Obama was on Leno last night, and when he could get a word in over the audience shrieking like teenage girls seeing the Beatles for the first time, he and Jay talked about bowling. Obama said he's terrible, and that his latest score was a 129. While Jay was ribbing him about that, Obama joked in passing that his bowling is "like the Special Olympics or something." Ba doom cha... He personally called Tim Shriver, chairman of the Special Olympics, to apologize before the show aired. But this is the kind of slip-ups people were warning about when it was announced that Obama was going to be the first sitting president to appear on a late-night talk show. I gotta bring it up, though: What if Bush had said it? What if Bush had been the first sitting president to appear on a late-night show while there was a war going on, the economy was terrible, and then he makes a tasteless joke about special olympians? That old double standard, is all I'm saying. Not sure how to add a video, but here's the link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZXcgpZwsBPY&
How is it a double standard when everyone is reporting on it and saying its a gaffe? I myself believe it was a tasteless, crude joke. I guess Im missing your point, but help me out?
I'm not saying no one's reporting on it, I'm just envisioning the reaction of the press and the punditry had Dubya made the same mistake. How many days would this be covered? And would we see so many stories about how Bush had apologized? Here's just a few about Obama's apology: http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/story?id=7129997&page=1 http://content.usatoday.com/communities/theoval/post/2009/03/64400743/1 http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/03/20/AR2009032001335.html http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090320/ap_on_go_pr_wh/obama_special_olympics
I watched it last night. Honestly, I thought nothing of it until a couple guys here at the office brought it up this morning. I seriously doubt I would have thought anything of it regardless of who would have said it. Of course, I have always felt that no group is above being used as the butt of a joke. Especially if in essence, the joke is really about the guy making the wise crack. Maybe I have a sick sense of humour, but I thought it was kinda funny.
Wait, I thought it was against FSA rules to bring up Bush since he's not in office anymore? The hypocrisy is laughable. But, to answer the question, you all would be making countless excuses, passing off the 'tastelessness' of Bush's comment as a harmless joke.
Yes, because I personally made it a rule here that we can't talk about Bush anymore. And then I broke that rule. :rolleye33:
Well, you don't really have to guess, CT. Bush made several similar unintentionally offensive remarks and they were all reported on about the same as far as I can see. The one that may have gotten more ink was referring to the War on Terror as a "Crusade", a term that is very inflammatory in the Middle East. That one got more international exposure than a bad "Special Oympics" joke, and westerners didn't immediately see the significance. But it certainly got the attention of the Arab world. Bush quickly backed away from the "crusade" remark, and aides admitted it was a poor choice of words. The Bush Crusade Faithful crowd mosques as fears about U.S. grow
I'm sure he's suggesting that there would be a much greater elevated level of outrage. I admit I'm inclined to agree, but there's neither any way we can truthfully know, nor anything that can be done about it. So there. Quite different though. I've always been of the mind that our very existence offends so many in that region, who cares what you say about them. But I'm not unappreciative of the notion that we'd rather not have the President offending people of other nationalities. Like for example, favoring the head of state of our closest and most powerful ally with a gift you can pick up at Blockbuster. :rofl::rofl::rofl: As to the "Special Olympics" gaffe, I appreciate where he was going with that remark and believe his explanation and apology. Just not very smart to choose that segment of the population to compare yourself with in a disparaging way. But I just had the feeling that the idea of a sitting President going on Leno was a social blunder waiting to happen. I guess it could have been worse, though....he could have gone on Letterman.
Maybe there would have been greater outrage for Bush, but Obama should have some grace period for such trivial bs. As a nation, we r too politically correct to begin with.
