At a veterans’ event in
“You can have your Tiger Woods. We’ve got Sen. McCain,” he said.
After applause, to leave no doubt that he was referring to Barack Obama, Bellavia said, as he gestured to McCain, “My friends, this is the real audacity of hope.” The Audacity of Hope is the title of one of Obama’s books.
The situation is interesting in
Here’s the video:
It’s controversial because ethnicity has become such a touchy subject in the Democratic presidential nominee battle between Obama and Hillary Clinton. McCain was dragged into the situation when he was booed at a recent Martin Luther King Jr. speech because of his past opposition to a national holiday honoring King.
Now this. There’s been discussion of it on TV and the Internet, with some offended that Bellavia brought race into the situation and others saying his comments weren’t a big deal. McCain didn’t react to the comments during the speech he gave at the event.
I wasn’t sure what to think until I watched this discussion of the clip:
After pondering this overnight, I tend to think the comments by Bellavia were sort of foolish. He should have been conscientious enough to avoid risking offending the black community and others. At the same time, he was comparing Obama to the most popular golfer in the world – and the man many consider to be the best.
It’s no accident that both are part black – Obama is half black and Woods is a quarter – so you could interpret this as some sort of statement that Vets for Freedom doesn’t want anything to do with black people. You could also take it as a compliment for Obama from a group that backs McCain – Hey, you’re a shining star, but we still like this guy better.
Pearce spokesman Brian Phillips said the event “wasn’t a political event” so he wouldn’t comment on what was said there. He noted, in response to a question from me, that Pearce has not endorsed McCain.
“We were there to support vets, and that’s the only reason we were there,” he said.