More GOP gangsterism

I can only assume that Mitch McConnell & Co.'s letter to the NFL (and other sports leagues) was composed with letters cut from newspapers and magazines and pasted onto blank stationery:  

Given the divisiveness and persistent unpopularity of [ObamaCare], it is difficult to understand why an organization like yours would risk damaging its inclusive and apolitical brand by lending its name to its promotion....

We have long been concerned by the Obama Administration’s record of using the threat of policy retaliation to solicit support for its policies or to silence its critics [italics mine, intent McConnell's].

Nice little professional league you have there, boys. It'd be a shame if something were to happen to it. And don't for a minute think we'd hesitate to pull the trigger; see debt ceiling crises, sequestration, and our gutting of ACA's lawful implementation in every malicious, underhanded way.

I lifted McConnell's extortion letter from TPM, which notes "the suggestion in the [letter] that the administration"--the administration!--"may be threatening or pressuring the NFL." It seems the NFL, though, read the letter in the same way I did: "[W]e currently have no plans to engage in this area."

Comments

[cdw]

The response you cite sounds like the threat worked.

[mdblanche]

It looks like the NBA might be less easily intimidated: http://thehill.com/blogs/healthwatch/health-reform-implementation/306465-report-white-house-seeking-nba-help-with-obamacare#ixzz2WsEUHQXw