Golf Sponsor Decides What To Do With Own Money, Glenn Beck Fans Outraged

 
 Here's a new squirmish in the Culture Wars: A businessman in Virginia has dropped his sponsorship of a pro golfer because he's not all that crazy about the golfer's political and religious views. The business guy, Brian McMahon, had been sponsoring golfer Jeff Cochran for almost a year to promote McMahon's Nebraska Golf Card (NGC) business, one of those discount-card things, but McMahon, an atheist, terminated the business relationship after talking with Cochran and learning that he was a big fan of Glenn Beck, Ted Cruz, and Cruz's bugfuck-crazy father, Raphael Cruz. Even worse, McMahon said mean things about Jesus and Christians and Ted Cruz, and even insulted Glenn Beck!  

Hey, fair enough, that's how sponsorship works, right? Or maybe it's... religious discrimination!?!? 

Oh, please, do tell us more about how that all fell out, will you, Glenn Beck's The Blaze! 

In late October, Cochran, his agent David Reynolds and NGC’s Brian McMahon both claim they were at a dinner and the conversation turned to Cruz. Cochran says he praised Cruz and his father, Raphael, mentioning that he had seen the elder Cruz on an episode of “The Glenn Beck Program.”

Cochran told TheBlaze that his sponsor was taken aback by this statement and was also troubled by the fact that his business associate was a fan of Beck. Following his pro-Cruz statement, Cochran said McMahon asked him, ”Would you be willing to give up our support to stand with that wackjob (Beck)?” Cochran answered “yes” and said the dinner continued without any additional tension or drama.

But the next morning, Cochran’s agent said, he received an email from NGC announcing that it was pulling all financial and product support from Cochran.

McMahon's email actually makes it fairly clear that Cochran's Christianity, while not McMahon's cup of consecrated wine, was something he could live with, but that he didn't want to have his company associated with Cochran's politics:

I have been tolerant of his religious views and even supported his off course speaking. However, I just can’t allow my company to be associated with these radical political views. The idea that Jeff would line up with the likes of Glenn Beck or Ted Cruz or any other individual interested in destroying America, just isn’t something I can swallow.

Who is this Brian McMahon and why doesn't he know that "destroying America" is a Yang worship word? A filthy Kohm like him is not allowed to use it.

Glenn Beck's The Blaze tries really hard to suggest that McMahon also dropped Cochran because he had a cross and a Bible verse -- Philippians 4: 13, "I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me" -- emblazoned on his golf bag. They even provide a close-up!

Why, that nasty old atheist McMahon even sent an email ridiculing it!

“I looked up the verse Jeff put on the bag and had to laugh,” the email said. ”How can someone so smart be so gullible? The idea of trusting or believing that someone has control over your future is the definition of insanity. I will continue to trust people I’ve actually met and trust to help chart my course.”

In its lede to the story, Glenn Beck's The Blaze says that McMahon's distaste toward Cruz pere et fils and for Glenn Beck was the "initial reason given" by McMahon, but that "faith, and specifically a Bible verse, also played a big part in the termination of the contract." The article's own timeline of the kerfuffle makes it clear, however, that McMahon sent the jebus-insulting email as a "parting shot" after terminating the sponsorship and receiving back the equipment that his company had paid for. But a story about an angry atheist firing a Christian for displaying his faith is far more outrageous than the story of an angry liberal who doesn't want his company associated with a guy who thinks Glenn Beck is the cat's pajamas. Both, of course, are probably equally offensive to readers of Glenn Beck's The Blaze, but religious discrimination is at least something that's maybe actionable in court, we dunno, because not a lawyer.

Now that the rightwing Internet Vengeance Force has been unleashed by this story, we can only assume that McMahon and his NGC business are going to suffer far worse consequences than any that might have resulted from his association with Cochran; it's probably safe to say that the dude's business is toast. The top of the story at Glenn Beck's The Blaze includes a helpful author's note pointing out that "Golf Card International is not affiliated with Nebraska Golf Card," presumably to keep the former company from being hit by the blowback that's building against McMahon. (Golf Card international, which describes itself as "a Florida based Christian company that does not have or support the views of Nebraska Golf Card," has apparently been getting some very unhappy emails and Facebook messages -- largely because they're the top Google result for "Golf Card" if you leave out "Nebraska.")

We do invite Mr. McMahon to donate some golf bags (?) or whatever to his fellow travelers Yr Wonket. Hell, we even have a post office box now, if he would like to send a check (made out to "Rebecca Schoenkopf," as if that is even a real name), or perhaps some ricin. What is that address? Oh yes, it is this:

Rebecca Schoenkopf

PO Box 861778

Los Angeles, CA

90086-1778

Probably skip the golf bags, though, right?

[ The Blaze / Christian Postvia tip from "Lisa Z" / image by "GiantMosquito" ]