The Olympiad in Milano, Italy, has concluded, and in a closing dose of concentrated jingoism, both the Women's and Men's hockey teams won the gold medal. The ladies were a dominant force, setting records for the longest stretch of holding opponents scoreless, while the guys were undefeated coming into the final with longtime rival Canada, delivering a dramatic overtime win. Not since The Miracle on Ice have they won out, and this is the first time both genders took home the gold.
But since this led to an upswelling of nationalistic pride, the press had to ride in and dump a load of Secretariat's leavings over the celebration, like they have been doing all tournament. But while most sane people were bursting with fist-pumping exuberance Sunday morning, a new reason to be sour was served up to the country. FBI Director Kash Patel dared to go into the locker room and celebrate with the guys!
If you are pondering why you are supposed to be outraged, it means you are not beholden to the influences of the elevated thinkers at MS NOW. Congratulations.
So across the social media spectrum, the images and video clips of Patel cheering with the squad and – GASP – slugging a beer with the team were circulated, along with all manner of impotent outrage. Now this is a news item that serves as a Rorschach test of sorts, based on politics. Your reaction to his presence might be a smiling shrug, or it could have you lunging for the keyboard. Govern yourselves accordingly.
I'll grant there could be objections made to this display, but at the same time, you can see an official engaging in national pride as a positive as well. The measure can be seen this way: I'm equally apathetic about Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer going on a trade mission and also taking in Olympic hockey games. That the press is not anywhere approaching the red zone on their outrage meter regarding her attendance says plenty.
One theme of this distemper was that Patel barged in where he was not welcome, glomming onto the experience like a co-worker hogging birthday cake in the breakroom after refusing to pony up for a donation for the party. Stop it. To assist the outrage merchants with their baseless pearl-clutching, Patel plays the game, and he is actually a friend of the team. Head Coach Mike Sullivan had his arm around the director, and at one point, Matthew Tkachuk draped his gold medal over Patel's head.
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But the primary screeching in the press involves the reports that Patel hopped on the FBI jet to go watch a hockey game. We covered this prefarication on Friday, where CBS News was among those making this claim, absent the details of the trip. Ben Williamson, Public Affairs Director for the FBI, explained last week how he provided the news outlets with the details of Patel's trip, involving a battery of meetings while in Italy.
The framing by CBS and MS NOW is clearly focusing on the hockey match and suggests that the numerous meetings Patel attended were merely a sidelight to the "vacation." As part of the trip, Patel is also scheduled to take part in meetings with law enforcement counterparts in Italy.
At MS NOW, Carol Leonnig and Ken Dilanian have also been all over this "scandal" this weekend. One telling stat has been that initially, we were told Patel was soaking the US taxpayer $75,000 for his "hockey trip." But then, when the locker room videos emerged, that tab ballooned by 30 percent, and then went higher again, to north of $100K. I can only chalk this up to the Olympics charging exorbitant prices vastly higher than the already inflated stadium prices for beers!
Josh Gerstein of Politico linked to a story of a past FBI agent attending a baseball game that led to career immolation. That case had been a staged FBI meeting at a Dodgers playoff game, with the team hosting them, while discussing intelligence matters with the general public in attendance. Kash Patel's instance is hardly scandalous, given that he was on his personal time. (Gerstein should see this distinction, given that it was a report written by...himself.)
One CNN journo cited Janet Reno in his critical commentary of the FBI Director. I'm sorry, but you lose your higher moral ground when referencing the woman who was behind dozens of deaths at the Waco, Texas, compound while telling me to get bent out of shape over the guy pounding Peronis with NHL stars and singing Toby Keith songs.
If you want to take issue with the optics, that's one thing. But to say he only went out for the games is the slant. Patel attended several scheduled events, including a sit-down with Milan officials, which was scheduled last summer at the behest of the Italians. So yes, official business was tended to. And in his free time, he took in the hockey games. What precisely are we to be enraged about?
Was wearing the medal a case of stolen valor? How about entering the locker room, maybe deemed trespassing while on foreign soil? Were the beers he tossed back considered an unreported contribution? Did Kash failing to visit the Canadian locker room turn into a Geneva Convention violation?
This is the very point of the whole matter. Nobody can cite the actual problem, beyond the concept that they do not like how this looked. But that is a cosmetic beef, and it is one rooted entirely in one's political stance. For my take, I cite back to the Whitmer appearance in the stands. She was on a trade mission and went to a game. I have a hard time caring, unless she had been rooting for Canada; the current stance of Democrats these days means that was a possibility. But she did have the Team USA sweater on, so I'll give her the benefit of homerism.
The end result? This is all over emotional outrage and political fervor. Your reaction to the matter depends on preconceived positions. For me, my partisanship is revealed as well. As a hockey fan, I was damned jealous!
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