carry jockstraps.

  46. 46.

    Chuck Butcher

    July 17, 2009 at 2:42 am

    Since I shoot, dragrace, ride a Harley, and work construction I may not be your average lefty Democrat. I threw a lot of balls with my son and yes, I could hit a catchers mitt from a 60′ mound with a pretty flat throw. A hitter would knock that throw out of the park, same as with the Bush pitch. It’s a first pitch fun thing, not an examplar of athleticism and means not shit in any respect.

    I like to see them do it well but in the end I don’t give a rat’s ass if they throw it into the stands. BTW I can’t dribble or shoot a basketball any better than a 5 year old. I can skate and my slapper got near 90 mph. Golf ain’t my game, I can knock hell out of that little ball and straight … and then 20 putt.

    This has been fun, but I’m draggin’ ass, it was mid-90s today and I spent the day on a roof in the direct sun shingling.

  47. 47.

    Betseed

    July 18, 2009 at 4:16 pm

    You know who else probably couldn’t have thrown a ball to homeplate? FDR. I say we exhume him and impeach him just for that!

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