I hate Obama and everything he stands for. I also hate him on a personal level, because given the choice between capitalism and socialism, he deliberately chose to support socialism. I mock him every chance I get, even for small, petty things which aren’t his fault, like his ears (although those are actually LARGE, petty things) and his mule-faced wife (some guys just like ugly chicks – whattya gonna do about it?).
But I refuse to get all Kwazy Kos Kid and make fun of him for screwing up when he didn’t actually screw up. Humor requires truth to be funny, and if it ain’t true, it ain’t funny.
Some folks are busting Obama’s chops for saying “Welcome to Cinco de Cuatro” during a Cinco de Mayo celebration at the White House, saying that it was a “gaffe”, and a “fumbled joke”. They’re wrong. It was a good joke, done deliberately, and – based on the warm, sincere audience laughter – done well.
First, Obama’s not the first person to make this joke. About 6 years ago, something very similar was used in an episode of The Simpsons, where Homer lists some upcoming local holidays:
There’s the Tongue Kiss Festival, Cinco de Ocho, the Hobo Oscars. Days just made for lovers.
This joke works because when you hear “Cinco de”, your brain automatically says “Mayo” to itself, but you get surprised by the word “Ocho”, yet it sort of fits because it rhymes with “Mayo”, and it’s a Spanish word. The joke wouldn’t work if you said “Cinco de Brick”, for example.
Obama’s joke works even better because – in addition to these factors – it also makes reference to the elephant-in-the-room awkward fact that they were celebrating a holiday named for specific day of the year on a different day. That’s a lot of work for a single word, and as a person who spends WAY too much time thinking about the mechanics of humor-writing, I can tell you that that sort of confluence of factors doesn’t happen nearly often enough.
Obama also had good delivery because he looked at his watch afterwards with a mock-confused look on his face, as though he were checking the date, to emphasize the situation.
Now, I’m not saying that that joke should have necessarily been funny to YOU, or that making one good joke makes Obama NOT an evil, power-hungry desecrator of the Constitution. I’m just saying that this particular incident doesn’t belong on his ever-growing list of screw-ups.
I’m more a fan of Siete de Nueve myself. Rowrrr. :oD
I can appreciate seis de uno. Tripping The Rift anyone???
Maybe if we can keep him busy with Mexican holidays that no sober person cares about, as well as stuff pertaining to the dog (BO, not FancyNan or Hildebeast), then we can distract him enough from doing any real damage.
BO: “Gee thanks dad for naming me after the Body Odor initials. Takes one to know one!”
I agree. However, I still reserve the right to ridicule based on the fact that if Bush had said this, we all know how it would have been presented – “Bush is an idiot!”
so what you’re saying is he’s evil, smart and possibly funny. … I see big things for Barry in the future. Maybe this President job thing can be a stepping stone to greater things.
Rick – Isn’t Jay Leno retiring soon?
I don’t think that would go well, Harver.
Uhhhh….and then…..uhhhh…er….the goat….walks into…uhhh….the bar….and
Ooops.
why do they allow you morons to make brainless comments, but this is America. Love it or leave it. I bet you still have your nose up polutting Palin’s ass
thought by now the repudiates would get tired of whining. good grief, I can see why republicans are still losing; look at the whining support they have, let alone the racist rednecks
Cinco de Mayo is a drunk’s holiday. Cuatro de Mayo is a pre-drunk’s holiday.
Do away with all of Bush’s politicizing everything including religion. All of that
religiosity should go back to churches and stay there. The White House is not
a church. It is a residence and executive office to the President of ALL the people
not just the religious activist ones. Way back in Texas before he became the governor,
Bush gathered all these religious leaders for a meeting so they can tell him how
to get religion, to cut a deal with religious people for votes. The rest is history and
the results have been terrible for the nation. Religion should stay away from government.
Religion should stay in Churches and not the Congress. Separation of Church and
State is a very wise idea.
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You are a typical right-wing nutjob, Harvey, and I mean that. Petty, childish and all about hate, hate, hate, hate, hate. (And not half as funny as you think you are, though your mother certainly played a good joke on the rest of us when she popped out outta her worn-out old cunny! Hyuck! Hyuck!)
Then again, perhaps the world would be a much better place with hate-mongers like you running the show, not that the world is really in need of despots.
Hey! Wait a tick! We just had a lunatic like you named George Dubya Bush running the country for the last 8 years! Is the world a better place because of it? Let’s see now…
– Thousands of American soldiers and tens of thousands
of Iraqis dead as the result of a needless war in the
Middle East.
– The worst terrorist mastermind in recorded history
(Osama Bin Laden, in case you forgot ) is still on the
loose and once again gaining strength. (Can’t really
blame Bushie on that one–what future political clout
is there is a CAPTURED terrorist? That’d be as dumb
as, say, making abortion illegal!)
– People around the world hate Americans more than ever
before. (QUITE an accomplishment!)
– Thanks to his blank-check minions in Congress the country’s
in its deepest historical debt (I thought conservatives
were all about SAVING money, not spending it) after President Clinton
and the DEMOCRATS worked for years to REDUCE the DEFICIT.
– The country’s in the worst so-called “recession” since the Great
Depression 70 years ago thanks to REBPULCANS DEREGULATING
WALL STREET and thereby letting loose the shackles from greedy
corporate sharks and bankers who don’t give a rat’s ass about any-
body themselves.
– And then there’s the housing market…
I see a lot of pro-gun ads on this website, so perhaps I should point out that Bush and his cronies did everything they could to eliminate gun control and guarantee they end up in the hands of criminals, drug dealers, terrorists and the mentally unstable such as yourself.
One good thing that came out of Dubya’s presidency is that enough Americans (even the dumbest of the dumb–so I guess YOU must be even DUMBER than the dumbest of the dumbest) finally saw what a con job George and his cronies were running and last November got rid of most of the Republicans running our economy and country into the ground.
It’s funny, Harvey (not in a “Ha! Ha!” way, mind you), that I discovered you through a CNN.com link about President Obama toning down the national day of prayer. Since I was not able to leave a comment on CNN’s site about this story, I’ll leave my comment on that issue here:
I am so happy President Obama has started the move
to make prayer a private matter again and not a national
mandate. Everyone should also be happy since the Bible
clearly states in Matthew 6, Verse 5: “When you pray, do
not be like the hypocrites! They love to stand up and pray
in the houses of worship and on the street corners, so that
everyone will see them.” Forced worship, whether literally
by legislation or by social pressure, is not belief or faith,
it’s tyranny.
XXXOOO,
Frank
Yes, yes, yes. The IDEA of the joke was funny. And, yes he pulled it off fairly well. However, in keeping with the “mechanics” of the joke that you discuss in your post, he should have said “cinco”, stopped himself, and THEN said “quatro de mayo”. THAT would set the brain up for the “de mayo” part while still allowing him to CORRECTLY say “quatro de mayo”. Which brings me to my point: This little joke pissed me off because it drove home the fact that Teh One doesn’t know Spanish, but commands that we all learn it…IMMEDIATELY! He is a butthead.
I call B.S. on giving O-bah-muhh a pass on anything that the Industrial Media Complex would have crucified G.W. for. “Bienvenido a Cinco de Quatro.”, dijo el primer presidente negro de Los Estados Unidos. Sounds better in Spanish. If only we had more negro presidentes En Los Estados Unidos!
O-bah-muhh is so narcissistic that he used his initials for his dog’s name. Or maybe he thought he’d never remember the dog’s name if it didn’t remind him of Himself.
So, does anyone else expect that he’ll be mis-celebrating American holidays as well?
If he bothers to celebrate things like Independence Day…
If he hadn’t attempted to correct himself, maybe I would buy this line. But, he did, so I judge!
Judge!!
All this was was an attempt at humor that he failed at.
I would have thought it clever if he’d said “Quatro de Mayo”. When he said “Cinco de Quatro”, he essentially said 5th of 4. Kinda like 57 States only in Spanish.
Clever is above his paygrade.
THIS PONZI SCHEME HAS RUN IT’S COURSE,
WE CAN NO LONGER RIDE A DYING HORSE,
THE LAST GOLDEN GOOSE HAS BEEN PLUCKED,
WE AS A NATION ARE SOON TO BE F–KED,
ALL WE WILL HAVE LEFT, IS BUYERS REMORSE.
I think you missed what the screw up was. It should have been cuatro de mayo (fourth of may) not cinco de cuatro (fifth of fourth). The joke works when done right, that’s the problem. Unless he was also mocking the fact that Americans don’t understand spanish, which is completely false cause half of American’s use it as their first language.
Hey real
radicalasshat, you worthless Liberals did NOTHING for the past 8 years EXCEPT bitch and piss and moan and whine; beats having a job or doing anything constructive I guess.So STFU, you all have ZERO credibility when it comes to telling the rest of us what to do or say.
PP says:
Religion should stay away from government.
Religion should stay in Churches and not the Congress. Separation of Church and
State is a very wise idea.
————————————–
Islam is a religion, so is Secular Humanism. So unless you want these out of Government too, you’re a hypocrite. But don’t worry, most Liberal Moonbats are.
As for your other allegations, show us your source(s) or STFU.
Speaking of which, the only hate-monger in this thread is the diatribe written by your
friendlover “Frank Sellers” against Harvey, his mother, and President Bush. But you and those like you are so truly sick and mentally diseased that you probably think that it is appropriate speech to wish death or abortion on someone with whom you disagree, or call their mother the 4-letter “c word.”Damn, you Liberal Moonbats are so blind and stupid to your own actions you won’t even notice; it’s just how you are. If you want to stop looking like a hypocritial moron, put down Saul Alinsky’s Rules for Radicals and read Dale Carnegie’s How To Win Friends and Influence People instead.
Axelrod motivated his web thugs again it appears. I’m guessing the IPs were from Chicago? Or under hObama’s desk. They had the time to type their small minded comments whilst pulling a Monica on the Jug Eared ‘Tard at 1600 Penn.
Remember kids, let us not feed the brain-dead, mental-midget trolls. They apparently have no ability to reason cause and effect, so any intellectual concept5s beyond that would just confuse them and make them wet themselves. Which, though it would be funny to watch, would add to the general stench that surrounds a leftist anyway.
*concepts. Damnable typos.
I agree with Taggart and Tim. “Cuatro de Mayo” would have been mildly funny, and is probably what Barack the Great thought he was saying.
Psalm 2:10-12
“Now therefore, O kings, be wise; be warned, O rulers of the earth.
Serve the LORD with fear, with trembling kiss his feet, lest he be angry, and you perish in the way; for his wrath is quickly kindled.
Blessed are all who take refuge in him.”