Boston Bruins goalie Tim Thomas has been taking a lot of flak for skipping a ceremony at the White House held yesterday to honor him and his Boston Bruins teammates for winning the Stanley Cup. But now that Thomas has stepped into the political arena, he’s begun taking fire from an unexpected source: left-wing filmmaker Michael Moore.
Early this morning, Moore took to his Twitter feed to tell the world what he thought of Thomas, who like Moore was born in Flint, Michigan. “Tim Thomas & I went to the same high school. I can tell u this: People in Flint LOVE Obama, desperately need Obama, & DETEST Thomas’ actions,” wrote Moore. “If I had been invited to the Bush White House (ha!), I would have gone with my TEAM – & I would have respectfully told Bush a thing or two!”
While Moore and Thomas did both attend Davison High School, the two are hardly contemporaries. Moore graduated from the school in 1972 in the middle of Richard Nixon’s presidency, while Thomas graduated in 1992 just a few months before the election of Bill Clinton.
Moore’s broadside against Thomas comes after the goalie issued a statement explaining his absence from yesterday’s ceremony. In his statement, Thomas, who has previously been identified as a member of the tea party and a financial supporter of FreedomWorks, strikes a tone that will be familiar to anyone who follows tea party politics.
“I believe the Federal government has grown out of control, threatening the Rights, Liberties, and Property of the People,” wrote Thomas. “This is being done at the Executive, Legislative, and Judicial level. This is in direct opposition to the Constitution and the Founding Fathers vision for the Federal government.”
“Because I believe this, today I exercised my right as a Free Citizen, and did not visit the White House. This was not about politics or party, as in my opinion both parties are responsible for the situation we are in as a country. This was about a choice I had to make as an INDIVIDUAL.” Thomas also wrote that he would have nothing further to say on the subject.
Eric McErlain blogs at Off Wing Opinion, a Forbes “Best of the Web” winner. In 2006 he wrote a “bloggers bill of rights” to help integrate bloggers into the Washington Capitals’ press box. Eric has also written for Deadspin, NBC Sports and the Sporting News, and covers sports television for The TV News. Follow Eric on Twitter.