He says he was "shocked at how mean they were!"
Seattle Seahawks fullback Mack Strong, left, and quarterback Matt Hasselbeck, right, present President Bush with a football jersey during a fundraiser for Rep. Dave Reichert and the Washington State Republican Party on Monday, Aug. 27, 2007, in Bellevue, Wash. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)
Seattle Seahawk QB Matt Hasselbeck got a taste of how nasty and mean the local liberals can get after he posed in a photo with President Bush last week at a fundraiser.
Seattle PI has the story:
But as soon as he saw the picture of the two players with Bush, Gary Wright, the team's vice president of administration, said he was concerned about negative reaction.Matt Hasselbeck may have been surprised.
Maybe in really red Republican states, it would not have been a big deal. But Washington is a blue state, and deep, deep Democratic blue in King County. So objections were raised, and Hasselbeck heard them and read them. He got nasty voice mails, e-mails and text messages.
"I had no idea," Hasselbeck said.
One guy told him: "I hate you, I'll never wear your jersey, I'll never like the Seahawks again."
"Huh?" Hasselbeck thought. "Seriously?"
"Politics can be very mean and dirty," he said. "The things politicians say about each other, and what activists say, I had a brief glimpse of that for a couple of days.
"If I ever had any questions about whether I wanted to run for office, I now know the answer -- I don't."
As a quarterback, he's used to getting booed. "But this was a whole new level," he said. "I was very surprised how mean (they were)."
As evidence were these responses to Angelo Bruscas' blog posting on seattlepi.com:
"How dare Hasselbeck declare Bush an honorary Seahawk," wrote one. "Who is Matt speaking for? Bush is no Seahawk. He is the worst president of my lifetime, and I'm almost 60. Shame on you, Matt."
"To learn that two of the most popular Seahawks are strong (Bush) supporters ruins the season for me and my family," wrote another.
And Timothy P. wrote: "Just goes to show you that being a great athlete doesn't make you smart."
The rest of us... not so much.
Dan Riehl- "Seahawk's fans leave droppings."
You guys have no idea what the leftist screwballs out here are like. They are rabid and destructive. Remember, Washington is the birthplace of the Wobblies.
ReplyDeleteShort story: Many moons ago I could be considered a very reliable Democrat voter. Than I started to think and changed my voting allegiance to leaning Republican but along came the "Contract with America" Republicans and I've been in their camp since. But my biggest mistake was actually telling people that I vote GOP. I have fielded more vitriol and hate over politics than I could have ever imagined. When I was a Democrat voter Republican voters would calmly engage me and we would talk views. Not now. You're lucky to get out with your life. No discussion needed.
Talk about validating a choice.
If you want a good view of what the mainstream (goofball) left here is like go to horsesass.org and read the raving there. The best local conservative blog is soundpolitics.com. I’m not pimping these guys but just to compare.
I used to read The Sound but quit after it became infested. The vitreol was not worth reading especially after the three count election.
ReplyDeleteSpokane
Remind me never to move to Seattle.
ReplyDeleteRemind me again of the reaction to the dixie chicks when they criticized Bush?
ReplyDeleteOh yeah, you a-holes burned their records and sent them death threats, with conservative commentators referring to them as sluts and slags. The "sensible" republicans merely urged boycott. All for their political opinions.
My guess is that the dixie chicks would have preferred protest letters of the sort received by Hassleback "I hate you, I'll never wear your jersey again" to the types they received. My guess is that Mack Strong will not have to hire extra security to deal with death threats and change his schedule and avoid certain cities.
Democrats are nasty? Come on, look in the mirror. I've been called everything from Osama lover to America hater and every expletive in the book just because I support due process and the right to a trial.
You guys really have no idea how ridiculous you are.
It's OK if you're Ron Silver.
ReplyDeleteUmm ... Remember what the vulgar right wingers did to the Dixie Chicks?
ReplyDeleteYou can't have it both ways.
Bush is the Worst President Ever.
Yes, I know that I as a Conservative Republican THREATENED THE LIFE of the Dixie Chicks. No, I just threw out their CDs. Wow, that's harsh. I certainly don't HATE the Chicks.... that's an anti-moral attribute lefties have the corner on.
ReplyDeleteBoycotting concerts and breaking CDs is called capitalism. We're not socialists yet.
If some people in Seattle want to never wear a Seattle jersey again because a QB who won't be with the team forever expressed his constitutional right to support a political representative, so be it, but let's not act like holier-than thous when you libs not only boycott but call for the death of the President and throw around cute little words like "hate".
The party of love and compassion....
And tony, what vulgar things did we rightwingers do to the chicks? You might want to watch their movie/documentary Shut up and Sing if you want to see vulgar.
ReplyDeleteAt least Hasselbeck is a gentleman. The chicks are no ladies. Since we're comparing....
PS.... there's also a qualitative difference between the Chixie Dicks insulting the President of the United States on foreign soil vs. a QB supporting a President.
ReplyDeleteI don't know how lefties raise their kids. They seem to have no center of gravity regarding basic right and wrong or what constitutes either.