Opinion | Sports

John Kane: Lawmakers pull a publicity stunt with letter to NFL

Wednesday, May 28, 2014

John Kane. Photo from The Two Row Times

John Kane isn't impressed by a letter sent by 50 Senate Democrats to NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell:

These 50 senators – who I am sure were absolutely oblivious to the UNDRIP, the Permanent Forum and, most certainly, the Doctrine of Christian Discovery – decided to pull a publicity stunt to distract from their own failings. In about as partisan an act as possible, 50 Democratic senators decided to lend their names to a letter that attempts to correct what they view as “a matter of tribal sovereignty.” I know, this sounds serious, right? And if I stop right here, you have got to be thinking, alright, they’re scolding the states for violating our sovereignty or the tax department for unlawfully trying to fleece our people and businesses or even the State Department over passports or IDs. You might even be thinking they are admitting their failure to address land claims or correct any number of the other racist policies being addressed right then at the United Nations. But you’d be wrong.
No, these 50 elite politicians sent a letter to the NFL. And unlike Mr. Halbritter who bought his way into this 30-year debate over the Washington D.C. football team name, these guys just had a staffer stamp their name on a letter to NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell. But again unlike Mr. Halbritter, who quite successfully deflected all attention from his “leadership”, including his destruction of the Oneida land claim and selling out to New York State on gaming, tobacco, fuel and taxes by transforming himself into the “Washington R-word” slayer, these guys not only hurt the cause with lending their dismal approval rating to it, but they also come across as somewhere between hypocritical and just plain silly.

Get the Story:
John Kane: 50 Senators to the Rescue (The Two Row Times 5/27)