...earlier this evening may have been my jubilant screaming after watching the greatest swimming race I have ever seen. That's the kind of excitement that makes the Olympics truly special.
I wasn't the only one excited...for good cause.
Wow.
Posted by Eric Earling at August 10, 2008 09:25 PM | Email ThisNBC's coverage is an embarrasment. CBC has better coverage, and it is live.
Great race, BTW. I hope the folks out west without CBC scream real loud at NBC and its sponsors tomorrow. I plan on calling KING to complain.
Posted by: AP on August 10, 2008 10:17 PMI know President Bush watching in the stands sure had to love it! Well done, guys, well done!
Posted by: Michele on August 11, 2008 03:40 AMWow and what about those Chinese "women" gymnasts? I wonder what age the Chinese consider their females to be women, because NONE of those "women" looked to be more that 10 years old. By comparison, our women looked to be, on average, at least 40 years old.
Our guys beating the French in their own natural habitat is FANTASTIC. I just hope we don't have to see Phelps hawking Speedos on TV every five minutes for the next 12 years though.
: )
Um, NBA players have been competing since 1992. You know, the Dream Team?
Posted by: jimg on August 11, 2008 09:08 AMPersonally, I never imagined a day would come when I would see such a blatant disregard to the sacrifices our boys in uniform by a Republican President. Shame on him.
Maybe I will do a tri someday soon.
Posted by: Jeff B. on August 11, 2008 09:33 AMWhile I'm proud of this country as much as the next man but the President is different, he is the supreme elected official, and leader of this country. I know for certain he has more important things to do. Shame on the President.
Let's see, he's the GDMNED President of the U.S., the one country that symbolizes FREEDOM and LIBERTY in the whole world and he is inside one of the most oppressive, non-free countries in the world - acting as an ambassador for freedom and democracy at a time when China, itself, needs just some nudging to turn more and more democratic, with the Chinese crowds cheering loudly for the free American athletes. Let's see, yes, he should be over there.
Posted by: doug on August 11, 2008 11:16 AMHe is the President, the leader of the free world, even if he is in a Commie country he needs to get his act together, get back home, and focus on continuing our freedoms and LEADING THE COUNTRY like I elected him to do. China ain't going go non-commie overnight, Bush visiting is not going to change a darn thing. Chinese crowds will be cheering whether Bush is there or not, meanwhile our troops are risking/sacrificing their lives everyday. You tell me which is more important. You and the President should get your priorities straight.
I always want the best person(s) to win and these American guys dug down and won it. (It's also great to see an African-American on the team. If you watched the men's gymnastics, we've got a Russian-American and a Chinese-American on our team. I'm proud of our American teams looking so diverse.)
The ugly of this Olympics? The gymnastics judging is really hard to decipher (and in one case the commentators both agreed that one American girl got robbed in the preliminaries for balance beam). There is just no real reason that the Chinese should be scoring as high as they are. That plus the ridiculousness of saying that all those girls on the Chinese team are 15 going on 16 (you have to turn 16 in the calendar year of the Olympics) is complete nonsense. The girls know it, their parents know it, the coaches know it but worst of all their country's government knows. Do away with the age limit if need be but if it's a rule, then countries should abide by it.
Also, the PI said today that Chinese athletes cannot get married before 26 (women) and 28 (men). Yikes.
Posted by: westello on August 11, 2008 12:10 PMFile your complaint here:
http://www.whitehouse.gov/
Posted by: NW Denizen on August 11, 2008 12:12 PMGermany has a 32-year old gymnast. Whoop de do. Age limits be dammed, let's just let the top contenders compete and may the best athletes win. I swear, people on SP whine about the stupidest things.
Old Fogey, you just prove that there's no fool like an old one.
Posted by: deedub on August 11, 2008 12:33 PMSo who was the last "real President" then? Because all Presidents take vacations, and many of them have also attended the Olympics. Get over it. There's nothing wrong in attending the Olympics as a representative of our nation, and the free world. I'm done with this non-issue.
Posted by: Palouse on August 11, 2008 03:21 PMThen I am sure that after Clinton spent 10 days touring China in 1998, you must have been yelling loudly for his resignation.
Posted by: Doug on August 11, 2008 03:49 PMRonald Reagan went an opened the '84 Olympics because they were on US soil and his home state. It did not signify a two week vacation for him. He was right back at work the very next day. Bill Clinton opened the Olympics in Atlanta, of course we were bombed bombed by terrorists during that one because Clinton was weak on security. Though even Clinton did not take a vacation, he was at the White House the day the bombing occurred. Can't say the same for Bush when an American is stabbed to death by the commies. I elected Bush as president to serve and lead, not get chummy with olympic athletes on commie soil.
@26
Putin runs his own country, I thankfully don't live in his fake "capitalist" country. Putin is an overzealous commie wannabe if you ask me and I agree with McCain, he should not be trusted.
@27
I did not vote for Clinton not did anyone I care to know. Needless to say I wanted Pres. Clinton to resign after his looney socialist loving wife tried to impose her leftist commie health care system on me. I'm still deeply disappointed that my party could not pull their heads out of their asses and impeach the man and his god awful wife.
Putin is a not to be trusted, I seem to recall he's not even the President anymore, he's just the prime minister. Either way it's not doing a lot of good, sending military (or at least air) support for the true democracy loving Georgian's would be a much better option and send a much stronger message.
The pres needs to be a leader and manager. He has people to manage the war. He doesn't need to sit in the Oval Office with his sleeves rolled up like a movie actor.
He also has a need to focus on the economy, foreign policy, human rights, etc. That's what he was doing.
Vacationing....are you serious?
Posted by: Chris on August 11, 2008 09:33 PMFogey, man what rock have you been living under? Whether it's Bush or Clinton or any other president in the last 100 years, his lightest vacation day he probably works harder than you ever did on the longest work day of your life. I'm not accusing you of not working hard, but being president is a 24/7/365 job. Being the President on vacation just means doing your full time job somewhere else.
Any president that hunkers down in the White House for the duration of his term would be in dereliction of duty. The President is in charge of foreign policy and has to travel as part of his job. To say that McCain is more involved in world affairs than Bush or any other president is monumentally ignorant.
As to posing with the scantily clad women, are you implying that there should be NO perks to being president? You're just not a fun guy, are you? The only person who has any business being upset about that is Laura. But if she is, we will never know. Unlike some folks, the Bushes have far too much class to air their dirty laundry in public.
Posted by: deedub on August 11, 2008 10:36 PM"I'm still deeply disappointed that my party could not pull their heads out of their asses and impeach the man and his god awful wife."
Huh? I must be missing something here. The way I remember it is that Clinton WAS impeached. He kept his office largely through partisan politics. Not a single democrat voted to throw his worthless butt out.
You say you voted for Bush. Good, now maybe you might want to SUPPORT him instead of complaining about a non issue. He has the job and you don't.
If you just want to complain, try going over to Horsesass or KOS. You will get plenty of sympathy over there.
Posted by: NW Denizen on August 12, 2008 07:16 AM
I do support the man when he's not yucking it up with Olympians in the middle of two wars. We live in a post-9/11 world, that means the threat of terrorism and post-cold war flare ups are even more dangerous. Bush should be working not playing grabass during photo ops with scantily clad volleyball players. It's disgusting and inconsiderate to our troops overseas who are putting their lives on the line everyday.
The fact that Russia has pretty much conquered Georgia while Bush is sitting next to Putin shows how disrespectful the little commie scum is. Bush needs to look like he's leading, not looking like he's on vacation. Clearly he's doing the later.
Heck, I look forward to Pres. McCain because he'll actually do his the job he's elected to do and not putz around the Olympics looking like a damned fool on vacation.
I'm puzzled that you would be one that would have thought our President would look stronger if during the Opening Ceremonies he had to tell the big bad Putin that he needs to skip the Olympics and go running home to momma (I assume that what you would consider Washington DC) so that he can figure out how to counter Putin. Now, that would have been weak. Instead he stayed there in a show of strength, "Hey, Putin, check this out, my country is a true democracy and we don't need a commander-in-chief slapping every mosquito that bites at our ankles."
Posted by: Doug on August 12, 2008 10:51 AMLOL. What with your incessant caterwauling about this, I am beginning to this you are just JEALOUS. Bwahahahahah!
We are in a state of war, he should be spending more governing our troops and keeping abreast of the Georgia situation. He in his role as President should be helping this freedom loving country of Georgia with supplies and at very least air support. In a time of war our President should not sitting around lazily watching sporting events. Shame on him!
Oh, so I was right. You are jealous. Well Fogey, you know what they say..."Just because you're too old to cut the mustard, doesn't mean that you can't lick the lid." LOL
Posted by: NW Denizen on August 12, 2008 03:28 PMHe should be at the White House leading the country and supporting out troops in a time of war. I know that President McCain will show much more sensibility and moral fortitude if/when he decides to go to the 2012 Olympic Games.