Cal Ripken joining the BushCo diplomatic corps, will work with Karen Hughes

[struggle4progress]

Notice to the Press
Office of the Spokesman
Washington, DC
August 9, 2007

... Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice will announce Hall of Famer Cal Ripken, Jr. as a Special Sports Envoy to the Department of State on Monday, August 13, 2007, at 10:00 a.m. in the Dean Acheson Auditorium of the U.S. Department of State. In this capacity Mr. Ripken will join Karen P. Hughes, Under Secretary of State for Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs and the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs in efforts promoting cross-cultural dialogue with international youth to increase understanding of America by sharing his impressive personal story and life experiences. He will reach out to a worldwide audience of young people while visiting their schools and clubs, hosting baseball skills clinics, and sharing the keys to his success: character, hard work and perseverance. ...

http://www.state.gov/r/pa/prs/ps/2007/aug/90589.htm

After Karen explains the joys of driving, and Cal explains the joy of the diamond, the world's women and children will grovel at our feet

[soothsayer]

1. Figures that weird eyed robot would be a shill for the pugs.

[Tommy_Carcetti]

21. Why do you assume he's a "shill"?

Perhaps it is meaningless fluff and a PR stunt on behalf of the White House, but far as I know he's not advocating any real ideology or policy on behalf of the administration. He's just going around the world talking about youth baseball, which is his new passion and venture. I'm sure he would have done just the same for the Clinton administration had he been asked.

Don't slander a good man--pro sports needs more people like Cal Ripken Jr. out there. He's done nothing that deserves contempt here.

[madrchsod]

2. who? nobody knows who he is....

an international soccer star yes but an old baseball player no. how can anyone at this level be so out of touch with reality? i`m really dumbfounded at their ignorance

[Elwood P Dowd]

3. Is Cal Ripken that fucking stupid?

:crazy:

[saltpoint]

4. Well, Cal showed historic iron-man stamina on the diamond.

But having to work with Karen Hughes is asking too much of anybody.

He'll flee the building inside a month and do a bee line for Democratic headquarters.

[leftofthedial]

5. another reason not to spend a dime at a pro baseball game

[NNN0LHI]

7. I won't even watch the crap on TV for free

Puts me to sleep.

Don

[leftofthedial]

8. I love baseball

but professional baseball has become a corrupt, stinking pile of repuke pus

[liberaldemocrat7]

19. Hehe the Yakees have never won a world series under any Republican administration

snce the Eisenhower administration in 1958 when the Yankees defeated the Braves in 7 games.

The Yankees have never won a world series under 8 years Nixon and Ford, the 8 years of Reagan, and close to 12 years of the 2 Bushes so far. That's 28 years of Republican Presidents the Yankees have won no world series title. The Yankees have won a world series title during the Kennedy administration, the Carter administration and the Clinton administration.

Amazing coincidence.

[MonkeyFunk]

6. despite the fact that these yahoos are running it...

the basic idea is a good one - promoting cross-cultural dialog with international youth to increase understanding of America.

We need more of this, and we shouldn't disparage all attempts. We fault this administration for NOT promoting better understanding.

Good for Ripken. I hope he continues to do the same thing for the next administration, too.

[struggle4progress]

10. Post #2 pretty well nails one issue: A baseball player might be a draw in

Cuba or Japan -- elsewhere, not so much.

Then, of course, there is also the not-so-minor matter of the KH show. If the woman has used American media to boost BushCo's political fortunes, that is still an entirely different skill than dealing with international attitudes. I suppose KH may believe (contrary to all evidence) that such attitudes can be manipulated by a few photo-ops of the sort that worked for the Central Texas crowd, but it seems more likely that her real job is to produce film clips for consumption back home: "Bush sends Cal on World Goodwill Tour," with a few brief shots of cute foreign kids missing the ball and a cheery voice-over

I'm sure CR will rake in the dough from this, and we may see some gushy op-eds, but in reality CR and KH will do very little. It seems likely that the actual effect can only be increased foreign cynicism about American motives.

[Richard Steele]

11. I think you've made an accurate analysis there.

This is just to create PR for domestic consumption.

The rest of the world doesn't care about Cal Ripken,
and most of it doesn't even care about baseball.

[struggle4progress]

12. Hi DS!

Hope everything is going well! :toast:

[Richard Steele]

14. Doing well here. And you?

We're gonna try to make it to the Xchrom welcoming party.
Hope you can as well! :toast:

[struggle4progress]

15. Me okie-dokie

[Vidar]

9. Sad.

[cmkramer]

13. Michelle Kwan

I think she's also doing some "good will ambassador" type work for the Administration.

[malaise]

16. Maybe someone should tell Condi that the majority of the

rest of the planet do not give a damn about baseball.

[BestCenter]

18. Not so hasty

Cuba, Venezuela, Dominican Republic, a lot of other places in Latin America, Japan...

I rest my case.

[AX10]

17. As another poster said, this is PR for the domestic front.

The International Community does not know or care about Cal Ripken Jr. I don't care about him either.

[Tommy_Carcetti]

20. As an Orioles fan and Cal Ripken fan--my perspective

Cal has made it a point to stay out of partisian politics. I don't think his registered party affiliation has ever been revealed, but far as I know he's never done any real active campaigning for any major candidate, Democratic or Republican. I do know a couple of years ago after his retirement, a couple of people in the Maryland GOP unsolicited to him wanted to encourage him to run for governor as a famous face a la Arnold or Reagan, but I think he pretty much brushed him off without much a thought. Bottom line, he's pretty much apolitical.

I think had this been the Clinton administration asking him to do the same thing, he would have done it.(And actually there was a big connection with Ripken to Clinton, too--Clinton attended his record breaking 2,131st consecutive game in 1995, as well as his last career game in 2001) He's big into youth baseball and good sportsmanship I think he's sort of like Bono in these regards--he's got a cause, and if he's willing to get an audience for his cause, he'll take it, regardless of ideology.

That being said, it's sad that the Bush administration has to kiss up to a baseball legend, and a model of integrity and hard work, such as Cal Ripken just to get good press.

But I wouldn't for a second think that this means Cal is in kahoots with the administration for their ideology. It's not as though he's being sent as their special envoy to drum up support for a war against Iran or something like that. It's just baseball for crissakes.

I believe in a strong seperation of sports and state, and I intend for it to stay that way.

[Gabi Hayes]

23. does the name Fred Malek ring a bell? you might want to check out

his connections with Ripken

hint: he was poppy's campaign manager in 92.

[Tommy_Carcetti]

24. What about Kevin Bacon? I'm sure there's a connection there too....

I mean, honestly. If Cal is addressing the 2008 Republican convention, that might drop him down a notch in my book. But this is absolutely nothing. Sort of like how some folks got way too upset when Bush Sr. and Bill Clinton partnered on tsunami and Katrina relief. Not everything is about partisian politics.

Cal could very well be a registered Republican for all I know. And if that's the case, honestly, I don't really care. I like him for his baseball playing and for the fact he was always a genuine good guy who valued hard work, didn't seek out the spotlight for himself, had a great relationship with fans where he would spend hours after games signing autographs, and had a strong career-long loyalty to his hometown team. This is nothing--at worst it's just a sad PR stunt on behalf of the administration, but doesn't reflect poorly on Cal at the least. To this point, the guy has done nothing in terms of partisian campaigning or politicing. Much ado about nothing.

[coco77]

22. Another waste of money and time...