Ted’s Take
Washington Capitals owner Ted Leonsis said Thursday that while Sarah Palin is indeed the personification of a hockey mom, he would not let her drop the puck at a game.
Palin was roundly booed when she dropped the puck at a Philadelphia Flyers game last weekend. But when Carol Joynt, host of the “Q&A Café” at Nathans of Georgetown, asked him whether he’d let a candidate or Vice President Palin do likewise at Verizon Center, he said no, suggesting that it would be an inappropriate mix of politics and entertainment.
Although he did put in plug for D.C. fans, saying they’re more polite than Philly fans (“They’ll sue you” instead, he joked).
As the former mayor of Orchid, Fla., himself, Leonsis said he most took issue with people poking fun at her for being a mayor of a small town. “I had to balance a budget; I had a police force,” he said. “It’s easy to poke fun, but mayors and governors are probably the people you want now [rather than those who specialize in] debating and talking to people on C-Span.”
Not that the ever-magnanimous is endorsing anyone, mind you. He said he’s maxed out his contributions to both campaigns.
