Charles Barkley: John Mellencamp right, "Conservative means discriminatory"

Barkley has seen the light, as I hope young Chris Baldwin has.

If the results of recent elections are any indication, the light from the dark side hasn't been too intense. But then, what fun would it be if everyone converted to conservatism? If there were no liberals, where would we righties go for a few laughs?

A spineless, disorganized light. . .

Mellencamp is the best the celebs could get? Is he 80? Saw him at IU a few years back and he sucked then.

P. Diddy wasn't available?

Yes, countries do discriminate when they allow their own citizens to reside on their shores but keep non-citizens out. Why, what an outrage. Can you imagine that the conservatives advocate such a thing?

Charles Barkley . . . a real deep thinker there.

Um, how stupid is Dan Quayle? He had no idea what Mellencamp's politics were before that comment?? "Please, Mr. President, I'm on my knees"

Barkley joins John Dean, former White House counsel under Nixon, as one of many, many conservatives who have realized that neo-cons aren't conservative in the least. (See Dean's book CONSERVATIVES WITHOUT A CONSCINECE or his editorial in the Boston Globe from July 14.)

Kiel C, You have a few errors in your post and also a few omissions. It's spelled CONSCIENCE. It's President Nixon, John Dean is a treacherous rat, Charles Barkley is a dim bulb at best, and the Boston Globe is a liberal rag whose editors wouldn't know the truth if it jumped up and bit them. And if the neo-cons aren't conservative at all, that should be right up your alley. You should LOVE them.

Alex, do you have a political blog? I would love to read it, for sh*&ts and giggles. You born-again grammarian, you. There is little honor among political thieves, and little strength among a populous that expects those thieves to make things right for them. Elhu, most European countries keep others out. Try being an American and getting work abroad. Not very easy, unless you have an "in." The USA through 2001 was incredibly open about letting legitimate immigrants into the country. No Canada were we, but our record wasn't too bad as admission went. Anyone remember Payne Stewart trying to espouse a defense of Shoal Creek when they attempted to host the PGA w/o having a minority member? It was about as funny to libs as Barkley's commentary was to Elhu. Anyone who relies on 97.6% of movie, television, music or athletic celebrities for anything other than expertise in their chosen field is misguided.

Ron Mon, Your post was somewhat more garbled and confused than usual. You haven't been smoking those funny cigarettes again, have you?

*****

Comment from: Kiel Christianson [Member] · http://www.travelgolf.com/departments/authorarchives/christianson.htm
Barkley joins John Dean, former White House counsel under Nixon, as one of many, many conservatives who have realized that neo-cons aren't conservative in the least. (See Dean's book CONSERVATIVES WITHOUT A CONSCINECE or his editorial in the Boston Globe from July 14.)
*****

Umm, it's been a while since John Dean was a conservative -- if he ever was.

Being in the Nixon White House didn't mean the political operative was a conservative -- especially since President Nixon himself was no conservative.

Pretty much the most conservative thing Nixon ever did was appoint William Rehnquist to the Supreme Court.

Nixon was responsible for what are now fairly leftish programs, including creation of the EPA and OSHA, and several other bits of federal bureaucracy alphabet soup.

Nixon also instituted wage and price controls, which are straight out of the Far Left economic playbook.

-George

*****
Comment from: Tim McDonald [Member]
Barkley has seen the light, as I hope young Chris Baldwin has.
*****

So now we're supposed to rely on sports stars to inform our political opinions?

If not Barkley, then why not John Elway? Elway remains a staunch conservative. And the last time I counted, Elway led Barkley in world championships, 2-to-zip. Perhaps we need to better trust the judgement of somebody who actually had the moxie to win a world championship.

In reality, trusting sports stars to tell us how to vote is about as clever as trusting somebody brilliant as Paris Hilton (Vote or Die), Meryl Streep (fake alar scares) or Alec Baldwin (If Bush is re-elected, I am leaving the country).

They should truly "Shut up and Sing." Or in this case, "Shut up and Play Ball."

Then again, Tim, last time any of us checked, you still hadn't gotten off your lazy behind to review check the actual transcript of the Lincicome and Wie interviews from the match play tournament.

Had you exercised yourself, you would have noticed that:

-- there was no basis for your blog about Wie engaging in "tiresome whining," or Lincicome engaging in catty retorts. You just made up the whole thing. The only question is whether you knew ahead of time that it was all a chimera. But you've got plenty of company in deciding the truth is just so damn inconvenient, or in being too incompetent to undertake some basic research. See below.

-- Just like there was no foundation for Mario's spin control -- based on Mario's propoganda or Mario's factless incompetence, she has yet to tell us which it is -- about the five people withdrawing from the John Deere tourney. Mario worded things in such a way as to make the gullible believe a veritable rash of heat-related departures occurred in the hellish conditions. Her trolling easily reeled in several of the Wie Warriors.

-- Just like there is in fact, no rational basis for Baldwin to depend on Charles Barkley as a political pundit.

You lads and lass have been caught trying to play a journalist on the Internet. As you see, just a bit of logic exposes all three of you for the flawed correspondents you are.

In the real world -- that would be the one not inhabited by lefties, the Wie Warriors, or bloggers who pretend to be journalists on the Internet (this means Tim McDonald, Jennifer Mario and Chris Baldwin) -- Lincicome and Wie in fact had not engaged in a catfight about Wie's self-assessement of her loss to Lincicome.

In the real world, the John Deere tournament was not the surface of Venus.

In the real world, Charles Barkley, John Elway, or Joe Montana are not automatically qualified to write a political newsletter just because they all qualify for the Hall of Fame.

Next thing you know, you faux journalists will ask Pittsburgh Steelers quarterbacks for advice on how to drive.

-George

Everyone is missing the BIG picture here. John Mellencamp had like five hits 20 years ago. Shame on the organizers in Tahoe for getting such crap live entertainment. The only thing I've heard about Mellencamp in the last decade is that he's liberal. Write a hit! You are washed up as an entertainer so you're trying to book gigs based on your fashionable hatred of the current administration. I thought being a celebrity entitled you to the good life, not the poor man's Springsteen.

Alex,

People make spelling errors when they post comments in blogs, it's an immediate form of internet media, get used to it. If you purchase the TravelGolf.com coffee table book and it's got a misprint we'll send you a new one. No need to waste space bashing a proven, published writer who's written hundreds of error-free articles. I think he knows how to spell "conscience". Challenge him to a spelling bee in your own time.

Brandon,

Who is the proven writer to whom you're referring? I haven't seen any on this site.

You lefties are most amusing. You score the neo-cons (I'm not one) for being conservative whenever they refuse to increase spending more than three times the rate of inflation, but now one of you betrays himself by acknowledging that they aren't really all that conservative at all. Could it be that if you recognized reality, dispensed with your irrational prejudices and accepted that the Bushites agree with you more than they agree with me (and they do), you'd have nothing to complain about and would have to come face to face with your miserable existences?

George says Nixon wasn't a conservative? Hey, he was a liar and a criminal. That's straight out of the Repubican playbook.

Judge Smails, Like most would- be writers who have taken a few courses in journalism at liberal colleges, the majority of the bloggers on this site are of a decidedly left-wing bent. Brandon recently had a piece in which he gloried in the fact that several private clubs in Michigan were having trouble maintaining their membership rolls. He doesn't seem to grasp the obvious results of an exodus by affluent citizens from an area having fiscal woes. His solution would be to turn the former bastions of elitism into a playground for "Joe Sixpack." And Dave Marrandette recently posted a scathing blog against the people who converted a former "brownfield" near Jersey City into a beautiful, first-class golfing facility, Liberty National GC. Dave is miffed because some person, in a weak attempt to be PC, made a remark about the club being some sort of "legacy." Dave conveniently ignored the fact that these people didn't use one dime of any public funds to build their club, that they purchased the land with their own monies, cleaned up a wasteland that had been an eyesore for decades, replaced dilapidated buildings with beautiful new structures, employed hundreds of local people in the demolition, construction and landscaping, all the while pumping $130 million into the economy of beleaguered Jersey City. Many more millions will be spent in fees to purveyors and wages to employees of the club. But true to form for a dyed-in-the-wool, class envious liberal, Dave can't see anything good about Liberty National. His diatribe sounded as if he'd like to see Liberty returned to it's former run-down, polluted state.

Not that we don't appreciate your readership, those of you who denegrate the writing here, but, um, so why do you seem to expend so much time and energy in reading and responding to what is written here? Curious, that. Oh, and by the way Alex, I hold a PhD in linguistics (theoretical and applied). Happy to discuss spelling, etc., any time, but it seems apallingly trivial.

Kiel C, It doesn't take much time or energy to read these blogs. Not for me, anyway. I have some alphabet soup behind my name, also. But you're probably not interested since I'm not a liberal imbued with your altruism. Spelling, you say? Slick, check out some of your misspelings in your last post before you issue any challenges.

edit; two "L's" in misspellings

*****
Comment from: Tim McDonald [Member]
George says Nixon wasn't a conservative? Hey, he was a liar and a criminal. That's straight out of the Repubican playbook.
*****

Tim, all your post did is prove you can regurgitate Democrat Underground talking points.

But you must confront a more crucial challenge, one that so far has foiled you.

It still appears you never got off your lazy behind to check the full transcript of the Brittany Lincicome - Michelle Wie interviews following their match.

As is apparent to anyone not as torpid as you, Tim, there actually was no basis to suggest the two women had unleashed a cat fight on each other.

Wie didn't whine and was not making excuses -- she may have been spectacularly self-delusional about the fact that Lincicome mopped her -- but it was not whining. Nor was Lincicome sniping at Wie or dissing Wie.

Tim, you had no basis for your column based on Wie's comments -- and you know it.

The choices are:
-you're incompetent
-you made it up
-or you need remedial English before you can keep posting.
-or you can split the expenses with Jennifer Mario and Chris Baldwin for a Journalism 101 class.

And being able to hit control "C" and control "V" on your keyboard to paste those far-left talking points into your post doesn't count.

-George

Kiel,

A Ph.D is linguistics? Ha-ha. Yes, I've heard about those linguistics courses. That's where they tell you that language is all arbitrary anyway, so it doesn't matter if you run around disgorging Ebonics. Hey, is you is or is you ain't?

I guess that on your way to your doctorate, you never learned how to spell the word "denigrate."

Tiny-brain Tim,

A liar and a criminal? Do you mean like Slick Willie, Dan Rostenkowski (sp?) -- who, by the way, is in prison -- and Marion Barry, just to name a few?

As for you, TBT, I can't say you're a criminal.

Judge Smails, In all fairness to Kiel, he merely said that he had a PhD in linguistics.(Both theoretical and applied, no less). He did not say to which language his PhD applied. Of course, to a liberal elitist with a PhD like Kiel, spelling is APALLINGLY trivial. I love it!

Yup you got me. I can't type. It's a fair cop in all four of the languages in which I write.

Quoting Alex:

"Brandon recently had a piece in which he gloried in the fact that several private clubs in Michigan were having trouble maintaining their membership rolls. He doesn't seem to grasp the obvious results of an exodus by affluent citizens from an area having fiscal woes"

You are talking about this blog:
http://www.travelgolf.com/blogs/brandon.tucker/2006/05/25/many_michigan_country_clubs_are_struggli

To save you the trouble of suffering through the whole blog, the first sentence is:

"The mass-exodus out of Michigan thanks to the auto industry means the hundreds of private clubs are scrambling to fill memberships"

We even use the same word: "exodus". And white collar and blue collar jobs are affected.

Until Michigan diversifies its economy beyond cars and pizza it will definitely struggle. Maybe ethanol can help. Or maybe the Great Lakes hold the key. But usually first sentences in blogs are important, be sure not to skip them Alex.

Brandon, You were absolutely thrilled that the private clubs were and are struggling. Don't deny it. Class envy is a double-edged sword.

Kiel, I know you can write in Sanskrit, Swahili, and Tagalog. What's the fourth language?

Alex,

While I by no means want to see anything in the golf industry fail, look at it this way: one club in Ann Arbor used to have a 10 year waitlist, $40,000 initiation fee. Now, there's no waitlist, and you can spread the $40,000 out over a 30-year period. Guys who just graduated school are able to afford it now, not just accomplished business or old money types. My point in that post is there's a change in the country club demographic.

Of course, the rich need their playgrounds and all, but what's not to like about great facilities becoming more open to more people? Or would you prefer they remain elitest (a good deal of which are born into it)? Shame on me for my excitement that more people in MI have the opportunity to taste the good life.

Brandon, You blew your cover when you couldn't resist using the tired canard, "the elites are born into it." (My quotes) You're afflicted with textbook case class envy. You should quit trying to deny as much, and simply admit your envy.

Brandon,

Alex is right. You were reveling in the travails of these clubs, not just making note of the very different economic climate in these areas.

"The man who is capable of deceiving only other is not nearly as dangerous as the man who is capable of deceiving himself."

Be honest with yourself about who and what you are.

Alex and the Judge are obviously hot for each other. That's another Republican subtext; most are closet homosexuals.

Timmy, Add this to your subtext: ALL Republicans voted for the winner in the 2004 Presidential election. We may be dainty, but we know a winner. If we're all gay, you liberals should love us.

Thanks for owning up to your sexuality. Hey, don't hide, embrace it. The Democratic party welcomes ALL.

You and the Judge going out tonight?

Timmy,

Conservatives are definitely much more likely to be gay than liberals. The latter are a very unhappy lot.

Quayle said: "ai tek mai potatoe hom.'

So, Judge, when are you and Alex making the annoucement? I'm sure you'll be very happy.

TImmy, In the unlikely event that you have a day job, my advice is "Don't quit it." You're not very good as a gag writer.Say hello to Barney when you meet him in the bathhouse.

Alex, Alex, Alex. Calm down. Gays are accepted in our society now. No need to be snippy.

Timmy, Since you're so obsessed with your homosexuality, I've got a good fantasy Democrat "menage a trois" for you. "Boston Barney" Frank, "Jersey Jim" McGreevey, and last but not least, "Tiny Tim" McDonald.

Wow, you are really going downhill fast, not that you had far to go. Sorry, I didn't realize getting you out of the closet would affect you so much.

"Tiny Tim." Man, what an imagination. I've certainly never heard that one.

Timmy, You can stop being so coy and flirtatious. You're just not my type. But don't be disappointed. There are all sorts of Democrats you can swing with.

Holy crap, I seem to have stumbled into a children's sandbox.

All I see is ad hominems. No real issues being discussed on the merits. If an issue comes up at all, it's met with personal attacks on the poster or whoever was mentioned in the post.

Childish to the extreme. I'm not staying (and I'm sure some of you people will feel compelled to respond with something mature like "good" or "nobody wants you to stay anyway" - which would only serve to prove my point).

Jack Frost, My apology for engaging in such BS. If you check back, it was Timmy who initiated the exchange. I'm out. Again, JF, my apology.

Charles Barkley's Head Fake

If Barkley's not full of hypocrisies, he's full of at least fairly extreme contradictions.

He's a social conservative who throughout his playing career was a devotee of strip clubs, an anti-authority authoritarian, a rebel reactionary, both truth-teller and scam artist. After a difficult loss, he once said he felt like going home and beating his wife—the same woman who he said made him cry with joy every time they made love. He's a relentless capitalist whose principal shtick is sticking up for the poor and downtrodden.
David Shields

Quizzed by a reporter as to whether he was a Republican or a Democrat, Barkley said, "I'm not either, to be honest with you. I made a joke with my grandmother one time. I was asking her, 'Why are we Democrats?' She said, 'Republicans are only for rich people.' And I said, 'I'm rich.' And she hasn't given me a viable answer."

If Barkley were ever to run for political office—he's repeatedly threatened to run for governor of his native Alabama as a Republican—he'd be constrained by certain ideologies. But now he can contradict himself every other day or every other game or every other sentence, can recharge the moment with meaning, whether it's a pick-and-roll or a racial incident.

He's mastered the televisual style of controversy sans consequence, of playing both ends against the middle, of the cult of personality.

David Shields
Slate.com

Susan,

The truth is that, loosely speaking, Barkley is just a dumb jock. I say "loosely speaking" because I'm sure he possesses adequate intelligence. However, this isn't a man who is a desert mystic, let's face it. He's no font of intellectual understanding or philosophical depth.

Unfortunately, like most other celebrities, he made his money while engaging in a rather frivolous pursuit and now he has a forum in which he can have influence in matters of import.

But, as always, the people are the problem. If we had any brains, we would simply say "Look, you made a lot of money tossing a ball around, God bless you. Now, shut-up, go away, be rich and, if you're really interested in making the world a better place, improve yourself."

Nothing funnier than a bunch of golfers trying to talk politics.

Thanks for the belly laughs.

Nuh-uh! THEY started it! They're a couple of stupid-heads!

Wow, its a good thing I do not look to has beens for my political opinions.

The word conservative means discriminatory practically. It’s a form of political discrimination. [Conservatives are] against gay marriage and for a war that makes no sense. A war that was based on faulty intelligence. That’s all they ever talk about. That and immigration. Another discriminatory argument for political gain.

there's no waitlist, and you can spread the $55,000 out over a 30-year period. Guys who just graduated school are able to afford it now, not just accomplished business or old money types.

Another discriminatory argument for political gain.