Common misconception, but the “said he was” part is only implied, which makes the joke, such as it is. All the Romans actually wrote on the sign was his name (maybe) and allegedly-claimed nobility: either “This is the King of the Jews” (Luke), “King of the Jews” (Mark), “This is Jesus the King of the Jews” (Matthew), or the best-known IESVS·NAZARENVS·REX·IVDÆORVM, “Jesus of Nazareth, King of the Jews,” from Luke.
Obviously everyone knew that he wasn’t a king (and he never actually claimed to be, though the Sanhedrin sold that meme well), and therein lies teh funnee, what there is of it. It’s an awful joke, with the basest of mocking humor, but at least they didn’t oversell it.
So really, if you wanted to riff on the INRI thing you’d probably want to start with “Barack Obama, King of the Democrats” and work from there. Personally, I don’t see enough points of comparison to the crucifixion and Obama to generate any humor at all, and think you’d be better off working the “savior of all mankind” angle or sticking to comparing Obama fans to worshippers (as with the PBUH thing). But even those are pretty weak, IMO. I think there are much better avenues to pursue.
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John McCain recently went on MTV in an attempt to appeal to younger voters. In a town-hall style setting, he was asked, “boxers or briefs”? He replied, “Depends”.
Now actually, this is an example of clever wordplay partially making up for lame subject matter. It ain’t good, but it’s at least got something to it.
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No, one thing I think you can count on in McCain is that he truly does have a great sense of humor. Even when he’s blowing his stack, he usually puts a fair amount of wit into it.
I found the levitating across the road joke about Obama to be hysterical. The pbuh one not so much - it requires a bit too much knowledge on the part of the reader - what it means and where it originates and therefore implies, and of course the fact that what it implies is dead wrong and nevertheless being pushed very hard by rather unprincipled folks to prevent Obama’s election.
Look, I like Obama just fine, although he’s always been a bit too far to the right for my taste. But I recognize that he is an absolute pragmastist, will be a highly effective president, and above all, I felt from the beginning of my thinking about it that he had the best chance of beating McCain or any other Republican candidate, and that is far and away my highest priority at this point. But I certainly don’t worship Obama, and I changed my location just for the fun of joining in. I’m an atheist, and that certainly includes political candidates. So go to town ripping him apart. But don’t continue to spread by implication what you know are slimy and dishonest tactics on the part of the radical right.
Not gonna happen, at least as far as Obama jokes go. There really is only one theme to anti-Obama insinuations, jokes or otherwise: that he’s the Other. He can’t be trusted, he’s not one of us (“us” being “patriotic God-fearin’ Americans”), he’s elitist, he’s a secret Muslim, he’s from a scary Christian church, he can’t bowl, he’s a terrorist, he doesn’t understand the common man…it’s all of a piece, it all shares the same single underlying theme, and it’s all intended to evoke one emotional response in the listener. That Obama is Not Like You.
It’s all more than a little disgusting when you think about it.
Relating to the bolded part, that’s not true. There’s also the jokes about how everybody loves Obama, listen to everyone fawning over Obama, see all the sheep being sucked into the Obama vortex, etc.
The fact that those two ideas are completely contradictory will not stop people from believing both of them.
