Wow, the GOP Turned Into Golf Digest So Slowly...

Just a reminder that as James Taranto wrote the other day, if you’re hearing dog whistles, you’re the dog:

MSNBC host Lawrence O’Donnell said Wednesday that a reference to President Obama’s golfing in Sen. Mitch McConnell’s upcoming RNC speech is an attempt to link the president to Tiger Woods and his “lifestyle”:

MARTIN BASHIR: We have seen an early draft of Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell’s forthcoming oration. Can I quote something from you? “For four years, Barack Obama has been running from the nation’s problems, he hasn’t been working to earn re-election. He has been working to earn a spot on the PGA Tour.” How about that?

LAWRENCE O’DONNELL: Well, we know exactly what he’s trying to do there. He is trying to align to Tiger Woods and surely, the — lifestyle of Tiger Woods with Barack Obama. Obviously, nothing could be further from the truth. They find every way they possibly can to –

BASHIR: Lawrence — don’t you think — don’t you think that what he’s really trying to do is to suggest that the president is not paying attention to the central issues that come with the responsibility he has? Is he really – Mitch McConnell really making a connection with Tiger Woods who, of course, has become infamous for chasing various cocktail waitresses around Las Vegas and so on?

As Ace writes in response, “When noted race-baiter Martin Bashir finds your proposition dubious, perhaps you’ve over-stepped.”

But it certainly brings back memories of the apogee of the MSM’s hopenchange-era mancrush on Mr. Obama, the now-infamous January 2010 edition of Golf Digest, which went to print about 30 seconds before news of Tiger’s scandals broke, complete with a Photoshopped cover of Tiger caddying for Obama. Return with us now to the thrilling days of 2009, and such hyperbolic Obama-worshiping prose as Thomas Friedman writing:

[Tiger Woods demonstrates] “a level of intimidation so complete, I cannot think of a parallel in any other sport. It is earned not just by winning, but by demeanor: polite, gentlemanly toward opponents, though totally focused on doing everything to win all the time.

President Obama could use some of that. It is not that he lacks toughness. But he is not yet intimidating. You have to win some diplomatic or political “majors” to have that authority. Winning passage of universal health care? That is like winning a Masters and a U.S. Open in the same year. Taking out Osama bin Laden? Another huge victory.

In politics, success breeds authority, and authority breeds more success. Until Obama earns that Tiger-like aura of intimidation, though, he will get tested—as much by Democrats as by Republicans. Once those points go up on the board, he will be playing like a guy with-19 majors, and Oval Office visitors will be a little less willing to say “no.”

As I wrote last year, in response to a Friedman column that noted that lately, Obama has been “seriously off his game. He’s not Jimmy Carter. He’s Tiger Woods — a natural who’s lost his swing:”

Ironically, Obama scored both of the items listed above, but they ended up being as owned-goals, to mix sports metaphors. ObamaCare has so frightened and confused the business world, it’s left them virtually paralyzed, afraid to hire or expand due to the enormous regulatory uncertainty. And ask George H.W. Bush how neutralizing a famous Middle East terrorist helped make a second term a slam-dunk. The right understands that killing OBL was accomplished via the systems and intelligence gathering that the previous administration put into place — which Obama and the media derided all the way. A third of the left, including both one actor turned would be politician, and one of Obama’s former “czars,” think that Osama had nothing to do with 9/11.

For Woods, [in the January of 2010 Golf Digest issue], Friedman offered this advice as to what the legendary golfer could learn from the president:

Tiger has started intimidating everyone these days: opponents, officials, even fans. [Not to mention the media — Ed] He is probably the greatest golfer of all time. And when I think of the pressures he faces in public life, and how well he generally comports himself, I feel like this is just nitpicking. He is a great credit to his sport and to his parents. But nitpicking comes with being president. And Tiger is the president of golf. He represents himself, and the game, and the hopes of millions of people. It’s a fine line—but I am sure that a day hanging with Obama, seeing how he handles all those pressures, would put Tiger on the right side of it.

Because the president has certainly been grace under pressure in recent weeks.

But hey, if Lawrence “I Am A Socialist — I Live To The Extreme Left Of Mere Liberals” O’Donnell thinks that Thomas Friedman is racist to compare Obama to Tiger Woods, well, I wouldn’t pound the table Khrushchev-style in response.

Update: Allahpundit notes that the Obama=Tiger connection was made today entirely by O’Donnell:

By the end of the clip, it sounds like O’Donnell thinks there’s an explicit reference to Woods in McConnell’s speech, to the point where he’s talking about speechwriters brainstorming over it. But Bashir never quotes anything about Woods. He only quotes a reference to the PGA tour. It’s O’Donnell who supplies the Woods reference and then convicts McConnell of racism for it. You’ll never find a better microcosm of left-wing “dog whistle” analysis.

And speaking of dogs, dog-whistles, and, heck, maybe even dog eating, Michael Ramirez of Investor’s Business Daily squares the circle:

Don’t miss the article by Ramirez that accompanies it: “Media’s One-Sided Coverage Is Clear Evidence Of Bias.”