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Make that five Patriots who will follow Brady's example from 2015
By adamg on Thu, 02/09/2017 - 5:41pm
The Globe reports the number of Patriots who won't go to the White House is now up to five.
You may recall Tom Brady had better things to do back in 2015 when his golfing bud wasn't in the White House.
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Wonder if the reaction on here will be the same
As when Tim Thomas refused to meet Obama.
http://www.universalhub.com/node/63981/results
http://www.universalhub.com/2012/patrick-finally-breaks-silence-thomas-a...
Please tell me you see the difference
Tim Thomas disagreed politically with Obama. That's no justification for not going.
Donald Trump is a racist and surrounds himself with racists. That's plenty of reason to not qualify him with a visit.
I disagree
These are adults and can choose to go if they like. Tim Thomas had a choice as well. His reasons to go or not to go are his alone to make. It's an invitation and not an order. I also disagree with your idea that the President is a racist surrounded by racists but I'm sure you will be foaming at the mouth as you read this so please let's not get into it here.
So...
The person you're responding to is wrong to call Trump a "racist surrounded by racists", although there's plenty of evidence to support this...but you're correct in saying that this person you've never met is "foaming at the mouth"?
#alternativefacts
There are 40+ years of
There are 40+ years of evidence of Trump being a racist. How much more do you need? Google the Central Park 5 for just one of many examples and stop spreading your ignorance.
It's hereditary...
It's hereditary...
Google "Old Man Trump" + "Woody Guthrie"
Lyrics
from another (a reworking of a song called I Ain't Got No Home:
I'm afraid our President has a long history of racist
actions and attitudes. FFS, his speech that *opened* his campaign was famous for its racist slurs against Mexicans. As for his top advisor Steve Bannon: do you even read Breitbart, bro?
If Trump were truly not a racist, he would have repudiated the endorsement of the Klan and David Duke and assorted other white supremacist organizations that heartily supported his presidency. Instead, he cravenly pretended not to know what David Duke was about -- such a pitiful, cowardly move -- and his campaign actively cultivated their support. Now Jeff Sessions is our AG, a man whose history of racism prevented him from getting a federal judgeship long before he became a Senator.
And that Holocaust remembrance that left out mentioning the Jews: ugh. Just horrific.
A racist surrounded with racists: that's your President.
That's your view of things
And I don't mean to disparage your view of things, but again, there are other ways to look at the situation.
My personal feeling- if invited, I would meet Trump and would have met any President that served in my lifetime (that goes back to Nixon) if invited. On the other hand, if some athlete doesn't want to go meet with some President, whatever. If they're good people otherwise, my view of them won't change.
I wish Tim Thomas had gone to
I wish Tim Thomas had gone to the White House just for the sake of being with his teammates.
I'd think someone who
I'd think someone who dislikes Trump would still go if only to shake his hand really hard.
That just be mean
Those tiny, brittle hands would break from a linebackers grip.
It'd be harder for him to
It'd be harder for him to count all his failed businesses and marriages on broken fingers. It would also take about 4 hands worth of fingers, broken or not.
A Big Twofer
The racists who were heaping on Dont'a and LeGarrette over their well intentioned stance on not going to the White House was nerve racking. I'd like to see the Twittersphere now that the white son of a 1970's raised Charlestown Townie/object of Rob Halford's sexual fantasies has indicated that he isn't making the trip to see the "Fascist, Loofa Faced Sh*t Gibbon" as he was referred to yesterday by a PA State Senator.
At the same time, all of those Saintly Saints who said they cannot follow the Patriots over the love of the coach, owner, and deity for our clearly deranged President, can you please see that the local 11 isn't such a bad group of guys and not a monolith?
Hate to say it
& not, I repeat NOT trying to defend Trump here but this is ridiculous. Marcellus Bennett started this trend with the same intention as Colin Kaepernick's "national anthem kneeling" & that is simply for media attention. There was no reason for Bennett to come out publicly with this. Stephen A. Smith, a BLACK sports analyst (for the record) ripped Kaepernick apart for the obvious reason that he was just desperately seeking media attention (which seems to be a trend nowadays). Can we please avoid turning EVERYTHING into a political controversy for once America!!
I can answer that for ya
No, no we can't.
And why?
For starters, our nation was birthed from a political movement. We celebrate it every year.
Politics is as American as Apple pie
this is not politics.
if you think not wanting to shake the hand of a man that attacked the mother of a US soldier that died in combat is "political"...then i feel very bad for you.
brady, bellichek, kraft....you will never be REAL new England patriots. they should change your apparel to read "old england oppressive kings"
HAHAHA WHAT?!?!
Brady, Bellechick, & Kraft will never be REAL New England Patriots because they have different political views than you??? Who the F are you?? You will never be a true Bostonian!!
Desperately seeking media attention
Help me out with this one: a player on a team that just won the most dramatic Superbowl in the history of the sport is "desperately seeking media attention". Can you explain why?
No you don't.
Stephen A Smith is a reality
Stephen A Smith is a reality show moron much like Donald Trump.
Actually, Kapernick didn't
Actually, Kapernick didn't start looking for media attention. It found him:
Kaepernick began sitting during the national anthem this preseason. A silent protest to show support for people of color who are being oppressed in the United States, and to take a stand against police brutality. It’s an effort to use his voice and his position as a NFL player to effect change for the people who are suffering, and don’t have the same ability to create significant change.
Initially, Kaepernick was alone in his protest. And unnoticed. His protest didn’t come to light and gain national attention until the third preseason game. Since then, he’s continued on with his protest while being joined by several other NFL players, other professional, college and high school athletes.
I'm guessing Bennett was asked and he answered honestly. I'm pretty sure he didn't hold a press conference to announce it.
And a protest without some attention isn't particularly valuable.
english for
dummies please. I'm sure I am not alone.
I have no idea what your saying.
Howie Long started in Charlestown. Raised by his grandparents in suburbia.
Tom Brady was with his family when mother was first diagnosed.
Prior Engagements...
Every liberal believes every other liberal no matter what... absolutely 100% approval level in moonbatland amongst themselves. But his prior engagements are false (I have no clue what he did that day).... Yet Brady said Trump was "his friend" and they played golf before... all of a sudden the left hates him. :-0
I love the site, great news... and the comments are always a treat too. Thanks Adam.
Huh?
I like Brady just fine. His politics might suck and be misguided, but he does a lot of great charity work as well and seems pretty grounded.
Timmy, well, Timmy was just an asshole.
Last, it's Trump's base that turns their opinion on a dime to match fearless leaders whims on Twitter every day. Democrats are a fucking herd of cats. Did you even watch the other side this last election?
Unclear...
We really don't know what his politics are. He was friendly with Trump before DT ever thought about politics... and the hat that was seen in his locker could have been put there by Kraft or Brady... we will never know.
I love TB12 as a football player and seems like a good guy....couldn't care less about his politics or whatever else. People are allowed a choice, unless you choose opposite from the left and then you're worthy of hate and destruction.
Your last paragraph is confusing. Granted, I'm in between periods at the B's and looking for ways to entertain myself... but I am confused.
Casual fan and leftie view
Brady is a class act and sticks to the script on non-football stuff. It's refreshing actually.
Haven't read all the coverage on the other Pats but McCourty's statement seemed sincere and was made after the season ended. He doesn't feel welcome there and caused no distractions saying so.
Knock yourself out either way.
Haters are gonna hate either way so might as well do what you feel is right.
Great comment..
Respek
Political decisions
The most important political decision facing Tom Brady right now is whether to keep his mouth shut or to get used to sleeping on the couch.
Brady
never produced his birth certificate. He's a secret muslim. He was raised by Russian spy's (ironic)....every conservative believes every other con....
I thought the same thing!
Here I thought I was the only one...
Players
No one should criticize players on this....it's their offseason, maybe they have plans with family too. They were nice enough to be at the parade.
The headline here is
The headline here is misleading. The five players are not following "Brady's example". In 2015 Brady got the invite from the White House and said "Sorry, can't make it that day." Now in 2017 the White House trip hasn't even been planned and players are saying "I refuse to go".
At least on the surface, Brady wasn't making a statement about not-going. These players are.
Agreed
The headline of this post is really reaching here. Adam, love your site, but do you have any facts to back up the notion of Brady skipping Obama visit due to his political or personal beliefs towards Obama??
Nope
He said he had a prior engagement.
The point of the headline was to head off comments about how unpatriotic or something the
fivesix Patriots were to not meet with the president when, in fact, their own quarterback set that precedent a couple years ago.What precedent exactly?
If someone has a prior engagement and then later on finds out the date of the White House visit is on the same day......do they or do they not already have something planned on that date and can't make the trip?
These guys have openly said they won't go and the date isn't known yet.
I don't care one way or the other, but there's zero precedent in this case.....
how about this brady statement?
having a trump hat in his locker.
what kind of person supports a man that makes racist remarks, assaults women and makes fun of disabilities?
stay classy brady...
There's an unwritten rule
There's an unwritten rule that if one of your friends runs for President, then you have to vote for them.
It's on par with the rule "Always cheer for the home team."
Really reaching with some of those accusations...
Take off the rose-colored glasses some time and research what you're talking about...it won't hurt, I promise.
Stay classy, SoBo Yuppie... er, wait... Formerly SoBo Yuppie... um, hang on...The UHUB Commenter Formerly known as SoBo Yuppie...umm... Community Organizer in SoBo?
Make up your damn mind.
People can have huge contradictions
What kind of man ignores the fact that he's on his way to sign a multi-million dollar contract and helps out with a car wreck?
A human guy, that who.
I get the impression that he knew 45 personally and was drawn in by the huckster partyboy that Bloomberg describes.
Brady is a jock. He isn't an evil jock, but football has consumed his life past an age when many who are half as good have had to move on to other pursuits. Football involves strategy within tight bounds, while politics is much more of a freeform pursuit (and the current regime is trying to remove the rules set in place by those familiar with executive power abuse). Brady is decent enough and smart enough, sure, but he is also insulated and sheltered. His wife seems to have set him straight on the hazards of getting involved with it, coming from some pretty sketchy political climates herself.
If you take a stand make it count
Timmy T didn't go and whined that he didn't like Obama. TB12 took a dodge because he didn't go and gave a non-political reason which may or may not have been true.
What I would like to see is if players don't go to the White House event for political reasons then stand up and do something to demonstrate that in a positive manner. For instance, I'd love to see these players volunteer that day at a shelter for abused women, an organization for aiding refugees transitioning to this country, a clinic for people who do not have health insurance or something else that would somehow shine a light on the people in this country that this president and/or his administration blatantly shit all over.
The White House meet & greet is a stale story at this point here in Titletown, the media would be all over that story because it would give them something new to talk about.
"positive manner"
I can't disagree with the worthiness of any of the causes you espouse, or your reasons for them -- but "positive manner" sounds uncomfortably like the sort of tone-policing that, far from shining a light as you say, is more likely to result in something that's easily ignored by those who think the status quo is just hunky dory. I think the reality is that the battle against this fecal smear of an administration is going to be fought on so many different fronts, and it's so desperate, that it's largely a waste of time to argue priorities and methods. And yeah, you can look at someone and say "if you want THIS it would be more effective if you did THAT", but 1)given these players' limited statements, we don't know what they want, and 2)there are a lot of people entering the fight who are new to activism, and if they're gonna be effective, they're gonna have to make their own mistakes and less-than-perfect moves as they find their way -- a paradox perhaps, but still true.
RogusPOTUSStaff
There are debates about how legit this Twitter feed is, but this one is hilarious:
Rogue POTUS Staff
@RoguePOTUSStaff
POTUS irritated that sev. members of Patriots team will not attend WH visit. Saying he will lobby owner to cut them from the team.