The Home Run King Strikes Out, Big Time

Your baseball loving Peasant recently learned of some
unfortunate remarks uttered by a long-time favorite ball-
player of mine. I saw this man play on TV many a time
and saw him hit his historic 715th home run which gave
him the career home run crown when he was with the
Atlanta Braves; a couple of years later I saw him in a
Milwaukee Brewers uniform at the now long-gone
Milwaukee County Stadium when he hit one of his last
home runs in his storied career, in which he ultimately
bashed 755 home runs, a record which would stand until
the era of steroids made it possible for erstwhile rail-thin
ballplayers almost be able to bunt home runs. I met this
legendary athlete in the 1980s when he was on the
lecture circuit and had him autograph my baseball glove,
which I of course still have and will pass it along to
a family member when I depart this earth. I refer, of
course, to Henry "Hank" Aaron, the baseball star who
dethroned Babe Ruth as baseball's all-time home run king.

I heard on local conservative radio talker Jay Weber on
WISN-AM 920 here in Milwaukee about Hank's words
regarding Republicans' opposition to President Barack
Obama's policies, on the event of the 40th anniversary
of Hank's 715th round-tripper; Hank slammed the GOP
as being like the Ku Klux Klan. No, my fabulous readers,
your favorite Peasant is not joking here. I have a much
better sense of humor than that! Hank said the following:
"We can talk about baseball. Talk about politics. Sure,
this country has a black president, but when you look at
a black president, President Obama is left with his foot
stuck in the mud from all the Republicans with the way
he's treated... The bigger difference is back then they had
hoods. Now they have neckties and starched shirts."
Jay stated that it was "sad" to see a beloved sports figure,
one whom Jay averred he also looked up to, taking such
a big fall. Say it ain't so, Hank!

My terrific and intelligent readers, let us do what we
always do when we encounter such wild and baseless
statements: we shall shine the light of scrutiny on the
assertions of the foe, and on the foe himself. So, Hank
Aaron thinks that Republicans are opposed to Obama's
policies because he is black and therefore are opposed to
Obama being our president; this is just the echo of the
baseless, senseless, nonsensical accusation made by the
Left whenever we on the Right challenge them to defend
Obama's policies which have resulted in the shrinking of
our economy, the erosion of our liberty, and the weakening
of our country abroad in the eyes of our friends and enemies
alike. They have no positive achievements of, nor any
constitutional justification for Obama's policies to point
to, so they resort to name-calling and wild accusations of
racism. It's much like a child on the losing end of an argu-
ment with one of his parents saying something like
"You love my brother/sister best!" or "I hate you
'cause you're so mean!" Incapable of constructing a
mature and logical argument or counterargument, the
thwarted child resorts to such verbal roundhouse swings.
That is to be expected of a child of, say, six years of
age; it's beyond pitiful for an 80-year-old sports icon,
revered by many.

Now, Aaron has long been a Democrat. He has publicly
supported the presidential candidacies of Jimmy Carter,
Bill Clinton, and Barack Obama. Alright. Being a sports
hero does not preclude one's being an active and engaged
citizen. But to make such outrageous statements about
people who disagree with a president that one supports
with no compunction to augment such statements with
logic and facts is inexcusable. And it is most unbecoming
of a person who has been and is a hero to many, an iconic
figure who already has a place in the history books of our
country.

Yes, Aaron has been a target of racist bigotry when he
appraoched Babe Ruth's career home run mark; he
received literally mail bags full of death threats as
he inched up on the Babe. He had been excoriated by
white supremacists for having the audacity to come
anywhere near a white sports hero's record, which
had stood unassailed for generations. But there's some-
thing here that Aaron has somehow overlooked:
For one thing, has Aaron forgotten, or perhaps never
learned, that the Ku Klux Klan was long made up of
Democrats? In the deep South, where Aaron was born and
raised, and at the time he grew up there, not only were there
no Republicans in the KKK, there were no Republicans to
speak of. The GOP was regarded in that part of the country
as "that Yankee party!". To this day, you will be hard-
pressed to find any Republicans or conservatives of any
or no party affiliation in the ranks of this scummy outfit.
Let us not forget, friends, that the late U.S. Senator
Robert Byrd from West Virginia, a lifelong Democrat 
and Majority Leader in the Senate, wore the conical
headpiece and matching sheet of the Klan. In fact, he
was a recruiter for them! It was the Republicans who
worked and fought to end slavery in our country; it was
Republicans whose support was crucial to the passage of
the1964 Civil Rights Act and related legislation, giving
Hank Aaron and all black citizens in the U.S. the same
civil rights and protection of these rights as enjoyed by
white citizens. Conservative Senator Barry Goldwater
supported and voted for almost all of the aforementioned
legislation with the exception of the 1964 bill, and that
was only because he had a concern about the constitution-
ality of some parts of it. Conservative Senator Everett
Dirksen was the GOP leader in the Senate in the success-
ful effort to pass the landmark legislation. It was southern
Democrats, many of whom had otherwise moderate-to-
liberal voting records on domestic issues, who voted
against this legislation.

Fast-forward to today and you will find U.S. Representative
F. James Sensenbrenner (R) from Wisconsin, one of the most
conservative members of the House, joining forces with
U.S. Rep. Gwen Moore (D), also from my home state, and
a black woman, in an political alliance to spearhead
legislation to extend the 1965 Voting Rights Act, newly
updated to reflect the progress made in those states which
at that time were poor in safeguarding the right to vote for
black citizens, giving those states leeway in how they
conduct voting registration and related matters. I guess ol'
Hammered Hank never got the memo.

And to besmirch anyone for opposing the highly statist,
largely unconstitutional, disempowering, freedom-squelch-
ing policies of the country's first black president simply
for doing exactly that, no more, is bullying, pure and
simple. It is all to make anyone rethink speaking up and
speaking out, as concerned and active citizens if they
disagree with the direction in which our elected leaders
are taking our country. This is a assault on one of the
freedoms, and yes, responsibilities, which we Americans
hold and treasure as a free people, one of the features
of citizenship in our free nation; this right and duty which
people in countries with totalitarian governments are
ruthlessly, violently denied and can only dream of having.

Hank, I respected you, I revered you, I cherished you
when I was a ballplayer in my school days, and in the
years that followed after my school days and my playing
days ended. But now I pity you. I pity you because you
have rendered yourself pitiful through drinking the
left wing's political kool-aid. You are now just another
liberal tool, a hack, a lackey, a sycophant. To sum
it all up, Hank, you struck out ---  big time!

Time to hit the showers.


MEM