Obama special olympics gaffe on Leno

tech77

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/northamerica/usa/barackobama/5020442/Barack-Obama-makes-special-Olympics-gaffe-on-Jay-Lenos-The-Tonight-Show.html

Jaysus.
I like this guy but what was he thinking.
Worthy of Bush any day.

javaboy

I marshalled at the Special Olympics bowling here a few years back. They would have wiped the floor with him and his 129.

stovelid

All the hysterical obama-love and expectation is like a swollen dam at the minute. A few more of these and we can start ripping him up and feeling superior again.

ScumLord

The dream is over, burn the white house!

L M F A O

tech77

WTF happened to the other posts?

javaboy

tech77 wrote: »

WTF happened to the other posts?

Obliterated.

Homer

javaboy wrote: »

Obliterated.

Apologies JB forgot where I was for a minute!

Memo to self and all that!

egan007

That's not a gaf - it's a JOKE!

Fox will be calling him a racist for this.....

Biggins

Meh! Molehill made into a mountain.
Next...

Smart Bug

I'd say Leno was bowled over by that comment.


Thank you, I'm here all weekend, try the veal.

dsmythy

Biggins wrote: »

Meh! Molehill made into a mountain.
Next...

And if Bush had said it...

Biggins

dsmythy wrote: »

And if Bush had said it...

Well seeing as he could actually quality for the Special Olympics if he wanted to, I'd think nothing of it to be honest. :P

ScumLord

dsmythy wrote: »

And if Bush had said it...

He was better at them, the way he'd drag it out so everyone got a chance to fully appreciate what he was saying. Then just as you thought it was over he'd go on to try and cover it up or explain it but he couldn't. I miss Bushy boy.

thelordofcheese

apology already issued.

All we'll get is about 24hours of Fox news et al. trying to sling mud over this, while conveniently forgetting that they don't hold any truck with "political correctness".

If we're lucky there'll be something decent on from either Colbert or Stewart over this.

Captain-America

egan007 wrote: »

That's not a gaf - it's a JOKE!

Fox will be calling him a racist for this.....

Because people who partake in the special olympics are a race of people?

Ass

Ironic that they're talking about Obama making jokes about the special Olympics. I thought the Special Olympics was a joke?

pwd

He should have a bowling match with a special olympics athlete. That would be entertaining.

Ass

pwd wrote: »

He should have a bowling match with a special olympics athlete. That would be entertaining.

Yeah, Obama would wipe the foor with them! It would be hilarious.

walshb

I'm fairly open minded, but that was a bit tasteless and a slip of the tongue doesn't excuse it

Wagon

Ah i dunno, the chap just seems to have a dark sense of humour. I still like him more than that monkey he took over from.

Captain-America

walshb wrote: »

I'm fairly open minded, but that was a bit tasteless and a slip of the tongue doesn't excuse it

I wouldn't say so, every makes jokes like this so long as they have some sense of humour. I'd say he just got a little to comfortable with himself and didn't realise where he was.

robby^5

Uh the PC crowd over react yet again, big fuss over nothing.

Naos

Shocker: He used a phrase I'm sure many have used before, myself included.

Disease Ridden

robby^5 wrote: »

Uh the PC crowd over react yet again, big fuss over nothing.

Exactly. Can people say anything discriminatory these days without getting fukking eaten? Whatever happened to free speech and all that?

RonMexico

Relax he meant to say retarded.





:pac:

markok84

Did anyone catch Jay Lenos comment..... I mean just coz Obama is black doesn't mean he'll only want a basketball court in the white house, I'm suprised he didn't ask him if he enjoys eating watermelon and rotisserie chicken.:pac:

petethebrick

Reminds me of the time Tiger Woods got in a bit of bother for saying he was a 'spaz' or spasticated for making some bad golf shot or other

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/magazine/4902432.stm

thelordofcheese

markok84 wrote: »

Did anyone catch Jay Lenos comment..... I mean just coz Obama is black doesn't mean he'll only want a basketball court in the white house, I'm suprised he didn't ask him if he enjoys eating watermelon and rotisserie chicken.:pac:

Obama is a keen basketball player....

stovelid

markok84 wrote: »

Did anyone catch Jay Lenos comment..... I mean just coz Obama is black doesn't mean he'll only want a basketball court in the white house, I'm suprised he didn't ask him if he enjoys eating watermelon and rotisserie chicken.:pac:

The court is going in after they install his glock cabinet.

AnonoBoy

Seriously? That was it? :rolleyes:

I thought he was going to impersonate a Special Olympics Athlete or something.

Earthhorse

AnonoBoy wrote: »

I thought he was going to impersonate a Special Olympics Athlete or something.

Yeah, Leno normally books better comedians alright. What can you do?

Mr.Lizard

Terrible gaffe by the prez there! He of course meant to say "para-olympics". Those special olympics kids couldn't even get close to 129.

Alcatel

I watched the whole interview, and bar the gaffe (shock, horror, the messiah is one of us after all and prone to gaffes and sometimes off-colour humour!) it was quite funny and he was very articulate.

CtrlSource

Wagon wrote: »

Ah i dunno, the chap just seems to have a dark sense of humour. I still like him more than that monkey he took over from.

Many of us make jokes like that in private. He was clearly at ease with Leno and allowed himself to slip. i don't see the point of these 'folksy' interviews, particularly coming so early in his Presidency. i find them a bit cynical (from Obama's point of view). Therefore, am not sorry that this one came back and bit him.

Although i don't hold the comment against him and have made far more tasteless 'jokes' than that myself, i am disappointed that he lacked his usual control, reinforced a negative stereotype and offended many

Mark200

stovelid wrote: »

All the hysterical obama-love and expectation is like a swollen dam at the minute. A few more of these and we can start ripping him up and feeling superior again.

Ehh not really. It's his first real slip of the tongue since he started his presidential campaign in 2006.... It's hardly a sign to start tearing up all the 'hope' and 'change' posters

dsmythy wrote: »

And if Bush had said it...

Then there would be a big fuss about how he still hasn't learned. It would have been made a big deal for Bush because he's made so many mistakes already....

However, if Bush had said that then people would have been laughing at his stupidity rather than being shocked at the joke.

markok84 wrote: »

Did anyone catch Jay Lenos comment..... I mean just coz Obama is black doesn't mean he'll only want a basketball court in the white house, I'm suprised he didn't ask him if he enjoys eating watermelon and rotisserie chicken.:pac:

He has always said that he wanted to get a basketball court in. He's big into basketball, and apparently he's quite good

CtrlSource wrote: »

Many of us make jokes like that in private. He was clearly at ease with Leno and allowed himself to slip. i don't see the point of these 'folksy' interviews, particularly coming so early in his Presidency. i find them a bit cynical (from Obama's point of view). Therefore, am not sorry that this one came back and bit him.

Although i don't hold the comment against him and have made far more tasteless 'jokes' than that myself, i am disappointed that he lacked his usual control, reinforced a negative stereotype and offended many

I'm confident that a huge amount of comedians have made special Olympics jokes or handicap jokes in front of audiences. I doubt many people would have thought twice about such jokes except for the fact that it came from a usually flawless man. It was a pre-recorded interview and, I think, before it even aired (and therefore before the media even knew about it) he had already called the chairman of the special Olympics to apologise. As well as that, he stuttered a lot more as soon as he said that...he knew he just made a stupid mistake. It was just a slip of the tongue, and I think that is a valid excuse because I'm confident a huge majority of people that are 'disgusted' by this have made similar jokes in the past. Whether in public or private, it doesn't make a difference. It's very hypocritical.

PK2008

Mark200 wrote: »

Ehh not really. It's his first real slip of the tongue since he started his presidential campaign in 2006.... It's hardly a sign to start tearing up all the 'hope' and 'change' posters

Didnt he make a balls of the swearing in?

Anyway I hear Bush is carrying a 240 average, which has to prove that retards are in fact good at bowling.

Mark200

PK2008 wrote: »

Didnt he make a balls of the swearing in?

No, that was the other guy that Obama had to repeat after....he said the wrong words and Obama corrected him.

fuzzywiggle

Oh major cringe

Sand

Meh, fairly harmless. He was just made the sort of joke everyone would make amongst friends.

The real pleasure from this is seeing people defend Obama on this when they would have rage induced comas if Bush had made a similar innocent self deprecating remark. The emperor is lacking in the clothing department these days. Loving it.

ShooterSF

Mark200 wrote: »

Ehh not really. It's his first real slip of the tongue since he started his presidential campaign in 2006.... It's hardly a sign to start tearing up all the 'hope' and 'change' posters

"Israel is a friend of Israel's" was surely the first. Hey it was gaffe, we laugh. Nothing serious. I don't like this underlying "no one can say anything bad about him cause he's black" thing. He's the president of the US. We laugh when those "dumb yanks" do something silly. Its what we do

PK2008

I like Obama (and would've voted for him if i were american) but he's starting to come across as the "trendy teacher" type.

I think there's a kind of underlying neediness to be the next JFK

Appearing on Leno is kind of tacky tbh, I mean he's supposed to be the leader of the free world

Lobelia Overhill

apparently this episode of Leno is on CNBC (Sky 505) at 8 pm tonight (Sunday) - well according to the EPG anyways.

tech77

Sand wrote: »

Meh, fairly harmless. He was just made the sort of joke everyone would make amongst friends.

The real pleasure from this is seeing people defend Obama on this when they would have rage induced comas if Bush had made a similar innocent self deprecating remark. The emperor is lacking in the clothing department these days. Loving it.

Yeah, overall it is forgettable and in no way makes him a bigot.

Of course dozens of posters are missing the point, refuting a claim of "bigotry" that was never made and that has nothing to do with this.

The point they ARE missing is:
it seems to be an extraordinary lapse of judgement from a guy who seems otherwise very accomplished.

sceptre

PK2008 wrote: »

Anyway I hear Bush is carrying a 240 average, which has to prove that retards are in fact good at bowling.

It helps if you do little else but eat and sleep.

Quiet Lurker

Mr.Lizard wrote: »

Terrible gaffe by the prez there! He of course meant to say "para-olympics". Those special olympics kids couldn't even get close to 129.

Special olympics kids could not get close to 129 eh? None of the competitions in this country would be won by a score that low !! Last one I was at early this year had a best score of 197. Many many athletes were over 130. Oh and not all are kids by the way.

So dont make comments that are not evidence based. I dont have a huge problem with Obama's comments as it was not intended and they have brought attention to special olympics. however your comments are indicative of a carless predjudice

Mark200

Quiet Lurker wrote: »

So dont make comments that are not evidence based. I dont have a huge problem with Obama's comments as it was not intended and they have brought attention to special olympics. however your comments are indicative of a carless predjudice

I'm sure it was just stupidity based.

Mr.Lizard

Quiet Lurker wrote: »

Special olympics kids could not get close to 129 eh? None of the competitions in this country would be won by a score that low !! Last one I was at early this year had a best score of 197. Many many athletes were over 130. Oh and not all are kids by the way.

So dont make comments that are not evidence based. I dont have a huge problem with Obama's comments as it was not intended and they have brought attention to special olympics. however your comments are indicative of a carless predjudice

Sorry. I thought Obama was referring to his IQ test.

Dob74

Obama's comments where stupid but he was talking ad-lip and I am sure he will admit he made a mistake.

My main problem is that he was on Jay Leno.
What is a sitting president doing on a comedy show?

IvaBigWun

The media are only short of riding Obama tbh.

If Bush had done this it would still be the lead story on Sky News. As it is it was the 3rd or 4th lead-in and quickly brushed under the carpet the next day.

The president is only ever a "front" for the mechanics that go on behind him and Obama can do no wrong as far the meeja are concerned.

Mark200

Dob74 wrote: »

My main problem is that he was on Jay Leno.
What is a sitting president doing on a comedy show?

Why not?? If Bush can go to bed at 9pm every night and spend almost a year and a half of his eight years on holidays, then I'm sure Obama can take out a few hours to go on a talk show. He wasn't just talking about bowling for the interview that lasted about half an hour....he talked about many important things too, and although it was all clearly said in humour...I don't see anything wrong with it.

When the economy is as bad as it is, everyone is watching the person who is making the biggest decisions in the world. It's important for not just him, but the world's economy, to be seen as confident and capable of doing the job.