Cockburn watched in awe from the cheap seats at the Congressional Baseball Game last night as the Republicans swept the Democrats 10 to nil — hopefully a forecast for the midterms. Clutching his $12 Michelob Ultra, Cockburn was on the edge of his seat all night.
One of the feats of athletic prowess was Democrat Representative Linda Sanchez’s lead-off walk in the sixth inning. Walks, for non-baseball fans, require almost zero work on behalf of the batter. When she took her base, she decided to throw decorum out the window as she flipped off the Republican dugout. After her no-work walk, a pinch runner came to take her place. The congresswoman didn’t have to swing or to run — pure Democrat athleticism!
I wonder what prompted @RepLindaSanchez to flip the bird towards the GOP bench pic.twitter.com/Pw3rsXHvn2
— Andrew Feinberg (@AndrewFeinberg) July 29, 2022
Cockburn is shocked at the lack of tact by Sanchez. The Congressional Baseball Game has always been a place of refuge, with political opponents coming together to share in America’s greatest pastime. Sanchez sullied that with her behavior, which was broadcast on C-SPAN for all to see.
West Virginia governor Jim Justice lamented in 2017, “You’ve got congressmen that are taking a game that’s supposed to be for a charity event deathly serious.” Not much has changed. In fact, partisanship keeps getting worse.
In real baseball, an umpire could eject a batter for unsportsmanlike conduct, but Sanchez avoids that fate for now. However, many are calling for her to be banned from future congressional games.
Yet ultimately justice was dealt — the Democrats might have flipped the bird, but the Republicans were passing out Ls. What comes around goes around, and Sanchez’s party simply got bodied.
