April 10, 2023

"Endless"... it's been one week.

I'm trying to read "Jill Biden’s gaffe about women’s basketball and its endless fallout/Sports is usually a safe zone for the first lady. But her suggestion that both the winning and losing teams visit the White House prompted a week of outrage" by Jada Yuan (WaPo). 

You want some generally applicable rule that outrage must die after one week?

And the complaint here is that Jill's gaffe was ridiculed on "Saturday Night Live." The championship game was on a Sunday and the ridicule took place on the very next Saturday. Is SNL supposed to bypass all outrages that take place on a Sunday?

I'm annoyed by this overprotectiveness toward Jill Biden. She made a significant gaffe that was subject to racial critique. The only reason to want to go easy on her is to lay groundwork for excusing the gaffes of others (and they will, undoubtedly, arise in the future).

Here's the gaffe: “You know what? I’m going to tell Joe I think Iowa should come, too, because they played such a good game. Right? Winners and losers … that’s good sportsmanship!” 

The most striking line in the "SNL" bit (not quoted in the WaPo piece): "In the history of sports, when you lose, you take your ass home. But then white girls lost, and, suddenly, it's all teams matter."

49 comments:

MadisonMan said...

This is a source of outrage of which I was blissfully unaware. Maybe because it's women's basketball. I know the local paper has tried to get me to care with its extensive coverage. But that didn't work.

Dave Begley said...

Iowa didn't just lose, they got their asses whupped. And Iowa has the female Larry Bird! Ha!

narciso said...

shes a shallow ignorant woman, the consort of a figurehead they put up front to humiliate us,

RideSpaceMountain said...

"You want some generally applicable rule that outrage must die after one week?"

Aw snap, I like the thought experiment this generates. So lets say hypothetically this was able to be implemented. Who would have a harder time dealing with such a rule? Conservatives or leftists? Republicans or Democrats? Men or women?

I'm gonna say 50/50 for almost ever category you choose, except the men vs. women...we all know which would have a harder time.

Quaestor said...

Does Mrs. Biden still insist on being addressed by her close-cover-before-striking academic title? (I could tell some stories about the divergent nature of Education majors and intellectual probity, but I digress.) I note that Jada Yuan eschews the demanded dur except when directly quoting a source. Does this signal a new and healthy gloves-off journalistic attitude, or is it merely an under-the-radar diversion from WaPo's normal lickspittle subservience?

Harold said...

I think it's only limitless when it's a Democrat being roasted, if it was a Republican the story would be that the Republicans were trying to minimize the debate by calling out the media for excessively focusing on the gaffe.

JAORE said...

That's DOCTOR Jill Biden to you!

Don't play poker with HER.

As Biden's poll numbers plummet (re: should he run again) we start to see the first signs of cracks in the protective media armor.

Sebastian said...

"The only reason to want to go easy on her is to lay groundwork for excusing the gaffes of others"

Not at all. GOP gaffes are never excused, and no groundwork will ever help righties. They want to go easy on Jill for Dem partisan purposes--to help Joe to stay in power.

But even Jill has to respect racial sensitivities, though Joe has gotten away with a bunch of racist howlers over the years--showing that when the chips are down, power matters more to Dems than racial justice. Even race is just a tool, though one that can cut the user.

"But then white girls lost, and, suddenly, it's all teams matter."

Correct. So if we treat Jill's statement as a gaffe, we are saying that it reveals the Bidens' actual white-supremacist prejudice, right?

Dude1394 said...

“A week of outrage”. What doesn’t cause outrage by democrats every week.

narciso said...

a coked up compromised son, another offspring who has similar problems, a whole criminal gang who should have been arraigned years ago for high crimes, but this tiffle is what raises hackles

they made so much about that shirt melania wore, but these people are utterly indifferent to the murder of innocents, to starvation to an encroaching world war, in fact they are steering right to it,

Jamie said...

Boy, that's a subtle gaffe. Without the racial context I just thought she was being a typical participation-trophy mom.

JAORE said...

Oh yeah, real controversy on SNL... I watched it a second time. Could not find Jill Biden mentioned.. I heard, "an invitation". I heard "they" invited. But no Doctor J.

Why is that?

Rob C said...

Interesting how the affront is attributed to racism. Not that a Biden has any issue with racist gaffes or associates...

gspencer said...

Both winning and losing teams should visit the WH, says "Doctor" (phony) Jill.

Hold on there. Maybe this grifter is properly enforcing the left's war on meritocrcy. Everyone's to get a participation trophy with no one a "winner."

WWIII Joe Biden, Husk-Puppet + America's Putin said...

SNL is supposed to dutifully act as a propaganda arm for the democrat party. No mocking THE Party(D)! If they do at all - it's a soft and fluffy mock.

Esteban said...

Stop making the spouses of politicians a thing. They shouldn't have a role. At all. None. They don't need projects or policies. They don't need to comment. No one elected them.

Gator said...

I watched the game. The race of the players didn’t really matter to me. What did matter was it was one of the worst officiated games I’ve seen in any sport, and all 3 referees were black women which I’ve never seen. Obviously the NCAA was trying to virtual signal. Calls were terrible both ways, but moderately for LSU. None of the referees should blow a whistle again without training

Yancey Ward said...

All 68 teams in the tourney should have been invited.

tim maguire said...

What bugs me is, why stop at the team that lost the finals? If you're going to include hard-fighting losers, that's most of them. In fact, it's every team but the overall winner--they all had great seasons that ended on a loss. Why don't they get invited?

Wince said...

Puts Joe in a bit of a bind.

Elliott A. said...

People are outraged that she sticks her nose where it doesn't belong

Ice Nine said...

>“You know what? I’m going to tell Joe I think Iowa should come, too, because they played such a good game. Right? Winners and losers … that’s good sportsmanship!”<

Should we expect anything different from this icon of the participation trophy crowd?

There were losers in the semifinals and the quarterfinals - by her logic he should invite them, too.

rcocean said...

Iowa, of course, had black players, and LSU had white players. So why is it a "racial thing"? And why jump to the conclusion that Doctor Jill, no doubt taking time off from her medical studies, wanted to support the "White team"? She probably doesn't watch NCAA womens baskeball, because no one does.

So, Dr. Jill PHD, did a lame "Gosh, lets all celebrate together" statment. Big Whoop. She probably thought there were trannies on Iowa's team, and wanted to support them.

Of course, if Mrs Trump or Mrs Bush had done that, Dr. Jill PHD, would be the first one screeching "racism" at the top of her voice. So, there's that.

BTW, watching short clips of the womens' game, its closer to what the originator of the game wanted. Lots of long-range shots, no dunks, few offensive rebounds and put backs. Little physical contact under the rim, or charging fouls. Everyone has a vertical leap of about 4 inches. So its, Just passing and shooting.

Maybe the trannies will add some excitement when they show up in force.

RoseAnne said...

I confess that I think Jill Biden got a raw deal on this one. Yes, her suggestion was tone deaf, but it wasn't that bad. It even could have a good one had she fully embraced it ('We are going to do things differently in the future in the name of inclusivity ...') Unfortunately her husband is known for personal competitiveness challenging anyone who questions him to a fist fight or threatening to take them to the woodshed, etc. In his world only one person can be the winner (or at least appear to be).

My objection to Dr. Jill Biden is still with her "working woman" schtick. I worked 20 years at a Community College. Dr. Biden is a very wealthy woman. The 4 classes she teaches (at age 70) could be taught by any number of younger adjuncts who need that money to pay rent or their student loans. She could always volunteer as a writing tutor to keep her hand in if she wants to teach. It is another example of appearance over substance by the Bidens.

And ... Dr. Biden has a Bachelors in English and two Masters in English related topics. I don't and am not qualified to evaluate her skills in those areas. Her Doctoral thesis was on student retention (not English), however, which I have both the education and experience in to evaluate. Forget the math and grammaticaL errors and the thesis still sucked. There was very little "there there". There were some suggestions she could have made that were so obvious, her "not" recommending them needed to be addressed as to "why". It was a mess, but it got approved.

Earnest Prole said...

The technical term for Dr. Biden’s views is unreconstructed.

Tina Trent said...

I seriously doubt anyone cares, though there's considerable irony to be mined in behavior that smacks of behaving as if the championship has not yet been decided.

This was a ham-fisted effort to change the subject from the Biden administration's Title IX demands that transgender males be allowed to take over women's sports. Now it's female losers being offered a chance to snatch away the earned privilege of female winners.

The Bidens maybe need to drop this hot potato for a while. At least a week.

FOWFan said...

They are supposed to bypass all outrages involving Democrats!!

Drake 8 said...

It would be nice to see improved sportsmanship. That said, I love an end zone dance. People need to get a grip and not go off on everything.

gilbar said...

Our Professor said... I'm annoyed by this overprotectiveness toward Jill Biden.

That's DOCTOR Jill Biden to you, Ms Althouse

michaele said...

I'll bet Dr. Jill grades on the curve of A-, A, A+ and every student gets a certificate of excellence for trying.

RMc said...

You want some generally applicable rule that outrage must die after one week?

The Right People (tm) are outraged that the Wrong people (tm) have the living gall to be outraged at one of the Right People (tm).

readering said...

I didn't read the article as a defense of Biden but an explanation as to what was going on. I didnt't watch the tournament and did not know an all black starting five beat an all white starting 5 in the final. To me the dumbest part is that she only watched half the game.

Chris-2-4 said...

The non-winners she should really invite are all those women coming in second to men.

Tommy Duncan said...

"But then white girls lost, and, suddenly, it's all teams matter."

"Where the white women at"?

285exp said...

Dr. Jill must not be mocked.

JPS said...

"You want some generally applicable rule that outrage must die after one week?"

Well, typically these days we're on to the next outrage, the previous one having quite faded from our collective consciousness, a lot faster than that.

But no, let's not make it a rule.

Joe Bar said...

I don't see why this is a big deal. Or a deal at all, and I am not a Biden fan.

Narayanan said...

as long as they enter through different doors?
as long as they are given different snacks?

as long as impact is disparate I can accept!

Narayanan said...

Wince said...
Puts Joe in a bit of a bind.
====
or heavenly blissful opportunity for hair sniffing!

LilyBart said...

I don't know why "First Ladies" participate in public life at all. They're not elected, and I'm quite tired of this parade of 'spouses' being foisted on the general public. And Joe Biden married a woman who is definitely unremarkable. Boring, average, blah. I can't imagine why anyone give a wit what she says or does.

Randomizer said...

I'm not a fan of Dr. Jill or anyone else with a PhD in Education using the "Dr" honorific, but there is too much being made of this gaffe. Dr. Jill's gaffe was inviting both teams to the White House. It's not her place to make an offer like that, and she should have known that her casual statement could be taken in that manner. She put President Biden in an awkward situation.

All of the racist implications aren't her problem. It's prejudiced thinking to assume that Dr. Jill invited the white losers because that's what any whitey would do.

Mr. Majestyk said...

The White House can invite whoever it wants. If LSU can't share even a bit of the spotlight with Iowa, that just shows a major lack of class on their part.

Gk1 said...

SNL is never supposed to poke fun at Democrats, ever. Everyone knows that.

Look, democrats are so disconnected from regular sports loving fans, they almost always embarrass themselves in public like Hillary Clinton's "Life long Yankee's Fan" crap and not even knowing the basics of the sport they profess to love so much.

Dogma and Pony Show said...

I heard (but did not see) SNL's take on Trump's arrest. Their "comedic" idea was that Trump saw himself a victim in this prosecution. Thing is, a huge percentage of the public agrees that the charges are complete BS. Even a large percentage of dems feel that way (although they don't care, for the most part, because being anti-Trump trumps any concerns about legal justice, civic values, etc.). So there's nothing remotely funny in imagining that Trump feels victimized by this prosecution. It's exactly how any normal person would feel if it happened to him or her.

Imagine a 1930s German version of SNL that made fun of the idea that Jews felt unfairly singled out for persecution by the Nazis.

Kevin said...

Shorter WAPO: Get off Jill Biden!

Mike Petrik said...

As my beloved late mother would have said, "People today just have to make a federal case out of everything."

iowan2 said...


gspencer said...

Both winning and losing teams should visit the WH, says "Doctor" (phony) Jill.

Hold on there. Maybe this grifter is properly enforcing the left's war on meritocrcy. Everyone's to get a participation trophy with no one a "winner."


Take a Trip down memory lane...

Don't we all remember "you didn't build that"!

All success is due to the omnipotent Government. So there was no winner, just 2 second place teams, that owed their success to the Government.

Lurker21 said...

My experience was that this was a big deal for two or three days and then forgotten, so the WAPO article looks strange to me. Was anybody really talking about this from Sunday straight through the week to Saturday? It seems like the writer is confused in her complaint. On the one hand, she's saying that there was saturation coverage and overkill, on the other hand she seems to be saying "Why dredge up something that happened days ago after everybody's forgotten about it?" She is so anxious to condemn the sketch that she isn't clear in just how she wants to attack it.

I'm also reminded of Joe getting grief about his botched withdrawal from Afghanistan and saying, "That was four days ago, five days ago." It looks anodyne now on the transcript, but at the time and taking Biden's reaction and intonation into account it was understood to mean that what happened several days ago was no longer relevant and no longer anything Biden could be criticized for.

Bunkypotatohead said...

Jill Biden knows her husband only likes to sniff the white girls.