Here we go again with attacks on the “mainstream media” and the invocation of the dreaded “gotcha question” to excuse poor performance and intellectual flat-footedness.
After being asked at last week’s debate about his ties to the shady nutritional supplement company Mannatech and saying “I didn’t have an involvement with them” and dismissing claims of a connection as “total propaganda,” Ben Carson called Thursday for an overhaul of Republican debate formats.
“Debates are supposed to be established to help the people get to know the candidate,” Carson said, according to The Washington Post. “What it’s turned into is — gotcha! That’s silly. That’s not helpful to anybody.”
I think the question was a fair one, and I’m not alone. Carson’s business manager, Armstrong Williams, said Thursday on CNN that the question wasn’t a gotcha one but an “absolutely” fair one.
“As far as we can tell, Carson was not a paid employee or official endorser of the product. However, his claim suggests he has no ties to Mannatech whatsoever. In reality, he got paid to deliver speeches to Mannatech and appeared in promotional videos, and he consistently delivered glowing reviews of the nutritional supplements. As a world-renowned surgeon, Carson’s opinion on health issues carries weight, and Mannatech has used Carson’s endorsement to its advantage.
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“We rate Carson’s claim False.”
The idea of the gotcha question and gotcha journalism have decades-long roots, at least. In 1999, Calvin Trillin in Time Magazine called gotcha journalism, “campaign coverage dominated by attempts to reveal youthful misbehavior.” But the questions the Republican candidates received were not of that genre.
In a 1992 New York Times Magazine article about Barbara Walters, one of her producers told Bill Carter that Walters always went for the “gotcha question, the one that reveals the person.”
But the idea of the “gotcha question” gained new primacy in the 2008 election, when William Safire wrote in The Times of MSNBC’s Chris Matthews’s prediction that “The gotcha politics will begin,” and noted that “Howard Dean, chairman of the Democratic National Committee, used the word in defense of having the audience question candidates at a CNN/YouTube debate instead of allowing reporters to have at his party’s candidates. He preferred to ‘let the American people back in’ than endure questions ‘from a press corps that wants to play gotcha!’ ”
But perhaps it has its most resonance because of its use by the disastrously ill-equipped Republican vice presidential candidate, who repeatedly used the phrase as an excuse for her train wreck interviews.
Gotcha questions have come to mean any question one doesn’t want to answer, any question whose answer would or could reveal something unflattering. In a way, a question is simply a question and only becomes a gotcha if you, the answerer, feel convicted and unsettled by it. Gotcha is in the mind — and spine — of the interviewee.
Carson simply wasn’t prepared for the Mannatech question and wasn’t completely honest in the answer. If that is gotcha journalism, I’m here for it “every day of the week and twice on Sunday,” to borrow a phrase from Mike Huckabee.
LOL, if the candidates can't handle the reasonably tame "gotcha" questions they've been asked thus far, how could they possibly expect to do...
WalterZ
2 days ago
Mr. Blow, your statement: "Carson simply wasn’t prepared for the Mannatech question..." says something about how the media judge candidates....
Al
2 days ago
Carson not a paid Mannatech employee? Not paid for his endorsements of the product?For goodness sakes, when a company pays you tens of...
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This is not to say that the debate wasn’t a bit of a mess. It was. Nor is it to say that some of the questions weren’t questionable. They were. But questions that seek clarification of a candidate’s past are fair.
But gotcha questions aren’t the Republicans’ problem. A frustration among Republican voters with political professionalism and a hodgepodge of fatally flawed candidates is. The more traditional portion of the Republican field is littered with candidates with strong résumés — I use the word strong here loosely, to mean the existence of governmental experience, not the quality of it — but relatively weak rhetorical skills.
Of the nontraditional lot, there is a former neurosurgeon whose strategy seems to be to appear barely awake while delivering word salads of outlandishness in a murmur, a real-estate mogul full of bluster and bawdiness, and a fired C.E.O. engaged in a breathtaking example of pink-slip revisionism.
Marco Rubio is thought to have won the last debate, not so much because he brilliantly articulated reasonable, or intellectually invigorating policy — “I’m against anything that’s bad for my mother” is a kindergarten truism, not a nuanced policy position — but because he remained relatively even and unperturbed.
And yet, it’s Carson who is now the front-runner, one of the candidates who spoke the least during the last debate and who seemed to want to say nothing at all. And that candidate is the one worrying about the precious few questions he will have to answer. That is the elephant party’s problem: They’re betting on someone who’s using ostrich logic.
Lol! Liberals are so stupid...they asked about fantasy football. I know its a real issue for democrats, but conservatives care about the bigger picture. Like not becoming a tard state like Canada...
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America guarantees equal opportunity, not equal outcome...
Lol! Liberals are so stupid...they asked about fantasy football. I know its a real issue for democrats, but conservatives care about the bigger picture. Like not becoming a tard state like Canada...
Canada isn't a state. You'll have to better with your insults.
Lol! Liberals are so stupid...they asked about fantasy football. I know its a real issue for democrats, but conservatives care about the bigger picture. Like not becoming a tard state like Canada...
Canada isn't a state. You'll have to better with your insults, lest you look like a tard yourself.
Canada is a Socialist state. Its a term used to encompass countries that embrace an idealogy. Like Russia is a communist state. The term encompasses more than a physical state.
You really need a bit of education hun..
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America guarantees equal opportunity, not equal outcome...
When did I ever get to say it's up to me to decide? I weigh in with my opinions, just like everyone else.
Sorry if it's a problem for you. You shouldn't have invited me here if it is.
Canada is a Socialist state. Its a term used to encompass countries that embrace an idealogy. Like Russia is a communist state. The term encompasses more than a physical state.
You really need a bit of education hun..
Socialism is a social and economic system characterised by social ownership and social control of the means of production as well as a political theory and movement that aims at the establishment of such a system.
You couldn't be more wrong if you tried. It's a capitalistic system based on free enterprise. We have better safety nets, but social ownership of means of production? Please.
You have social systems in place as well. You have military, schools, infrastructure, police, fire, etc. We added healthcare to the mix. It's a human right in our Charter.
If it helps you sleep at night to whine about Canada being socalist/communist, knock yourself out.
Canada is a Socialist state. Its a term used to encompass countries that embrace an idealogy. Like Russia is a communist state. The term encompasses more than a physical state.
You really need a bit of education hun..
Socialism is a social and economic system characterised by social ownership and social control of the means of production as well as a political theory and movement that aims at the establishment of such a system.
You couldn't be more wrong if you tried. It's a capitalistic system based on free enterprise. We have better safety nets, but social ownership of means of production? Please.
You have social systems in place as well. You have military, schools, infrastructure, police, fire, etc. We added healthcare to the mix. It's a human right in our Charter.
If it helps you sleep at night to whine about Canada being socalist/communist, knock yourself out.
First, Canada isn't a state. it's a country. And don't ask me about states within it. I do believe they don't have states but Providences. Correct me if I am wrong there...
Also yes, Socialism IS a social and economic system characterized by social ownership and social control of the means of production. Almost every country in the world is at least partly socialist. We do have some socialist attributes. Like Weltz said, our military, schools, and police/fire are socialist type programs. Canada is a bit more socialist in that they have added health care to the mix. They still have free enterprise though. Russia is the epitome of socialism. Socialism is not an either or really. It's more of a sliding scale.
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“You may shoot me with your words, you may cut me with your eyes, you may kill me with your hatefulness, but still, like air, I'll rise!” ― Maya Angelou
I have lots of Canadian friends. They would love to bring American laws to Canada. Canada is a Socialist country. Its sick...but go on pretending like you like it. We all know you are indoctrinated. Pet the fawns...quite the sycophants. ..
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America guarantees equal opportunity, not equal outcome...
I have lots of Canadian friends. They would love to bring American laws to Canada. Canada is a Socialist country. Its sick...but go on pretending like you like it. We all know you are indoctrinated. Pet the fawns...quite the sycophants. ..
I'm indoctrinated?
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“You may shoot me with your words, you may cut me with your eyes, you may kill me with your hatefulness, but still, like air, I'll rise!” ― Maya Angelou
I have lots of Canadian friends. They would love to bring American laws to Canada. Canada is a Socialist country. Its sick...but go on pretending like you like it. We all know you are indoctrinated. Pet the fawns...quite the sycophants. ..
I'm indoctrinated?
If you agree with their socialist laws, then yes...
__________________
America guarantees equal opportunity, not equal outcome...
I have lots of Canadian friends. They would love to bring American laws to Canada. Canada is a Socialist country. Its sick...but go on pretending like you like it. We all know you are indoctrinated. Pet the fawns...quite the sycophants. ..
Canada is a Socialist state. Its a term used to encompass countries that embrace an idealogy. Like Russia is a communist state. The term encompasses more than a physical state.
You really need a bit of education hun..
Socialism is a social and economic system characterised by social ownership and social control of the means of production as well as a political theory and movement that aims at the establishment of such a system.
You couldn't be more wrong if you tried. It's a capitalistic system based on free enterprise. We have better safety nets, but social ownership of means of production? Please.
You have social systems in place as well. You have military, schools, infrastructure, police, fire, etc. We added healthcare to the mix. It's a human right in our Charter.
If it helps you sleep at night to whine about Canada being socalist/communist, knock yourself out.
First, Canada isn't a state. it's a country. And don't ask me about states within it. I do believe they don't have states but Providences. Correct me if I am wrong there...
Also yes, Socialism IS a social and economic system characterized by social ownership and social control of the means of production. Almost every country in the world is at least partly socialist. We do have some socialist attributes. Like Weltz said, our military, schools, and police/fire are socialist type programs. Canada is a bit more socialist in that they have added health care to the mix. They still have free enterprise though. Russia is the epitome of socialism. Socialism is not an either or really. It's more of a sliding scale.
You are absolutely correct. Except it's "provinces."
Canada is a Socialist state. Its a term used to encompass countries that embrace an idealogy. Like Russia is a communist state. The term encompasses more than a physical state.
You really need a bit of education hun..
Socialism is a social and economic system characterised by social ownership and social control of the means of production as well as a political theory and movement that aims at the establishment of such a system.
You couldn't be more wrong if you tried. It's a capitalistic system based on free enterprise. We have better safety nets, but social ownership of means of production? Please.
You have social systems in place as well. You have military, schools, infrastructure, police, fire, etc. We added healthcare to the mix. It's a human right in our Charter.
If it helps you sleep at night to whine about Canada being socalist/communist, knock yourself out.
First, Canada isn't a state. it's a country. And don't ask me about states within it. I do believe they don't have states but Providences. Correct me if I am wrong there...
Also yes, Socialism IS a social and economic system characterized by social ownership and social control of the means of production. Almost every country in the world is at least partly socialist. We do have some socialist attributes. Like Weltz said, our military, schools, and police/fire are socialist type programs. Canada is a bit more socialist in that they have added health care to the mix. They still have free enterprise though. Russia is the epitome of socialism. Socialism is not an either or really. It's more of a sliding scale.
You are absolutely correct. Except it's "provinces."
Well, if my misspelling of it is all I got wrong I'm doing pretty good!
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“You may shoot me with your words, you may cut me with your eyes, you may kill me with your hatefulness, but still, like air, I'll rise!” ― Maya Angelou
I have lots of Canadian friends. They would love to bring American laws to Canada. Canada is a Socialist country. Its sick...but go on pretending like you like it. We all know you are indoctrinated. Pet the fawns...quite the sycophants. ..
I'm indoctrinated?
If you agree with their socialist laws, then yes...
Oh FFS. Who said I agreed or disagreed with anything? I simply said I understand how governments work here and there.
__________________
“You may shoot me with your words, you may cut me with your eyes, you may kill me with your hatefulness, but still, like air, I'll rise!” ― Maya Angelou
I have lots of Canadian friends. They would love to bring American laws to Canada. Canada is a Socialist country. Its sick...but go on pretending like you like it. We all know you are indoctrinated. Pet the fawns...quite the sycophants. ..
ROTFLMAO!!!
Laugh all you want. People flock here from "Canadia". Aint a whole lot of Americans wanna go there. Keep living in your fantasy world. Canada is the last place people want to go to...
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America guarantees equal opportunity, not equal outcome...
I have lots of Canadian friends. They would love to bring American laws to Canada. Canada is a Socialist country. Its sick...but go on pretending like you like it. We all know you are indoctrinated. Pet the fawns...quite the sycophants. ..
ROTFLMAO!!!
Laugh all you want. People flock here from "Canadia". Aint a whole lot of Americans wanna go there. Keep living in your fantasy world. Canada is the last place people want to go to...
Canadia [sic] is the last place I want you to go, but aside from that, we're pretty popular.
Which American laws do these fictional friends of yours want to implement here?
My Canadian friends laugh about "Canadia". They come here for medical and dental treatments. We own property in "Canadia".
Its a joke. They all would love to love to live here. But sadly, they can't. One day maybe they will enjoy the freedom we have here...
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America guarantees equal opportunity, not equal outcome...
My Canadian friends laugh about "Canadia". They come here for medical and dental treatments. We own property in "Canadia". Its a joke. They all would love to love to live here. But sadly, they can't. One day maybe they will enjoy the freedom we have here...
They'd rather pay for treatments rather than get them with no OOP expenses? Sure they would. What kind of medical treatments?
Dental is different. Dental isn't covered by our Medicare.
So, which American laws would these atheist, hippy, liberal friend of yours like to see implemented in Canada?
Open carry? Private insurance? (been there, done that, got rid of it). Death penalty? What?
"I have lots of Canadian friends. They would love to bring American laws to Canada."
Obama's spin that they can't "handle the mods" is more of utter diarrhea of the mouth. The Candidates handled the Mods beautifully. Cruz slapped them down and finally the some of the other GOP candidates decided to demonstrate some backbone as well. As for "whining", Obama whines constantly and I have never seen such a pissy, thin skinned man.
Obama's spin that they can't "handle the mods" is more of utter diarrhea of the mouth. The Candidates handled the Mods beautifully. Cruz slapped them down and finally the some of the other GOP candidates decided to demonstrate some backbone as well. As for "whining", Obama whines constantly and I have never seen such a pissy, thin skinned man.
Obama's spin that they can't "handle the mods" is more of utter diarrhea of the mouth. The Candidates handled the Mods beautifully. Cruz slapped them down and finally the some of the other GOP candidates decided to demonstrate some backbone as well. As for "whining", Obama whines constantly and I have never seen such a pissy, thin skinned man.
We'll said
Well, Obama refuses to go on FOX news too because he has said their questions are too hard and unfair. So really, should he even be talking? I guess he can dish it out but not take it.
__________________
“You may shoot me with your words, you may cut me with your eyes, you may kill me with your hatefulness, but still, like air, I'll rise!” ― Maya Angelou
Obama's spin that they can't "handle the mods" is more of utter diarrhea of the mouth. The Candidates handled the Mods beautifully. Cruz slapped them down and finally the some of the other GOP candidates decided to demonstrate some backbone as well. As for "whining", Obama whines constantly and I have never seen such a pissy, thin skinned man.
We'll said
Well, Obama refuses to go on FOX news too because he has said their questions are too hard and unfair. So really, should he even be talking? I guess he can dish it out but not take it.
E
He very rarely gives press conferences even with the other networks.
Obama's spin that they can't "handle the mods" is more of utter diarrhea of the mouth. The Candidates handled the Mods beautifully. Cruz slapped them down and finally the some of the other GOP candidates decided to demonstrate some backbone as well. As for "whining", Obama whines constantly and I have never seen such a pissy, thin skinned man.
We'll said
Well, Obama refuses to go on FOX news too because he has said their questions are too hard and unfair. So really, should he even be talking? I guess he can dish it out but not take it.
E
He very rarely gives press conferences even with the other networks.
You're correct. He does, in fact, hate FOX the most though. But if he refuses to go on shows to take questions because they might be too hard he really is the pot calling the kettle black.
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“You may shoot me with your words, you may cut me with your eyes, you may kill me with your hatefulness, but still, like air, I'll rise!” ― Maya Angelou
He definitely IS a teleprompter president. And all black people could be his son. Even the ones that are trying to commit crimes when they are caught. Way to go.
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“You may shoot me with your words, you may cut me with your eyes, you may kill me with your hatefulness, but still, like air, I'll rise!” ― Maya Angelou
Well, I don't think he said the questions were too hard per se. He says FOX news is too slanted. And like Lindley said he doesn't like being questioned by anyone. Which is exactly the point I'm trying to make. He doesn't like to answer any questions he's not prepared for but he makes fun of the Repubs for answering stupid questions. I don't really know too many people who care what Jeb Bush's fantasy football team is. We have some real problems in our country right now. Honest to god, serious problems. And the mods were talking fantasy football.
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“You may shoot me with your words, you may cut me with your eyes, you may kill me with your hatefulness, but still, like air, I'll rise!” ― Maya Angelou
I don't have an EXACT quote. I do know he refuses to take questions from people he knows won't go easy on him. He has no business saying the Repubs are afraid of real questions. They weren't even given real questions. Fantasy football is not a real question pertaining to being a President. Maybe in Obama's mind but probably not in the mind of those who are unemployed.
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“You may shoot me with your words, you may cut me with your eyes, you may kill me with your hatefulness, but still, like air, I'll rise!” ― Maya Angelou
Obama refused to go on FOX because the questions are too hard? When was this? Does anybody a have a link?
Have you ever seen him on Fox?
I thought not.
Exactly. And no, I don't have a link but he always refers to FOX as "that one news station".
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“You may shoot me with your words, you may cut me with your eyes, you may kill me with your hatefulness, but still, like air, I'll rise!” ― Maya Angelou
The Incredibly Thin Skin of Barack Obama (updated)
By Rick Moran
A long, yet unsatisfyingly incomplete article in the current issue of The New Yorker about Barack Obama's Chicago roots, lauding him for many things that might be considered non-laudable, was a passing curiosity in the blogosphere yesterday. We here at AT blogged about it, pointing out that Mr. Lizza had actually uncovered some things that weren't too flattering about the candidate.
But the piece went from a passing curiosity to a full blown campaign typhoon when the cover of the issue was released. It showed Obama in a turban doing the fist bump with his wife who is dressed up as some kind of revolutionary. An American flag burns in the fireplace of the Oval Ofice:
One look at this and the Obama campaign hit the roof. Despite the fact that The New Yorker was lampooning conservatives by portraying some on the right's overheated descriptions of Obama, spokesman Bill Burton for the Obama campaign said "The New Yorker may think, as one of their staff explained to us, that their cover is a satirical lampoon of the caricature Senator Obama’s right-wing critics have tried to create. But most readers will see it as tasteless and offensive. And we agree.”
Well, I don't agree. I find it pretty rich even if they are poking fun at conservatives. But what should trouble anyone is how thin Obama's skin truly is if he can't take a little satire from his friends on the left!
Michelle Malkin puts it nicely when she headlines her post "Grow a pair, Obama" and says "So, you found this satirical New Yorker cover art “tasteless and offensive.” Welcome to public life. Guess what? In Washington, political cartoonists and caricaturists spare no one."
So Obama plays his race/cultural card against a friendly publication while many of his allies on the left dutifully follow his lead and condemn the piece because most of them fear that those of us who live out in flyover country "won't get" the satire.
Thin skinned Obama and his tone deaf, elitist allies; what a combination.
Update from Thomas Lifson: Doug Ross presents a montage of the sort of satire Bush, Cheney and conservatives are subjected to without provoking any whining or outrage.
montage
My all-time favorite comes from Der Spiegel:
Der Spiegel
Isn't it time for Obama to man up?
Update: the artist Barry Blitt speaks in the Huffington Post (via Jake Tapper):
"I think the idea that the Obamas are branded as unpatriotic [let alone as terrorists] in certain sectors is preposterous. It seemed to me that depicting the concept would show it as the fear-mongering ridiculousness that it is."
I keep hearing from Obama supporters that he is being "branded" or "called unpatriotic." But I do not see anyone calling him or branding him unpatriotic or a terrorist. Who is doing this, and why are they so hard to find?
A long, yet unsatisfyingly incomplete article in the current issue of The New Yorker about Barack Obama's Chicago roots, lauding him for many things that might be considered non-laudable, was a passing curiosity in the blogosphere yesterday. We here at AT blogged about it, pointing out that Mr. Lizza had actually uncovered some things that weren't too flattering about the candidate.
But the piece went from a passing curiosity to a full blown campaign typhoon when the cover of the issue was released. It showed Obama in a turban doing the fist bump with his wife who is dressed up as some kind of revolutionary. An American flag burns in the fireplace of the Oval Ofice:
One look at this and the Obama campaign hit the roof. Despite the fact that The New Yorker was lampooning conservatives by portraying some on the right's overheated descriptions of Obama, spokesman Bill Burton for the Obama campaign said "The New Yorker may think, as one of their staff explained to us, that their cover is a satirical lampoon of the caricature Senator Obama’s right-wing critics have tried to create. But most readers will see it as tasteless and offensive. And we agree.”
Well, I don't agree. I find it pretty rich even if they are poking fun at conservatives. But what should trouble anyone is how thin Obama's skin truly is if he can't take a little satire from his friends on the left!
Michelle Malkin puts it nicely when she headlines her post "Grow a pair, Obama" and says "So, you found this satirical New Yorker cover art “tasteless and offensive.” Welcome to public life. Guess what? In Washington, political cartoonists and caricaturists spare no one."
So Obama plays his race/cultural card against a friendly publication while many of his allies on the left dutifully follow his lead and condemn the piece because most of them fear that those of us who live out in flyover country "won't get" the satire.
Thin skinned Obama and his tone deaf, elitist allies; what a combination.
Update from Thomas Lifson: Doug Ross
Read more: http://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2008/07/the_incredibly_thin_skin_of_ba_1.html#ixzz3qeL6XgBf Follow us: @AmericanThinker on Twitter | AmericanThinker on Facebook
Look, here's my issue. Obama was saying the Repubs were all whining about the questions. Damn right they were. I'm a registered voter. I don't give a damn about anyone's fantasy football team. Neither Repub nor Democrat. That is not even something that means anything when it comes to the presidency. We need to be finding out answers on the IMPORTANT issues.
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“You may shoot me with your words, you may cut me with your eyes, you may kill me with your hatefulness, but still, like air, I'll rise!” ― Maya Angelou
Only a few days ago, we reported that Hall-of-Fame former NBA star Michael Jordan was highly critical of Obama’s golf game, calling him a “hack” and a “sh*tty” golfer.
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Rather than let the matter die, as most presidents would probably due, overly thin-skinned Obama just couldn’t let the comment wither on the vine without trying to get the last word in. In essence, to use a term he used in 2009, he got “all wee-weed up.”
“Mike and I, we know each other, but I’ve never played golf with him,” Obama told Wisconsin radio station WJMR. “Michael wasn’t very well-informed about this. I think he might’ve just been trying to give Ahmad [Rashad] an extra ratings boost for his show,” Obama argued
Obama has been roundly condemned for playing a massive amount of golf during his dictatorship presidency, reportedly playing 200 rounds of golf, some of it during either national or international crisis, leaving much of the country questioning his priorities.
“But there is no doubt that Michael is a better golfer than I am,” Obama conceited. Of course, if I was playing twice a day for the last 15 years, then that might not be the case,” Obama bragged.
Obama, in unbelievable hypocrisy, then blasted Jordan for playing too much golf, and not paying enough attention to his day job as an owner of the Charlotte NBA basketball team He might want to spend more time thinking about the Bobcats — or the Hornets,” Obama said.
Of course, many would like Obama to pay more attention to the country and spend a little less time golfing. According to Tuesday’s Republican blowout, it looks like many Americans can’t wait until Obama has the time to play twice a day
Look, here's my issue. Obama was saying the Repubs were all whining about the questions. Damn right they were. I'm a registered voter. I don't give a damn about anyone's fantasy football team. Neither Repub nor Democrat. That is not even something that means anything when it comes to the presidency. We need to be finding out answers on the IMPORTANT issues.
They didn't 'whine". They stood up to the idiot Mods. DOH!
Look, here's my issue. Obama was saying the Repubs were all whining about the questions. Damn right they were. I'm a registered voter. I don't give a damn about anyone's fantasy football team. Neither Repub nor Democrat. That is not even something that means anything when it comes to the presidency. We need to be finding out answers on the IMPORTANT issues.
They didn't 'whine". They stood up to the idiot Mods. DOH!
Well, the left called it whining.
__________________
“You may shoot me with your words, you may cut me with your eyes, you may kill me with your hatefulness, but still, like air, I'll rise!” ― Maya Angelou