First of all, thank you Mr. President, for your humanity and honesty.
Tucker Carlson, you're just desperate for attention. Go stuff your bowtie up your butt. You'd be better off as a chew toy for a pit bull than any type of commentator or authority.
While the sports world and sports fans embrace Vick's resurgence, Carlson will further brand the GOP as what it is- the party of haters. They hate everybody and everything.
when the story FIRST broke, it was "Obama calls eagles to congratulate owner for hiring Vick". Now, it seems that Obama called about the green energy initiatives...and, ahem...you know, that one dude Mike Vick.
In the Yahoo opinion piece that came out the next morning, the writer praised Obama for the smart politics.
Forget your political allegiances or feelings about Michael Vick and take a step back to think about this. The sitting president of the United States went out of his way to publicly praise a man who, 3 1/2 years ago, many thought would never play again in the NFL. Even the most ardent believers in Vick couldn't have fathomed a turn-around like this.
(snip)
For Obama to praise Vick now shows a number of things, namely that uttering the quarterback's name is thought to be a safe political move. He's playing the best football of his life for a playoff team and was the second-leading vote getter for the Pro Bowl. At the moment, he's the model of redemption, someone worthy of praise.
Because, if you think about it, Vick got that "second chance" from Lurie 16 months ago. There was no phone call from the president then. Praising Vick at that time would have been a political third rail. But now that Vick is playing great and most people seem to have either forgiven him or stopped caring about his transgressions, it's a shrewd political move. After what could be termed a rough two years in office, the president is looking for a second chance from the people who have turned against him over the past two years. Supporting a huge star like Vick could help with the president's recent image problems. It may not register much nationally, but it couldn't hurt in Pennsylvania. After all, it's a swing state and 2012 is just around the corner.
Sports may not be your cup of tea, but it's big in this country. Bigger than politics. Just look at the guy who owns this site- he does sports blogs as well.
In my opinion, that writer made valid points. Even NFL fansdidn't want Vick to have a comeback a couple of years ago!
I searched for "Vick" here on dkos and saw some pretty hateful comments towards Vick. Hating someone doesn't make them go away. Murderers still sit in jail, on your taxpayer dime, at a high cost. The guy who bullied you in grade school? He's probably still alive, no matter how much hate you had for him. A lot of right-wing assholes are still alive, despite how much I despise them.
There's lot of people who did bad things. Mike Vick? He went to prison for a crime that MOST OFFENDERS DON'T GET CAUGHT DOING. There are a LOT of dog fighters out there who aren't caught! And cocaine dealers, and child molesters, etc. But Vick did his time! He's done everything asked of him, and some. Until he cuts his own throat on public television, many haters will never be satisfied.
Instead of doing that, Vick has chosen to move on, and be a better person. That's something everyone can learn from.
And Mr President? You may not be a political messiah, you may not be a magician, but you're more honest than most national politicians in American history. He's set a standard for his successor in 2016. [Oh, I'm jumping the gun? Nah, even Karl Rove's punk a** knows that Obama will be re-elected, as he should. ]
--if you believe in second chances, one action you can take is to adopt an animal from a shelter instead of purchasing your pet--