Former Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Terry Bradshaw, like most old white men who are both for and against Colin Kaepernick's protest, confuses me.
Recently, Bradshaw appeared on the über-conservative Fox & Friends morning show to note that Kaepernick and others who are protesting police killings of unarmed African-American men, women and children are "disrespecting" the flag and the national anthem. He added that those players would "pay" for their demonstrations one way or another.
That doesn't sound threatening at all, Mr. Bradshaw.
The Fox NFL Sunday co-host was asked how he felt about the "national epidemic" of protests around the league, and Bradshaw gave a conflicting answer. Apparently he believes in freedom of expression, but only expression he approves of.
"I’ve never had a problem with people expressing themselves. It's one thing great about our country. The First Amendment rights, everybody has them. I do have a problem with the flag. I am a man that loves the flag. I love the national anthem. I find it extremely disrespectful. But if, in fact, that’s what they want to do, then they do it. There are repercussions. I think that you are going to pay for it some way or another," Bradshaw said.
Bradshaw also said he believes that America is "rotting" from within because we're moving further away from "Jesus."
"I don't mind what Colin is doing. That’s bringing attention to it. I don’t have a problem with that at all. Absolutely no problem with it. I do have a problem when people in this country don’t respect our flag and national anthem," he said.
"All you got to do is look around. This country is getting worse and worse and more and more immoral, and we’re rotting from within,” Bradshaw continued. “All great empires die from within. We can’t talk about Jesus. We can't mention that anymore. So we say, ‘I'm religious.’ Because if you say ‘Jesus,’ then you’re automatically pigeonholed and kicked off the desk. You can't talk about it. The two vice presidential guys are going at it, and they are both saying, 'We're religious.' What does that mean? You're religious? Everybody is religious."
Umm, yeah.