President Obama’s Joke About Predator Drones Draws Fire

What do you think? 
What did Jesus say about committing adultery and thinking about being the same thing?
As long as people are suffering, it shouldn’t be joked about. However, while Obama’s joke may have been in poor taste, in our human mind, Bush’s joke was worse. He should never have told it and shown oictures like that.
(No animals have been injured during the production of this comment.)

I think that it was just the joke of a protective Daddy warning off the boys. No harm no foul. Bush on the other hand was joking about not finding the reason that we went to war in Iraq according to him. I can assure I did not find it funny then nor did I when my aunt’s stepson was killed in Iraq. Apples and oranges my friend. apples and oranges.

Surely this “controversy over an innocuous joke must be, well, a joke. Don’t Obama’s critics have better topics to stew over, like that he fired a missile at the oil platform to stop drilling, or that he’s really from Mars?

I’m as big an Obama critic as you’ll find, but who cares about the joke? I doubt anyone in the audience favors the death of civilians–or even the Jonas Brothers–at the hands of the U.S. military, yet they laughed in the spirit of the event.
Having said that, I think Bush’s WMD joke was much funnier and more in the tradition of the dinner, in that he was poking fun at himself.

But are the drone attacks constitutional? Does striking into the territory of a sovereign state require a declaration of war from congress? They should have never militarized the CIA. It should have been an intelligence machine and not a separate military entity.

Makes you wonder what is aimed at my computer right now.

Obama needs to think before he says things. He basically accused an innocent teenage boy band of being sexual predators.
___________________________________
Oh sure he did . .. .

Wrote Salon’s Alex Pareene: “It’s funny because predator drone strikes in Pakistan have killed literally hundreds of completely innocent civilians, and now the president is evincing a casual disregard for those lives he is responsible for ending by making a lighthearted joke about killing famous young celebrities for the crime of attempting to sleep with his young daughters.”
That was well written. I’m surprised no liberals here have applauded it. In fact, I don’t see the usual suspects weighing in here at all. Tough living in that gray area…

I’m no Obama fan by any stretch of the imagination. Of all of President Obama’s misleading statements and inaccurate insertions: This quip is the least of our laundry list of concerns.
Lighten up and give him a break.

That was well written. I’m surprised no liberals here have applauded it.
__________________________________
Bush’s joke about how the weapons of mass destruction might be hidden under his furniture – came while thousands of Americans were put in death’s way by those very weapons of mass destruction Bush’s administration said they knew the exact location. Bush should have been apologizing to the parents of those dead soldiers, not joking about it. Don’t you think?
Posted by: tierra | May 3, 2010 11:38:06 PM
Well, gosh. That was a nice straw man argument. Maybe you should look at the first comment in this thread. Then go back a few days ago when Ryan mentioned what Bush said and I agreed with him. Wouldn’t that shock ya’
So why don’t you weigh in on the Salon comment or what Obama said?

I agree with you.
Posted by: tierra | May 4, 2010 12:09:42 AM
Well don’t stop there. Do you agree with Alex Pareene or not?

Fathers wanting to deter certain boys from dating his daughters is part of the language of the culture.
Posted by: tierra | May 4, 2010 12:44:08 AM
Now see, that wasn’t so hard.
Fathers who don’t have Predator drones as part of their repertoire might keep a shotgun on the porch to keep the boys away from their daughter. Doesn’t mean the father is actually going to shoot the boys. But he might keep it visible – as a deterrant. ;-)

The only thing Obama has stimulated is government growth.
Posted by: EPU | May 4, 2010 1:02:12 AM
____________________________________
Not according to the Gallup numbers you seem so knowledgeable about. They state . ..
In non-government employers 28% are hiring vs. 19% who are letting workers go – for a job creation index of +9.
I guess you forgot to post that part . ..

The only thing Obama has stimulated is government growth.
Posted by: EPU | May 4, 2010 1:02:12 AM
____________________________________
In non-government employers 28% are hiring vs. 19% who are letting workers go – for a job creation index of +9.
Posted by: tierra | May 4, 2010 1:08:57 AM
Show us the data that proves the non-government jobs were stimulated by President Obama. Otherwise, the statement seems valid. “The only thing Obama has stimulated is government growth.” The non-government jobs were stimulated by free market growth.
State and local government is in the minus high 20′s I see. I guess they are “on their own” now that the Federal government is on a roll.

Extra Extra, read all about it! The party of know is critical of President Obama.

And the Jonas brothers are concerned about the “pedophilia” insinuations and how it might reflect on them. “No one is immune from the gaffes from this administration, boys! Welcome to the real world.”

Let’s face it, his comedic timing sucks! I found this “joke” distasteful in that they are “soooooo” protective of their young daughters, don’t say anything about them (which is understandable) and yet he does it…not only that, but they are so young, to young to be insinuating that the Jonas Bros would be interested in them in that way…it was just bad and shouldn’t have been said, much less joked about.

Maybe he can trade spots with Conan…and as far as the comment on “innocent civilians” goes, if you allow terrorists to use your home, your city or your country, the adults in the crowed are not innocent. The only innocents in any war are the children.

Obama is the most ignorant and incompetent leader ever. Shortly Iran will have operational nuclear weapons. Our lives will take place in a much more dangerous world. It seems that the Obama World Apologetic tour has made us a weak nation….when coupled with his inability to manage events and issues from Iran , the oil spill, terrorist attacks on the US (don’t use the word “terrorist”, they’re just bad men,
the economy spending trillions, border security, etc. He’s a liar and a danger.

Big deal…..but then again, if Bush said it….

You know what it is? No matter which president says something like that, you’ll have people jumping all over it because they look for any chance to criticize. I wish for once people could stick to issues, talk things over in a rational manner and compromise when necessary. Instead we have stupid things like this being picked on. And the same for Pres. Bush. If he mispronounced something it was all over the media. I mispronounce some things and I’m sure all of you do to at one time or another. People just keep bashing back and forth and nothing gets accomplished except for making this country look like a bunch of idiots. You know the terriorist will not bring us down, we will bring ourselves down.

Please!!!
If your job is to sit around and make an issue about anything and everything the President says, well, I feel very sorry for you. This is soooooo stretching what he said. Using similar logic, all gun jokes are out because they are used to kill people everyday. Oh, and ABSOLUTELY no food jokes because everyone knows that there is a significant portion of the population that over eat and die. And singling out the Jonas brothers was obviously a political jab at whale loving environmentalists everywhere and I am amazed the media AND the Repubs missed that one. This is an example of press created news where there really is none. Everybody wants to be the National Enquirer these days. A pity. The last REAL jounalists are gone.

I don’t find anything funny that this president says

Repubs were laughing it up when Bush did his WHCD skit looking for weaspons of mass destruction in the Oval Office. But what Obama says is over the top. Give me a break, you hypocrits.

Pamp205<———- Read the article again it said most of the criticism came from the LEFT….READ before you post!

People need to chill out and stop being so serious!

Would Bush have been crucified? Yes, because the difference is people would have thought he MEANT it.

This article is a distraction. The main problem with Obama is not his joking about Predator drones, it’s his whole approach to Islamic supremacism and jihad ideology. Obama’s political correctness has greatly endangered this country and has motivated Islamic supremacists and jihadists with renewed enthusiasm(as they perceive—quite correctly—that Obama is weak and will do nothing to stem the tide of Islamic supremacist movements or stop Islamic governments like Iran from pursuing nuclear weapons). Recent attempted jihad attacks in the U.S.(Fort Hood, Northwest underwear bomber, and the Times Square bomber) and Iran’s belligerence are the fruits of this political correctness. Further, in his desired to bow to the Muslim world(symbolized by the way Obama bowed almost prostrate to the Saudi King), Obama has abandoned Christians who have been persecuted in the Middle East, has turned his back on Iranian reformers by giving them little to no support, has wilfully left Middle East women to suffer the ravages and indignity of sharia law second class status, has abandoned gays in the Middle East, and has exhibited unprecedented hostility for an American President toward the Jews and Israel. And, all in the name of politically correct fawning in the hopes hard core jihadists and Islamic supremacists will be persuaded to lay down their arms by Obama’s narcisstic oratory. Obama is so weak he won’t even use the words “jihad” or “Islamic terrorism”(in fact he has banned those terms from national security documents—like this politically correct editorializing in an internal U.S. document is going to persuade Bin Laden and like minded Islamic supremacists to love us). Obama and the Democratic Congress and any politically correct Reopublicans must go.

Blame it on Bush

I think Pareene gets it right. The whole thing puts the President, Obama now, and Bush then, in an odd position.
Pareene adds to the quote above: “But the problem isn’t specifically with the joke itself. It’s a sort of generic joke about the executive’s unconstrained power that any postwar president could’ve delivered. You know, it would’ve been Patriot missiles during the first Gulf War, or jokes about the CIA or Secret Service disappearing people during the Cold War. The problem is with the whole damn scene of the president delivering a stand-up comedy routine, on camera, to the press. The problem with the Bush joke about looking for WMD was that a roomful of journalists chuckled good-naturedly at it. It looks bad for everyone.
The joke mighta worked, and certainly would’ve been less offensive, coming from anyone else. It seems like a no-brainer that the people directly responsible for tragedies should not deliver jokes about those tragedies. That’s why Mel Brooks can tell Hitler jokes and Germans can’t.” (Salon)
I thought with Bush, and I think now that we have to cut some slack, and realize its humor and not overanalyze it… but, yeah… groan.
Comedy is hard.

“”Let’s be honest, fellow progressives,” the Philadelphia Daily News’ Will Bunch tweeted, “we’d be all over Bush if he made the same ‘predator drone’ joke Obama told last night.” ”
Progressives being honest? THAT would be newsworthy!
Folks, it was a joke. No big deal. Not a problem. Not from Reagan, Bush, Clinton, Bush, or Obama. It’s just a joke. Get over yourselves.

Ok, I may not like Obama, but that’s pretty funny. This is a simple matter of a dad doing what dads do, protecting his little girls. Funny that the Left is the side with their panties in a twist over this one. The Right admits it’s funny.

Can some one tell me why some lefties have to complaint about every little thing they disagree with like this drone comment.Let these people go away or at best be ignored.

What makes it funny is that the Obama Administration is terrified that they might insult Muslims.
But they thought it was OK to joke about drones.
Drone attacks infuriate the people of Afghanistan and Pakistan. Obama thinks GITMO is a recruiting tool?
So are drone attacks.

The Left is morally bankrupt. They’d rather see schoolgirls have acid thrown in their faces than take responsibility and change things. But the death and destruction are soon going to be here, and people will stop listening to them.

It was a JOKE, and yes, a funny one (as the mother of a 10 yr old girl/Jonas fan myself, lol). Those on the “left” who noted and criticized it have a point about the lack of humor to be found in war-hardware in general, and were, imo, simply trying to be fair and balanced (something the right notoriously fails to do)…if Bush had said it, they would have noted and criticized it too, so….As Presidential jokes go, it was much better and far less offensive than Reagan’s famous off the mike “joke”, “We begin bombing the Soviet Union in 5 minutes.” It was NOT funny because it was a little too close to reality given his views and agenda AND, well, it simply was not funny.

When Bush joked about not being able to find the WMDs under the couch, he was talking about a mistake that got over 4000 American troops killed. While I realized even that was “just a joke,” that was a bit more over-the-line than a joke about drones.

I didn’t vote for Obama. I don’t like many of Obama’s policies. I don’t think the country is going the right direction (no pun intended). BUT, IT WAS A JOKE! and it was delivered in an appropriate context. And it was about the Jonas Brothers. And it was funny. Let’s move on.

When Bush joked about not being able to find the WMDs under the couch, he was talking about a mistake that got over 4000 American troops killed. While I realized even that was “just a joke,” that was a bit more over-the-line than a joke about drones.
Posted by: jock59801
_______________
It’s amazing to me Jock, the magnitude of the double-standard you have. It seems if a Democrat robs a bank and a Republican robs a bank, for some reason the Republican is more guilty of robbing a bank than the Democrat.
Anyhow, it is YOUR party that is critizing Obama, not the Republicans. Frankly, I don’t mind a bit. If your party starts to fight among itself, the Republicans will have an easier time winning this November.

I saw the joke on TV and realized immediately it was in bad taste had it been the village idiot from Texas he would immediately have been called on it.

Its a joke, get over it people. Just like in the episode of the Cosby show when Bill breaks out the huge knife to cut an apple with Vanessa’s would be boyfriend. I doubt Bill was going to carve the kid up, but I didn’t hear any complaints, but simply laughter. Its what dad’s do with their girls would be suitors.

Bush making the WMD joke was much worse because A) He had lied about them and B) he used the lie as a justification to go to war. Obama made a tasteless crass joke. He also has the power to drop a nuke yet I hope he would never joke about it.

I don’t think the Jonas brothers have any interest in Obama’s children for christmas sake.

“And these drones have killed thousands of innocent civilians in Pakistan”
Posted by: oleironleg | May 4, 2010 1:39:40 PM
____________________________________
This is not true at all. The information you post is wrong.

OK…I am a very far right Republican and all I can say is get over it. It was a JOKE! I laughed when I saw the news clip. I do not like the president’s politics but come on. It was just a joke. What I find more interesting is the liberal media’s complete silence on the subject. I wonder if they would have been so silent has a republican made the joke…something tells me they would not have been

Bush making the WMD joke was much worse because A) He had lied about them and B) he used the lie as a justification to go to war. Obama made a tasteless crass joke. He also has the power to drop a nuke yet I hope he would never joke about it.
Posted by: Boo
___________________
You seem to forget that the Iraq War got bi-partison support. YOUR heroes in Congress, including Hillary, John Kerry, made speeches on how Saddahm Hussein had WMD and that he must be stopped.
Since most Democrats are lawyers, and since lawyers are trained to know a lie when they see one, I’m sure they would have known right away that Bush was lying about WMD and voted against the war. Not only did they not do so, they made speeches backing Bush up.
And let’s assume Saddahm did not have WMD. Why don’t you tell me how our soldiers in 2992, got mysterious illnesses after returning from the very first Gulf War under Bush Sr.? Not a single Iraqi soldier had it but our soldiers did.

This is much ado about nothing. The joke is a retread of one used 10 years ago on The West Wing when Charlie Young started dating the President’s daughter.

American has lost her sense of humor. What a shame.

by the way I’s a Democrat who even laughed at some of Bush’s jokes -the ones he actually MEANT as jokes.

The traditional weapon of choice for protective fathers is a shotgun. Obama is just up-to-date. And who doesn’t know about predator drones? Not an Obama fan but it’s obvious he’s joking and I think it’s funny. So there.

Once critics panned Truman’s daughter’s singing and he said he was speaking as a father, not the president, and pretty much said he would beat the crap out of them. It raised a hullabaloo but most people thought they would do the same thing, and America laughed. Something we dare not do today.

I thought it was hilarious! BTW, I didn’t think of Bush’s WMD joke, I was reminded of Reagan’s “bombing begin’s” joke.

There is so much I do not approve of when it comes to Obama HOWEVER I was not in the least upset over his joke about the drones. It was funny and something you would expect from a Dad in response to his daughters, Obama happens to have drones as opposed to shotguns.It’s his politics and not his jokes that we all should be wary of.

I feel like this post must be the joke. If we’re at the point where we are so sensitive that a joke like this seems really offensive, we’re in trouble. Frankly, this was not a joke about war, but if it had been, well, that would probably be ok. This was a comedy routine. People joke about war. It’s true. When did liberals become so puritanical?

This is the first thing that Obama has said that I agree with. And it’s probably the first time he has said something that’s not a lie. Get over it America! Even though I can’t stand the guy, I do appreciate the humor he showed!

I don’t see what the fuss is. There is no way that the Jonas Brothers can be called innocent civilians.

I read the headlines and thought, “omg, he made a horrible joke about bombing civilians?” NO! It is about having daughters, boys and being a Dad! Doesn’t the media have a story to cover on Tiger Woods or something? Give me a break! And I thought it was funny!

He that would make his own liberty secure must guard even his enemy from
oppression; for if he violates this duty he establishes a precedent that
will reach to himself: Thomas Paine
I think it very revealing of the characters of those who thought the “joke” was funny. I think it would benefit us to remember the Golden Rule more often, to whit, how would you feel as an Afghani or Pakistani non-combatant to hear this joke. In other words, try putting yourselves in their shoes/sandals for the duration of this joke. It’s callous disregard for the security and dignity of innocent people. Period. Not funny.