I Say Obama, You Say Tiger?

The media shouted bloody murder when Bill Clinton stated the obvious that Jesse Jackson had won South Carolina (so it wasn't unexpected that Obama would) as though it were some sort of sin to say that blacks in South Carolina have overwhelmingly voted for the black candidate before. I don't know what the heck this guy is trying to say.

Army Staff Sergeant David Bellavia introduced John McCain at Vets for Freedom Rally today with this unfortunate line, linking Barack Obama with golfer Tiger Woods. But not in a good way:

"Fortunately, I have the privilege, the distinct privilege today, of introducing a true American hero who defies political norms in Washington," Bellavia said. "Sen. John McCain has spent a lifetime in service to our nation. His example of unwavering courage is a model for every American. Rest assured that men like Senator McCain will be the goal and the men that my two young boys will emulate and admire. You can have your Tiger Woods, we've got Senator McCain."

Keith Olbermann invited Michael Eric Dyson on The Countdown to ponder the possible rationale:

DYSON: Now we can’t discern the person’s intent, it may have been fine. But that’s even more problematic. If there was no specific and particular and conscious intent to do harm, that means that this grows out of a pattern of habit. That it is just a natural reflex. And that one, you know, interchangeable African-American multi-racial person is as good as the other or they’re indistinguishable.

OLBERMANN: Since I first heard this today, I’ve been trying to figure out, with some sports background in my past, if the veteran there was not talking about race, what he could have been talking about. Because what is there to be dismissive about about Tiger Woods? He’s an almost unbeatable golfer. He is, in fact, the man who re-calibrated what had been a very non-diverse sport and because of that re-calibration, everybody in it made a lot more money than they would have otherwise. He brought people a lot of green, never mind any other color. If you’re comparing anybody to Tiger Woods on a non-racial basis, the other guy loses, doesn’t he?

This kind of stuff takes me back to my early/college era experiences with white folks. They couldn't "play the dozens" worth crap so no matter how off the wall or non-nonsensical some of my "jokes" would be, their response was always something racial. Needless to say, none of that lot went on to become one of my lifelong friends and they've probably raised passels of little Archie Bunkers to pollute this generation with those who cannot see that trying to use an amazing guy like Tiger Woods to insult someone is wholly stupid.