Well, like I said, the most tasteless joke I remember Bush making was making fun of his failure to find WMDs. I found one pit thread about it. The only thing in that thread close to calling people traitors, or any real defense, was one post by athelas, where he dismissed the whole country of Spain being offended, because they ‘capitulate to terrorists.’
I also remember Bush joking with wounded soldiers about how he envied them being on the front lines, and how he got injured playing some sport in college (did he? I can’t be remembering that right). That wasn’t quite tasteless, more of a display of his not quite getting the sacrifice he had asked of thousands of Americans. And I doubt anyone defended him by calling anybody else a traitor.
I’m invoking the little known but on-the-books (or, if not, it should be) Beverly Hillbillies Rule. If something was joked about on The Beverly Hillbillies then it must be innocent, innocuous, and not intentionally offensive to anyone, right? Of course right.
In HILLBILLIES 7:18*, known as Cousin Roy in Movieland, Mr. Drysdale did say, in reference to Jethro and his visiting neighbor from back home Cousin Roy (Roy Clark),
Not even Miss Jane took offense, and we all know she was liberal. Thus, by this law, if the object of the analogy or joke is not the retarded person themself/themselves, the joke should not be viewed as offensive to the retarded. Q.E.D.
*Seventh season, 18th episode
He also had offers after graduating to join the Detroit Lions and Green Bay Packers, but turned them down and chose to go to Yale law school instead. While he was studying law at Yale he was also the head boxing coach and assistant varsity football coach.
White House staff members made it at the Navy’s request because the ship’s crew did not have the necessary facilities to make it. In addition, if Navy Commander and Pentagon spokesman Conrad Chun is to be believed, it was referring to the crew’s specific mission and not to the occupation of Iraq. And finally, I see no reason to believe that Bush himself was personally involved in any of this.
It seems to me that the “advised use of the word ‘displayed’” comes from those who say that “he [Bush] displayed the ‘Mission Accomplished’ banner.”
I can’t even imagine how one would go about doing a search for that, other than poring through pages and pages of posts, looking for something you’d accept (and knowing that any instance presented would be nitpicked to death by you, even further derailing this thread). Not worth my time, thanks. Surely even you can remember the times where it was stated as fact that if one disagreed with Bush then that person “hated America”… which happened so often that it became a parody of itself.
I will just point out that in this thread alone, there are several instances of “OhyeahwellifBushhadsaidit…”. There’s no cite demanded (by you, or anyone else) for that claim- yet it’s accepted.
Don’t forget that it was a botched joke that ended John Kerry’s 2008 presidential bid, which may put the lie to the idea that it’s a partisan bias with the media’s portrayal of such things.
As Sam put it, it’s not getting much play in the news because it doesn’t fit into the Obama narrative as established thus far, and neither did the teleprompter faux pas, although I did hear about both this morning from one of my right-leaning co-workers.
Count me in as another conservative who thought it was a stupid thing to say, but perfectly understandable and no big deal.
The only outrage I’m seeing is on Free Republic with a bunch of people crying Internet tears over how their darling son Jimmy was born handicapped, and he’s 13 years old with an IQ of 57, but he’s the light of their life, and Mommy’s sooooo proud of him.
You should be, honey. I’ve read some of your other posts on FR, and compared to you, little Jimmy’s Richard-fucking-Feynman.
I was going to make another comment but I’m not sure which forum I’m in anymore.
Oh well, I’ll keep it generic. People make mistakes and a lot of people might have made the same comment. He apologized. Let’s move on.
Re: Bush and what would have happened if he said it. Who cares? He’s gone.
There are several points to consider. First of all Mr Obama is speaking in a public forum. You speak differently in public than you do in private.
One of the things that bothers me most about Mr Obama is he speaks black to black audience then “educated” to white audiences.
To me that is talking down, but the black people I know say he’s just relating to his audience.
So the answer here is simple, just substitue another “area” and see if it’s funny. If Mr Obama sais “I be there.” And then said “Oh I’m talking black now.” or somthing along that line. Or said “I got in a fight, you know typical Mick of me.” (Irish are stereotyped as always brawling).
Would that be funny? Perhaps it would be. It depends. I would say if you’re speaking in a public forum, it’s not good. It doesn’t mean he’s mean or prejudice.
I have friends who make anti gay jokes (I’m gay) and they’re funny. But if someone else I didn’t like said that I’d be offended. It really depends on who’s saying it.
Like Seth MacFarlane creator of Family Guy, makes a lot of anti-gay remarks. But they are done with humour and Seth is one of the biggest supporters of gay rights. So I am not offended. Others are.
I think though if you’re the president, speaking in a public forum you get called out.
I think you’re assuming only white people watch Leno. I have no idea if that’s true.
Sounds like you are assuming that white people speak properly and black people don’t; in reality, not everybody sees it that way. What you’re describing is sometimes called “code switching” by linguists (who aren’t judging one as beign better than the other). I don’t know what this has to do with the Leno appearance, but oh well.
