A few hours after suffering defeat at the hands of the Supreme Court, the political right was dealt a 18-5 loss on the ballfield on Thursday. After the court upheld President Obama’s health care law as constitutional, Republican members of Congress were trounced by their Democratic counterparts at Nationals Park.
The day’s political drama carried over into the game, where Hill staffers filled the stands with sassy posters (“Let’s get our second win of the day”). It wasn’t halfway through the brutal second inning, in which the Dems’ took a 11-0 lead, before the health care-themed chants started. At one point, one spectator on the Democratic side asked another if there was a mercy rule in the game.
“Absolutely not,” he answered. “Not after today’s ruling.”
Rep. Cedric Richmond, D-La., provided the game’s best moments, racking up strikeouts and knocking a humdinger of a double that nearly flew out of the park. Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., (whose father, Rep. Ron Paul, R-Texas, was inducted into the game’s hall of fame earlier that evening) also showed some genuine athleticism when he hit a beautiful single off Richmond in the third.
Other members were perhaps less impressive in their hitting and fielding. Dropped fly balls and flubbed grounders abounded, and some of the members’ runs to first base had Yeas & Nays concerned about potential injury and/or heart attack. But the members took the game seriously, diving for grounders and occasionally having words with the home plate ump. (Rep. Adam Smith, D-Wash., let it be known that he was not pleased with a called strike.)
House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi and House Speaker John Boehner both showed up for the game and stuck to their own sides of the stadium.
