Considering the kind of folks attending NRA events, this was probably a heck of a joke for them.
During a speech before the National Rifle Association convention Friday afternoon in Louisville, Kentucky, former Republican presidential candidate Mike Huckabee — who has endorsed presumptive GOP nominee John McCain — joked that an unexpected offstage noise was Democrat Barack Obama looking to avoid a gunman.
“That was Barack Obama, he just tripped off a chair, he’s getting ready to speak,” said the former Arkansas governor, to audience laughter. “Somebody aimed a gun at him and he dove for the floor.”
I’m sorry, but regardless of who Huckabee claimed the target was, I don’t see how this joke is supposed to be funny. He said that a noise offstage was somebody ducking for cover because a gun had been aimed at them.
Sure…isn’t that what anybody would do if a gun were aimed at them?
But…but… guns aren’t dangerous, right, Jay?
Mike, not cool, man.
Way to go HuckaBee….tell America how u really feel!! Just goes to show how a Christian Minister really feels! Another point for the Democrats!!!
For a guy known for his charm and wit, that was a spectacularly stupid thing to say.
Real Christian of you Mike.
Hell, why not nail him to the cross then call out the firing squad…I’m sure you’d like that!
Huckabee for Veep! Please please please….
Bad Joke. However Huckabee was one of the first people to defend Obama on the Jeremiah Wright thing.
It was a poor attempt at a joke. Somewhat in bad taste, but far more just a not funny joke. I wouldn’t begin to take it as any indicator that he thinks someone should aim a gun at Obama. Lets not make a mountain out of this substance-less molehill. Just an attempt at a joke which went over a bit better at the time and place he said it than it does later with the general public.
So it’s had it’s 15 seconds in the spotlight. Can we move on to real issues now?
Disgusting… How could ANYONE of sound mind and judgement think that this is a “funny” thing to say. Once again an indicator of the quality of the Republican Party, and this coming from a preacher. Hey Mike, how many african american presidential nominees would Jesus point a gun at? And for you idiots that think this is not a big deal, you’re as out of touch with reality as Mr. Huckabee is..
It’s not a big deal. It’s a tiny, little deal.
How we provide health care to everyone in this country who needs it.
How we end the war in Iraq.
How we care for those who volunteered and were pressed into service in the military.
How we deal with the current mortgage problem.
What we do about gas prices an energy policy.
THESE are big deals. Would you rather talk about them, or what some off-color attempt at a joke some non-candidate made?
Do you want the next debate to start off with 45 minutes of questions about Huckabee’s sense of humor and whether Rev Wright loves America more than Obama?
I’m with SpiderJ on this. The only way one could find this joke funny is if one finds the idea of someone pointing a gun at Obama funny.
Well, he was at the NRA…
Actually the sound was that of someone falling off the short list of republican veep candidates.
I’m sorry. This is a huge deal! He’s a former governer, presidential candidate and Christian. He can kiss his hopes of being Vice President/President goodbye. There are a great many jokes he can make about Obama, but this is so far outside the parameters of respectablity its disgusting.
If Obama gets shit for calling a reporter sweetie, I think making light of an assassination attempt on the life of the potential president of the United States should mean nothing less than the end of his political career.
And I support John McCain, btw.
This is sick.
Hucklebee just apologized for it
I’m sure he meant it in a very Christian way.
“Hucklebee just apologized for it.”
Good for him.
daniel rotter: “I’m with SpiderJ on this. The only way one could find this joke funny is if one finds the idea of someone pointing a gun at Obama funny.”
Anyone here remember the Simpsons episode where Homer forms and armed posse and they have five or six accidental discharges, while they were sill in his home?
You could also say Huckabee was making fun of gun owners as being completely irresponsible to the point when they are pointing their gun at someone else. I highly doubt this is what he meant.
I wonder if Bill O’Reilly mentioned Huckabee’s “joke” in his Tv and/or radio program. If (insert name of recent Democratic presidential candidate here) made a “joke” that involved someone aiming a gun at John McCain, he’d be going nuts.
“He can kiss his hopes of being Vice President/President goodbye.”
You forget though, that with much of the Republican base joking about shooting a black man is a feature, not a bug.
I know that I’m stating the obvious here, but Huckabee’s comments are so offensive because many of us fear exactly this. Many of us fear that some radical right wing nut job will actually attempt to shoot a gun at President Obama.
It’s difficult not to take Huckabee’s comment lightly. What he said was truly thoughtless. I’m glad that he apologized.
IMO, that kind of crack requires more than just a “press release” to qualify as a apology. This was more like a weak attempt of trying to limit the political damage instead. Sorry, but it doesn’t speak well for a person’s character if he is not honest enough to come out and publicly say it himself. Especially since he apologized personally to Mitt Romney for making a crack about his religion. Of course Romney was another republican candidate for President at the time and I guess its not required for democrats.
He also said at the same speech to the NRA:
No Huck, the only person who doesn’t “get it” is you.
While I disagreed with him on almost every issue, I used to think more of Mike Huckabee than just another right wing politician. This just finished that off.
To the NRA’s credit, while the audience did laugh at the innocuous first sentence of Hukcabee’s remarks, “most of the crowd went silent” (according to the New York Daily News) after the offensive second sentence.
Agree. No sane person thinks that someone getting shot or having a gun pointed at them is funny. And of all the soundbites that could come out of this, Huckleberry’s stupid and insensative remark was the “lead story” in the MSM coming out of that meeting. I doubt the NRA is too happy about that.