As readers who are hockey fans will know, Walt is an athletic supporter -- a fan of the greatest hockey team ever, the Montréal Canadiens. As such, I consider the Boston Bruins Enemy No. 1. Of the big, bad Bruins, Tim Thomas, pictured, is Number 1. OK, he's really No. 30, but you catch my drift, I'm sure.Timmy has a deserved reputation for being more than a little unorthodox, on the ice. His awkward, goofy style goes against everything the goaltending coaches teach you, nowadays, but he's remarkably effective, especially against les Glorieux.
Now Timmy has demonstrated that he can be just as unorthodox -- politically incorrect -- off the ice as on. The team he backstopped to the Stanley Cup last spring were received yesterday at the White House, but the man in the mask wasn't there. He refused to go!
On his Facebook page, Thomas explained his absence thus.
I believe the Federal government has grown out of control, threatening the Rights, Liberties, and Property of the People. This is being done at the Executive, Legislative, and Judicial level. This is in direct opposition to the Constitution and the Founding Fathers vision for the Federal government. Because I believe this, today I exercised my right as a Free Citizen, and did not visit the White House. This was not about politics or party, as in my opinion both parties are responsible for the situation we are in as a country. This was about a choice I had to make as an INDIVIDUAL.
The lamestream media, led by the Boston Globe's Kevin Dupont and the Herald's Margery Eagan, jumped on Tim like ducks on a june bug. They accuse him of being self-centred, immature, a Republican or -- even worse -- possibly a libertarian.
Seems to me the real "sin" of which Tim Thomas stands accused is speaking truth to power. Maybe he's a Republican, maybe not. What he's saying, as I read it, is that the US government as a whole is broken, so he has no time for the whole shower.
Right on, Tim! Al O'Bama has been a dreadful disappointment to the people who voted for him. He only has a chance of being re-elected because the opposition is so fragmented, and because the mass media are giving him a free ride because to do otherwise might seem racist.
Meanwhile, the voice of Joe Sixpack isn't being heard. So it's about time that someone spoke up. Good for you, Tim Thomas!
As for Dupont, Eagan and the rest of the east coast liberal press, it looks to Walt as if freedom of opinion and speech are secondary to political orthodoxy and the importance of election-year photo ops at the White House.
Let's hope that those Boston "journalists" don't ever get to run a sports team or a government. Imagine a parent telling a child "Just go along and be nice." Or "Pretend everything's fine." Or "Go along for the greater good and you'll be able to keep people's esteem."
St. Thomas More said (according to Robert Bolt), "When we stand before God, and you are sent to Paradise for doing according to your conscience, and I am damned for not doing according to mine, will you come with me, for fellowship?"
As I said, I'm not a Bruins fan. And I'm no friend of Tim Thomas when he's playing against "my team". But I like people who stand up for what they believe in, and I don't like those who don't.
Footnote from Ed.: A reader sent us a rude remark about this post, asking what in hell a Canadian would know about US government or politics. I've fixed the headline to make it clear that Tim Thomas is an American...the only one playing regularly for the Bruins.
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