Comments on: Rugbygate

By: Kevin Drum

Kevin Drum — Wed, 31 Dec 1969 18:00:00 +0000

You seem to have rather missed the point of my post, which was aimed more at Mickey Kaus and the press' treatment of Kerry, than it was at our president's youthful rugby prowess.

By: gordon

gordon — Wed, 31 Dec 1969 18:00:00 +0000

I think the whole point of the post is that this is tremendously insignificant. He said he was on the varsity team once, but there was no varsity team. Like Slactivist said, no big deal. But if it was Kerry saying something untrue about his college sports activities, people like Mickey Kaus would be all over it and the media would treat it like it matters. That's of course strictly hypothetical, but that's the pattern some of us have observed with Kerry today and with Gore in 2000. Really, the whole thing is an attack on Kaus and his strage obsession with Kerry (like his recent post on how some guy seeing Kerry meeting people in a Georgetown apartment one night during the Vietnam protest proves that Kerry lied about sleeping on the Mall for most of the week) more than a criticism of Bush.

By: Boyd

Boyd — Wed, 31 Dec 1969 18:00:00 +0000

Blah, blah, blah.

If it's so damn insignificant, how come both James and Kevin have posted on it?

CLARIFICATION: Before you protest (or just dismiss me), I understood your post perfectly well, Kevin. By saying it's insignificant, then weaving this insignificance into a speculative complaint about Kaus is...well, creating something totally imaginary from nothing absolutely.

Either way, that equation starts from zero and ends up in the same place.

DISCLAIMER: If anyone reads this comment as snarkiness, go back and reread it, imagining me chuckling the whole time. There, you got it!

By: John

John — Wed, 31 Dec 1969 18:00:00 +0000

I don't think it's even hypothetical to say that Kaus would be all over it if this story were about Kerry. Given the complete insanity to which Mickey Kaus has descended about Kerry, I'm sure that he'd be obsessing over this for weeks if Kerry had done the same thing.

By: chris

chris — Wed, 31 Dec 1969 18:00:00 +0000

Actually, this all makes sense. When I was in school, the varsity rugby team was called the first team. He was just trying to be clear with people who do not know the sport. I am sure this will become another "skandal."

By: Blondie

Blondie — Wed, 31 Dec 1969 18:00:00 +0000

No, the point is, Tucker Carlson was right: Karen Hughes is a pathological liar who thinks nothing of complete fabrication if it maked her boss look good.

By: Paul

Paul — Wed, 31 Dec 1969 18:00:00 +0000

Kevin is, as usual, partisanly blind.

MSNBC went to incredible lengths to cover Kerry's hind quarter.

http://wizbangblog.com/archives/002343.php

By: Chris Lawrence

Chris Lawrence — Wed, 31 Dec 1969 18:00:00 +0000

From WordNet:

n 1: a British abbreviation of `university'; usually refers to Oxford University or Cambridge University
2: a team representing a college or university [syn: {first team}]

From M-W.com:

1 British: UNIVERSITY 2a: the principal squad representing a university, college, school, or club especially in a sport b: REGULAR

Since Yale's intercollegiate rugby team did, in fact, represent a college or university, even if it wasn't an NCAA-sanctioned team, the term "varsity" applies to it.

By: Marty Heyman

Marty Heyman — Wed, 31 Dec 1969 18:00:00 +0000

Thanks to all for the glimmer of humanity. One does suspect that the anti-defeatist Republicans would be a bit louder on the topic. I doubt that anyone will be able to make hay out of Bush's proclivity for a sport where hurting others is an important sub-text. It's consensual and, at some level, they were considered adults.

By: Wizbang Sideblog

Wizbang Sideblog — Wed, 31 Dec 1969 18:00:00 +0000

Outside The Beltway
Rugbygate?...

By: Baseball Crank

Baseball Crank — Wed, 31 Dec 1969 18:00:00 +0000

POLITICS: Another Non-Scandal
James Joyner catches Kevin Drum mischaracterizing President Bush's record as a rugby player at Yale (Bush played intercollegiate rugby, which was a club sport, and Drum rips Bush for claiming to have been on the "varsity") in a rather pitiful...

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