Yeah, I said it. But I wasn’t the only one.

TIM TEBOW, ON POSSIBLE FUTURE IN POLITICS (to golf commentator Dave Feherty on a “Feherty Live” special from the Super Bowl, airing on the Golf Channel at 10 p.m. tonight): “I don’t know — it could be something in my future. If it’s something I care about, possibly.”

If it’s something he cares about? Well, that’s a ringing endorsement for sure. But even that dangling, one-off comment was enough to send Huffpo to the barricades.

Though Tebow has sparked controversy over his strong religious views, the 2012 Republican presidential candidates have worked to associate themselves with the famous quarterback. Texas governor Rick Perry — who dropped out of the GOP primary race ahead of the South Carolina primary — even once compared himself to the athlete during a debate, saying “I hope I am the Tim Tebow of the Iowa caucuses.”

Despite the fact that several GOP hopefuls have reached out to the NFL star hoping to win his backing, Tebow has yet to endorse a presidential candidate.

Well, he’d be running as a Republican, natch. I mean, the Democrats aren’t going to nominate somebody who paints references to Biblical scripture under his eyes when he suits up for the big game. But when would he run? He’s not going to be 35 years old until 2022, so the ’24 elections would be his first shot. By that time, President Chris Christie should be just finishing up his second term, and barring a revocation of the 22nd amendment, he’d have to step aside for the Big Man.

But even that is problematic. If he stays with the Broncos for his entire career, Christie might be more likely to toss his support to a potential President Mark Sanchez. (I’ll give you a moment to let that thought settle in, along with the possibility of Kim Kardashian being the FLOTUS.) Maybe Tebow should go to the Jets after next season? That should lock up Christie’s endorsement, given that they’re a New Jersey team, after all.

President Tebow… You can almost smell the #winning, can’t you? An additional bonus is that late night comics always make fun of Republican presidents. In the case of Tebow, they’ve already got plenty of practice.

I missed a key point, highlighted in the comments.

Jazz, you missed the most obvious advantage to Tebow running for President, namely that to win the White House a Republican needs to take Florida–and who better than the greatest Gator to grace Gainesville to do THAT?

radjah shelduck on February 4, 2012 at 5:23 PM