McCain Speaker: Have Your Tiger Woods, We've Got McCain

At a campaign stop today, Sen. John McCain's introductory speaker took a sharp and potentially sensitive swipe at Sen. Barack Obama, saying that McCain was "the real audacity of hope" and not just a political "Tiger Woods."

Former Army Staff Sergeant David Bellavia, who introduced the Arizona senator at a Vets For Freedom rally, sought to contrast McCain's "lifetime of service to our nation" against the lack of resolve of his political opponents. And while he never addressed Obama by name, he did offer this nugget.

"Rest assured," he told the crowd, "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."

The line, first reported by NBC and Hotline, received a loud roar from the crowd and, standing behind and to the left of Bellavia, McCain let out an approving laugh. But considering the rate at which Tiger Woods is winning golf tournaments these days, McCain's camp may be hoping the analogy doesn't prove true.

And considering the pins-and-needles environment that is the current political landscape, the comment has the potential of being interpreted as racially divisive.

That said, the Tiger Woods line has been deployed earlier in the campaign, by GOP ad-guru Alex Castellanos

"All the sudden you've got two dots, and two dots make a line," he was quoted as saying in Politico last month. "You start getting some sense of who he is, and it's not the Obama you thought. He's not the Tiger Woods of politics."

And on an Obama conference call today, Teamsters President James Hoffa mentioned Woods as well -- in a flattering manner: "With regard to his race, he's African American. I know he's of mixed race, but, you know, he's like a Tiger Woods. He's just a great person that's really excited a lot of people. We're not detecting a lot of discussion about his religion or his race here."

Perhaps of equal political significance was Bellavia's broad hit at the U.S. congress, which he accused of not having the conviction or courage to win the Iraq War.

"Our patriotism demands the just defense of our nation and the promotion of freedom and liberty in places where there is none," he said. "As a soldier it often appears that our civilian leadership in Congress gravely misunderstand the consequence of victory or defeat in Iraq and Afghanistan today. Their will to win has been replaced by political maneuvering and partisan politics."

Comments

[zendem1]

The senator said that he's always admired Natalie Wood, and that she's a fine actress.

[Titonwan]

Hell, he used to date Greta Garbo, but she said he was "too old"!

[LoloZ]

Bellavia is delusional. In the last paragraph where he tells us what patriotism demands, that is outrageous. There is no such thing as "winning" in Iraq, it can't be done. Whether we stay another day or a hundred years, the outcome will be the same.

[hannitizer]

Except for one thing LoloZ. There will be hundreds of thousands if not more innocent deaths all in the name of greed and control of oil!

[AlexVonHussein]

The Point is when Tiger Woods started out he was the black but as time went by and he showed what he is worth, he went from being a person of colour to transcend race..and now he is tiger woods he is not Judged internationally as a black man. The same thing with Obama when he started out ,, they said he was too black or too white or Just a Black Man. ...at the race goes on the fried chicken rhetoric will increase and that Black should stick to basketball. If he shows what he is worth then he will transcend race too... All the generation who have grown up watching tiger woods and the Williams look beyond race and try to judge a person for the content of their acts.. Thats why Obama has support among the Youth...

This election may be about Tiger Woods( tiger woods generation) and Mccain. ( last century) But I could think Maccain is more open than that but because of his age he may be forced to act conservative.

[boombox]

Well, here's your McCain campaign style in a nutshell: a bunch of old white guys in cowboy hats making smirking remarks about a famous black man.

Somehow I don't think that'll play so well this year.

[trickbunny]

Obama/Woods '08!!! :)

[OverIt]

Tiger Woods: Successful, brilliant, responsible, role model, lives his life with excellence and inspires excellence in others, happens to be multi-racial.

Barack Obama: Successful, brilliant, responsible, role model, lives his life with excellence and inspires excellence in others, happens to be multi-racial.

Sounds about right to me. How very insightful!

[Poised]

You might think Barak is multi-racial and so do I, but HE only acknowledges being Black.

Tiger, on the other hand, acknowledges being multi-racial and always has said he's "caublasian." The other difference is that Tiger has earned his top ranking status, one stroke at a time, year after year. , Barak is more like Paris Hilton, famous for being famous. As far as anyone knows, he's never done anything noteworthy except run for office. He campaigns the way Paris parties, always showing up looking good whenever the cameras roll.

Paris for president!

[riverhouse]

Get real. Obama talks quite frequently about his white mother and his white grandparents. He is very openly proud of his biracial status.

[OverIt]

I am a multi-racial person myself who both acknowledges her diverse background AND her "blackness"; the two are not mutually exclusive. As far as the rest of your post... it merits no serious response.

[babybabybaby]

What if he did only identify with being black? Would that be the end of the world?

[rosal]

I hope sargeant Bellavia knows how well McInsane supports the troops. Hopefully Bellavia has good health insurance, and a good education, because McInsane is not willing to vote on bills that provide those for the troops. The Rambo type sure gets along just fine with erratic, confused, Rambo McCan't.

[justwaitandsee]

Senator Obama should not take this as an insult... I think Tiger Woods is doing pretty dame good.

[caywen]

You repubs can have your McCain, we got our Tiger Woods.

[babybabybaby]

"We got our Tiger Woods" t-shirts coming soon...

[ObserverinVancouver]

Good one.

[folksonomy]

I want one!

[caywen]

Hmm, racist overtones aside, isn't Tiger Woods the best damn pro golfer in the world?

The parallel I draw is that Obama is the best damn presidential candidate.

[Bilbo983]

Still, I don't think that Staff Sergeant David Bellavia should not make such a sarcastic remark. He will upset a lot of Black Americans. After all, he was the spokesman for the Vets for Freedom, and Black Americans have served in every war that this nation has fought.

[olderdem]

What is wrong about being Tiger Woods?

[trickbunny]

seriously. so.... do I take from this that barack obama will be just as phenomenal at the presidency as tiger woods is at the game of golf?

sounds like he just reinforced a lot of folks' belief in obama... :)

[linchbell]

You are right. He has beaten a lot of people that would make jokes in the back rooms. Hmmmmmm.

As far as what I want my son to be--not someone who calls his wife abusive names in public, no less. No, I don't think so. I can't imagine Barack ever doing that. Is that something to be admired?

I respect the years he was a POW, but not other things I have seen and read. The POW years don't qualify for the best president any more than experience as a first lady. I will take stability, integrity, intelligence that includes nuance, respect for others, and honesty for my list of qualities that are important. That is Barack Obama.

[dct19]

If Obama = Tiger

then

McCain = Bobby Knight (angry psychopath)

and

Hillary = ???

[JiminNC]

= Geraldine Ferraro

[veracal]

hahahaha

[Lauren1959]

She probably thinks he didn't earn his position either!

[Heavenhelpusall]

= Rocky, he never gets up.

[justobserve]

Hillary= multiple personality.

[cmeans29]

McCain, = Bobby Knight, Woody Hayes, the Yankees trainer that rushed Pedro Martinez, and Grandpa Munster.

The Tiger Woods analogy is a compliment.

[jhamm1]

Hillary = Tonya Harding

[kmdippenger]

Based on what I just read on another post about a comment that McCain said to his wife in 1992 (in the book "The Real McCain) I would think twice about my sons emulating this man.

Barack Obama's relationships with his mother and his wife are those that exemplify his respect for women.

[DMHendrix]

Excellent point! Can you imagine being called that..in public? I read that too and it seemed like all she said was that his hair was thinning on top and then he went ape-shit on her. Lovely!

[the964kid]

The obvious first response to this would be to think all successful black people look the same to David Bellavia. But if you think about it further you'll realize Bellavia's comments are even dumber on so many levels. I don't even need to get into the racial overtones of such a foolish statement. Even if we ignore the potentially racist thought pattern, it's a huge mistake to essentially say that Obama is the 'Tiger Woods' of politics, since Woods is on track to be the best professional golf player of all time. By that comparison doesn't that mean that Obama may be on track to be the best politician of all time?? How on earth is this helpful to Mccain on any level?? Bellavia's comments simply don't make any sense, and it will be interesting to see how he tries to explain himself in the days to come, as he tries to remove the foot from his mouth and make some kinda sense out of this stupidity.

[bailey2006]

Kinda hard to remove foot from mouth, when mouth chewed the foot up and swallowed it!

[riverhouse]

Coming from a McCain guy we can presume the comparison with Tiger Woods is supposed to be some kind of slur, perhaps a racial slur, but it really takes a doofus to think a comparison to an outstanding young man like Tiger Woods could be detrimental or demeaning.

[robXdion]

So what are you saying? Is it a slur that is not detrimental or demeaning? I think you are confusing yourself. Think of it this way.......consider the environment, people present, cheers and McCain laughing.....do you REALLY think that was a remark given out of fondness? C'mon are you really that slow? Context is everything.