DuPont is obviously a Democrat and an Obama supporter. Thomas is not the first person to pass on a visit to the white house after winning a world championship and will not be the last. But it seems as this is the only one DuPont has exercised his right to write about. Please Mr. DuPont your a hockey writer so focus on the game of hockey and stay away from politics, as you look like a fool. It is Thomas's right to do as he pleased as it was not a mandatory meeting. Maybe you should support the fact that he excercised his right even if it is in total contrast to your beliefs as that is what our country is built on!
DuPont needs to get a life. Did Thomas disrespect the office? Perhaps. Did he divide his team and make himself the story? No way. DuPont should curl up in a ball and stick his thumb in his mouth. Utter pablum.
A few years from now when Mr. Thomas gains more perspective about life, he's going to regret not going to the White House. Not for political reasons, but because he missed time with friends on a special occasion. Silly politics.
What an inane column. Thomas doesn't like the President's politics. As the only American born player on the team he would have had to play a more prominent role than anyone else. At least he had the courtesy to stay away and not create a scene. To equate playing hockey for the USA with political views is simply stupid. Stick to writing about hockey, leave politics on the editorial page Kevin Paul (who uses two first names anyway?)
When a president of either party invites a championship team to the White House, it is a way for the country to honor that team. It isn't a political occasion. The usual rules apply: the guests should show respect for the host--and the country.
The effort to vilify the president as an outsider--as a Muslim, terrorist, Kenyan, a Death Panel advocate, a tyrant--should be laughable, given how American and moderate Obama is. Someone should tell Mr. Thomas that he works in a state that modeled the health care reform that Obama later proposed. Perhaps he should also know that many of the Founding Fathers he so venerates were slave owners. They owned, whipped, exploited, and hunted other human beings down. They weren't paragons of perfection. Nor were they or could they be omniscient about the future, which is why their Constitution has been amended many times. History is a little more complicated than what goes on between the pipes in Tim Thomas's head. Sorry to see he has been captured by the hard right paranoids. Don't think I will enjoy watching him as much as before, when I thought of him as a hockey player. This was rude and discourteous behavior aimed at a president that the American people elected and a decent human being.
Shabby. Immature. Unprofessional. Self-centered. Bush league all apply to Dupont's article. We certainly wouldn't have seen anyone on the Russian hockey team who was invited to the Kremlin refuse to go.
Good point about Tim's participation on the Olympic Team. I would be interested in hearing how his perspective has changed since then. Didn't
Steeler James Harrison also decline going to the Obama White House? Was that for political reasons? All ways remember most professional athletes like politicians are completely self-absorbed people living in their own world's. This is a non-story.
I agree to a point. Thomas is an embarassment to all and rude to boot. The column is good until this baloney, written in a cave, appeared:
"Not a lot has changed in the US over the last two years, although it appears the economic picture is brightening at least a little bit, despite those in charge of our various governmental nuthouses."
You must be kidding! You are living in a state that has been consistently doing better than the country, which, in the last two years has:
Gotten our troops out of Iraq. Removing our troops from Afghanistan. Removed Osama bin Laden (Thanks, President Obama, for a GREAT call!) Demolished the Taliban. Demolished alQaeda. Boosted the Egyptian revolution and disowned Mubarek. Fueled the Arab Spring in Lybia without losing one American life......
This list is so long, I'm ashamed of you. Anyway, let's note that Tim Thomas never volunteered for service to his country. Being a good goalie doesn't count for much in the scheme of things.
KPD is way off base here. Tim Thomas did not turn down a request to serve his country; he turned down an opportunity to be part of a PHOTO OP. His absence did not prevent the rest of the team from attending (most of whom are NOT US citizens, by the way), nor did it in any way ruin the ceremony for everyone else. He explained his reasons clearly and logically on FB and other than that, kept a very low profile about the whole thing. The only people making a big deal out of it are the handwringers in the media who can't believe someone would have the audacity to disagree with the direction our current "leaders" are taking us. Just as the OWS and Tea Party crowds deserve credit for standing up for what they believe in (no matter what you think of what they have to say), TT should be praised for standing up for himself and not blindly following the crowd because he is "supposed to". That is what this country is all about.
With regard to the supporters of Mr Thomas' action, apparently they don't take him at his word. He took pains to mention disgust with all three branches of government and stress that his gesture was non-partisan in nature. Either he was being untruthful about his true motivation, or his supporters are projecting their own hostility toward the President onto him. I think Mr DuPont's piece was great.
Thomas chose to put himself above his team and make himself (and the fringe idiots of the so-called "tea party") the story instead of the celebration of a sporting victory. If Thomas and his fellow "believers" have such harsh views of our condition and impending demise they should seek out an uninhabited island somewhere and start their own utopia.
He carried the team on his back in the playoffs last year and was why they won the Stanley Cup. Period. If he doesn't feel like attending a ceremony, that's his privilege. Nobody should have anything to say about it.
For supporters of Tim Thomas in this situation:
How would you feel if a player wanted to make a political statement by not removing his helmet during the National Anthem or by leaving the ice when the Color Guard came out?
I don't agree with you at all. He had every right to do what he did. He was honest about how he felt. I'm a Viet Nam vet and a true blue American and I wouldn't have showed up either. This current Administration is trying to destroy our wonderful country.
B.D.
Another Globie bumkisser whining because his boss' political and often self-professing commander-in-chief is dissed by a well-known athlete (is a hockey goalie a celebrity?). Team membership counts on the ice, where even that status does not prevent hockey players from arrest on criminal charges if they get a tad too boistrous dufing a game. Where does pro hockey team membership put a heavy hand of participation in what is an obviously political event for a strongly partisan Chicago political hack? Thomas said his behavior was not addressed at President Obama (said political hack), but rather at what Thomas sees as a government becoming too big, powerful and intrusive. Thomas doesn't owe Obama anything, even a vote. Surely he doesn't owe this incessant campaigner a photo op holding a Bruins jersey with Obama stitched on the back. Congrats, Thomas, for refusing to let yourself be used by a guy who knows nothing but campaigning!!
KPD, you wasted your time and energy on this non-story, and I wasted mine on reading it. I should have guessed from the headline what useless "blatherall" was coming. Stick to hockey.
Tim Thomas is a great goalie but he exercised poor judgment in this instance. This should have been a celebration of the Stanley Cup for the Boston Bruins and their fans.
Thomas decided to inject politics into the occassion - an example of immaturity at its' worst - of putting oneself before the team and the town! It was a poor decision and I hope Thomas is man enough to own it! He owes all of us an apology.
Timmy didn't have trouble w/ big government when he attended a heavily subsidized public university (UVM) which set the stage for his pro career. What a hypocrite!
Comments
Usually I agree with Dupont, but he is off base here. If he doesn't want to visit with Obama, that is his right.
DuPont is obviously a Democrat and an Obama supporter. Thomas is not the first person to pass on a visit to the white house after winning a world championship and will not be the last. But it seems as this is the only one DuPont has exercised his right to write about. Please Mr. DuPont your a hockey writer so focus on the game of hockey and stay away from politics, as you look like a fool. It is Thomas's right to do as he pleased as it was not a mandatory meeting. Maybe you should support the fact that he excercised his right even if it is in total contrast to your beliefs as that is what our country is built on!
THE VISIT TO THE WHITE HOUSE WAS NOT A POLITICAL EVENT - JUST A RECOGNITION OF BRUINS' ACHIEVEMENT. THOMAS CHOSE TO MAKE IT POLITICAL
DuPont needs to get a life. Did Thomas disrespect the office? Perhaps. Did he divide his team and make himself the story? No way. DuPont should curl up in a ball and stick his thumb in his mouth. Utter pablum.
A few years from now when Mr. Thomas gains more perspective about life, he's going to regret not going to the White House. Not for political reasons, but because he missed time with friends on a special occasion. Silly politics.
Like Mr. DuPont until this scribbling........
What an inane column. Thomas doesn't like the President's politics. As the only American born player on the team he would have had to play a more prominent role than anyone else. At least he had the courtesy to stay away and not create a scene. To equate playing hockey for the USA with political views is simply stupid. Stick to writing about hockey, leave politics on the editorial page Kevin Paul (who uses two first names anyway?)
When a president of either party invites a championship team to the White House, it is a way for the country to honor that team. It isn't a political occasion. The usual rules apply: the guests should show respect for the host--and the country. The effort to vilify the president as an outsider--as a Muslim, terrorist, Kenyan, a Death Panel advocate, a tyrant--should be laughable, given how American and moderate Obama is. Someone should tell Mr. Thomas that he works in a state that modeled the health care reform that Obama later proposed. Perhaps he should also know that many of the Founding Fathers he so venerates were slave owners. They owned, whipped, exploited, and hunted other human beings down. They weren't paragons of perfection. Nor were they or could they be omniscient about the future, which is why their Constitution has been amended many times. History is a little more complicated than what goes on between the pipes in Tim Thomas's head. Sorry to see he has been captured by the hard right paranoids. Don't think I will enjoy watching him as much as before, when I thought of him as a hockey player. This was rude and discourteous behavior aimed at a president that the American people elected and a decent human being.
Shabby. Immature. Unprofessional. Self-centered. Bush league all apply to Dupont's article. We certainly wouldn't have seen anyone on the Russian hockey team who was invited to the Kremlin refuse to go.
Good point about Tim's participation on the Olympic Team. I would be interested in hearing how his perspective has changed since then. Didn't Steeler James Harrison also decline going to the Obama White House? Was that for political reasons? All ways remember most professional athletes like politicians are completely self-absorbed people living in their own world's. This is a non-story.
Thomas has disgraced himself and his team.
I agree to a point. Thomas is an embarassment to all and rude to boot. The column is good until this baloney, written in a cave, appeared: "Not a lot has changed in the US over the last two years, although it appears the economic picture is brightening at least a little bit, despite those in charge of our various governmental nuthouses." You must be kidding! You are living in a state that has been consistently doing better than the country, which, in the last two years has: Gotten our troops out of Iraq. Removing our troops from Afghanistan. Removed Osama bin Laden (Thanks, President Obama, for a GREAT call!) Demolished the Taliban. Demolished alQaeda. Boosted the Egyptian revolution and disowned Mubarek. Fueled the Arab Spring in Lybia without losing one American life...... This list is so long, I'm ashamed of you. Anyway, let's note that Tim Thomas never volunteered for service to his country. Being a good goalie doesn't count for much in the scheme of things.
KPD is way off base here. Tim Thomas did not turn down a request to serve his country; he turned down an opportunity to be part of a PHOTO OP. His absence did not prevent the rest of the team from attending (most of whom are NOT US citizens, by the way), nor did it in any way ruin the ceremony for everyone else. He explained his reasons clearly and logically on FB and other than that, kept a very low profile about the whole thing. The only people making a big deal out of it are the handwringers in the media who can't believe someone would have the audacity to disagree with the direction our current "leaders" are taking us. Just as the OWS and Tea Party crowds deserve credit for standing up for what they believe in (no matter what you think of what they have to say), TT should be praised for standing up for himself and not blindly following the crowd because he is "supposed to". That is what this country is all about.
With regard to the supporters of Mr Thomas' action, apparently they don't take him at his word. He took pains to mention disgust with all three branches of government and stress that his gesture was non-partisan in nature. Either he was being untruthful about his true motivation, or his supporters are projecting their own hostility toward the President onto him. I think Mr DuPont's piece was great.
I couldn't agree more...Bush!!
Thomas chose to put himself above his team and make himself (and the fringe idiots of the so-called "tea party") the story instead of the celebration of a sporting victory. If Thomas and his fellow "believers" have such harsh views of our condition and impending demise they should seek out an uninhabited island somewhere and start their own utopia.
He carried the team on his back in the playoffs last year and was why they won the Stanley Cup. Period. If he doesn't feel like attending a ceremony, that's his privilege. Nobody should have anything to say about it.
An overpaid, out-of-control jock complains about an out-of-control government? That's rich.
For supporters of Tim Thomas in this situation: How would you feel if a player wanted to make a political statement by not removing his helmet during the National Anthem or by leaving the ice when the Color Guard came out?
I don't agree with you at all. He had every right to do what he did. He was honest about how he felt. I'm a Viet Nam vet and a true blue American and I wouldn't have showed up either. This current Administration is trying to destroy our wonderful country. B.D.
Another Globie bumkisser whining because his boss' political and often self-professing commander-in-chief is dissed by a well-known athlete (is a hockey goalie a celebrity?). Team membership counts on the ice, where even that status does not prevent hockey players from arrest on criminal charges if they get a tad too boistrous dufing a game. Where does pro hockey team membership put a heavy hand of participation in what is an obviously political event for a strongly partisan Chicago political hack? Thomas said his behavior was not addressed at President Obama (said political hack), but rather at what Thomas sees as a government becoming too big, powerful and intrusive. Thomas doesn't owe Obama anything, even a vote. Surely he doesn't owe this incessant campaigner a photo op holding a Bruins jersey with Obama stitched on the back. Congrats, Thomas, for refusing to let yourself be used by a guy who knows nothing but campaigning!!
KPD, you wasted your time and energy on this non-story, and I wasted mine on reading it. I should have guessed from the headline what useless "blatherall" was coming. Stick to hockey.
don't worry Timmy will be there next year when President Mitt honors the 2012 stanley cup champion bruins
Tim Thomas is a great goalie but he exercised poor judgment in this instance. This should have been a celebration of the Stanley Cup for the Boston Bruins and their fans. Thomas decided to inject politics into the occassion - an example of immaturity at its' worst - of putting oneself before the team and the town! It was a poor decision and I hope Thomas is man enough to own it! He owes all of us an apology.
Timmy didn't have trouble w/ big government when he attended a heavily subsidized public university (UVM) which set the stage for his pro career. What a hypocrite!