Manly men and politics
In a memorably funny commentary on NPR this morning, Frank Deford wonders why most of the former athletes who go into politics are Republicans.
While the Democrats can't muster a decent benchwarmer, Deford sniffs, the GOP keeps churning out former football, baseball and basketball players -- and even cheerleaders -- who run for office.
Of course, NPR followed the commentary with an interview with former NFL quarterback Heath Shuler, who won Tuesday's Democratic primary and will challenge incumbent North Carolina Republican Charles Taylor for his seat.
But Shuler's clearly an exception. The GOP gives us NFL Hall of Famer Lynn Swann running for governor of Pennsylvania, Deford says. The Democrats counter with John Kerry. Wind-surfing.
Comments (18)
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Perhaps jocks are Repubs, but many war vets running for office nowadays are Dems. Go figure...
Posted on May 3, 2006 10:12 AM
Good point. Experience in make-believe warfare versus the real thing.
Posted on May 3, 2006 10:25 AM
What's the mystery? Conservatism is organized around ideals of personal achievement and responsibility, the valorization of competition, and a meritocratic view of society as a game in which there are (naturally and rightly) winners and losers. Liberalism is organized around ideals of egalitarianism, compassion, and blaming Bush for everything bad that has ever happened.
Where do you think ex-athletes are going to head, politically speaking?
Posted on May 3, 2006 11:04 AM
Personal achievement and responsibility?
Duke Cunningham and Tom DeLay, etc., must have missed that memo.
Posted on May 3, 2006 1:45 PM
At least Tom Delay, who has only been indicted (already several of the charges have been set aside), not convicted, had enough integrity to resign his seat unlike Bush's predecessor who was impeached by Congress after lying to a federal grand jury, then owning up to cheating on his wife as a result of the first Jewish-Southern Baptist ecumenical affair to ever occur in the Oval Office.
Bubba obviously missed that memo on many occasions during his colorful political career.
Posted on May 3, 2006 2:04 PM
I'm not sure what the point is. I was simply noting that if Brian's right, these guys are not very conservative.
Posted on May 3, 2006 2:16 PM
Jon: "...had enough integrity to resign his seat unlike Bush's predecessor who was impeached by Congress after lying to a federal grand jury,..."
It's amusing to see DeLay's "integrity" compared to Clinton's, but it follows the rule that when there are no defenses left for President Bush, invoke some old Clintonism to deflect the argument.
Can you honestly believe that what President Bush has done by declaring Congress mostly invalid is anywhere near the "impeachable offense" of which Clinton is guilty? (no one argues Clinton's was a stupid law-breaking deed but let's put it in context with the discussion of nuclear war, shall we?)
Posted on May 3, 2006 6:11 PM
"Perhaps jocks are Repubs, but many war vets running for office nowadays are Dems. Go figure..."
Maybe that's because all the potential GOP vet candidates re-upped.
Posted on May 3, 2006 6:46 PM
Right, Bubba. They "enlisted" as keyboard warriors.
Posted on May 3, 2006 6:58 PM
Wow, Allen, two cheap rhetorical points in a row! Obviously I was speaking of general orientations, and could easily cite liberals who fail to be compassionate ("Byrd must have missed that memo when he joined the Klan").
And on the armchair warrior meme with which you began, let's not overlook that military personnel trend strongly Republican. That's why Al Gore tried to get their votes thrown out in Florida. (Cheap rhetorical point back atcha.)
On the plus side--and I mean this seriously--I kinda like the cheap rhetorical Allen better than the mushy-center left Allen. In your recent editorial on diversity in schools, you pretty much equated support of neighborhood schools with a return to slavery ("Why not just dispense with emancipation and the ideals of reason and justice?"), but it was passionately argued in a way you characteristically suppress.
Posted on May 3, 2006 11:57 PM
An out-of-date post, with information that proved to be wrong, from Kos?
ROTFLMAO!
Good work, Sue. THAT'S an impartial and accurate view to settle THAT issue, isn't it?
Posted on May 4, 2006 11:27 AM
I wouldn't make too much of this either way. It's not like we're talking about huge numbers of athletes becoming politicians.
Bill Bradley, for example, was a liberal Democrat and a Hall of Fame basketball player with the Knicks. And while some might say that the Democrats have cornered the market on Hollywood, Ronald Reagan, Sonny Bono and Arnold Schwarzenegger all did pretty well for themselves in the GOP.
I don't think you can draw too many sweeping conclusions about either party just because a couple of ex-athletes or actors win elections.
Posted on May 4, 2006 11:52 AM
I agree. think Deford's piece was at least partially tongue-in-cheek.
Posted on May 4, 2006 2:15 PM
DeFord is terriofic, especially tongue in cheek.
The unspoken assumption here is that "manly"="athletic". Talk about loading the question. I choose to think being manly also entails balanced compassion and rational open-mindedness; strength enough to collaborate rather than only competing, but drive enough to carry through on one's goals; and other traits that, frankly, are shared by WOMEN as well as men, thus the whole issue is a big joke.
Likely reasons many "jocks" excel in politics: they are often taller (we have a decided bias for height in electing people to office);
they may be more inclined to socialize and practice than study in college, leading them to have better "people skills" (aka, "connections"); and they may have proclivities towards power-hunger with an addiction to adrenaline rush.
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