All day Friday the newspapers, TV stations, radio, and the Internet were abuzz with Barack Obama's failed joke about the Special Olympics Thursday night on The Tonight Show With Jay Leno. In shades of John Kerry's failed joke about the unschooled being "stuck in Iraq," the president's apologists said he was merely joking and didn't mean to say anything disparaging about people with developmental challenges. Still, the incident stirred passionate discussion all day Friday. At least it did for everyone but The New York Times's Helene Cooper. Cooper seemed not to even realize it happened if her review of the show is any indication.
One has to wonder, with the entire country talking about Obama's Special Olympics quip, how did Cooper miss that part of the story? Why would she not even make a passing notation of the controversy the joke caused?
Now, I have made myself a bit of a target elsewhere by saying that I don't think the remark was an indication that President Obama routinely makes fun of the mentally challenged or in any way hates, disdains, or discounts folks involved with the Special Olympics. I think he was making a joke about himself not them. To me, it's an incident to make note of and then move on from not one to hang opposition upon.
Was it impolitic? Yes. Impolite? Certainly. Just plain stupid? You betcha. But what ever it was and whatever my own opinion of it, it was news and for Cooper in The New York Times not to mention it even in passing, well, that is just a dereliction of duty.
So, why did Cooper not even mention this incident? She talked about every other aspect of Obama's appearance. Why leave out just that one little thing, the one thing that caused Obama to look bad to millions of Americans?
Since Cooper didn't seem to catch the segment, here is what happened. ABC reported that Obama brought up the Special Olympics when discussing his bowling score.
Towards the end of his approximately 40-minute appearance, the president talked about how he's gotten better at bowling and has been practicing in the White House bowling alley.
He bowled a 129, the president said.
"That's very good, Mr. President," Leno said sarcastically.
It's "like the Special Olympics or something," the president said.
As most of you reading this now know, Obama's office quickly tried to put out the fire by releasing an apology immediately on Friday.
"The president made an off-hand remark making fun of his own bowling that was in no way intended to disparage the Special Olympics," White House deputy press secretary Bill Burton said. "He thinks the Special Olympics is a wonderful program that gives an opportunity for people with disabilities from around the world."
With all this stirring the pot on Friday, it is just awfully strange that the Times piece didn't mention the whole swirling controversy. Not a word. Nothing.
Awfully strange, indeed.
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Here is my position on this...
March 21, 2009 - 05:01 ET by Warner Todd HustonTo all the NewsBusters visitors, I'd like to explain why I don't think Obama's comment is a major deal to get all upset about. (and this, as I see it, is a different issue than The Times not covering it. It was clearly news.)
Folks, I get that politics is a mean business. Politics ain’t beanball, as the old saw goes. Yes, yeas, yes. But here is the thing. You may disagree, but I value my consistency more than I value a mean dig.
Remember at the tail end of Bush’s days when he needled that reporter for wearing sunglasses in the White House press room? Obviously Bush was a tad upset that a reporter didn’t respect the office of the president enough to remove the shades in presence of the president.
I fully sympathize with his obvious initial assumption that this press guy was being a jerk. After all, the way they treated him it was a good assumption to make that this guy was being a jerk. HOWEVER, it turned out the guy was legally blind and had a darn good reason to have the sunglasses on inside. Bush just didn’t know.
A bit uncomfortable, yes. But evidence that Bush hates blind people? Only an idiot or an unhinged leftist would say so. And guess what? The unhinged leftists went wild making the accusation that Bush hated the blind.
In my opinion, we hit Obama on this as if he hates all retard people and we are not acting ANY different than the left. I despise the left and I don’t want to be accused of acting like them.
If you can’t take that reasoning as logical, then your hate has over come you.
Still, reasonable people can disagree with my position. Now, I've already been called every name in the book on other sites over this issue, so don't imagine you have a new name to call me. But this is how I feel about it and there won't be any changing my mind. I just wanted you all to know where I stood on this. I felt I owed you that much.
Childish
March 21, 2009 - 05:41 ET by DontFeedTheTrollsI agree with you Warner, Obama didn't say this out of hatred of disabled people. It was said more out of immaturity. Obama is a childish, self centered, immature person and it shows in his actions (and reactions). We have a child in the White House, and we all will suffer for it.
D
Keep the ILLEGALS out, join NumbersUSA to send free faxes to your reps.
Well...
March 21, 2009 - 05:51 ET by Warner Todd HustonI sure don't have a problem with that characterization.
I agree....
March 21, 2009 - 07:35 ET by GeneralAlI agree with you Warner! The Tele-Obamessiah did not say this out of hatred for the mentally challenged, he said it out of ignorance and arrogance! His elitism is on display here. Its kinda, sorta like the "Arugula" statement on the campaign trail! He has had a priviledged life even though he claims otherwise. Thats why he threw his white grandmother under the bus during the campaign for the coronation! He knows that the suck ups in the MSM will have his back so he could care less. Furthermore, the crowd in that audience was the mostly under thirty crowd! He knew he'd be cool as far as they were concerned. I have a special needs son and when you deal with problems on a daily basis, this type of comment is offensive regardless of how it was meant. You would not get this kind of comment from a Clarence Thomas or a Condi Rice! They experienced the civil rights movement! Obama merely inherited the benefits of their struggles thus rendering him incapable of understanding or caring about the struggles of other "minority groups" such as the mentally challenged!
While I agree, the point of
March 21, 2009 - 08:05 ET by kgWhile I agree, the point of it being on NB is because of the bias and that is the only reason. Some here may show false outrage but that is expected giving that conservatives have been bashed, asked to resign etc. with day in and day out coverage. Some conservatives have had this treatment just by quoting a liberal and then having it twisted as their own words. Remove the bias and then there is no problem.
"DumbAssity of Dope"
That's my take, kg. Though
March 21, 2009 - 08:14 ET by NewsbusterbrownThat's my take, kg. Though I suspect some head-in-the-sand liberal here will deny it, any Republican would have been lambasted for days over this in the Old Media.
“There are no easy answers' but there are simple answers. We must have the courage to do what we know is morally right.” - Ronald Reagan (1964 Republican Convention)
Not an analagous situation
March 21, 2009 - 08:24 ET by nandrelliWarner,
Your analogy is way off base. Bush had no way of knowing the reporter was blind (just like Biden had no way of knowing "stand up Chuck" was crippled, although someone on his staff should have known and informed him of it). 0bama did know (or at least, should have known) that what he was saying was going to hurt a lot of people's feelings and was at best inappropriate. I say "should have known" because I believe that 0bama is so totally full of himself that he is unaware of a lot that goes on around him.
Was it an asinine statement? Yes. Does he deserve to be criticized and ridiculed about it? Yes. Was his apology sincere? God only knows, but I'm sure 0bama was sorry for the negative press it got, if not for having insulted millions of people. Does he deserve to be impeached for it? No, there are lots of other screwups he'll make that will go down that road, though, so just hold on to your hats.
A Million Other Things He Could Have Said
March 21, 2009 - 09:27 ET by rightwingidiotIt's just so odd that whenever Obey makes seemingly self-depricating remarks that he ends up making derogatory references to others. Like the comment about Nancy Reagan. He could have said a million other things at that moment to describe what a dumbass he was being (he WAS off prompter then also) but he chose to stick a poker up the ass of someone else.
In this case, instead of just saying he bowled like a clueless, limp-wristed dork (which he is), he had to make another derogatory reference singling out the Special Olympics.
When he stuck his foot into his massive piehole with Joe the Plumber, he then attacked and attempted to destroy Joe with derogatory remarks. Instead of owning up to what he said (which would have make him look like the clueless ass that he is), he decided to deflect attention from his assinine remarks that got caught on tape (off prompter again) to Joe.
In the world of those that deal with issues of the psychi I would suspect there is a term, even an entire description and definition for this behaviour but in my book deflection or devergence will do.
These are not gaffes by Obey, they are tactics, skilled tactics.
Think of it this way. If Obey had said that he bowls like a clueless, limp-wristed dork (which he is), then each person that heard that would conjour up some image of what he described. That would reflect badly on Obey. But, by making a reference to Special Olympics, it deflected the attention from him being a clueless, limp-wristed dork and conjours up images of retarded kids trying to do sports. So, instead of thinking of him, you now think of something or someone else. That's not a gaffe, that's a learned skill.
Think of this same tactic for the Nancy Reagan and Joe Plumber reactions. There are probably many other examples of this with Obey. By deflecting or diverting your immediate response, he automatically takes the attention off himself at that very moment (not that he wants to take the attention off himself ever) and shifts it to someone else. He then happily moves on and takes no responsibility for his bumbling, stumbling, assinine, jackass, off prompter statments.
Obey could have said a million other things to describe how badly he bowls. But, due to his skillful mastery of the deflection tactic, he couldn't help himself and had to shit on someone else to make himself look better.
WTH - You've Missed the Point
March 21, 2009 - 13:29 ET by GothampcObama was on a show talking to a comedian. The comment was made specifically to get a laugh. It was crude junior high humor.
Bush wasn't making a joke with the blind man. His intention wasn't to get a laugh out of his audience.
What if Leno had cracked a joke about black men should stick to playing basketball? Would that have been OK?
Not exactly an alert the media momemt...
March 21, 2009 - 05:49 ET by jdripperThe New York Times being biased towards one candidate of a political party? That would have been at one time cause for an alert the media moment, but now it is just a sigh, shake your head and press ahead for better things.
I gave up my subscription years ago. I miss the New York Times that I knew when I was younger. It was once a great newspaper. Now it is, what it is. The grey lady has become the grey whore.
Jack
"If at age 20 you are a conservative then you have no heart. If at age 30 you are a liberal then you have no brains." Sir Winston Churchill
The NYSlimes avoiding
March 21, 2009 - 06:23 ET by eaglewingz08The NYSlimes avoiding reporting on controversy. That couldn't possibly happen. Chas Freeman and John Edwards would heartily disagree with such a slander. /sarc
NYT
March 21, 2009 - 07:13 ET by GeneralAlNYT means Never Yack about the Teleprompter! Ms Cooper is not going to mention anything that would paint Commisar Teleprompter Messiah Obama in bad light! After all, that evil tyrant Bush is gone and its time to come together! Can't we all just get along? Over fifty-one percent voted for the Teleprompter man so whats the beef? He has so much on his mind that who cares about a little slip? Besides he said hes sorry! Thats enough! Hes got March madness to deal with, his weekends in Chicago, a book for kids, where to vacation this summer, his reelection in 2012, his constitutional amendment to allow him to serve for life, so cut him some slacl! He is The Obamessiah!
Barack Obama's failed joke about the Special Olympics
March 21, 2009 - 12:28 ET by woburn828I think the bias is needed to be pointed out. is. If George Bush, or any other major republican leader uttered that statement the MSM would have every Kennedy/Shiver family member out in front crying that fill in the blank does not care about the difficulities these people face. This would have been ramped up to go all weekend.
Killing the story is how the left works.
New York Times
March 21, 2009 - 13:21 ET by VinncyGDo you hear the joy people...Do you hear it!!!! One more nail in the New York Times coffin.
Totally out of touched liberal panhandlers. All you fools who own this stock and are loosing your shirt at least wake up and understand WHY.