The Arizona Cardinals (that professional football team up in Phoenix that Tucsonans generally ignore, because it’s Phoenix, bleugh) beat the Seattle Seahawks in what was a thrilling clash of the best defenses in professional football last Sunday.
Washington State legislator Joe Fitzgibbon was a bit peeved about the whole thing, as most football fans are prone to be after their favorite team loses to a rival:
Seriously Rep @joefitzgibbon ?! This type of tweet doesn’t represent the 12th Man. I’d hope 4 better from a State Rep pic.twitter.com/arNAMgG7HY
— Zach Brown (@ZB206) December 23, 2013
Representative Fitzgibbon deleted the tweet and reissued another statement:
Upset re hawks loss, and failure of smart immigration reform—shouldn’t have conflated the 2 though. Happy holidays, better for both in ’14
— Joe Fitzgibbon (@joefitzgibbon) December 23, 2013
After getting flack from various news sites, the disgruntled Washington Representative issued an apology (to Arizona) on Facebook:
Now, you may fairly ask yourself why someone would feel it necessary to make that connection, let alone share them with people. Fair enough. As I was watching our quarterback get sacked—four times—I got aggravated. For some reason I got to thinking about how the NFL once moved the Superbowl out of Arizona when it refused to recognize Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, which led to idle thoughts about SB 1070 and the failure this year of commonsense immigration reform at the national level. (Yeah, I’m really fun at parties.)
We accept your apology, Mr Fitzgibbon. But don’t be afraid to speak your unfiltered mind and invite us to your next football party because we would love to continue this conversation in oversized NFL jerseys.
This article appears in Dec 19-25, 2013.
I am from that neck of the woods. Trust me, they have just as many racists as Arizona, maybe more.
No surprise here, as liberals often resort name-calling and use the “race card” when ever someone has the gall to disagree with their narrow point of view.
Vote conservative and change America for the better. Important note – conservative is not always Republican, in as much as there are good conservative Democrats and Libertarians as well.
Reflexive use of “liberals” is just you doing the name-calling this time, Bisbee boy. So be advised that your hypocrisy is noted as the “conservative’s” standard for values when discussing anything complicated. Also please be advised that all liberals are NOT chicken-hearted cowards who back down from said knee-jerk hypocrites.
The truth hurts.
Wow. The only place I have ever actually seen a burning cross in someone’s front yard was in Washington, back in ’94. We moved right the fuck back to AZ after that heartwarming scene.
Now, I have no love for our bunch of assmuffins in Phoenix, but this really seems like the pot calling the kettle black.
Immigration reform needs to start by eliminating birthright citizenship.
I think he meant to say Phoenix.
It is not a wasteland! But we have our share of racists…many of them having accidental citizenship by virtue of being born here. Catskinner may be onto something there. Maybe no one should be able to be a voting citizen until he or she can pass the necessary requirements…that would bring us closer to what our founding fathers had in mind; complete control of government by the educated white (wealthy) men. But that is not what a true democracy demands. And I prefer a democracy to a plutocracy.
Cascabel says, “But that is not what a true democracy demands. And I prefer a democracy to a plutocracy.”
As Aristotle pointed out and as history has proven, true democracies do not tend to last. They quickly degenerate into “mobocracies,” where the rulers will do anything to placate the masses. That is exactly why Madison wrote a constitution that does not make the United States a “true democracy,” but a democratic republic with enough checks and balances that our government has been able to withstand more than two centuries of turbulence including a very bloody civil war.