Magic Johnson At Clinton Rally: "You Don't Want Somebody That Is Young Or A Rookie At Politics"

Quad-City Times:

Magic Johnson doesn't trust rookies to win a basketball game, much less lead the nation.

"You don't want somebody in there that is young or a rookie at politics," Johnson said Tuesday at a raucous rally in support of presidential candidate Hillary Rodham Clinton. "We want somebody in there that knows what they're doing because this job is so huge."

Read the whole story: Quad-City Times

Comments

[union79]

12:12 PM on 12/19/2007

Magic's "rookie" specific remark was:

""You don't want somebody in there that is young or a rookie at politics,"

He is far from a rookie at politics given his years in the Illinois State Senate preceded by his time doing community service work ~ a job which I am sure is heavy on dealing with political reality as well as acting as a change agent for people in those roles.

So I still say Magic's remarks as to "rookieness" at politics was dead wrong and insulting to him as well as the other two heavy lifters.

[eaglecapri]

10:04 AM on 12/19/2007

10 Things One Should Know About Magic Johnson's ROOKIE season:

1) left college two years early to join the NBA....how interesting (sophomore student, junior senator)
2) Created what we know now as 'Showtime'
3) Lead the league in triple-doubles at a rate only second to Hall-of-Famer Oscar Roberston
4) First year average of 18 points, 7.7 rebounds and 7.3 assists
5) NBA all-Rookie Team
6) NBA Finals MVP award (42 points, 15 rebounds, 7 assists and 3 steals - one game alone)
7) At only 20 years-old, Johnson became one of only four players to win NCAA and NBA championships in consecutive years
8) At only 20 years-old tooke the Lakers to the victory in the series-clinching sixth game with a legendary performance
9) Became the first rookie to start in an NBA all-star game since Elvin Hayes
10) Coach Westhead said of his amazing rookie: "We all thought he was a movie-star player (interesting....movie-star/rock star), but we found out he wars a hard hat. It's like finding a great orthopedic surgeon who can also operate a bulldozer'....as reported by the LA Times

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magic_Johnson
http://www.nba.com/history/players/johnsonm_bio.html
http://www.lakersuniverse.com/players/magic_johnson_profile.htm

...'nuff said!

One should be really careful what one says in public. These words made by Mr. Johnson may come back to haunt him and the Clinton (Bill and Hillary) campaign.

[MRb1000]

07:20 AM on 12/19/2007

This is funny. Hillary was looking for Bill during this stop. The focus was to be on Hillary and Bill was acting like he is running to become the next president. You should have seen the look on her face trying to find him. Also her campaign team let out an expletive saying where is he. Then they found him and cut his conversation with the press and brought him back to his wife. Man I think something is wrong with Bill. He is not his old self. If he dose this stuff when he get in the white house it is going to be a mess. Please Please we do not need any more drama in our lives.

America America America

Let Bill and Hillary go home and retire

[Tellmethetruth]

03:46 AM on 12/19/2007

The Senator with the experience is Joe Biden.

[Ginzaman]

11:41 PM on 12/18/2007

So that means a hyprocite that's bought and paid for by the special interests and doensn't give a s**t about giving people human decency thru universal health care is ok? Must be nice for Magic to be set for life. So he doesn't have to worry about annoying little "pre-existing conditions". I wonder if he's ever been denied health care, despite his mega fame and fortune?

[synonys]

10:02 PM on 12/18/2007

Remember when Huckabee was suggesting HIV patients should be segragated even though the scientific community knew it couldn't be transmitted causually? That was around the time magic was educating the country on HIV/AIDS...

[gevan]

09:50 PM on 12/18/2007

Right! You gotta have someone with extesive experience like a Buchanan or Nixon; not a political lightweight like a Lincoln or Eisenhower.

[MRb1000]

09:10 PM on 12/18/2007

I WOULD LIKE TO ASK MAGIC ONE QUESTION. HOW DO HE FEEL ABOUT THE BIGOTRY THAT THE HILLARY CLINTON CAMPAIGN IS SPREADING. YEAH, HE WOULD GIVE THAT LOOK AS IF HE FOUL SOMEONE IN A BASKET BALL GAME. THROWING HIS HAND UP WITH THAT FAKE SMILE. MAGIC HOW COULD YOU DO THIS AFTER BILL AND HILLARY USED BIGOTRY AGAINST A PERSON OF COLOR. THEY FELL SHORT OF USING THE N WORD. WELL THE NEXT TIME YOU SHOW YOUR FACE ON TV SPORTS SEEN I HOPE THEY HAMMER YOU WITH THIS QUESTION. WHAT ARE THINKING, WHAT ARE YOU THINKING

[clsez]

09:05 PM on 12/18/2007

Expletive! Well, he just hadn't listened to the news in weeks.
Expletive! He got excited when he was asked to come shill, asking what shill was but did not wait to find out.
Expletive! He is a rookie endorser so he is therefore asking us not to listen to his incompetent arse.
Holy mother of God!

Magic, did you hear about Barack being falsely and denigratingly called muslim twice in emails from the Klinton domain?
Magic, did you hear of Klintons state co-chair insinuating that Barack was a drug dealer?
Magic, did you hear Bob Kerrey all but link Barack to the source of 9/11?
The Klintons are doing all of these to Barack and what do you do?

With your multimillion dollar Beverly Hills edifice to yourself, your assistant could not give you a summary of political news or did you come to this step after careful consideration? How could you turn into such a Tom? All those ministers who lined up for Hillary and the members of the CBC who have endorsed Klinton need to take it back bcuz these charlatans will do ANYTHING to win including be racist zealots to a viable black candidate then have the gall to ask Magic out on the chopper and what does Not-So-Magic do?

[sarnold49]

08:22 PM on 12/18/2007

When the media chose Bush as president for us none of us democrats liked it. We were like: Why don't you tell the truth about him? Why do you keep ridiculing Gore and praising Bush?
But now it doesn't bother the Obama supporters that the media has chosen Obama as the Democratic nominee!

[Tankan]

07:59 PM on 12/18/2007

Well said Magic, just the way Bill wrote it for you!

Now, about your fee!

[Vexed]

07:15 PM on 12/18/2007

Thanks for your insights Magic... Your intellectual prowess are well know... WAIT A MINUTE!!! You are a friggin retired basketball player...

[Vexed]

07:10 PM on 12/18/2007

Great logic for basketball but it doesn't apply to politics... Just what we need... More lifetime Senators and Representatives... Isn't the system corrupt enough, Magic... We need someone who is untainted by the quid pro quo mentality of successful, longterm congressional representatives... Beside being smart both Obama and Edwards are relatively virginal when it comes to the corruption that is rampant in DC... How is having all these long-term (lifetime) congressional representatives working for us, Magic? Not too damn good. Time to abandon this Clinton talking point and look to something other than business as usual...

[cblcar]

07:02 PM on 12/18/2007

I agree with Johnson's assessment of Obama. You don't give someone who's only worked in the mail rooma job as CEO of the company. Obama has great potential but he needs some miles on him before he's ready to become the leader of the free world. Biden '08.

[RusStyles]

06:35 PM on 12/18/2007

I thought Magic learned his lesson after his talk show debacle...Good businessman, but you're no Oprah. Very disappointing. Though, I guess he feels the Clinitons can better butters his bread...