John McCain criticizes Roger Goodell and the NFL

By Luke Dahlgren | Jan 26, 2015

Jun. 23, 2013; Phoenix, AZ, USA: Arizona senator John McCain in attendance of the game between the Arizona Diamondbacks against the Cincinnati Reds at Chase Field. Mandatory Credit: Mark J. Rebilas-USA TODAY Sports /

The former presidential candidate discussed the league’s public relations issues as it pertains to Ray Rice, DeflateGate and Russia.

John McCain disparaged the NFL in an interview last night with USA Today as the league prepares for the Super Bowl between the Seattle Seahawks and the New England Patriots. The former presidential candidate in 2008 particularly ripped commissioner Roger Goodell and his handling of the Ray Rice scandal from earlier this year.

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From USA Today Sports:

"“I think these controversies would have gone away a lot easier if they had approached them from, ‘How are the American people going to react to seeing the video of a professional football player knock out his wife?’ ” McCain told USA TODAY Sports, referring to the Ray Rice elevator video.“If I were them, I would review my whole PR scheme.”"

It is splendid that McCain has a strong grasp on public relations. He understands that the NFL did not fail in its handling of domestic violence issues because it failed to value the safety and well-being its female fans and supporters, or because through either immoral deception or severe incompetence it couldn’t produce the damning video tape, or because the culture of the league encourages violent over-competitiveness in its players.

No, the NFL failed because it couldn’t spin the story hard enough.

McCain continued with his obligatory comments on the DeflateGate scandal and Goodell’s involvement:

"“One thing we do in politics when there’s an issue that arises, smart politicians have a rapid-response team. What is the reaction of Mr. Goodell in this latest one? He’s MIA as far as I can tell.”"

It is not certain if these comments make Goodell look worse for not even being competent enough to have a good public relations team, or McCain because he finds the measure of a smart politician to be his ability to fool the public as quickly and efficiently as possible.

McCain ended the interview by talking about how he was forbidden by Russian President Vladimir Putin from going to the tropics of Siberia, and how Putin basically stole Robert Kraft’s 2005 Super Bowl ring:

"He’s also miffed that Putin kept the Super Bowl ring that Patriots owner Robert Kraft handed to him during a visit in 2005, thinking he was merely showing the jewelry off. Putin kept the ring and claimed it was a gift.“That’s a priority,” said McCain, who is friendly with Kraft. “Get the Russians out of Ukraine and get that ring back for Bob Kraft.”"

Time to get your muskets, boys. We’re going to war.

[H/T: USA Today Sports]

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