Bush Balks at Tossing Out Opening Day's First Pitch

[cal04]

This is a baseball story, so let's get right to the stats.

Today is Washington's 65th Opening Day since 1910, when William H. Taft gave us a tradition: the ceremonial first pitch by the president. Taft threw the inaugural one for the Senators that year. In the local club's 63 home openers since, a dozen presidents have done the honors 45 times, from front-row seats or from the mound, making them 46 for 64 overall

President Bush kept up the tradition in 2005, celebrating baseball's return to the nation's capital after a 33-season absence. But he missed last year's home opener -- and he'll miss today's, too, when the Nationals host the Florida Marlins at 1:05 p.m. Except for when the world was at war, only two other presidents, Woodrow Wilson and Richard M. Nixon, missed Opening Day ceremonies two years in a row. And Wilson had suffered a stroke.

What gives?

(snip)
"Oh, yes, he was invited," said Bush spokeswoman Emily Lawrimore. She said the president, an avid baseball fan and former part owner of the Texas Rangers, would love to be there. But "it's not possible with his schedule. He's got various meetings during the day, a meeting earlier in the morning. . . . It just wasn't going to work out."

With Bush's approval ratings stuck below 40 percent in recent polls, Lawrimore was asked whether the president feared he'd get booed. "No," she replied. "Certainly not."

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/01/AR2007040101262.html

[Demeter]

1. Bush Still Licking His Wounds After The Last Disasterous Photo Op

There's a limit to how much punishment a public face can take before somebody grabs the hook....and relieves us all of his misery.

[rocktivity]

2. Booing's no problem--just play a tape of people cheering

as it was rumored was done a couple of years ago!

:rofl:
rocknation

[Frank Cannon]

19. It's not the booing they're worried about

It's trying to cover up an ENTIRE STADIUM full of people flipping the bird, mooning, throwing beers and rotten vegetable matter, etc. There's only so much magic the little media elves can work.

[northzax]

3. in DC?

yeah, he'd get booed. and it would be even worse given that the Nats, despite shilling from every media outlet in town and a predicted 80 degree, sunny day, haven't managed to sell out opening day.

when you have a team prediceted to finish dead last, no one wants to throw out the opening pitch.

[Nite Owl]

4. Hmmm....

more like Nixon every day.

[Gman]

10. That's what it is. More like Nixxon every day

More and more isolated. He couldn't have handled the boos.

[ClintonTyree]

17. I guess they're running out of hand picked crowds...

to bolster Little Boot's ego. There was a time when they'd have no problem filling the room with fawning Bush sycophants. Now? It's everyone for themselves and they're putting as much distance between themselves and Bush as possible. Oh, how the mighty have fallen! :rofl: Bush is as popular as ants at a picnic. :rofl:

[bdamomma]

30. * can't be seen with the public he is a coward.

he can only be surrounded by his loyalists. Too bad I would have loved to hear those Boo's.

[Systematic Chaos]

5. If I lived in the area I'd have bought tickets to the game...

...for the SOLE PURPOSE of booing him until my vocal cords tore. But that's just me, and a few million other people. :evilgrin:

[Monkeyman]

6. Once again he proves he is a coward

[peacetalksforall]

7. We know about the dis-reality that has descended on us.

I believe his handlers creat dis-reality for him (i.e., lie).

They may have piled on his schedule because they (his handlers) are afraid of booing.

Bush is probably still believing he is loved and the right person to help this country.

[daninthemoon]

28. Just watched a movie about Elvis. By the late 60s, his entourage

had taken to covering his head with blankets in his car. They told him it was to keep the throng of crowds from seeing him. In reality, there were no more crowds. Even if * was able to make good decisions, he has been so isolated/handled, who knows how he actually views the world. He might even believe some of the things he says.

[Cant trust em]

8. First pitch

Juuuuust a bit outside. Just like his foreign policy.

[blondeatlast]

9. It's "hard work" ebing hopelessly out of touch. What a buffoon.

I would have sworn there would be an "April Fool's!" at the end of that.

[Straight Shooter]

11. Brawwwkkk, brawk-brawk-brawk-brawk-brawk, brawwwwwk

Hark! It's the call of the mighty chickenhawk, Little Lord Pissypants, the Decider.



Brawwwwkk!

[Botany]

41. Stop cutting down chickens

They give us eggs, meat, feathers for pillows, bone meal, and
roosters have gotten farmers up for years.

What the hell has bush ever done?

He will not show up for opening day? :rofl:

He was booed in Conservative St. Louis a few years ago ....
they had cheers being played over the P.A. system too.

[Straight Shooter]

42. You don't like the prancing chicken?

:P

[Chiyo-chichi]

49. I like it, but...

a chickenhawk isn't a chicken. It's a bird that eats chickens. Didn't you watch Foghorn Leghorn cartoons?

[louis-t]

54. "T-a-a-a-h-m tuh bury th' hatchet....

...not in yo' pointed head, son!"

[Straight Shooter]

59. Oh, my, it's all coming back to me now.

:silly:

[TlalocW]

12. Bullshit

If the president isn't afraid of getting boo'ed, it's only because the stories are true about how much of a bubble president he is, and it's his handlers who KNOW he'll get boo'ed so they're keeping him away from it.

It's hard to fill a stadium with nothing but Bush-bots and troops who have to act respectful to the moron.

TlalocW

[cboy4]

13. There's an easy way for him to avoid getting booed:

Walk out to the mound with servicemen and/or women who have just returned from Iraq.

He's done so before and it works, because nobody is going to boo them.

So who knows what the real reason is.

[ComerPerro]

14. its obvious its not his schedule or work ethic, the guy is lazy as fuck

If I were president, you could not keep me from throwing out a first pitch each year.

[Laurier]

15. I dunno. If he did toss the pitch, wouldn't we

collectively then (rightly) criticize him for spending his time doing something frivolous while there are serious issues to be dealt with?

[WorseBeforeBetter]

24. Enh, there's nothing wrong with a little tradition.

With traffic cleared, he could have been to/from the stadium in under 30 minutes. Factoring in the pitch, the National Anthem, and a $6 pretzel. <Choke!>

[Laurier]

66. Agreed

Although the 36 hours of advance security might have been a bit of a bitch to local residents - closing off streets, installing snipers and secret service all over the place, etc. That said, I would personally pay a lot more than $6 for the pretzel, given his proclivity to pretzel trouble :)

Still, if he had, I think you will agree, there are many here who would have criticized him for it as being frivolous and light-hearted in the midst of serious events, etc. It would have been inevitable. Me, I think he's a lesser threat to the country when he's doing frivolous things than he is when he's trying to do serious things.

[blondeatlast]

26. I wouldn't. I've never criticized a president for following a time-honored tradition,

regardless of how much I despise the way they run the country.

I'm old enough to have lived through Nixon and Reagan, fwiw.

[ClintonTyree]

16. Well, the world IS at war.....

THE WAR ON TERRA! :sarcasm: No wonder our grate (sic) pResident can't be there. He's directing the allied forces (snicker, snicker) against the hordes of Al Qaeda terrorists lurking around every corner of the world. Deep within the bowels of the White House he's personally pushing plastic Army men around a board, directing troop movements on a split second level, striking fear into the hearts of the armies of darkness. :wow:

I think we should cut our grate (sic) pResident a little slack in this time of war! Don't you? HEAVY :sarcasm:

[bklyncowgirl]

18. Too bad, that's actually the one Presidential duty that he's capable of handling.

Of course I suppose they weren't able to find enough people who actually would cheer for him to overcome the boos from the cheap seats. I would have paid for a ticket if I was in the area just to have the opportunity to boo him in person. I'm sure Code Pink would have been out in force too.

[rosesaylavee]

20. So who thinks he could throw a pitch under the influence?

No need to have him defile the game.

[tanyev]

21. Awww. The rootinest, tootinest cowboy in the whole wide world is skeered.

Boo hoo.

[Virginia Dare]

22. That's great news for the fans...

one, they don't have to look at his ugly monkey face, and two, they don't have to face the gestapo like security. It's going to be a beautiful day for baseball!!

[Broadslidin]

23. Tis a sign, Julianus and the Praetorian Guard are still loyal to El Supremo

:hide:

[Zambero]

25. He's the "Decider" after all...

and after 6+ years of wild pitches (Iraq), passed balls (Katrina), caught stealing (Halliburton), fielding errors (Afghanistan), deliberate beanballs (Plame), balks ("uniter not a divider"), and neglecting to send in a relief pitcher (Rumsfeld), it's quite understandable that he'd steer clear of the national sport!

[weezy2736]

27. In other news...

It's unAmerican to want out of Iraq.

It's a sad state of affairs when the POTUS is bringing down baseball. It's even sadder when he plays politics with it.

Can I blame bush for losing the US losing the World Baseball Classic?

[PunkPop]

29. Approval ratings stuck below 40%?

How about just above 30. That would be a little more accurate.

[No DUplicitous DUpe]

31. Approval ratings stuck below 40%??????

That is what jumped out at me too. How about near 30%. Don't give him 60 million more "Fans" than he really has.

[ThoughtCriminal]

39. I've seen the media round off

36% to 40% which is "Almost Half".

When it's barely over 30, that should be harder to sell.

[progressoid]

56. Yep, they could have easily have said "mid thirties" instead. n/t

[LiberalFighter]

46. Maybe that is what he is scaredy of. That he will lose 60million more supporters.

Or maybe the baseball commissioner told him to stay away.

Or maybe his wifey Condi had other plans for him today.

[disndat]

55. How about

below 25%? That means between 0% amd 25%.

[Javaman]

32. He's sleeping off a weekend bender. nt

[Name removed]

33. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[jmowreader]

34. Naah. That ain't it at all. He t'rows like a goil.

And the terra'ists would win if they knew Our Great Prez'dent t'rows like a goil, don'tcha know?

(Apologies to all the girls who throw better than Shrub does. I think that's all of them.)

[momster]

35. WP- A2 Prez Has Light Schedule

BUSH GOES WEST: The president has a light week scheduled, with a Wednesday trip to Fort Irwin, CA, to meet with military families and make a speech. That night, he is to attend a RNC reception in LA. Then, he's off to his ranch in Crawford TX.

Gee...poor busy guy. Can't find half an hour to head to the ball game. And wasn't he right to be so outraged that Congress was taking a recess? He never gets any time off. (End Snark)

[chelsea0011]

36. Coward!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[daninthemoon]

37. But, he had time to write and deliver his little jokes for the press

dinner a few nights ago. Now that's disrepectful to our fallen soldiers.

[sallyseven]

48. His lackey's wrote that his isn't

smart enough.

[ThoughtCriminal]

38. Maybe there is a Little League game

Deep in the reddest reaches of Utah where a carefully pre-screened bleacher section would be polite to him.

[MarinCoUSA]

40. Send in the troops, kick out the people. Problem solved!

The man is a Coward!

Really, this is my pet big unreported story. It would make a great 921 Days and Counting.

Dim Son is afraid to appear in public. The 2004 campaign is example 1 but it started before that.
Viewing the president at a campaign appearance is no a "reward" to party toadies. The public be damned.


He sat in a reviewing stand for a labor day parade in Chicago in 02 or 03 but that was the last time he has been in public.

[Tekla West]

43. Oh give him a break

It not enough that he is losing everything everwhere, but to make him show up and root for the Nationals? How much could one man take anyway?

[hippiechick]

44. "busy schedule"?

What, is there a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle marathon on the Cartoon Network or something?

:shrug:

[LiberalFighter]

47. If there was he wouldn't be rooting for the Turtles he would be rooting for the bad guys

[LiberalFighter]

45. Too bad Gore couldn't had been the one throwing out the first pitch

[blondeatlast]

50. After all, they vetted all 40,000 fans, didn't they? Of course he isn't afraid... nt

[underpants]

51. What was the scheduling conflict? Why there was a photo-op with men in uniform

Bush Skips Opening Day
http://www.statesman.com/blogs/content/shared-blogs/washington/washington/entries/2007/04/02/bush_skips_open.html



A scheduling conflict kept President Bush, that lover of baseball, from throwing out a first pitch today as most Major League Baseball teams opened their seasons.

That’s the sports turncoat above with members of the Navy football team as he awarded them the Commander-in-Chief’s trophy as the best service academy team this past season.

[erpowers]

52. My Theory: He Does Not Need to Fool People Anymore

I may be wrong, but I think the real reason he is no longer throwing out the opening day pitches is that he does not have the fool the people anymore. There are now no more elections to be won or lost. I think before he and the people around him realize that if he pretended to be this nice guy who loved baseball people would like him and think he was an honest guy. Now he does not need the people, so he can skip all the games he wants. Maybe it is because he is scared of being booed, but I think many people, even in Washington D.C., would not boo him at the game. Even so I think people could be asked not to boo. So, I think he just does not care about being at the game.

[AndyTiedye]

53. BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO BOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

[yorkiemommie1]

58. ditto for me!

BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!! ad infinitum

[stevietheman]

57. cont... "He was afraid he would get beaned, or worse." n/t

n/t

[ProudDad]

60. Cheney in Alabama

after the boos he got last year...

:rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl:

[happygoluckytoyou]

61. Bush is doing just fine handling the booze

Chokes on a pretzel... falls off a bike... forgets to release his "package" in his flight suit... can't open a door after a press conference... and now we know the truth..... THROWS LIKE A GIRL

In a related story, W says that he is tired of all the media attention to his gaffs. "Rather than saying that 56 soldiers were killed in Iraq today, couldn't we ask FOX to suggest the headline "149,944 soldiers NOT killed in Iraq today"
A little spin and we would be hearing about the 299,850,000 americans NOT in Iraq... and what about the 85 lawyers NOT fired... the 87329 CIA NOC agents NOT outed...

Well mister prezident... looks like you have no balls, and just struck out again.

[mykevermin]

62. Bush *did* Throw Out a First Pitch in 2006

I can't imagine nobody remembers just last year. He threw out the first pitch during the first game of the Cincinnati Reds on April 3, 2006. A very conservative city, and surely a markedly different reaction than he might have received in Washington. Nevertheless, he was present last year, so feel free to correct your story.

[va4wilderness]

63. See here, Bush, I'm booin' ya

You can run but you can hide.

BOOOO! HISSS! GO BACK TO Crawford!!

[Cha]

64. Not a controlled audience..little

fucker would have gotten his butt booed off.

[tofurkey]

65. Not surprised. He doesn't go into DC if he can avoid it.

There are way too many crime-ridden neighborhoods on the way to the stadium. And if he saw this, he may be forced to actually do something about it.