Saturday, May 17, 2008

can we all just agree that mike huckabee's "joke" about barack obama is totally reprehensible?

in case you hadn't heard, huckabee was giving a speech to the NRA when there was a loud noise backstage, and he said,
"That was Barack Obama. He just tripped off a chair. He's getting ready to speak and somebody aimed a gun at him and he -- he dove for the floor."
disgusting. huckabee later "apologized" by saying,
"During my speech at the NRA, a loud noise backstage that sounded like a chair falling distracted the crowd and interrupted my speech. I made an offhand remark that was in no way intended to offend or disparage Sen. Obama. I apologize that my comments were offensive. That was never my intention."
but being sorry that your comments were offensive is fundamentally different from being sorry that you made them. "i'm sorry you're upset" is not "i'm sorry that i made such a horrendous, inappropriate, unfunny comment. i am ashamed of myself and i apologize for my actions."

i don't like fake apologies. i dislike jokes-that-actually-seem-more-like-fantasies about assassinating young, hopeful politicans even more. i'm truly disgusted.

from the la times

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

For the REAL jokes, you need to look up his foreign policy & positions on things like climate change & the economy.

He can apologize all he wants - but he just stuck a big red ball on his nose & yard-long purple shoes on his feet ... & they'll NEVER come off.

PROTIP: do not under any circumstances sniff the flower on his lapel - it shoots battery acid.

I still hear him being touted as McCain's potential choice for VP, which tells you everything you need to know about either of them.

sarah said...

anonymous, yes. i know that there are plenty of substantive, policy-based reasons to oppose huckabee's bid for any office.

this episode really struck a nerve for me, though; his on-the-spot, vivid description of an assassination attempt on obama freaked me out. has he been thinking a lot about this? have other people? obama's not perfect, not by any stretch of the imagination, but i do think that he could change some things. and those changes would, very likely, come at the expense of people and entities very accustomed to their power. and folks get nasty when they feel their power is being threatened. i hate to think that obama's life would be in danger because of his policies, but huckabee's comment made me think it might be. that was what made me so upset.