I think some of the pictures were quite funny (especially the ones in the beginning).
What I find interesting though is that when rjung started a joke thread that was making fun of Bush (with this funny link ), it was promptly closed by Lynn Bodoni and the reason given was that jokes are not allowed in the Pit.
This must be more proof of the huge liberal bias of the SDMB, and is just part of a huge liberal bias in everything under the sun, except FNC.
Yup. Nothin’ at all funny about that picture of Kerry holding the shotgun - with his fuckin’ finger on the goddamned trigger. That’s just plain stupid. And downright dangerous.
I can also spot two other serious safety violations: He ain’t looking in the direction he’s pointing the muzzle, and he’s pointing it in a unsafe direction to boot. Jackass. Behavior like that would get him a stern lecture from the Range Safety Officer at the club where I shoot trap. If did it again after that, he’d be asked to leave and no longer permitted on the site with a firearm.
The corn (and many of the other ones) I took as more illusrtative than funny. Of course both candidates are going to try to fit in, Bush did so by taking a big ol’ bite of corn on the cob, Kerry by waving corn from a window. Bush looks natural sitting on a tailgate drinking something, Kerry looks dorky drinking out of two cups in a generic auditorium. Bush looks natural in a cowboy hat, Kerry looks like a poser except he isn’t waving corn anymore. Bush kissing his wife looks natural, Kerry kissing his wife looks awkward. I am suprised they didn’t learn from Gore on that one.
What struck me about the pictures is how often Kerry is doing childish things like balancing on a train rail and jumping up to touch things and how many times with these pictures and with what I recall from the news footage that Kerry really was seperated from the people physically when he was supposed to be connecting to them mentally/spiritually to gain their trust and their vote.
:eek: <-Tipper at DNC 2000
I have a hard time understanding this. Let’s say, for a moment, you’re pointing a gun at a target. Someone shouts, “Hey, UncleBeer!” at you and you glance to the side to see who’s shouting. You’ve suddenly violated three rules?
Color me skeptical.
Daniel
I take your point but… I’m sure that a Kerry fan could contrive a series of photos that make Bush look bad and Kerry look good. Heck, Michael Moore made his career that way. 
I accuse the link in the OP of partisan skullduggery- why else wouldn’t they have used the best Bush corn pic?
From UncleBeer’s post, I can only infer that the safety rules require you to take your finger off the trigger and then point the muzzle at whoever is shouting while you look at them.
I’d imagine this cuts down on people shouting at each other.
“Hey, UncleBeer! How’s it going?”
“AAAH! Never mind!!”
Looking away from where the gun is pointed is a no-no. But, yes, if you were taking 1,000’s of pictures of anybody at a shooting range you could eventually get them looking away for a moment.
However: Pointing the gun in an unsafe direction, or having your finger on the trigger when you aren’t about to shoot are both more serious safety violations IMO. (They are both in the top three commandments of gun safety, IIRC)
It’s a funny slideshow. I agree that you could do something similar to make Bush look bad. However, the humor is that it’s rooted in truth. I think you’d have a harder time doing the exact opposite of this show and having Bush look uncomfortable and Kerry looking natural. It would be much easier to do one with Kerry looking smart/intellectual and Bush looking foolish/dumb.
I like the Daily show also. Although it’s been slipping a bit lately IMO. I also think it’s never been as good with Stewart as it was with Kilborn.
In any case, it’s still some of the best humor on TV.
It’s not hard, nor unexpected. The shooter removes their finger from the trigger (if on the trigger), safety’s the weapon, and sets it down, pointing downrange. Then you see what the other person wants. It’s just something that you do if you try to be a safe shooter.
I’m not sure how we know that the gun is pointed in an unsafe direction, or that he wasn’t about to shoot. Everyone in the photograph is facing in roughly the same direction, and other guns are angled slightly in that direction; I get the impression that off to the right of the photograph there’s a target of some sort. He’s at the front of the group, which suggests it’s his turn to shoot. He may have lined up a shot, turned for a split-second to face a camera, then turned back to take the shot.
Without the context, it’s silly to form serious judgments from the picture.
Daniel
I thank LHoD for adding what I forgot to type. In the Kerry pic, it looks to me like the other weapons are pointed up and down. I would like to think that he isn’t going to shoot that shotgun from the hip and therefore is nowhere near getting ready to shoot…jet his finger is on the trigger. The correct response to "Hey xbuckeye ! is to finish what I am doing (ie shoot the target or empty the weapon, etc.), remove my finger from the trigger, secure the weapon by putting the safety on, opening the weapon, removing the clip, etc., go see what you want and explain why your behavior on the range is unacceptable. Are there really people out there that interrupt people who are shooting?
To give Kerry the benifit of the doubt, if I spend alot of time in Vietnam touring the jungle with an automatic rifle, that’s probably how I’d carry it…but that would send a whole different image, wouldn’t it.
Oh, and Mojo, that’s great…the best of them all! If I were awarding cake, that would take it!
I didn’t read all the pages but that was fucking hilarious. Did they have Kerry visiting NASA and crawling out of the tunnel with that paper suit?
You’re skeptical? No, just not fully informed. Let me explain a bit, please.
That photograph is not taken immediately prior to Kerry firing a shot. If he was, the gun’d be mounted properly on his shoulder; he wouldn’t have the butt stock under his arm.
Also, yes, if someone were to shout “UncleBeer” while I was on the firing line, he’d be ignored. And very shortly thereafter seriously bitched out. Shit like that just isn’t done. And not for the same reason golfers and tennis players demand silence - noise would break their concentration, but because it’s damned dangerous. You just don’t fuck around like that when loaded weapons are in evidence. Further, if someone is standing to the side of me, I wouldn’t even be preparing to shoot. Iideally, the gun would be unloaded and the action open. Those of us who own and shoot firearms responsibly take safety very, very seriously. The cost of not doing so is simply too high and even a single mistake is one too many. The rules of firearms safety are very simple and very easily practiced. Kerry is demonstrating an astonishing lack of familiarity with them.
And looking at the picture again, I can find yet another safety violation; you have even alluded to it tangentially. Kerry is pointing that weapon just about chest height - this while the photographer is quite obviously downrange. We know he’s downrange because we can clearly see the muzzle opening on both barrels of the shotgun. Stupid, stupid, stupid.
We know this because the muzzle parallel with the ground and about chest height.
The gun isn’t properly mounted on his shoulder. The butt stock is in his armpit.
This really isn’t funny.
I should add that if you want a picture of someone in the moment immediately prior to taking a shot, look just to the left of the Kerry picture at Bush. That’s how a properly mounted shotgun looks in the moment immediately before pulling the trigger. And that’s the only time it is acceptable for you finger to be inside the trigger guard. You can also note from that picture that the gun is pointed upward - in a direction in which it is safe to shoot. Safe targets are almost never found at chest height - the level at which Kerry’s gun is pointed.
Personally, I’m wondering who would give a presidential candidate a loaded weapon. one slight accident and that’s a hell of a lot of money down the drain.
You can? You must be looking at a different picture than I am. I don’t see any photos on there where you can clearly see the muzzle opening of both barrels of a shotgun.
In fact, the perspective looks nearly identical to the one taken of Bush, who appears to be in the act of shooting. I guess he should get a talking to, too, or be escorted off the range.
Why did I know this would degenerate into a partisan pissing match?
Guys, photos prove NOTHING. Especially not when arranged like this. As I said before, you could *easily have made one that made Kerry look presidential and Bush look stupid. That’s not the point. The point is that it’s FUNNY. It’s done well, with a good eye. The compare/contrast theme is set up particularly well.
But certainly not everyone laughs at the same things, so that’s fine.
Yep. There are clearly two little ellipses on the business end of the bbl. Copy the photo and brighten it up a bit.
Nearly - but not equal. The photog is has taken the Kerry photo from some point in front of Kerry. The Bush photog is more nearly perpedicular to the angle of the gun bbl.
Well, yeah. If you give the damn to a guy who’s unfamiliar with basic firearm safety it might be construed as a “slight” accident. Kerry, however, went to great lengths to give the impression that he was a regular and avid hunter - and we all know about his armed services record. It’s not a great leap from there to assume that a guy understands the three principal rules of firearms safety. I’m certain they’re taught by the armed forces; and drilled into every serviceman’s head before he’s ever permitted to pick up a weapon. Kerry, if he indeed knows these rules, is demonstrating an utter lack of regard for 'em in his picture.
1 - ALWAYS keep the gun pointed in a safe direction.
2 - ALWAYS keep your finger off the trigger until ready to shoot.
3 - ALWAYS keep the gun unloaded until ready to use.
