You, like us, might have a had a good chuckle over those pictures of Tony Hawk skating down a White House hallway. You might have thought it a bit of harmless fun; a great chance for Hawk, and a lighthearted moment for the administration. You must not work at Fox News.
(Nice photo, Zapruder)
Turns out the “balance” in “fair and balanced” has nothing to do with skateboarding. Also, it turns out that Tony Hawk’s rampant disregard for history and decorum has EVERYTHING to do with Iran. So Red State America, never the intended X Games audience, has another reason to rage at those skater kids with their long hair and their music and their Pogs and their rainbow parties and their Run DMC.
Greg Gutfield is the host of “Red Eye”, so it’s his job to be hyperbolic — the man ends every column with, “If you disagree with me, then you sir are worse than Hitler.” So his tirade against Hawk (but really against Obama) could be viewed as manufactured outrage on a slow news day. Still, he actually wrote this:
Now, am I right to be pissed that some jackass is skateboarding through the White House while all this Iranian crap is going down?
I mean, have we as a nation finally succumbed to the idiocy of the MTV/Mountain Dew/”Road Rules,” backward hat and baggy short culture? Did I miss something or is the White House the setting for the next “Real World”? Where are the wallet chains? Is Hot Topic handling our foreign policy?
President Obama should be grounded for at least a week for letting Tony Hawk play in our house. Where in hell are the adults?
Also, get off Greg Gutfield’s lawn, you darn kids.
Hawk fired back via Twitter:
Wow, haters! My passion, the sport that made me who I am, has allowed me to live the American Dream, disrespects the White House? Not at all.
…
I did no damage, as I also saw cart and trolley wheels rolling along the same floor. Funny how football on the WH lawn yesterday = no drama
We try to be fair and balanced around here, but I’m going to have to side with Hawk on this one, despite “all this Iranian crap.” Maybe he should be the pundit; Hawk took shots at both sides:
The Prez did apologise for not having any ramps to skate on the grounds.
12:25 pm on June 30th, 2009
Quote: "We try to be fair and balanced…"
I can only express my opinion on your neutrality thusly: My ass.
You sir, are about as fair and balanced as Hannity is liberal; as middle of the road as Bill Maher is right wing; and about as open minded as ACORN.
Thank you.
12:26 pm on June 30th, 2009
Not that there's anything wrong with that.
1:12 pm on June 30th, 2009
those wacky repubs make me laugh…..
1:48 pm on June 30th, 2009
Im surprised theres was no comaprison made off tony hawk to osama bin laden
2:46 pm on June 30th, 2009
John, I'm with you. Barry is obviously the product of a two union family - dad was probably a cop; mom a teacher. Thus Dems can do no wrong and Repubs are all evil rich white males like the boys from Enron (Bernie Madoff was an abberation - a rich Liberal - LOL!).
When Bush the 2nd took a weekend off in Camp David or went to the ranch, he was a goof off; when Obama lets people play in the White House it's 'just good natured fun' - gotta love Liberals - Nature's Perfect Hypocrites.
I'm glad someone isn't happy that the White House is once again being treated like, as Dennis Miller stated when Slicky was in office, a teenaged boy's souped up Camaro. Our 'Community Organizer In Chief' needs to be inviting business leaders to the White House to figure out how to get the economy moving and people off the unemployment dole, not skateboarders.
2:59 pm on June 30th, 2009
Who is Barry Petchesky? He's the twit that posted the article, not Brooks. Although this is Brooks's webiste.
Please keep politics off of this website, please!
4:23 pm on June 30th, 2009
Gotta love conservatives: Nature’s Humourless Whiners
4:50 pm on June 30th, 2009
Skateboarding in the White House makes Baby Jesus cry.
5:12 pm on June 30th, 2009
BBF, "gotta love Liberals - Nature's Perfect Hypocrites" This goes both ways and you know it. We could sit here all day siting times when either side did or said something hypocritical. You're either a sheep to the left/right or simply not paying attention if you think one side does this less than the other. Earl, this site often has political posts when the subject is sports related. When it does it's almost guaranteed to lean left. I like when they do it even if I don't necessarily agree with the opinion. Yes, they're here to write sports but they do it with opinion and humor even when it relates to politics. If that's a problem for you then just stick to the hottie posts.
5:35 pm on June 30th, 2009
John,
Tony Hawk is more of a businessman than most people.
Skateboarding down a hallway and taking a record number of vacation days are not the same thing. Nice try though. If you're so worried about the economy, try to get more of your GOP Governors to cheat on their wives in the good ol' USA instead of Argentina. (I'm kidding. A lot of them cheat with loose American women too.)
9:13 pm on June 30th, 2009
"MTV/Mountain Dew/”Road Rules,”"This guy is trapped in the '90's.
11:14 pm on June 30th, 2009
Does Petchesky know that Red Eye is a comedy show on Fox that airs at 3 am? Sheesh, talk abut overreacting!
7:36 am on July 1st, 2009
“So Red State America, never the intended X Games audience,”
Someone’s not willing to grow the X Games brand, I see. Considering that Fox News has higher TV ratings than the ESPN family of networks put together, maybe Tony Hawk ought to be an even better businessman than he claims to be and angle for a segment on Fox and Friends to pitch his product.