What the hell does it mean that something is a "small ball" issue?

[justiceischeap]

I'm watching Ed's show and Ron Christie was on saying that women's issues are "small ball" issues. I gather that he and the GOP think they don't really matter but should a GOP strategist be on live TV, when his party's candidate is having women's issues, should say this? I think Ron Christie is trying to sink Mittens' battleship.

[DURHAM D]

1. small bore

[justiceischeap]

3. Nope, he definitely said "small ball"

No doubt about it.

[DURHAM D]

8. LOL. In that case he is more of an idiot than I realized.

[catbyte]

16. Definitely "small ball". And you've got that furious woman next to him loudly

protesting, "It may be small balls to you men, but NOT to us!" I took the phrase to mean a throw away, trivial issue. That bastard Christie was so fucking obtuse I wanted her to kick him right in his "small balls." Ignorant, arrogant, presumptious, self-righteous men. STAY THE HELL AWAY FROM ME!

[JBoy]

2. It means they really don't want to talk about it, because it's a loser for them.

[AlinPA]

4. It comes from baseball where they call bunting and basestealing "small ball" as opposed to

hitting homeruns and slugging ("Long ball&quot .

[muntrv]

5. I think it means republicker men denigrate women to compensate for the fact

that they themselves have small balls.

[cherokeeprogressive]

6. It's baseball terminology. Some teams score most of their runs with homers. Others score theirs

with singles, bunts, and stolen bases. The latter is considered "small ball".

[dhol82]

7. wondered about that myself

seems like a strange turn of phrase.

would that be as opposed to a big ball? or balls?

inquiring minds and all.

[Tennessee Gal]

9. It means you women don't matter so just shut up. nt

[Brigid]

10. Of minor importance (supposedly).

I don't know what that guy was doing on Ed's show.

[justiceischeap]

12. It's seems M$NBC has been trying to be more "balanced" lately

but that doesn't excuse the fact that the only people that our hearing this BS our Obama supporters already.

[Life Long Dem]

11. It means he has balls small enough to fit easily in Trump's mouth

[enki23]

13. That it isn't something you expect to be taken care of by swinging for the bleachers?

.

[Drahthaardogs]

14. "Small ball" is a baseball reference.

Basically it means you have a team that gets a lot of hits and men on base in a slow, methodical way. You do not see a lot of base stealing, home runs, etc. Teams who have solid pitching but not a lot of big bats use this strategy since 3-4 runs will usually win the game.

I guess women's issues, social security, gay rights, medicare, etc. would be considered "small ball" politics. Bigger ones would be the economy, wars, terrorism, etc.

[justiceischeap]

15. I don't think it's very smart imagery to talk about something like the "God wants rape" issue

and calling it "small ball"

One should not mention rape and balls in the same context.

[Drahthaardogs]

17. Personally I think referring to almost any issue as "small ball" is a pretty shitty thing to do.

I admit, as a married man past the age of having children, reproductive rights are not my #1 priority, but I know, it sure could be for some other people. Medicare not so much now, but boy it sure will be in another decade....

We are a civilization. Does no one understand Utilitarianism any longer? Jeremy Bentham is probably spinning in his grave. I get so tired of this "Screw you, I GOT MINE!" attitude.

[Blue_In_AK]

18. Oh, you caught that, too, huh?

What a condescending POS that guy is. Who is he to say that women's issues aren't important?

[Blue Idaho]

19. It's insulting dismissive bullshit.

The sort of thing you would expect Christie to say about women's issues to put a woman in her place and let her know she is insignificant and so are her concerns.

I hope that arrogant fuck burns in his own personal hell for all eternity.

[DollarBillHines]

20. "Small Ball" is analagous to "details"

Ozzie Smith won more ballgames than Barry Bonds could ever dream of.

Fuck Christie. He was basically saying that we shouldn't be paying attention to details, just to their fucking platitudes.

[dsc]

21. what the woman should have said to him was

Thank god white voters in 1964 didn't think that way about Civil Rights or neither of us would be at this table.

[aint_no_life_nowhere]

22. After Big Ed had Christie completely boxed in

unable to explain why Romney condemned Akin's comment and rejected his candidacy but could not come up with an explanation of why Romney similarly rejected Morlock's statement but continued to support his candidacy, the only way Christie had to extricate himself was to say the issue didn't matter ("small ball&quot . It was a white flag of surrender.