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You are here: Home / NASCAR Fans Boo Michelle Obama and Jill Biden

NASCAR Fans Boo Michelle Obama and Jill Biden

by Imani Gandy (ABL)|  November 21, 201112:24 am| 85 Comments

This post is in: Assholes, Sociopaths

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Ain’t got no money; ain’t got no class

The First Lady and Dr. Biden attended the final NASCAR race at Homestead-Miami Speedway today — and were booed by jackass NASCAR fans.

Michelle Obama served as the Grand Marshal of the NASCAR Ford 400 to support the troops and their “Joining Forces” initiative:

“In 2011, Mrs. Obama and Dr. Jill Biden together launched Joining Forces, a nationwide initiative that mobilizes all sectors of society to give our service members and their families the opportunities and support they have earned, and to raise awareness of military families’ unique needs as pertains to employment, education and wellness. Joining Forces has been working hand in hand with American businesses who are committed to answering the President’s challenge to hire or train 100,000 unemployed veterans and military spouses by 2013.”

According to a White House Statement,

As part of the season-ending NASCAR Sprint Cup Championship race, NASCAR will rally its millions of fans at the speedway and online to serve military families through the holiday season by asking them to visit www.NASCAR.com/Unites and JoiningForces.gov to find service opportunities and ideas to give back to those who serve our country.

And how did NASCAR fans greet the First Lady and Dr. Biden? Real classy-like:

Surprisingly (or maybe not), the fact that the women were there in service to and out of respect for our military families wasn’t enough to keep these clowns from acting the fool.

In response, former Bush speechwriter and current nincompoop, Josh Trevino, had this to say on Twitter:

Get it? It’s her staff’s fault for not expecting NASCAR fans to act like assholes. I wonder if he would say the same about Dr. Biden’s staff, hmm? In either event, Mr. Trevino? You, sir, are an idiot.

Oh, and this will tickle your irony bone. From Politicususa:

Also, in another ironic twist, these same conservatives who don’t think the government should fund anything because we’re broke supported taxpayers funding NASCAR cars:

The Army spends more than $7 million a year to sponsor NASCAR Sprint Cup driver Ryan Newman and several million more as part of a partnership with NASCAR. It says the prominent ads on the car and presence at the track help attract recruits.

Today the House gave the green light for that sponsorship to continue, rejecting an amendment introduced by Rep. Betty McCollum (D-MN) that would have blocked the Pentagon from using taxpayer dollars for NASCAR ads.

The amendment failed by a largely partisan vote of 281-148, with Republicans overwhelmingly voting against the measure.

McCollum called the NASCAR sponsorship a waste of taxpayer money. “Taxpayer-funded NASCAR race cars are an absurdity at a time when the Republican-Tea Party is cutting federal support for homeless veterans, law enforcement officers, and firefighters,” McCollum said in a statement when she introduced the amendment this week. “I know NASCAR fans are passionate and patriotic. This amendment gets the government out of NASCAR and gives them the opportunity to encourage the private sector to demonstrate its patriotism by donating a military sponsorship.”

So much for that private sector meme. BOOO! So much for values that are consistent. BOOO!

So much for “patriotic,” too. If you’re booing the wife of our Commander-in-Chief, you give up the right to call yourself a patriot. Full stop.

[cross-posted at Angry Black Lady Chronicles]
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Previous Post: « Another GOP Debate: Focus on the Failure Family
Next Post: Late Night Open Thread: Krugman, Not Just Shrill, But Croooel »

Reader Interactions

85Comments

  1. 1.

    MoeLarryAndJesus

    November 21, 2011 at 12:28 am

    Change the name to ASSCAR.

  2. 2.

    JasonF

    November 21, 2011 at 12:29 am

    Booing the First Lady is low class. Sending her to a NASCAR event is horrible, clueless staff work.

    Is this that “soft bigotry of low expectations” thing I kept hearing about? Because I genuinely believe NASCAR fans are capable of behaving with appropriate civility, no matter what Josh Trevino may think of them.

  3. 3.

    The Dangerman

    November 21, 2011 at 12:33 am

    It’s a Free Country; let them boo…

    …let them cheer executions and unneeded deaths…

    …because a lot of people are listening and they are doing their “side” no favors in acting like assholes.

  4. 4.

    Wag

    November 21, 2011 at 12:35 am

    Rednecks gotta hate.

  5. 5.

    Lysana

    November 21, 2011 at 12:35 am

    That would be some NASCAR fans. Generalizing is for people who don’t think. Like the ones who booed FLOTUS and SLOTUS. And Trevino’s an assclown.

  6. 6.

    Citizen_X

    November 21, 2011 at 12:41 am

    Y’know, what little smidgen of self-awareness does it take to just say, “Hey, I may not like Obama or her husband, but maybe I should shut the fuck up out of respect for the Presidency and the vets that they’re honoring.”?

  7. 7.

    srv

    November 21, 2011 at 12:46 am

    NASCAR excites me like turds rotating in a toilet bowl. It’s very dynamic, but it’s still shit.

    Now, School Bus 8-Track Derby, I can get down with that.

    Socialist School Buses and crazy racing at the same time.

  8. 8.

    Speedy

    November 21, 2011 at 12:49 am

    @MoeLarryAndJesus:
    I’ve always been partial to NECKCAR myself.

  9. 9.

    Stella Barbone

    November 21, 2011 at 12:51 am

    Last month I was driving through my red, but otherwise nice suburban Orange County neighborhood in my elderly, slightly battered BMW with it’s discrete “2012” bumper sticker. Some pick-up truck driving yahoo motioned me to roll down my window and so I did. I rolled it back up when he started to shout at me about the president. He preceded to shout at me some more through a few more lights and even swerved in front of me a couple of times. This all took place in the middle of the day. The thing is, I understand why he is so angry. If I believed the things that he hears about me on Fox, I’d hate me too. My elderly patients listen to that TV station or talk to friends who listen to it and they are scared to death.

  10. 10.

    Tokyokie

    November 21, 2011 at 12:52 am

    I once lustily booed George H.W. Bush when he threw out the first pitch on opening day for the Texas Rangers, because I considered myself an unwilling participant in a political event and didn’t want anybody to think I agreed with the sentiment. I’d probably have drawn the line with Babs Bush though.

  11. 11.

    clayton

    November 21, 2011 at 12:54 am

    To tie this post into the previous — sort of– I can’t remember when any audience reaction was allowed or encouraged at debates. I seem to remember moderators asking the audience to restrain itself.

    And yet, when Republicans in general are allowed to voice their opinions vocally, they generally just provide opportunities for us to point at them and say, see? do you see (or hear) that?

    I know a lot of people here seem to think that Republicans are reacting to Obama just because he is a Democrat, but I disagree. It’s who our party represents that they disagree about. It’s not Democrats so much as it is who we are supportive of. And that that group includes so many who can identify with the Obamas, the Bidens, and every other type of person who happens not to fall into a neatly white category of acceptable, well, that’s their point.

  12. 12.

    West of the Cascades

    November 21, 2011 at 12:57 am

    Wow. Yes, the fans who booed are assholes, and Trevino is a moron. But … in 2006, hypothetically, if Laura Bush and Lynne Cheney had been the honorary guests at a soccer game in Portland (best analogy I can come up with), I think they would have gotten some boos. I think that I would have booed them in such circumstances. And, yes, that makes me an asshole, too. It would not be the first time.

    But ABL is wrong about people who boo the wife of “our” Commander in Chief being “unpatriotic.” President Obama is Commander in Chief of the Army and Navy of the United States (U.S. Const. Art. II Sec. 2). He is NOT “our” Commander in Chief, not unless we all have succumbed to being a militarized state. Although it feels that way sometimes these days, we’re still a civilian government and (unless you’re in the Armed Forces) the President is not your Commander in Chief.

    This is a sore point in the wake of the ludicrous GOP debate on foreign policy which the network (I think it was CNN) called it the “Commander in Chief Debate.” Fuck that — that’s tantamount to saying that the entirety of our nation’s “foreign policy” is the use of military force. Again, sometimes it seems that way these days, except when we have a President (like our current one) who actually uses diplomacy.

    But for a major U.S. network that is not Fox News to seemingly take for granted that the President’s power to conduct foreign policy is co-extensive with his power as Commander in Chief seems to put us one step closer to having that be our reality. And, so, yes, I feel I can boo the Commander in Chief of the nation’s armed forces (or his wife, or, eventually, her husband — or, even more eventually, his husband or her wife) without being unpatriotic. That’s a pretty cramped definition of what it means to be patriotic (and would seem to undercut the notion that “protest is patriotic”).

    I don’t like hearing these asshats boo Michelle Obama, but I’ll support to the last keg of beer their right to do so. I’ll cheer doubly-loud for her brother’s basketball team next time I’m down in Corvallis to try to make up for them by proxy.

  13. 13.

    West of the Cascades

    November 21, 2011 at 1:00 am

    @Tokyokie: Even after her little “the Katrina Refugees are better off here camped in the Astrodome” performance? Boooooo!

  14. 14.

    jl

    November 21, 2011 at 1:05 am

    @Tokyokie: I might have booed or yelled a comment if I had found myself near GW or Cheney after the invasion of Iraq (which is when IMHO, they passed the point of no return into irretrievable criminality).

    But I wouldn’t have booed Laura Bush if she was appearing at an event solo. Why? Because she was the wife of the worst president in US history? I think that is losing perspective.

    I figure we need to hold onto whatever we can to retain some shreds of respect for the office, if not the occupant.

    By the end of the second term, it was just Laura and Barney (and he kept dropping that poor dog, on its head!).

    Would you, I ask, boo Barney? Huh?

    Edit: I could not have brought myself to boo the Cheney SLOTUS, either, if it was a ceremonial or charity or veterans’ benefit appearance. I guess I am soft.

  15. 15.

    MoeLarryAndJesus

    November 21, 2011 at 1:09 am

    @Speedy:

    They have necks?

  16. 16.

    jafg

    November 21, 2011 at 1:11 am

    Oh pulllease. I read about this and my first reaction was that it’s probably overblown. Sure enough if you listen there isn’t much to it. Sounds to me like the vast majority were applauding….many in reaction to the boos.

    Also, what do you expect from the most redneck of all spectator sports?

  17. 17.

    clayton

    November 21, 2011 at 1:11 am

    @Tokyokie: Then you didn’t have to watch a baseball game with her sitting behind home plate. Like she cares a whit about baseball. No one ever booed her. Well, I said something worse, but I was at home. Couldn’t get a ticket.

  18. 18.

    jl

    November 21, 2011 at 1:12 am

    @Tokyokie: She made that comment when her hubby was out of office.

    If I came across and event where Laura Bush, or Barney, was going around flacking for the current GOP clown show, I might boo. But she isn’t first lady now, and Barney aint first dog.

    Except, Barney probably not in right mind from being dropped on his head, so that would be a dilemma. Boo a dog with dementia from head trauma at a GOP rally? Just doesn’t seem right. Some boundaries should not be crossed no matter what.

  19. 19.

    AT

    November 21, 2011 at 1:14 am

    To be fair FLOTUS hates whitey, so they were well within there rights to boo her.

    Don’t believe me, there are tapes and everything with her saying that.

    OJ was looking for them, along with the real killers but he’s had no luck so far.

  20. 20.

    handy

    November 21, 2011 at 1:18 am

    @AT:

    OMG Chief Editor Korir! I forgot all about that.

  21. 21.

    jl

    November 21, 2011 at 1:22 am

    @AT: And Biden is an egghead elitist college perfesser, who they know looks down on them.

    I agree with commenter above. Doesn’t sound like it was that bad. There are going to be some jackasses in any crowd that large. But, shame on the ones who did boo.

  22. 22.

    butler

    November 21, 2011 at 1:23 am

    But ABL is wrong about people who boo the wife of “our” Commander in Chief being “unpatriotic.”

    I’m pretty sure ABL was applying their own standards of “patriotism” to them, because I promise you had it been Laura Bush getting booed these same folks would have pulled out the “patriotism” card. Turnabout and all that.

    President Obama is Commander in Chief of the Army and Navy of the United States (U.S. Const. Art. II Sec. 2). He is NOT “our” Commander in Chief, not unless we all have succumbed to being a militarized state. Although it feels that way sometimes these days, we’re still a civilian government and (unless you’re in the Armed Forces) the President is not your Commander in Chief.

    Is it Nitpicky Sunday Night or something? I have no problem calling him “my CINC”, despite not being in the Armed Forces. We elected him to the position and vested in him the powers to command the military which we pay for. He’s very much “our” CINC, because he works for us. (at least if we are going by Constitutional definitions.

  23. 23.

    Calouste

    November 21, 2011 at 1:23 am

    @West of the Cascades:

    This is a sore point in the wake of the ludicrous GOP debate on foreign policy which the network (I think it was CNN) called it the “Commander in Chief Debate.” Fuck that—that’s tantamount to saying that the entirety of our nation’s “foreign policy” is the use of military force. Again, sometimes it seems that way these days, except when we have a President (like our current one) who actually uses diplomacy.

    Didn’t Herman Cain say when asked about foreign policy that he “would listen to the commanders in the field”?

  24. 24.

    Another Bob

    November 21, 2011 at 1:25 am

    Michelle Obama is so charming and smart and cute. How could anybody not like her? I guess the conservative movement has sunk to a level where being a rude, anti-social asshole is an act of solidarity for them.

  25. 25.

    Mnemosyne

    November 21, 2011 at 1:28 am

    @West of the Cascades:

    But ABL is wrong about people who boo the wife of “our” Commander in Chief being “unpatriotic.”

    I think you missed ABL’s point. It’s not that anyone who ever boos the First Lady is unpatriotic because she’s the wife of the CiC. It’s that you can’t call yourself more patriotic than us evil libruls while booing the wife of the CiC. You can’t claim that you have more respect for the military than everyone else while booing someone who’s making an appearance on behalf of military families.

    It’s yet more conservative doublethink in action — it was unpatriotic for liberals to boo Bush while he was CiC, but it’s, like, double patriotism for conservatives to boo Obama while he holds the exact same position.

  26. 26.

    jl

    November 21, 2011 at 1:29 am

    @Calouste:

    ‘ “Commander in Chief Debate.” Fuck that—that’s tantamount to saying that the entirety of our nation’s “foreign policy” is the use of military force.’

    Yeah, I noticed that too and had the same reaction as you did. But then, I thought, is it any surprise? Nothing we did not already know.

    Except CNN floated even further down the sewer of journamalistic swill for coming up with that, or allowing to be used, if that stupidity was the GOP’s idea.

  27. 27.

    Hill Dweller

    November 21, 2011 at 1:32 am

    The First Lady and Dr. Biden did their part to help nudge the teeth per mouth average over 20.

  28. 28.

    jafg

    November 21, 2011 at 1:33 am

    Still waiting for radio stations to ban Hank Williams Jr music for saying he’s ashamed of his President and all. Actually much worse than that. You know, like the last time a country band said that.

  29. 29.

    Karen

    November 21, 2011 at 1:39 am

    For those people who say it’s just because Obama’s a Democrat, in Salon’s comments to the article about how Congress wants to censor the internet, this one commenter actually used every racist slur that I’d ever heard in one paragraph. I flagged the comment so it’s gone now but I was in such shock that someone would actually write that in Salon comments. Most people are more subtle about their racism. People have many reasons to hate Obama. But those who say racism isn’t part of it are either naive or purposely choosing to be blind.

  30. 30.

    nitpicker

    November 21, 2011 at 1:40 am

    Hell, I’d have been surprised if Michelle Obama and hadn’t been booed at a Nascar race. Laura Bush did get booed at something back in 2006 or 2007, I think. It’s the world in which we live. Who cares? Whining about it won’t fix anything.

  31. 31.

    Shade Tail

    November 21, 2011 at 1:43 am

    Hi, Kola Noscopy, when you arrive to troll this thread. I noticed that you had fun during our last encounter. heeheeheeheehee…

    Ah, trolls. An endless source of amusement.

  32. 32.

    Mnemosyne

    November 21, 2011 at 1:44 am

    @Karen:

    I think this is part of what people forget when they say it’s only because he’s a Democrat: a huge part of the campaign against Democrats (and liberals) by conservatives has been based in race. Basically, their argument (as formulated by Lee Atwater) was to say that Democrats and liberals are n*lovers and race traitors.

    The only difference with Obama in office is that the mask has come off and conservatives can’t (or won’t) hide the racism behind nice, polite euphemisms anymore. They don’t have to hint that Obama is a n*lover because, well, he’s one of Them. Right there! Living in the White House! We warned you how bad it would get if you let the liberals have their way!

  33. 33.

    Speedy

    November 21, 2011 at 1:47 am

    @MoeLarryAndJesus:
    Well , some of them do , it’s just hard to see them under their mullets.

  34. 34.

    AxelFoley

    November 21, 2011 at 1:53 am

    NASCAR Fans Boo Michelle Obama and Jill Biden

    Stay classy, CACs.

  35. 35.

    Mnemosyne

    November 21, 2011 at 2:01 am

    @Shade Tail:

    For a troll who deliberately tries to be as offensive as possible, KC has ridiculously thin skin. It’s so easy to get him to start ranting about what a horrible, horrible person you are when you repeat back the same things to him that he says to you. Makes me laugh every. single. time.

  36. 36.

    piratedan

    November 21, 2011 at 2:10 am

    I’m okay with folks voicing their displeasure at the first lady. It is a free country and we’re painfully aware that it is indeed chock full of folks that are ignorant, naive, gullible and pathologically stupid. What matters most is that the FLOTUS was there doing work on behalf of the veterans that have served our country and its obvious that this administration has done more for vets than pay them lip service as the last administration did. Based on the people appointed to run the VA and the simple common courtesy that the Commander in Chief and his spouse continue to show in dealings with those who serve and the policies that they support that are more in line with honoring our humblest soldier versus the deferential treatment shown to military contractors in the recent past.

    Do I wish that those who booed showed more class? yes…. but am I surprised…. no. I love the fact that this lady is willing to take the message into places where many former First Ladies feared to tread…. You never saw Laura at NASCAR… at least my google fu found no matches.

  37. 37.

    EconWatcher

    November 21, 2011 at 2:10 am

    I doubt that the majority of the crowd was down with that behavior. To quote the late, great Molly Ivins, “Even Bubba knows you don’t treat a lady like that.”

  38. 38.

    Cacti

    November 21, 2011 at 2:10 am

    NASCAR is the sport of choice for those who find professional wrestling too sophisticated.

  39. 39.

    Morbo

    November 21, 2011 at 2:19 am

    @Cacti: Wrestling fans lean heavily Democratic.

  40. 40.

    Yutsano

    November 21, 2011 at 2:22 am

    @Mnemosyne: Special Timmeh is special.

  41. 41.

    mangrilla

    November 21, 2011 at 2:25 am

    I’m going to say that I don’t know anything about Trevino but I’ll interpret it the way I want to interpret it: “Booing the first lady is low class” – agreed. “Sending her to a NASCAR event is horrible,” agreed, because that shit is low class. I would think that watchin’ the loud trucks go ’round and ’round isn’t really a pastime that one acquires without having first picked up chemical dependency, brain injuries, or both.

    It’s probably also a horrible idea to send the President to a tractor pull, or Joe Biden to a mud wrestling contest. Now, knowing conservatives, sure, Trevino is probably engaging in some victim-blaming. But, if I choose to ignore that, he’s otherwise completely right.

  42. 42.

    jl

    November 21, 2011 at 2:31 am

    “Joe Biden to a mud wrestling contest.”

    Because he would jump in an’ rassle?

    Sadly, yes that explains the dearth Biden appearances at mud wrestles. I have long feared just such a mischance.

    But what the hell is wrong with tractor pulls? They are dignified and serious, just like Obama.

    GW Bush and Cheney should have appeared at more destruction derbies, IMHO.

  43. 43.

    JGabriel

    November 21, 2011 at 2:51 am

    @West of the Cascades:

    Yes, the fans who booed are assholes, and Trevino is a moron. But … in 2006, hypothetically, if Laura Bush and Lynne Cheney had been the honorary guests at a soccer game in Portland (best analogy I can come up with), I think they would have gotten some boos.

    And I don’t. I think they would have been greeted with silence, and they’re proclamations in support of the troops met with polite applause, and possibly requests for information on what they could do for the troops.

    Find footage of liberals booing Laura Bush and I’ll grant that your assertion might have a point. If, in the eight years of her husband’s presidency, you can’t find one instance of her being booed by liberals, then there’s zero fucking support for it whatsoever. End of discussion.

    .

  44. 44.

    JGabriel

    November 21, 2011 at 2:55 am

    @Morbo:

    Wrestling fans lean heavily Democratic.

    Of course we do — it’s more sophisticated and ironic than NASCAR.

    .

  45. 45.

    JGabriel

    November 21, 2011 at 2:57 am

    @jl:

    GW Bush and Cheney should have appeared at more destruction derbies, IMHO.

    I’m pretty sure they both made occasional appearances in Iraq.

    .

  46. 46.

    Death Panel Truck

    November 21, 2011 at 3:03 am

    @jl:

    But what the hell is wrong with tractor pulls? They are dignified and serious, just like Obama.

    I went to a tractor pull once, in Toppenish, Washington. I won two tickets in a radio contest. They’d play a one-second snippet from a song, and you had to be the first caller to guess the song. It was “Street Fighting Man.” I don’t remember much about the tractor pull, seeing as how my girlfriend and I were both drunk as fuck.

  47. 47.

    hg

    November 21, 2011 at 3:57 am

    @West of the Cascades: Thanks so much, buddy! You said everything I wanted to say, only much better!

  48. 48.

    Odie Hugh Manatee

    November 21, 2011 at 5:24 am

    @Shade Tail:

    Hi, Kola Noscopy Colon-O-Scope, when you arrive to troll this thread. I noticed that you we had fun during our last encounter. heeheeheeheehee…
     
    Ah, trolls NAMBLA lobbyists. An endless source of amusement disgust.

    Fix’t.

    I want our resident NAMBLA lobbyist to get the recognition that he is due.

  49. 49.

    biff diggerence

    November 21, 2011 at 7:46 am

    Advice for First and Second Ladies:

    Next year, attend only open wheel racing events

    NASCAR is pussyfried, anyway.

    Indy Racing actually has drivers with vowels in their names.

  50. 50.

    Mark B.

    November 21, 2011 at 8:17 am

    George Bush made an appearance at an event in Austin after Lance Armstrong won his first Tour de France and was booed lustily by the crowd. I joined in the booing and I have no problem with that, but if Laura had shown up, I would have been silent. Laura actually has done some good in her life, sponsoring events like the Texas Book Festival, unlike her worthless husband.

  51. 51.

    Mark B.

    November 21, 2011 at 8:21 am

    @Mark B.: Just to be clear, this was when Bush was still governor of Texas, but he was running for president. If he was currently the president at that time, I might have remained grumpily silent and turned my back on the worthless fucker.

  52. 52.

    deep

    November 21, 2011 at 8:25 am

    But but but, blackety black black black1!!!one

  53. 53.

    The Other Bob

    November 21, 2011 at 8:31 am

    On the flip side, Michigan’s Governor, Rick Snyder attended a Bob Seger concert a week or so ago in Michigan. Seger dedicated a song to him. I am told the crowd booed….through the whole song.

  54. 54.

    Chris

    November 21, 2011 at 8:48 am

    @Karen:

    For those people who say it’s just because Obama’s a Democrat, in Salon’s comments to the article about how Congress wants to censor the internet, this one commenter actually used every racist slur that I’d ever heard in one paragraph. I flagged the comment so it’s gone now but I was in such shock that someone would actually write that in Salon comments. Most people are more subtle about their racism. People have many reasons to hate Obama. But those who say racism isn’t part of it are either naive or purposely choosing to be blind.

    I believe people hate Obama because he’s a Democrat, and I believe many of these people are racist.

    Remember why these people, so many of them staunch lifelong Democrats, left the party in the 1960s? Because it started speaking out for black people’s rights. If you give them a Democratic president who’s black, they’ll hate him because they hate n*gg*rs. If you give them a Democratic president who’s white, they’ll hate him because they hate n*gg*r-lovers. Not exactly the same thing but the same racial root.

  55. 55.

    Chris

    November 21, 2011 at 8:50 am

    Damn, Mnemosyme beat me to it.

  56. 56.

    RSA

    November 21, 2011 at 8:54 am

    Booing the First Lady is low class. Sending her to a NASCAR event is horrible, clueless staff work.

    NASCAR fans number in the tens of millions, judging by race attendance and TV watching stats. Trevino thinks that some popular activities should be off-limits for the First Lady? In a country where the President of the United States is expected to go on a baseball mound and throw a ceremonial pitch, a tradition that’s been going on for a century? I mean, imagine this:

    Letting the President pretend to be a baseball pitcher is horrible, clueless staff work.

    But it’s not really different.

  57. 57.

    deep

    November 21, 2011 at 8:59 am

    @Karen: Frankly I think those comments should be left were they are so people realize that the problem has NOT gone away, contrary to what the GOP would like you to believe.

  58. 58.

    deep

    November 21, 2011 at 9:04 am

    And following up with that thought, I think Michelle Obama needs to go into racist territory more often just so the rest of the nation can see how f***ed up these people are.

    We need to shame the racists the same was those UC students shamed their chancellor, we can’t just sweep these transgressions under the rug and pretend they don’t exist.

  59. 59.

    Jay

    November 21, 2011 at 9:06 am

    Dearest NASCAR fans,

    If you don’t want other Americans to see you as hillbillies, don’t boo the wives of the President and Vice President of the United States.

    Easy enough.

  60. 60.

    Sophia

    November 21, 2011 at 9:07 am

    @mangrilla:

    “Sending her to a NASCAR event is horrible,” agreed, because that shit is low class.

    I’m not sure where to start in expressing my contempt for your comment. One of the things the US Military does really well is employ poor people with few options and/or skills. (Feature, not a bug, I realize). The people the program is designed to help are probably your definition of “low class.” Do you imagine that this sell was more appropriately made at the Harvard Yale football game (where in a fantastic display of class smarts, frat boys accidentally killed a lady because they were too lazy to use a dolly to safely transport their kegs)?

    On the substance, this was good staff work. NASCAR fans probably already know a lot of people in the military/ former military. They already know their struggles. This is a program designed to help those people through the sort of private volunteer work that conservatives prefer as a matter of policy and normal human beings respond to as a way of helping out people they like who are in trouble. Throw in the yahoo-America-fuck-yeah culture of NASCAR, and the sponsorship of NASCAR of this initiative and this is pretty sound call to arms to chain some of that yahooism to a productive purpose.

    On the politics, any time the Democratic Party has an opportunity to demonstrate common cause with “low class” voters who tend to distrust them, that is good politics. I’ve completely written off the 27%, but there’s plenty of Republican and Independent voters on top of that who should be encouraged to think of Democrats as something other than Satan.

  61. 61.

    Sophia

    November 21, 2011 at 9:11 am

    @RSA: Throwing out first pitches is the only area where GWB excelled. It was very clever staff work to afford him that footnote in his entry as Worst President Ever.

  62. 62.

    Woodrowfan

    November 21, 2011 at 9:13 am

    it’s one thing to boo when it’s a disguises political event. when they are there to promote something like a charity to help vets or the homeless or some such, then it’s classless to boo. Booing a political opponent is one thing. Booing a rep of a legit charity is another.

  63. 63.

    RSA

    November 21, 2011 at 9:17 am

    @Sophia:

    Throwing out first pitches is the only area where GWB excelled.

    True. There’s an old science fiction story in which disputes between two countries were settled by their leaders, in single combat. That would have been well-suited to GWB’s strengths, if the contest were pitching or cheerleading, I think.

  64. 64.

    rikryah

    November 21, 2011 at 9:36 am

    CAC is……

    as

    CAC does…..

  65. 65.

    smith

    November 21, 2011 at 9:57 am

    While the actual politicians are fair game I think booing the spouses is low class. I would say the same if it was Laura Bush, Romney’s wife or Gloria Cain.

    My brother-in-law is a NASCAR junkie and he is a hard-core Democrat, but, yeah, the majority of NASCAR fans are conservatives (at least the ones I have run across).

    I still remember Charles Barkley’s quote from a few years ago where he went to a NASCAR event, saw a Confederate flag and in his words “just turned around and went home” and didn’t stay for the race.

    @Morbo
    Wrestling fans are heavily Democratic? I honestly didn’t know that – I assumed most were Republicans. That’s what I get for assuming.

  66. 66.

    Chris

    November 21, 2011 at 10:04 am

    @smith:

    While the actual politicians are fair game I think booing the spouses is low class. I would say the same if it was Laura Bush, Romney’s wife or Gloria Cain.

    This.

    Really, bringing politicians’ families into it is just shitty-human-being behavior overall. Though in that respect few people have matched the Bush campaign prancing around South Carolina waving a picture of McCain’s daughter and calling her an “illegitimate black child.”

  67. 67.

    burnspbesq

    November 21, 2011 at 10:37 am

    It’s tempting, although probably unwarranted, to say that “jackass NASCAR fans” is redundant. I’m not going there, because I have no first-hand knowledge. I do not personally know a single person who thinks NASCAR is even remotely interesting as sport. As sociology case study? That’s a whole other thing.

  68. 68.

    jwest

    November 21, 2011 at 10:42 am

    @The Other Bob:

    Macomb County determines the vote in Michigan. Obama is toast.

    “In Macomb, where Obama received 53% of the vote in 2008, the president trails Romney, 68%-20%. Even controlling for a high margin of error because of a small sample size in the county, Obama trails Romney in Macomb by at least 20 percentage points.”
    http://www.freep.com/article/20111120/NEWS15/111200467/Obama-has-work-cut-out-him-order-win-Michigan-2012?odyssey=tab%7Ctopnews%7Ctext%7CFRONTPAGE

  69. 69.

    Ella in New Mexico

    November 21, 2011 at 10:48 am

    Michelle Obama and Jill Biden are two of the classiest, nicest, and least controversial women in the history of First Ladies. No doubt about it. And part of what makes them classy is their courage, and their unwillingness to allow morons to dictate for them what they do. They were there for veterans, on behalf of their husbands, for sure, but to say they appreciate what veterans have contributed–which the Rethuglicans in Congress have failed to do lately.

    So yes, when the idyut NASCAR fans boo them, or given them the middle finger, they are stupid and ugly and over the top, and I secretly wish I could haul off and slap them right in the puckers with a rotting fish (preferably one with some E. coli 0157 or Vibrio cholerae growing on it but that’s off track…),

    But they are NOT unpatriotic, and I will defend their right to express their dissent peacefully until the day I die. Because if you silence them, you silence me. And the people I agree with expressing their opinions.

    I would have booed that ugly rotting pile of stench Lynn Cheney in a heartbeat-Laura Bush, not so much, but I totally and absolutely supported the Dixie chicks who were nearly run into hiding by nut jobs in Country Music land after they expressed their views of our shitty former President.

    Look at it this way Miss A: at least we know who the “enemy” is if they are allowed to voice their ignorance.

  70. 70.

    Tom Hilton

    November 21, 2011 at 11:24 am

    In an ideal world, those UC Davis cops would get fired and wind up working security at NASCAR events.

  71. 71.

    Tom Hilton

    November 21, 2011 at 11:26 am

    @jwest: Freep link. Yeah…I think I’ll skip that one. Thanks for sharing, though.

  72. 72.

    harlana

    November 21, 2011 at 11:48 am

    well can we at least agree that this First Lady has been attacked, demonized, mocked, and publicly villified (Limbaugh has all manner of unflattering names for her, since she is not an emaciated supermodel – he is constantly calling her things like “linebacker” (that’s one of the kinder ones) and making up “ooga-booga” sounding names for her) more than any other first lady (except perhaps Eleanor Roosevelt – i’m sure she had LOTS of haters). People on the right hate her as much, if not more, than Obama. See Fox News calling her “Lady Gaga” for going to Target in a baseball cap (??) – and, um, no, the comparisons don’t have to make sense either.

  73. 73.

    Wily Jalapeño

    November 21, 2011 at 12:18 pm

    @Tom Hilton:

    @jwest: Freep link. Yeah…I think I’ll skip that one. Thanks for sharing, though.

    Tom – I know what you’re thinking, but it’s not a Free Republic link – it goes to the Detroit Free-Press, the main paper organ for Detroit.

  74. 74.

    Tom Hilton

    November 21, 2011 at 12:25 pm

    @Wily Jalapeño: Ah, of course. I should know that–I’ve made that mistake before. (Kind of an unfortunate url, though.)

  75. 75.

    OzoneR

    November 21, 2011 at 12:30 pm

    @jwest: america’s problem in one paragraph

    Dave Aldorfer, 67, is a retired General Motors environmental manager who lives in Oakland Township. An independent, he voted for McCain in 2008 and is considering Romney and Gingrich in the primary. His main issue is getting a handle on the government’s obligations and expenditures and, if they’re what the American people demand, funding them — even if it means higher taxes.

    So basically “I think we need to raise taxes if need be, but I’m gonna go ahead and vote for the guy who won’t do that.”

    Fuck Americans, really.

  76. 76.

    ABL

    November 21, 2011 at 12:52 pm

    @Mnemosyne: that was precisely my point, thank you.

  77. 77.

    cckids

    November 21, 2011 at 1:19 pm

    @Cacti:

    NASCAR is the sport of choice for those who find professional wrestling too sophisticated

    NASCAR: Non-Athletic “Sport” Centered Around Rednecks.

  78. 78.

    Chet

    November 21, 2011 at 1:22 pm

    Just to play devil’s advocate here: should any political figure, on any level and of any party, expect to attend a sporting event without getting booed? (And, like it or not, a First Lady is indeed a political figure whether or not she’s an officeholder in her own right.)

    Sarah Palin was booed unmercifully at that Philly Flyers game a few years ago, and you know damn well at least half the people in that arena supported her and McCain. Booing politicians who intrude on the game/race/whatever is something sports fans have done from time immemorial.

  79. 79.

    Bulworth

    November 21, 2011 at 1:52 pm

    The First Lady and Dr. Biden attended the final NASCAR race

    Wait, you mean NASCAR is finally over? Good. Asshats.

  80. 80.

    LanceThruster

    November 21, 2011 at 2:00 pm

    My mechanic gave me tickets one year to a NASCAR race at California Speedway. As an atheist, I stayed seated at the prayer for the safety of the drivers before the race. I got a whole lot of hard looks and my companions were certain I was about to get my ass kicked.

    Glad to see nothing has changed.

  81. 81.

    g

    November 21, 2011 at 2:22 pm

    Find footage of liberals booing Laura Bush and I’ll grant that your assertion might have a point.

    the only example I can recall of a negative response to Laura Bush at an appearance was I think a college commencement ceremony. I think some students turned their backs.

    And it’s a little different kind of appearance than a NASCAR event – NASCAR is an entertainment event open to any member of the public. A commencement ceremony is a ritual of passage that holds importance to the participants; a commencement speaker is chosen to be inspirational to the graduates. It is perfectly understandable that graduating students would dispute a politically symbolic figure being invited to be spokesperson of their institution.

  82. 82.

    catmandoodo

    November 21, 2011 at 3:24 pm

    It is reported that Clarence Thomas is a NASCAR fan–go figure

  83. 83.

    Jill

    November 21, 2011 at 5:46 pm

    Seriously, what is up with everyone thinking that Nascar fans are disrespectful because they view Obama and Biden as the wives of politicians who continue to sell out their country? People will continually call Nascar fans rednecks and ignorant hillbillies (all cultural slams and prejudices they deem justifiable in their myopic world views)all the while damning Nascar fans for culturally slamming the wives of politicians who do very little to support their way of life. What a joke.
    PeteDuff

  84. 84.

    Patriotic Liberal

    November 21, 2011 at 8:46 pm

    The fans were were not booing Michelle Obama. They were booing security for letting a black person into a Klan meeting NASCAR race.

  85. 85.

    Earnest Bunbury

    November 21, 2011 at 9:48 pm

    what is up with everyone thinking that Nascar fans are disrespectful

    Uh, I guess the part where they were booed. Yep definitely. When they booed the wives, pretty much a sure sign of disrespect.

    Tell me, in your country, what does booing connote? Respect?

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