From an ESPN fluff piece on teatard baseball player Luke Scott:
Scott went on to say that Obama was not born in America and referenced socialism, Cuba and Russia.
“People who tell the truth, they’re very easy to … their actions prove it. Something as simple providing a birth certificate. Come on. … There needs to be accountability for the truth. I don’t care if you’re the president of the United States, you need to be held accountable.”
Scott is certainly not alone in those views, and he received a lot of support for expressing his opinion. But negative reaction cascaded, too, with some bloggers saying that evidence Obama was born in Hawaii is overwhelming and that Scott must be a racist or a moron, or both.
There are those who say that there is evidence Obama was born in Hawaii. Others say there is not. The truth is probably somewhere in the middle. I wish David Broder had lived long enough to tell us that both sides are wrong about where Obama was born. Maybe Rick Klein do the honors for us.
Also too, the phallic imagery about “the feel of his Colt .45″….creepy.
(h/t reader M)
fhtagn
So Obama was born in the middle of Hawaii? Halfway between Hawaii and the mainland? Halfway between the middle of Hawaii and halfway to the mainland?
Time to hit the gym… or do I mean get halfway to the gym? Or halfway to halfway to the gym?
Oh bugger!
abscam
Sports figure says something dumb…dear god, this has never happened before. What to do?
Mike E
You gotta love the unambiguous “racist” “moron” though, something said so clearly unseriously as to probably cause the spirit of Broder to appear and shake his chains and cocktail trays in disgust.
JGabriel
Some say Obama was born in Hawaii
While Tea Drinkers swear it was Kenya
Da-da da-da da-da Malawi
Blah blah blah Blah blah blah friend ya!
I’m good with rhymes, but somebody else can finish the verses.
.
Martin
Obama was born somewhere between Hawaii and Kenya? ZOMG, he’s a magma moleman, born in the earth’s mantle!
Zifnab
He was born on a US Military Base in Panama.
slag
@Mike E: Some people say Luke Scott is a racist. Others say that he’s a moron. The truth is probably somewhere in the middle.
reflectionephemeral
From the Yahoo article that gave rise to this story originally:
Nothing says a true American who’ll fight for our values like a guy who faked mental illness to dodge the draft, then went on to record “Wang Dang Sweet Poontang.”
Conservatism has degenerated into pure tribalism. There’s no policy or philosophical content. There’s just, as cleek pointed out, pissing off liberals. This is the GOP base.
PurpleGirl
@Martin: Hey, that’s not bad. Good retort.
Dennis SGMM
Some say Luke Scott fellates barnyard animals. They reference the fact that he was born in Florida and that he gets a strange gleam in his eye whenever the team bus goes past a petting zoo. Others cite the fact that Scott has never denied fellating barnyard animals.
pragmatism
at least he’s set up for life after baseball. he can run “latin” or black education camps and chuck plantain chips at them when they are acting as an “animal” or “savage”. perhaps become part of the kaplan empire?
also, too, the bar has been reset for what makes a man “complex”.
Tonal Crow
@Zifnab:
That is *definitely* good news for John McCain.
JGabriel
Luke Scott via reflectionephemeral:
Nugent respects the GOP. Can we get him to hunt down Republicans and kill them too?
.
skeeball
Can’t we all just compromise and say Obama was born in Senegal? Its as close to halfway between Kenya and the USA as we can find. I’m sure Obama endorses this compromise.
BGinCHI
High Broderism has to get into the lexicon.
It’s part of the DNA of journalism in the 21st century.
johnny walker
Stupid pampered celebrities should keep their mouths shut. They aren’t real people, don’t speak for the rest of us and should stop taking advantage of their fame to ram their bullshit opinions down our throats. Luke Scott should stop pretending he knows anything about politics and go back to hitting a ball with a stick.
What… oh, a rightwing political opinion? Shoulda said so sooner. Good job Scott, way to fight the PC police.
Jonas
I love that. Not some people say. Some BLOGGERS say the evidence that Obama was born in Hawaii.
Bruce S
As commenter rikyrah likes to say, “They are who you think they are” –
http://offthebench.nbcsports.com/2011/04/23/orioles-luke-scott-throws-banana-chips-at-dominican-teammate-to-remind-him-to-not-be-a-savage/
Ash Can
This guy isn’t the sharpest knife in the drawer, is he? Then again, pro athletes aren’t exactly known for their brains.
Villago Delenda Est
@johnny walker:
I saw what you did there.
Good job!
Comrade DougJ
@Ash Can:
That’s why they belong in Congress.
Martin
@skeeball: Ah, only if you’re working on an S2 great circle. If you aren’t some kind of fancy pants mathematician and live in the real fucking R3 world, you’ll concede that he’s from somewhere in the upper or lower mantle, depending on how much we need to negotiate on that ‘somewhere in the middle’. He might be from the crust, but that’d be admitting a strong bias toward one side or the other.
Tonal Crow
Some say that most of our media are treasonous GOP blowhards who wank off to Ayn Rand novels. And some disagree about the Ayn Rand novels, insisting that the media instead enjoy wanking off to illicit photos of David Brooks getting molested by a Republican Senator. After exhaustively polling our 5 closest friends, we were unable to find anyone who disagreed with the part about treason.
Warren Terra
Well, according to this site, which uses Google Maps, the half-way point on the shortest-distance line between Honolulu, Hawaii and Mombasa, Kenya – the point of truth, the point that is exactly “somewhere in the middle” – is near Mandakh, Mongolia.
That’s right – Barack Obama, the real Manchurian Candidate.
johnny walker
@Bruce S:
It’s pretty inspiring that they let a blind man play in the major leagues. He must hit by smell.
4tehlulz
Some enterprising salesperson should invite the president to attend the BAL@WSH game on 6/17.
Ed in NJ
@abscam:
I’m thinking the point has eluded you. The issue is not the dumb, racist ballplayer, it’s the unchallenged forum given by the ESPN reporter.
It’s really a delightful article. Scott keeps a bag of dried plantains in his locker to throw at his black teammate when he is acting like a “savage”.
Shoemaker-Levy 9
Not just “those”, “bloggers.” God, I feel dirty for even typing the word.
Mike M
I just read an article that during Obama’s upcoming visit to Ireland, he plans to visit the small town where his great-great-great grandfather was born. Why has nobody considered the possibility that he might have been born in Ireland? That’s sort of midway, isn’t it?
cat48
Leslie Gelb says some are “Foreign Policy Birthers” which is sorta funny.
kth
Luke Scott: Shut up and swing!
handy
Oh but some NBA player 15 years ago turned his back on the flag during the national anthem so see…BOTH SIDES DO IT!
Calouste
Considering that sports people typically can’t even say anything coherent and meaningful about the match they just played in, there’s no reason to listen to anything else they might have to say.
steviez314
@fhtagn: Halfway between Hawaii and Kenya is somewhere near Trinidad and Tobago I believe.
handy
@Calouste:
mostly it’s a string of predictable, stale cliches.
Odie Hugh Manatee
The first thing I thought when I read that was ‘why would he consider a can of Colt .45 a phallic symbol?’.
A wang as tall and round as a can of Colt 45 is ‘more of a novelty item than a useful tool’.
fhtagn
@steviez314:
Split the difference.. Trinibago.. Winnebago. He’s from Wisconsin, folks.
Comrade DougJ
@Odie Hugh Manatee:
The whole thing about handling a gun was weird.
johnny walker
Come on, everyone knows that plantains are basically unfit for human consumption unless they’re cooked, transforming them into food. All Scott is saying is that, similarly, if Pie plays his cards right, he can be considered a real person someday. He’s even trying to help the process along.
Not remotely racist.
@Comrade DougJ: Seemed oddly coincidental to me that the writer felt compelled to include that the gun was black. I’m not much of a gun enthusiast, so maybe I missed some technicolor revolution but I tend to assume that most any gun is black unless otherwise stated.
Also, the reporter clearly let one slide by failing to look into whether Scott also tends to throw plantain chips at the gun.
The Snarxist Formerly Known As Kryptik
@Ed in NJ:
That’s the most galling part. Just further and further mainstreaming of birtherism, to the point where sports sights pepper puff pieces with it as signs of ‘Ohh, he’s so in tune with politics!!’ or ‘Oh, ain’t he just a good ol’ boy!’
johnny walker
@handy: Not all that different from politics. Baseball is the perfect analogue, really: brief moments of action intercut with long stretches of standing around doing nothing. Afterward, if you’re considered noteworthy, someone will stick a camera in your face so you can repeat something someone else wrote for you.
Mandramas
@skeeball: Phillipines sounds like a better answer.
Odie Hugh Manatee
@Comrade DougJ:
Agreed. It’s very creepy.
Nellcote
@Mandramas:
Or Indonesia!
Dr. Squid
The last ballplayer that was that nutty was Eric Show, and he died of an OD. And anyone seen Carl Everett lately?
aimai
@Martin:
That was really good. And at this point, its hard to find something new to laugh about on this subject.
aimai
tom p
Obama was born in Georgia.
mellowjohn
@4tehlulz:
the O’s are at the cell this weekend. think i’ll sit in the left field bleachers and throw teabags.
p.s. somebody should tell him that the colt .45s are now called the astros.
pragmatism
@tom p: tiblisi (sp?) or stone mountain?
Bill Murray
@slag:
so is that a racron or a moist? wait the middle is the key, he’s a Cisoro
Dr. Squid
@Dr. Squid:
Ok, a bit inaccurate. It would be better to describe Eric Show as a tortured and tragic individual who wasn’t able to work out issues with a rotten-assed father by the time he died of an OD.
Carl “The moon landing was a fake” Everett is still a nut, though. And Scott will find himself out of the majors soon enough as well, since Everett was a better hitter in his prime.
GregB
Birther’s only have three options as to what motivates them.
1) Asshole
2) Idiot
3) Racist
If they claim they aren’t racist that leaves two options.
Matt Mangels
I love you, DougJ.
Comrade Javamanphil
As if it wasn’t embarrassing enough being an Orioles fan these days…
abscam
@Ed in NJ: Sports reporters aren’t the only ones offering unchallenged forums for this kind of crap any more. I’m far more concerned that political figures can say this shit and go unchallenged.
darkmatter
@johnny walker:
Damnit I laughed at that. That is a keeper.
@GregB:
That is saying that they are mutually exclusive. As far as anyone knows, it ain’t the case.
Comrade Luke
I saw that article, and the first thing that came to mind was “You’d NEVER see a piece like this on someone who is hard left, ever.”
amirite?
Joel
Cannot wait to heckle Luke Scott this year.
Joel
@abscam: To be fair, he’s said the same dumb shit multiple times, and in many forums. The guy is a public figure and deserves public mockery.
Bruce S
@slag:
“Some people say Luke Scott is a racist. Others say that he’s a moron. The truth is probably somewhere in the middle.”
No, no, no! The truth is that both “extremes” are right!
Triassic Sands
Crikey!!! A quick look at Google Earth reveals that half way between Hawaii and Kenya appears to be somewhere in Australia. The guy’s an Aussie! No wonder he won’t show us his birth certificate.
rickstersherpa
I know that this gives us all a nice tribal moment, but the article does describe Scott’s growing up in Deleon Springs, Florida during the 80s and 90s (Amy kind of forgot to mention the state and the location within the state, Northeast Florida, just west of Daytona Beach). Scott apparently grew up in rather “government free zone” not much different than urban Baltimore described by the Wire, an area where the principal business had become drug dealing and where folks grew up to either go into sports, join the military, go to prision, or get killed. So why does he believe, and most of his friends and family believe such strange things. Perhaps because the Rush Limbaughs and Franklin Grahams of the world don’t think it is beneath themselves to address these people. I definitely think Scott is a fool, but he is not much of a different fool than the rest of us.