He's making this too easy:

[While visiting Mount Rushmore Senator Obama]...did express curiosity about the filming of a chase scene in "North by Northwest," Alfred Hitchcock's 1959 classic starring Cary Grant and Eva Marie Saint that included a death-defying scramble over Rushmore's presidential faces.

"How did they get up there in the first place?" he asked ranger Wesley Jensen.

"They didn't. It was a movie set," Jensen told him.

Makes spelling "potato" with an "E" seem pale in comparison.

My whole point in listing the long list of Senator Obama's gaffes, mistakes, and errors is to point out that, had any republican (or even Hillary Clinton ...now that the media have dumped her for someone younger and better-looking)) made any of the same mistakes, then the media would cover them nonstop and tag said republican as stupid - a label that could never be shaken. That whole "57 states" thing alone would be with any republican forever - had a republican said it. The New York Times would run front page stories on such a thing for 32 days in a row. But as far as the mainstream media is concerned Obama is the Chosen One. To them he is a golden-tongued wunderkind who can do no wrong (except to anyone who listens to him for any period of time). The media wants him to win and they will go out of their way to not show him in any bad light. But there is so much usable material of Obama gaffes to permanently label him not-too-bright for the rest of his political career. But Obama is untouchable as far as the media is concerned.

Think of all the republicans over the years that the media have dubbed stupid: Reagan, Quale, both Bushes. Can anyone name one national democrat that the mainstream media have likewise dubbed as stupid? Even obvious candidates like James Traficant, Dennis Kucinich or Sheila Jackson Lee are portrayed as lovable yet harmless eccentrics. But never stupid.

The media doesn't even try to hide their bias anymore.

"My whole point in listing the long list of Senator Obama's gaffes, mistakes, and errors is to point out that, had any republican (or even Hillary Clinton Red Face ...now that the media have dumped her for someone younger and better-looking)) made any of the same mistakes, then the media would cover them nonstop and tag said republican as stupid - a label that could never be shaken."

Why would they need to cover him, John? He's a Democrat, so they know you will handle all gaffes, real or imagined.


"Makes spelling "potato" with an "E" seem pale in comparison. Smile "

No, it doesn't, John. Even the 4th(?) grade kid knew it was wrong.

For the record, I am aware that John is not a Republican. It just looks that way because he finds fault with 99% of anything a Democrat does and 5% of anything a Republican. But he's not a Republican.

quote:

Originally posted by DorianGreyed:
No, it doesn't, John. Even the 4th(?) grade kid knew it was wrong.

William Figueroa, the kid in the spelling bee, was 12. During his interview with The Trentonian, he called Quayle an idiot. Here is a good account of the event.

My recollection is that the flash card from which Quayle was reading had the word spelled "potatoe," with an "e" on the end. I further recall journalists reporting looking the word up to make sure of the spelling. Is that true?

I made the mistake of waiting hours in line for two personally autographed copies of Quayle's book (one for my father). It would have been more interesting if a lot of words had been misspelled.

I recall wondering why Al Gore did not take a lot of heat for confusing Michael Jackson and Michael Jordan. Small difference

quote:

Originally posted by DorianGreyed:
For the record, I am aware that John is not a Republican. It just looks that way because he finds fault with 99% of anything a Democrat does and 5% of anything a Republican. But he's not a Republican.

My main criticism was against the media. And since it is the media that finds fault in 99% republicans yet in only 5% of democrats (or more now for Hillary! ) then my pointing that out only makes it seem like a defense of republicans. No matter what you think, I am still libertarian. As such, that gives me a unique vantage point to view media coverage regarding democrats and republicans.

You know I am no fan of Hillary, but I will say this: Hillary Clinton is 1000 times smarter than Barack Obama. Obama is only a better speaker than Hillary - one of the reasons he has attracted so many followers. I think it's funny that Hillary now finally knows what it is like to be a republican as far as the media is concerned! I just wonder which younger, better-looking democrat will replace Obama as the media darling at some point in the future? He better watch out! As soon as a picture or video of him puffing away on one of his cancer sticks surfaces, the sheen will be off of him and whichever democrat is waiting in the wings will steal his spotlight the way he stole Hillary's!*

*Yes, I know that is similar to what this latest nutjob priest has said. But even the broken clock in that church is right twice a day!

quote:

Originally posted by JohnGalt:
Obama is only a better speaker than Hillary...

My own impression is that few politicians can deliver a speech better than Obama, but that Hillary Clinton is more comfortable with "off script" remarks.

"I recall wondering why Al Gore did not take a lot of heat for confusing Michael Jackson and Michael Jordan. Small error"

Having seen Gore dance, I am certain he neither watched Michael Jackson or played basketball at any time in his life. He moved like Smokey Burgess trying to beat out an infield hit.

That the word was spelled wrong on the card came out a few days later, as I recall. It's my opinion that the powers that be figured that it was not necessarily the best excuse but the only one that could be offered.

That reporters had to look up the word doesn't surprise or bother me. None of them was going to be VP. That Quayle didn't recognize the word was spelled wrong on the card, if indeed it was does bother me. (Although Quayle could, I guess, claim to have a surfer's eduction. When giving a speech in Southern California, he said, "I love California. I practically grew up in Phoenix.")

Another favorite Quayle quote is:

When addressing a group of astronauts at a ceremony: "My fellow astronauts,..."

Sorry, Fuse, but the man was pretty dumb, and never really knew what he was talking about.

Does this man have a graduate degree (something like "JD")?

I understood most of these geographical difficulties at age 10.

"Does this man have a graduate degree (something like "JD")?"

Yes, as did Ford and Quayle. Reagan and his VP were also both college grads, and the current president has an MBA. Yet all of them have said some incredibly stupid things at times. Quayle's comment to the astronauts came at an Apollo 11 anniversary, at the start of his prepared speech. Maybe his speech writer was to blame (and maybe not), but one would think that he might have noticed that, at no point in his life, was he an astronaut.

Welcome to AnswerPool, by the way.

quote:

Originally posted by DorianGreyed:
That reporters had to look up the word doesn't surprise or bother me. None of them was going to be VP.

No, they are simply professional communicators who should have spelling skills equal to or exceeding a Vice President's.

From my link above:

"Despite a few blunders by Quayle, the Bush ticket prevailed in the election of 1988.

Days later, seeking to stifle the buzz in political circles that he was intellectually challenged, Quayle sat down with a group of top American political reporters for a televised two-hour discussion.

The newsmen, and many viewers, were left with the impression that, for all the jokes about him, the new vice president was a well-informed, politically savvy young man."

I don't mean to defend Quayle. His book was a poor, self-centered effort that completely wasted my time and money. I do not like him. But I am not sure he is a dumb as his legacy.

Obama, the great communicator, may rack up more gaffes than Quayle did in four years before the November election. And he is running for President.

I don't except excuses from presidential candidates.

No matter how long the primaries drag out, the greatest speakers, the greatest statesmen, the greatest minds and the greatest leaders only need apply for the highest office of the world's greatest nation.

Liberals set their standards low enough that a man like this can pass through undetected. Conservatives can change the nation on our own. We don't wait for elected officials to do it for us.

quote:

Originally posted by DorianGreyed:
[Quoting JohnGalt} "Makes spelling "potato" with an "E" seem pale in comparison. Smile "

No, it doesn't, John. Even the 4th(?) grade kid knew it was wrong.

Nope. Sorry, but Senator Obama not realizing that movies are just make-believe is completely off the stupid scale compared to a spelling error.

Your exaggerations spoil your case. Do you really think Obama's "blonde moment" about whether or not the scene was shot on location means that he doesn't realise that movies are just make-believe? Similarly your idea that similar mistakes on the part of Republicans would be cast up by the media "for ever" is self-defeatingly over the top. McCain has made similar mistakes, and this hasn't happened.

We need to distinguish, I think, between slips of the tongue which are funny, slips of the tongue which are not funny, and slips which actually signify something.

Examples of the third category would be: Clinton's 'snipergate' comments - illustrating her deperate attempts to pad her foreign affairs resume, Obama's 'FARCgate' contradiction - signifying his attempts to sound tough despite how sensible his earlier comments were, no doubt on the advice of some focus group or other, and McCain's conflation of Sunnis, Shia and al Qaeda into an amorphous group of 'Bad Guys' - signifying either that lack of understanding on the part of the government so evident in the Iraq fiasco, or a deep contempt for the intellectual abilities and curiosity of the average US voter.

quote:

Originally posted by JohnGalt:
Sorry, but Senator Obama not realizing that movies are just make-believe is completely off the stupid scale compared to a spelling error.

Where do you get the idea that Obama is not realizing that movies are just make-believe ? From him asking how some shots in North by Northwest film were done ? The establishing shots were on location at Mount Rushmore. The rest were on a full scale model of the (relevant part of the) monument, at the studio [Source: ImdbPro]

How does that relate to the general assertion that Obama doesn't realize that movies are make believe?

Guys, give John a break. He just wants to shoot down Obama so he can copy and paste his old posts blaming Clinton for everything and not have to write new material.