Going To Hell For This One, I’m Sure

I defended Obama’s “Special Olympics” comment, but what I will NOT defend is the sanctimonious bulls@#$ response by Special Olympics Chairman Timothy Shriver, which says in part:

Finally, we invite the President to take the lead and consider hiring a Special Olympics athlete to work in the White House. In so doing, he could help end misperceptions about the talents and abilities of people with intellectual disabilities, and demonstrate their dignity and value to the world.

Ya know, if retards REALLY want to demonstrate their dignity and value, they can start by showing that they can take a joke at their expense, just like normal people.

And Shriver – Dude… chill.

Retarded people aren’t smart enough to know that the President was making fun of them. If any of them saw the show (which I doubt, because they tend to have early bedtimes), they probably heard Obama say “Special Olympics”, then got really excited, threw both arms in the air, and shouted “YAY! SPECIAL OLYMPICS!” with that endearing Elmer-Fudd-like speech impediment of theirs.

No harm, no foul. Obama’s got nothing to apologize for.

46 Comments

  1. Obama: “I’ve been practicing bowling. I.. ah… I bowled a 129. I.. ah… it… It’s like Special Olympics, or something.”

    Special Olympian: “Well, Mr President, you really ARE an underachiever. All of our bowling team can beat you.”

    (ba da ding)

  2. What is Shriver talking about? President Obama already has Pelosi and Biden working for him. Is that not good enough? I don’t think the US can handle anymore retarded White House employees.

  3. When Shrivner says: “he could help end misperceptions about the talents and abilities of people with intellectual disabilities,” I am convinced that the comment was referring to the staff of tgitwh.

  4. Shame on you guys for making fun of these people. You should know that Biden and Geithner aren’t athletes. The only staff member with an athletic bone in their body is Rahm, and he’s SOL unless they add ballet to the list of events.

  5. Sorry Frank. If it were someone who didn’t indulge himself in flinging the “sanctimonious bulls@#$” at those who don’t deserve it, I might have some sympathy. But I have absolutely none for Obama.

    Just this week for Obama was beating AIG employees with his self-righteous sactimony stick. Did they deserve it? No.

    Does Obama deserve it because of his remarks to Leno? No. He deserves it because it is exactly the sort of treatment he gives to others.

    As ye sow…

  6. Full disclosure – I used to work as a camp counselor at a summer camp for retarded kids, and – to a man – they all had a better sense of humor than either Obama or Shriver.

    And if you thought the above post was offensive, then don’t listen to Stephen Lynch do the “Special Olympics” song (language warning):

  7. Actually, Timothy Shriver might have a point. I’m sure they could do some important functions around the white house, like deliver messages to Tim Geithner to remind him about that portion of the Stimulas package he asked Chris Dodd to include about Bonuses to AIG was actualy going to happen, or remind him to pay his taxes on time. Hell, since Obama hasn’t filled the other 18 positions in the Treasury, I’m sure having a full retard in the position is better than nothing.

    And yes Harvey, you are going to hell for this post, and since we laughed, we may be going with you.

  8. Why should Special Olympians be limted to service at the White House. I would feel a lot better going before an IRS audit with a special person. Or why can’t they be community organizers and work Obama’s Chicago neighborhoods. They could work for Social Security, EPA, Civilian National Security Force, Border Patrol, Airport Security. They could act as armed guards for commercial aviation. The sky is the frigging limit.

    Tim Shriver is right. Why can’t they be talk show hosts or star in movies, or give newscasts? I’m sure as hell ready. If you consider some of the human refuse in these jobs now it would be an improvement.

    What about the State department? Couldn’t Hillary or ambassadors use aids? I do see one problem.

    Hillary and entourage land at the airport. Foreign dignitaries have surrounded the plane. As Hillary disembarks carrying a button that says squeeze me, the crowd surges past her thinking the short silly one is Hillary based on what they’ve heard.

    We had our first black president. Now we’ve had our second black president. We’ve had our first non American president. We’ve had our first bi-sexual president. We have even had a telepromter for a president. When, When, When, When America, will you give us our first Special Olympian president?

  9. I may be a sick person but……

    WHAT IF?

    Marine One were to crash, and everyone were to survive BUT Pres. Obama was left Mentally Retarded? I know most of you are thinking ” We wouldn’t even notice the difference” And the rest of you are thinking ” This guy is so stupid I can only imagine how much worse it could be if he were retarded” but I think it would be funny as hell.

  10. I’d love to see some Mentally Disabled person do his impression of Obama on YouTube wearing Black Face as Payback. Then sit back an watch as Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton go into their Racism song and dance. (Now I’m probably in trouble for the ‘song and dance’ reference)

  11. Yeah… I don’t find this funny. I have a sense of humor but I don’t much like jokes at the expense of people who are too simple to understand that they’re being made fun of. (Unless those people are Democratic politicians; then it’s okay.)

    I’m not gonna call down fire and brimstone on everyone who does think it’s funny, but… I dunno, mocking people with developmental disabilities just strikes me as a mean-kid-in-middle-school thing to do.

  12. Funny how this little piece of dialog from Blazing Saddles seems to fit so many situations……..Prez Obama: What the hell is this?
    Joe the Vice President: This is the bill that will convert the state hospital for the insane into the Barack Obama memorial bowling ally for the insane.
    Prez Obama: [Standing up proudly] Gentlemen, this bill will be a giant step forward in the treatment of the insane bowler!
    [pointing to a member of his cabinet] I didn’t get a “harrumph” out of that guy!
    Joe the Vice President: Give the Prez a harrumph!
    Timmy the Treasurer: Harrumph!
    Prez Obama: You watch your ass.

  13. It was a cheap shot for a laugh on Leno. As usual with these people, every thing is offered at someone else’s expense. Who ever suggested the monkey team in the administration would only win the bronze is over reaching as well. The current champion bowler in that category is carrying a 200 average with 5 perfect 300 games since 2005. It’s not a prestige sport; but, it aint beanbag.

  14. I’ve got it! I’ve got it! 3 words, as Joe B would say. 2010 Census. Is that not perfect? Obama could then be “sensitive” to all of the disabled people, and we might finally get a d@mn honest counting. If they screw up slightly, who cares? It’s always a lie, anyway. And they are gonna need a s#it pot load of people to do that job. Sorry, Acorn-nutz, we got the Special Olympics Team!

  15. This article has become a play ground for well capable individuals to mock and laugh at the not so fortunate. I know you think you’re a genius, you sit around writing little blog entries and most of the time I find them entertaining. What I fail to understand is your need to make punch lines about the mentally handicapped. I get it, you’re smarter and bigger so you can do it. I find your comments disgusted and quite frankly uncalled for. Obama’s remarks were off handed but you decided to jump over the cliff. Yes, you’re a real man, call them retards and mock their mannerisms.

    “Retarded people aren’t smart enough to know that the President was making fun of them. If any of them saw the show (which I doubt, because they tend to have early bedtimes), they probably heard Obama say “Special Olympics”, then got really excited, threw both arms in the air, and shouted “YAY! SPECIAL OLYMPICS!” with that endearing Elmer-Fudd-like speech impediment of theirs.”

    This is how low your commentary has become. Forget about mocking Obama, let’s go right after people who aren’t good enough for us. Making fun of a mentally handicapped person because they don’t understand is like screaming at someone who is deaf because they can’t hear, making faces at a blind person because they can’t see or jumping around because someone in a wheel chair can’t walk.

    What’s next? Going to make fun of cancer patients because they’re bald? Oh look at the funny bald people!

    You need to pick and choose what you take sides on and this one confuses me. Obama doesn’t need you to tell us what we can and can’t chastise him for.

  16. Mr. Britton – Lighten up, dude. This is a humor site, allegedly. (Mr. Britton – See? That was humor, poking fun at Frank J.) Most people read this blog because it _does_ make fun of people, all people, not just the current politically-correct targets. You should sign up for the special blog for the humor impaired. (Mr. Britton – That was humor too, poking fun at you.)

    Back to the subject at hand – I hear there are at least 17 slots in Treasury. A Special Olympian might be just what they need. Couldn’t screw it up any worse than the Harvard types have. (Mr. Britton – That was humor, poking fun at the Harvard types in Treasury. It was not poking fun at Special Olympians – it was recognizing that they have abilities that are not commonly appreciated, among those abilities being simplicity and common sense that might be useful at higher levels of government.)

  17. With all this whining about retards, everyone is missing the real story, Jay Leno is a RACIST:

    Q Now, are they going to put a basketball — I imagine the bowling alley has been just burned and closed down.

    Q And how about, are you going to put in a basketball court?

    An obvious reference to African-born-Americans and their propensity to burn things down in their own neighborhoods and playing basketball.

    where’s Reverend Al?

  18. It was horrible for a President of the U.S. to appear on a (late night empty blather) show and disgrace the office. It was horrible for a President of the U.S. to demean (any) human being by disgraceful humor at their expense.

    To defend same as being of no consequence?…words matter…for pity’s sake, at least keep such remarks private.

    I am reminded of that foolish Bill Maher’s admiration for the suicide pilots on 9/11 being oh, so brave as to kill themselves in the act of killing others…”now, that’s courage…! A stronger allusion, but still inappropriate to carelessly fling into the airwaves…

    The world is watching the U.S. tank…we can at least wrap the shreds of dignity around our ragged selves as we climb into the trumbrels on our way to the scaffold.

  19. Patrick – You are correct. What I wrote was crass, tasteless, and indefensible. Which is my point, because Obama’s remark wasn’t even close to being in the same league, yet Shriver is trying to say that it is.

    What Obama was saying was “my bowling is terrible, but I tried my hardest, so you have to applaud the effort.” Which is exactly what Leno was doing with his patronizing “very good Mr. President” commentary on Obama’s pathetic score. Since the Special Olympics is all about the celebration of effort regardless of results, Obama’s remark was not out of line.

    Now, was Obama a hypocrite for saying it? Oh HELL yes. He’s forever chastising the populace about the evils of thoughtcrimes and he’s hypersensitive about anything that contains even the seed of possibility of being misconstrued. Then he makes a remark that fits that category. Truly a “gotcha” moment of epic proportions.

    But I don’t do double standards. I wouldn’t claim that a Republican making the remark was being deliberately hurtful, so I’m not going to make that claim about Obama. He’s got enough legitimate faults for me to target. I don’t need to assert fault where it doesn’t exist.

    So, having seen what a cruel, thoughtless, and deliberately insensitive remark about the mentally challenged looks like, do you still think Obama’s remark falls into that category? Is Shriver justified in his pompous harrumphing? Or is it just another case of outrage-by-proxy where the people who have any sort of claim to be offended (Special Olympics athletes) are, in fact, NOT offended, so Shriver is just taking it upon himself to be offended in their name, whether they want him to or not?

    I think it’s the latter. I’ve known plenty of special needs kids, and they’re perfectly capable of saying sarcastically “ha ha, very funny” if they’re offended. I couldn’t help noticing that the Special Olympics bowling champ didn’t seem offended at all. He was just happy that he was a better bowler than the President.

    Something to consider.

  20. Ok, I admit, I’m a bit sensitive on this subject because I have people in my family who are mentally handicap. I didn’t think Obama’s remark was that bad, off handed but nothing worth damning over.

    That being said I know IMAO is a humor site, pretty damn funny too, I just found your remarks a little too much over the top. I have a sense of humor I do! I guess some issues are just more sensitive to me than others.

  21. We cripples are always saying we are just like normal folk. Well the POTUS made a joke at our expense. We need to laugh it off as the bad joke it was and move on. Just like normal folk do. It’s not like he took shots at our moms or sisters.

  22. Well there are those who are mentally challenged and those who are integrity challenged and those who are spiritually challenged.

    Making fun of those who can not help their challenges is not funny, it’s cruel, sad and makes those who make the jokes look like insensitive morons ( O’vomit and …………..fill in the blank). Making fun of those who should know better, who are not challenged except integrity wise is absolutely funny in the extreme.

    There but for the grace of God go I (or my child, sibling, cousin, aunt, uncle….fill in the blank). In my most arrogant opinion.

  23. Here’s the sad reality of how things would be if the Neo-Progressives had their way: Think Nazi Germany’s treatment of all those who were not considered genetically or physically superior. And that’s all you really need to know.

    I’m sure that sounds drastic to some, but since its already been done before, there’s no reason to believe it couldn’t happen again. I hope that everyone realizes that most of them are eugenicists at heart on some level, so what chance would someone with Cerebral Palsy or Down Syndrome have in their Utopian vision of the future?

  24. This plays out like a scene from the movie, Idiocracy, which I finally got a chance to see last week. One character says, “I wonder if Einstein felt this way when he was around normal people?”, and the other one replies, “Yeah, that’s probably why he made the Bomb.”
    I know the press has been gushing about how intelligent berry is for over a year but his real IQ, like his birth and college records, is a closely guarded secret.
    I helped out at my church tutoring a group of special needs children, and it was a struggle sometimes for me to slow down, not get impatient, and help them at their own level. They sometimes surprised me when I realized I’d slowed down too much and they became impatient with me! I experienced an ‘attitude adjustment’ and then we got on better.
    Every once and while you read about some kid who graduates highschool at 12, gets a college degree by 15, and a masters degree by 17. And then you never hear about them again. Is there some special community for the super brainy (like that SciFi channel series, Eureka) or do they just get sucked up into some research lab or corporate brain-trust?
    Do really smart people consider normal folks the way normal folks consider the retarded, or are they too smart to think that way?

  25. Look, he is allowed to make fun of the retarded. I mean, black people can say the n-word and make jokes about black people, right? Why? Because he is one of them.

    Well, its the same thing. He is allowed to make fun of the mentally handicapped because he is one of them!

    On a serious note, there is something wrong with the most powerful man in the world making fun of some of his constituents in a manner that suggests that he sees them in a stereotyped way. Its like if Bush said, “when white people die, they leave a will; when black people die, they leave a will.” The joke is fundamentally based on a stereotype and thus wrong.

    The stereotype that special olypics atheletes are bad atheletes, is just that: a stereotype. Most of them frankly could out perform me, and maybe even could do better at the president. Not at bowling, either, but at Basketball, which the President is reportedly pretty good at.

    Is it the end of the world? No. But it was inappropriate and beneath the office he serves.

  26. 7 days

    Mmm, i shouldn’t have written without caffine. I mean to say “bill” the second time. Its from Chris Rock’s movie “Down to Earth,” which had a point pertinent to the conversation.

  27. ok, im gonna tell yall a story. I am a former US Marine. I had the pleasure of partaking in the opening ceremonies of the Special Olymics in Honolulu back in 2001 0r 2002 i cant remember. I was with the Marine Corps Base Hawaii MP (Military Police) Company that was LAST in line and NOT announces as being present in a Law Enforcement Run through Hololulu. Well, we as Marines we were the “torch guard” on the run even though the torch was carried by somebody else. We ran through Honolulu and figured out why we were last and not mentioned. They other guys were pissed that all the women were yelling and cat calling at US!!! Now back to my story…We get to Punchbowl Stadium, line up in front of the big firepit that gets lighted with the torch (on national tv too) and they have all the retarded kids coralled in a pin – no joke. So somebody finally lights the flame with the torch and the turn the kids loose with baloons and confetti (i think). It wasnt 10 seconds after they let the retards loose, half of them were naked, grabbing each others privates, masturbating, and humping each other and in-animate objects. In other words – acting like US Congressmen!!!!! Needless to say, the cameras were not on them – so we held our military bearing as Marines do, and when off camera laughed until we just about peed our pants. If that Special Olympics moron wants them to work in the whitehouse, America needs to see the real deal. Id be happy to smack him aross the face.

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