Finally a reason to watch hockey.
Although many Philadelphia Flyers fans cheered and clapped as Sarah Palin took to the ice at the Wachovia Center on Saturday night to drop the ceremonial puck kicking off this town’s NHL season, their warm reception was no match for the 90 seconds of sustained booing that rumbled through the arena, drowning out most of the cheers in support of the Republican vice presidential nominee.
As Palin stepped onto the ice before a capacity crowd to drop the puck, joined by her daughters Willow and Piper, the arena’s jumbotron flashed a futile message to the thousands of notoriously harsh Philadelphia sports fans in attendance.
“Flyers fans, show Philadelphia’s class and welcome America’s #1 hockey mom, Sarah Palin,” the massive electronic message board pleaded, to little effect. Booing quickly erupted when the smiling candidate emerged from a tunnel leading onto the ice, muffling the applause of any Palin supporters in the crowd.
I’m done with pretending to have any respect for that loutess. She trotted out the kids in a Democratic town whose sports fans are known for having booed Santa Claus.
Mad props to the guys with the Obama/Biden signs!!! They’ll be seen all over the country tonight!!!
A real Hostile City Showdown. E-C-W!! E-C-W!!
(And not Vinnie Mac’s lousy WWE reboot, either, but the original.)
I moved to Philly just a few months ago (from Chicago! proud former constituent of State Senator Barack Obama), and I’ve been desperately looking for reasons to like this place. Tonight was a good night for that.
Matt hit it right on the head. We know that Palin will use her family for any opportunity, whether it is her daughters or using her husband to do her dirty work, yet she says everyone else is sexist?!? And she wants to question Obama’s judgement?!?
You’re welcome.
Music to my ears. And I’ve always thought hockey fans were dumb. Go figure.
“everyone loves me! What could go wrong?”-Sarah on the car ride to the arena
Palin or the Rangers. I don’t know who to boo more.
BrianZ = The Franklin Institute, Boathouse Row, and Morimoto.
I am a huge Capitals fan, and hate the Flyers (and their fans) on that principle alone.
Tonight they redeemed themselves a bit, and I’ll hold my tongue on flyers hate for at least a day or two.
And eff Sarah Palin for trying to divert the booing by putting her innocent 7-year-old in a Flyers jersey.
And the caps won! Good night all around.
Again, hockey is a lot of fun to watch live, but they need to shorten the season so that it does not end after Memorial Day. Having a Wayne Gretzky type of marketable talent wouldn’t hurt either.
Palin seems to take her kids to work everyday. My parents never let me out that much.
Way to go, Philly hockey moms! I would like to hear from Joe Six-Pack next
Having a Wayne Gretzky type of marketable talent wouldn’t hurt either.
Alex Ovechkin?
Alexander Semin?
Sidney Crosby?
Evgeni Malkin?
Rick Nash?
Henrik Zetterberg?
Pavel Datsyuk?
Anze Kopitar?
Paul Stastny?
Jarome Iginla?
Patrick Kane?
Jonathan Toews?
Steven Stamkos?
(and that’s just the jaw-droppingly talented forwards!)
It’s pretty obvious she never got out of Alaska much. Otherwise she would know the reputation of Philly fans. The only thing the kids forestalled was loud cussing, but nothing will stop the boos.
Yeesh. She’s using her kids as props in a way that Obama never would. Guess what that makes him, America? A better freakin’ parent than Palin could ever be.
Good on Philadelphia, but I do feel genuine sympathy for her daughters. There’s no easy way to answer the many questions they had after that debacle.
Reminds me of how Santorum brought his kids on-stage and his little girl burst into tears when he announced his defeat. Dude, why even go there? Why subject your children to that sort of embarrassment? You’re the asshat who lost, not your family members.
Family values my ass. Republicans will do anything to try and get elected.
I’ve been a little leery of Philly fans ever since they booed Michael Irvin as he was being carted off the field on a stretcher. Just not a good fan base, imo.
I am not a Sarah Palin fan, but booing a person when his/her children are with them is pretty classless. Come on, let’s not celebrate that kind of behavior.
Who is celebrating it? I don’t see anyone saying “Yea! Her kids got yelled at.”
Sounds like the general opinion is she was using her kids as human shields and it didn’t work. And the criticism is being placed where it should be: On her for using her family as political props in a situation where a reasonable person would be able to anticipate the reception she’d get.
“Who is celebrating it”?
Did you actually read the title of Oliver’s post? “Philadelphia, I Salute You” isn’t celebrating the booing? As long as a person isn’t doing anything wrong (and I don’t see how dropping a puck at a hockey game falls into the “wrongdoing” category), a person shouldn’t be booed when their children are with them.
It’s not the booing that should have kept the kids off the ice, it’s the history of throwing things. In light of the nastiness from Team Fascism, I would find it easy for some drunk fans to make the Mistake Of A Lifetime by throwing stuff.
Other than by popularizing the term “hockey mom”, what has she actually done for hockey that I don’t know about?
Honest question: Why didn’t she just make a sports appearance in a redder city? Or a NASCAR event? (Is the season over yet for that? I lost track.)
Angelina Jolie could go topless into a Philly sports venue to make an appearance and she’d probably get boo’d. In addition to be tacky in using her children as props, it was just plain stupid and another sign that the Palin campaign has no idea what it’s doing.
The hate _Santa Claus_ in Philly, for Christ’s sake.
The seeds she’s sown grow bitter fruit.
http://thetruthburns.wordpress.com/2008/10/11/we’ve-gone-from-silly-season-to-hate-week-what’s-next-kristallnacht/
“…having booed Santa Claus”.
It’s not only comical but downright surreal to read a sentence where the word “booed” immediately precedes the words “Santa Claus”.
Santa and Palin: both frauds. Boooo!
Actually Philly fans didn’t exactly boo santa. He was drunk and falling over, that why they booed. Secondly, you get back what you put out. When you spew negativity, that what you get. She deserved it.
It ain’t just at South Philly hockey shows, either. Read this account of a TNA wrestling match in Illinois:
“(1) Sheik Abdul Bashir (who has apparently been on some good vitamins) pinned Consequnces Creed in a X-Division Title match. Before the match he cut a promo in Arabic. The two phrases you could catch were “Barak Obama” and “John McCain.” He then went to the back and walked down the aisle with a McCain/Palin sign, which drew some boos. Then recieved cheers when he threw the sign down and dropped an elbow on it.”
http://pwtorch.com/artman2/publish/Arena_Reports_10/article_27180.shtml
This Philadelphian is glad to see hockey fans reject the attempted Palinization of Flyers hockey by team owner Ed Snider. Identifying yourself as a hockey mom does not indemnify you from criticism in this town, even at a hockey game. It’s not like anyone should have been surprised by this robust round of boos.
The tolerant left.
Classy.
J-Mac,
The arrogant right, thinking that they can just show up anywhere and be welcome.
As a “tolerant” conservative, would you welcome a rude stranger who entered your house without knocking, insulted every one of your values, and tracked mud all over the carpet?
It’s kind of like that. Rude people do not deserve respect.
Longer jmccann: Honestly, I think we should just trust our president in every decision that he makes and we should just support that, you know, and be faithful in what happens. Vice Presidential candidates too. Also. As long as they’re Republican. Obviously. Also.
More longer jmccann: “Expressing disapproval of a political candidate by merely booing is intolerant and classless. Why yes, I am still wearing a Purple Heart Bandaid! Why do you ask?”
Yes, you are all so tolerant. booing someone that’s at a game to drop a puck is a picture of tolerance. And, the whole “rude stranger” analogy is just stupid. She was invited there. but regardless, I”d take being booed by people in Philly as a compliment. The town is a dump that is ran by liberals.
Congrats on that fine experiment. It’s like a 3rd world country.
“The tolerant left.
Classy.”
Did you feel the same way about the right when Hilary Clinton was booed when she was on stage at the concert in New York to raise money for 9/11 victims (and media conservatives like Bill O’Lielly and Rush Limbaugh supported the booing)?
By the way, Hilary, like Sarah, wasn’t making any kind of political or ideological pitch when she was booed. All she was doing was introducing a short film by Jerry Seinfeld.
Congrats on that fine experiment. It’s like a 3rd world country.
Care to explain that one, Senor Tolerante? (Whoops, sorry ,I know your position on immigration. My sincere apologies.)
jmccann’s fellow tolerant types here:
http://www.salon.com/opinion/greenwald/2008/10/12/mccain_campaign/index.html
He supports these people all the way. Be under no illusions.
Nixon –> Atwater –> Rove –> jmccann and his ilk
The very classy Ron Fredrick, whom jmccann and his disgusting ilk support, said this knowing that Time reporter was in the room. This is what the Good Guys are up against. Yet again.
The town is a dump that is ran [sic] by liberals.
I’ll take it over your bedroom community, bitch.
One of jmccann’s Good Americans:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GNFokenPInk
“The tolerant left.
Classy.”
Ah yes those latte-sipping effete leftists clothed in unrefined hemp wool sweaters and Birkenstocks taking in a sport where 200 lb. men wearing razor sharp skates carrying sticks collide into each other.
There’s also the occasional fistfight.
Wah.
Booing =/ screaming “terrorist” or “kill her!”
Ollie and the rest of you actually think this is OK? That this is acceptable behavior?
I remember all the fuss over Goldberg’s book about liberal fascism. Talk about a self fulfilling prophesy.
The difference between the attitudes shown here and at a Klan rally are only a matter of degree not kind. Sheer utter hypocrisy.
Here’s a Youtube of Amused Observer at one of nice Sarah Palin rallies:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GNFokenPInk
You were saying?
If there was an upside to this incident for the McCain campaign—and God only knows using your kid as a human shield is an act beneath contempt—it was that she didn’t show up at a Detroit Red Wings game. Seeing Palin get pelted with a number of dead octopuses would have been priceless.
This is the most pathetic campaign in U.S. history. At best, McCain would be a Warren Harding for the 21st century if he won (which ain’t gonna happen) and at worst he will go down as a bigger liar than Nixon, dumber than Gerald Ford and more clueless than Bob Dole.
I still think that the media and the blogosphere needs to look at Karl Rove knowing that McCain was going to lose (or he wanted him to lose because, let’s face it, ol’ Crash isn’t exactly trusted by the party regulars) and Palin was brought in not to help McCain get to the White House, but as an attempt to contain downticket damage. McCain was already floundering before the convention and even if this ticket loses, the GOP doesn’t burn up a Romney, a Huckabee, a Mark Sanford or a Joe Scarborough as a losing VP candidate. The Republicans have never run a losing VP nominee for president in the last century that I can think of other than Bob Dole (and even that was 20 years after he ran with Ford). So Palin becomes a sacrificial lamb and Romney or Scarborough fronts the Republican ticket in 2012.
“The difference between the attitudes shown here and at a Klan rally are only a matter of degree not kind”.
I guess you’re more comfortable with some crazy conservative yelling “terrorist!” at the mention of Barack Obama’s name at a McCain rally. The booing and the outburst I just mentioned wrong, but any reasonable person knows the latter is worse.
ugh, I’m back in “forgetting to proofread” mode. I meant to write “…outburst I just mentioned are both wrong,…”
The digital brownshirts attack.
LOL, Ed what’s your point? Posting an obvious piece of staged propaganda portraying Obama as a monkey. Subtle, very subtle.
And Rotter, lovely name for a progressive fascist by the way, no I find boorish behavior abhorrent. Amusingly enough, what you call a crazy conservative is more than likely a wild eyed progressive zealot.
http://blog.eyeblast.tv/?p=112
Any reasonable person knows what the phrase “matter of kind not degree means.” The comments here regarding conservatives, Palin, and McCain would be appropriate at any Klan rally if one would only substitute the dreaded N-word.
The intellectual dishonesty and intolerance shown here is a pitiful thing to see.
So are we to infer that you are no longer amused?
OK, then, ‘bye!
Well it’s not polite to laugh at the ignorant but it is a guilty pleasure. The theory, concept, and foundation of American Exceptional ism is a pretty much unknown even unimaginable idea to a modern blue state kid.
Out of many, one. Conceived by liberty and taken by force, this country has prospered like no other before it, primarily because of the absolute genius of our founding fathers. Dividing government power and keeping it in check is the key to our freedom. The price of liberty is eternal vigilence and the greatest threats come from within.
Ben Franklin famously stated we had a republic and wondered if we could keep it. George Bush’s greatest fault has been the inability to articulate the situation facing the country and sowing the seeds for the socialist backlash we may very well have to endure.
The most dismal aspects of the Bush Legacy will be the accomplishments of an Obama administration. But perhaps it is the price we need pay to move forward. It took the worst failure of an American president in history, Jimmy Carter, to bring about the opportunity for a Reagan.
In the mean time observing the hypocrisy, ignorance, and intellectual dishonesty of the left will remain a guilty pleasure.
But perhaps it is the price we need pay to move forward. It took the worst failure of an American president in history, Jimmy Carter, to bring about the opportunity for a Reagan.
I agree, the failure of the Bush administration will be a small price to pay for the success of an Obama administration.
And maybe they were yelling Boo-urns?
I was going to chime in with a few rebuttals, but when AO used the words “progressive fascist”, he moved into the realm of the POS wingnut tools. Waste of air.
BruceH: I believe the intertoobz saying is: ‘kthxbye!
“And Rotter, lovely name for a progressive fascist by the way, no I find boorish behavior abhorrent”.
If you find “boorish behavior abhorrent,” then why call me a fascist, especially when I haven’t written anything even remotely fascistic in nature? This is like someone decrying meat-eating while chomping on a T-bone steak. Good grief, did you see my earlier posts on this thread where I TOOK ISSUE WITH those here agreeing with the booing of Palin at the hockey game?
“Amusingly enough, what you call a crazy conservative is more than likely a wild eyed progressive zealot”?
There is nothing in the link you provided just after that sentence that provides evidence of any kind that the “terrorist!”-yelling crazy conservative isn’t, well, a crazy conservative.
“The comments here regarding conservatives, Palin and McCain would be appropriate at a Klan rally if only one would substitute the dreaded N-word”.
Even buying into the premise of this sentence, (and I do not since a. a person choices to be a conservative, just like a person chooses to be a liberal A person does not choose to be an African-Americanand b. attacking Palin and McCain, even in unfair and vicious ways, is not the equivalent of using a racial epithet for African-Americans because the former only involes criticizes two individuals and the latter involves criticizing a whole group of people), I’m sure you’d use the same Klan analogy do all the lovely things that Rush Limbaugh, Ann Coulter, Michael Savage, the freepers, the townhall.com folks, pretty much any National Review writer, etc., has to say about liberals (rolls eys).
yikes, (rolls eyes).