WaxWorks
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Tuesday, April 15, 2003
My two cents on this whole Hall of Fame, Dale Petroskey, and Tim Robbins and Susan Sarandon issue.
Petroskey, a former White House assistant press secretary, said when he disinvited Robbins and Sarandon for fear that they would speak out against the war that "Mr. Robbins and Ms. Sarandon have every right to express their opinions. But The Baseball Hall of Fame is not the proper venue for highly charged political expressions, whatever they may be."
Well, if that is in fact true, then, Mr. Petroskey, can you explain why you had Ari Fleischer speak at the Hall of Fame in 2002 to speak about, as you put it in your press release, "his perspective on life in the White House and the current political scene which of course includes the war on terrorism" ? Or why you had Ken Duberstein, former Chief of Staff to Ronald Reagan, and key man behind the scenes in getting Clarence Thomas confirmed, speak at the Hall in 1999 "to share his White House experiences and discuss the upcoming 2000 Presidential Election" ? Apparently what you meant to say was that the Hall of Fame is not an appropriate forum for DEMOCRATIC political expression. Republicans are just fine.
Now, some people have speculated that Petroskey did this under pressure from the Bush Administration, and, even as cynical as I am, I've had a hard time believing this. But then I saw this, from the March 24, 2001 National Journal article:
Two years ago, [George W.] Bush accompanied [Nolan Ryan] to Cooperstown
for Ryan's induction into the Hall of Fame. Afterward, Hall of Fame
President Dale Petroskey presented Bush with a coveted lifetime pass to
the museum. Petroskey is a friend of Marvin Bush's-the two would pass the
time at parties in Old Town Alexandria by playing baseball trivia-and Bush
smiled when given the handsome gold pass. "Marvin may know a little more
baseball trivia than me," he said. "But he doesn't have one of these."
I stand corrected. I will never put anything past the Bush Administration again. Let Paul Krugman's words today be a warning to us all.
All right, WaxWorkers, I'm back. Sorry for the delay -- I'll try to keep up with things. This whole war and Bush's smug face has made me too depressed to post anything.
