At a pro-war rally in DC yesterday, hosted by a conservative group called Vets for Freedom, John McCain received an interesting introduction from one of the group’s founders.
The key quote, of course, was David Bellavia saying, “Rest assured that people like Senator McCain will be the goal and the men that my two young boys will emulate an admire. You can have your Tiger Woods. We have Senator McCain.”
The overwhelmingly white crowd assembled at the event seemed to think this was a powerful and amusing thing to say. I’m trying to think of a non-racist explanation for the comment, but I’m afraid nothing comes to mind.
As David Kurtz noted, “It’s Masters Week, but what does Tiger Woods have to do with this?”
There are a few angles to this. First, Bellavia is not just a random conservative McCain fan; he’s actually a Republican candidate for Congress, running for Tom Reynolds’ open seat in upstate New York.
Second, McCain was standing right there for Bellavia’s comments, and hasn’t distanced himself from them. (Indeed, he hugged Bellavia after his introduction.)
And third, the media’s reaction to this is, well, a little varied.
After checking Nexis, it appears only two television news programs mentioned the Woods comparison. Keith Olbermann’s “Countdown” highlighted the quote, and spoke to Georgetown sociology professor Michael Eric Dyson about the odd, unwarranted comparison.
Dyson, I believe accurately, called the Bellavia comments “pretty ridiculous.”
“I guess one multi-racial black man is interchangeable with another. I think it indicates that the Republicans in broad stroke, and Mr. McCain in particular, have a huge problem with black people. This kind of at least racial insensitivity suggests that there is something disturbing going on here and that they can’t even make a distinction about who the right opponent is of Mr. McCain. […]
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 is just a natural reflex, and that one interchangeable African-American multi-racial person is as good as the other or they’re indistinguishable. And I think, at that level, it’s probably pretty problematic. The consequence here is much worse than one’s discernible intent. […]
“As great a man as Senator John McCain is, when one thinks about the climate and environment that Tiger Woods operates in, that he has produced in this country, one could only aspire toward that excellence in one’s own field. So it is hard to conclude that anything else was meant but a kind of veiled reference to race.”
The only other show to cover the story was Chris Matthews’ “Hardball,” which offered a very different perspective.
The general consensus, the talking heads said, is that it’s “no harm, no foul,” because Tiger Woods is great at golf.
Consider the quote again: “Rest assured that people like Senator McCain will be the goal and the men that my two young boys will emulate an admire. You can have your Tiger Woods. We have Senator McCain.”
In other words, don’t admire the ethnically diverse golfer who reminds this guy of Barack Obama.
Am I the only one who finds this offensive?
