Play Ball!

This Monday the was opening day of baseball season, at least in Detroit. The Tigers lost to the White Sox, but, otherwise, everything went well––pleasant weather, good crowd, no terrorist attacks.

Meanwhile, Bush and Cheney tried to get some of that baseball magic for themselves. National pastime and all that. Bush, who is polling in the low 30s (the lowest approval rating of any president ever except Nixon during Watergate), threw out the first pitch in Cincinnati last Monday, April 3rd. There was a good bit of booing, but not as much as might be expected. Why? Bush, being the brave man that he is, insulated himself. No, he didn't hide behind Mommy's skirt, but it was almost as bad:

When the President strode to the mound to throw out the first pitch . . . he was accompanied by two injured American soldiers (Mike McNaughton, Afghanistan, and Paul Brondhaver, Iraq) and the father (John Prazynski) of another (Taylor Prazynski) who was killed in action (Afghanistan). If anyone in the capacity crowd had been predisposed to boo George Bush, that notion was dashed by the company the prez was publicly keeping.

It wasn't enough that he ducked DC to pitch in a safely red state, but he didn't go alone. (That sounds a lot like his senate and grand jury testimony--never alone, always with Uncle Dick.) And Bush was so afraid of facing the Washington, DC crowd on opening day there that he sent the VP in his place.

So Cheney, who hasn't polled above 18% in recent memory, left his undisclosed location/underground bunker long enough to throw out the first pitch at the Washington Nationals game.

Vice President Cheney threw out the ceremonial first pitch at the home opener of the Washington Nationals game today. The crowd was was less than thrilled to have him there, loudly booing over the Fox News reporter. (Note: Fox producers muted the crowd audio halfway through before letting viewers “listen in” after the pitch.)

Watch it:

Well, at least he didn't hit anyone in the face......