And I’m sure our good graces will be reciprocated the next time one of us has a slip of the tongue. Yeah, right! I say lay on, and damned be he that cries, Enough!

But in Obama’s case there are sooo many of them. Parapraxis is often an indication of a conflicting unconscious intention.

“There isn’t a soul in the world that imagines Obama was “making fun of retards,” or somehow putting down the people involved in the Special Olympics.”

That is precisely what he was doing!

It’s yet more evidence that Obama’s greatest talent is reading off a TelePromTer. When left to his own devices, he sounds like a buffoon.

as Secretary of the Interior. Liberals demanded his resignation. I can recall even further back when Earl Butts made a comment IN PRIVATE that was blasted all over the media. It led to his forced resignation.

A real messiah doesn’t make these types of mistakes.

…and the horse he road in on.

.

Check out Jeff Emanuel’s contribution to Red Hot.

I can appreciate your admonishing that we take the high road, but there is also the consideration of just how special needs people are viewed by some.

Obama really stepped in it.

While I doubt there will be the same uproar as occurred with Watt or Butz, I don’t expect his remark to completely vanish.

along with all the others, so that, come the end of 2011, we can publish a calendar of Obama sans TelePromTer. No comment necessary. This is just one of what I’m sure will be THOUSANDS of Idiotic Things uttered by The One.

Have a little fun poking fun but don’t get caught up in it to the point you ignore the big stuff. Even the AIG scandal is small potatoes, considering it’s .1 percent of the entire amount of bailout money, but it sure gets people’s dander up doesn’t it and gave Congress the impetus to take 90% of the .1 % back… for the taxpayers… and nevermind that Congress thinks it’s the taxpayer, which they have said time and time again that our money that we earn by the sweat of our brow is theirs to do with as they will and we keep only what they allow us to keep?

Gee, I wish I could find that link when that was said by the Democratic majority. I’m pretty sure it was on American Thinker but that was months ago and I don’t remember exactly when I first read it.

Honestly, while it’s an easy statement to make but not easy in practice, what we need to concentrate on is putting the government in its place. Without us, there would be no government, so it should be doing the work to support people, not the people doing the work to support government. Do that and everything else will fall into place as it should be, even the economy. Don’t do it and we will continue losing ground to massive government take over of our lives.

Why does the OP strike back at anyone who disagrees with him as somehow living in an idiot world or being Michael Moore? That only demonstrates the insecurity the OP feels in defending the topic and does nothing to encourage reasonable adult discussion on an interesting issue.

For many of us who do have issues with the comment it goes more to the reaction by the MSM then what Obama meant. Of course Obama did not mean to single out disabled people when he made his comment. Just as the NY Post did not mean to imply Obama’s race tied into the gorilla cartoon.

The cartoon may have been insensitive but it was clearly related to the gorilla attack THAT WEEK. The MSM’s reaction though was to side with Al Sharpton and label the cartoonist and the NY Post as racist.

Once again, a double standard. Color of skin = bad to comment on. Mental illness = OK.

Obama should not have ‘done’ Leno to begin with and having done it, he put himself in a position to say something stupid. Which he did. Once again, when the teleprompter is not around he seems to always stick his foot in it.

So, OP, lighten up and abide by the simple guideline to be respectful. Your fellow posters may be misguided or even have a different agenda than you do but this site only works if all viewpoints are at least acknowledged without the hate and insults.

(copy of my comment on the front page post by EPU)

Obama, flippantly or not, goes on Leno without his binkie, and insults disabled Americans. Sarah Palin chooses to bear and raise lovingly a Down’s Syndrome baby (despite the fact that 90% of mothers abort their Down’s babies).

I would love to see the Special Olympics bowling champion challenge Obama to a bowling match at the White House (on second thought, it should happen at a neutral site. I can envision David Axelcrook hiding behind the pins sneakily knocking them over for the messiah!)

What is Obama had said “Heck, everybody knows black guys can’t bowl”? Or “Really, when’s the last time you saw a brother in a bowling alley”? That would have been HILARIOUS…right?

He wasn’t making fun of himself because he is incapable of doing so. He was being cruel to those who are unable to defend themselves, not unlike a group of ninth grade girls. We should point things like this out every single time they happen, and keep a running list.

What a complete and total jerk. Complete and total.

To me this does not fall under the category of political correctness, nor is it an example of an unhinged reaction.

Although Obama was not making a calculated attack on the special needs population, his slip revealed the kind of man he is. And, it’s not an isolated incident. It’s one in a long series, including his blathering autobiographies, radio appearances, and his statements both during and after the election. This most recent gaffe is but one link in a chain of Obama’s revealing statements. Obama is man of poor moral character . . . and such a thing means a lot to me.

Obama using a Special Olympics analogy is as meaningful and revealing as the time he stated that having a solid opinion on when life began was “above his pay grade.” It shows not only his insufferable elitist attitude, but also his willingness to disregard the most vulnerable of populations. Sure, he’ll issue a statement saying how much he respects the developmentally disabled. He might even send Michelle to a Special Olympics event. All of those efforts attempt to put a veneer of goodness on a fundamentally corrupt man. Again, if Obama’s revealing statements form a shameful chain, then I plan on shackling him with it as sure as Marley was bound in Dicken’s “A Christmas Carol”.

In my opinion, my making a big deal about Obama’s quip is different than the left. To many leftists, the weakest among us are mere grist in the mill of progress (abortion, embryonic stem cell research, DC kids getting their tuition to private school taken away and forced to return to dangerous public schools, etc. . . . the list goes on and on). To the right, the weakest among us are causes to champion from Special Olympians to Iraqi children. That, in my mind, is the big, big difference.

Respectfully, mailloux

similar to a developmentally disabled individual competing in the Special Olympics is not a joke.And WTH I am amazed at how nonchalantly you seem to equate the two.You are correct in advising us not to get too bogged down in responding to this,we do have many more pressing issues to address.But having worked in the field for some 30 years,and having volunteered at many Special Olympics,I would advise that you and anyone else who so jocularly refers to some perceived challenge as your Special Olympic moment think twice before so doing.This is similar to comparing a casual climb up the neighborhood hill with an assault on Mt. Everest.And to do so demeans the incredible efforts waged by the disabled to overcome challenges I doubt you have ever faced.Move on-sure,but not until people understand that this gaffe had more impact than most!

I read your article this morning and didn’t really agree, but I didn’t comment because I wanted to read it a few more times and catch up on your comments in the thread.

You made me reflect…impressive feat…I wrote a RedHot on the subject last night which pretty much summed up my feelings on the subject and President Obama as a person. At first I took your post as admonishment to those who have written about their visceral reaction to what President Obama said….after a couple more reads and inspection of the comment thread I now understand where you were going. To put it in one sentence: Yes it was a gaffe that showed a character flaw, but we must keep focus on the bigger fights rather than the individual news cycle buzz.

Where I disagree with your article is the tone of admonishment, and all the stuff you left out of the article but then stated in the comments. You, like all of us, see the campaign potential of this incident. If you had prefaced the article with that sentiment and maybe reinforced it at the end, I think you would have gotten a more positive response.

Also, I think the diaries section showed quite a bit of restraint…I think there was about 5 diaries not counting yours.

Anyhow that’s my two cents….thanks for making me reflect.

on the latest gaffe, but I also think that YOU go overboard in stating that we are fools for making a little lighthearted fun of the, ya know, Majestic, Awe-Inspiring, Coolest Cat in the Universe, Best Speaker Ever, Great Communicating Messiah.

Yes, we don’t want to make a full campaign issue of it, but there is nothing wrong with a little mocking when appropriate, in between railing against the real problematic issues.

It was worth a good chuckle, but let’s move on. This is just one more of his many unscripted gaffes. Remember his comment that he visited all 57 states during the primaries? The man does not have a clue. His reliance on his puppet master is no longer funny. We need to rally together and devote our energies to helping the “Kool-aid drinkers” realize what they have done so we can end this madness.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090321/ap_on_re_us/obama_special_olympics

“His challenge to Obama followed the president’s offhand remark on Jay Leno’s “Tonight Show” Thursday comparing his famously inept bowling to “the Special Olympics or something.” Recognizing his blunder, Obama apologized to the chairman of the Special Olympics before the show aired.”

I don’t know what is worse him saying it or apologizing and not stopping it?

God bless that man who wants to teach him. That is very humbling to see that type of kindness.