Major League Baseball "might be" in trouble if they let a guy critical of the Preznit buy a baseball club

Okay, you remember that George Soros guy? Billionaire dude with progressive politics who dumped money into starting MoveOn.org last year? Turns out he's one of eight potential buyers of the Washington Nationals, the new pro-ball team in Wash DC.

Now, since many of our currently elected officials are really petty cunts, they're now "hinting at revoking the league's antitrust exemption" if MLB lets the guy get near it:

"It's not necessarily smart business sense to have anybody who is so polarizing in the political world," Rep. John E. Sweeney (R-N.Y.) said. "That goes for anybody, but especially as it relates to Major League Baseball because it's one of the few businesses that get incredibly special treatment from Congress and the federal government."

Rep. Tom M. Davis III (R-Va.), who was a strong supporter of bringing a baseball team to Virginia, told Roll Call yesterday that "Major League Baseball understands the stakes" if Soros buys the team. "I don't think they want to get involved in a political fight."

Also, why just threaten a business deal when you can trash the guy at the same time, too?

Davis didn't return calls to his office, but spokesman Robert White said, "The point [Davis] was making was how it would look if Major League Baseball sells the hottest team in the market to a guy who spent more money than the gross domestic product of Colombia to legitimize drugs."

Remember that guys like Newt Gingrich, Bill Kristol, and a coupla House Repubs tried to get the rumor started last year that Soros got all his money thru drug smuggling(instead of currency speculation).

As WaPo op-ed from Sally Jenkins points out:

Some Republican lawmakers don't think George Soros should be permitted to purchase a Major League Baseball team because he's too liberal and he has some wacky notions. I must have been napping, and that's why I missed the part where we became a country in which Democrats are no longer allowed to buy things.

If lawmakers start banning people from owning ballclubs just because of their politics or because they have a few woo-woo ideas, there are going to be a lot of shuttered ballparks. Anybody who tries to say that MLB owners should meet a certain standard of political correctness will get knocked back on their butts every time by two simple words: Marge Schott.

[...]

Davis, who first expressed his views in Roll Call, contends he is just speaking as a citizen -- "This is one fan's opinion." -- but he can't hide behind a hot dog, or a flag, on this one. Davis is chair of the House Committee on Government Reform, which has been investigating steroid usage in baseball. Therefore, it's not just unseemly for him to pressure MLB on the Nats sale. It's a bald abuse of power...