Do We Really Want a Bowler-in-Chief? Remember Nixon!
Elizabeth Edwards’ op-ed in The New York Times today aptly holds the title, “Bowling 1, Health Care 0,” as it criticizes the media obsession with Barack Obama’s bowling form and score during the past three weeks. My research shows that while cable news gasbags such as Joe Scarborough and Chris Matthews, and the entire Fox crew, were the worst offenders, the Times itself has carried dozens of references to “bowling-gate” in its news pages and blog entries. Scarborough, of course, said Americans wanted a real macho man in the White House, perhaps forgetting his unceasing attacks on Bill Clinton’s mannish behavior in office. Matthews suggested that Obama was “prissy.”

But all you need to say is: Which president was the most avid bowler? And, of course, the answer is: Richard Nixon. He even paid $400 out of his own pocket to lease automatic pin-setters and during Watergate went down the basement to roll off some tension. Actually, a search of the historical record finds that the infamous White House bowling alley — sometimes two alleys — dates back to the Truman administration. But Truman (now known as a suitably tough guy) hated bowling. I’ve found the only photo of him bowling, which was published on the cover of Kegler magazine. Sure enough, he was wearing a tie, the very look for which Obama earned much mocking. Truman was also a lefty (I mean, lefthanded). You won’t find many references to bowling when examining the lives of other “manly” presidents since, including JFK, LBJ (couldn’t even golf), Reagan, and Poppy Bush. Who was the biggest bowling advocate near the top? Dan Quayle. Nixon and Quayle. That is really something to aspire to.

In fact, the pair who might have done more bowling at the White House than anyone weren’t even males. They were Lady Bird Johnson and Muriel Humphrey, who tried to do it every week. Of course, many presidents have golfed, but are you really going to tell me that this “sport” is more macho than driving the lane in basketball — which Obama happens to be good at? The Obama/Tiger Woods analogies only go so far, thank god.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/greg-mitchell/do-we-really-want-a-bowle_b_98838.html

I was playing basketball over the weekend and one of the funniest moments in trash talk history happened. We were playing pick up ball at a park in LA. A guy drove into the lane and got his swatted (”his shot was blocked” for the basketball illiterate). He called a foul. This happens often in pickup ball when someone gets their sent (again, when their shot is rejected). They feel embarrassed and insist on calling a non-existent foul, as if they wouldn’t have been sent so badly if they weren’t fouled at the same time. Now, this was a little unusual because even his own team didn’t have his back. Everyone on the court pretty much agreed that he was not fouled. But nonetheless he insisted. Then someone came up with a line bound for the trash talking hall of fame, “This guy is pulling a Hillary.” That, of course, means he won’t let it go when everyone else can plainly see that the argument is over and he is the only one who still believes he is right. They called him Hillary for the rest of the game. And I laughed and laughed. The only thing worse than getting rejected is not fessing up to it. That’s called “pulling a Hillary.”
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/cenk-uygur/pulling-a-hillary_b_101256.html

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