I tried to make a couple of funnies over this issue and that was really as far as I was going to take it, but some on the Right have taken umbrage with anyone addressing this issue at all saying that we're being distracted and gulled by the wrong thing — IOW, we're being "stupid" again.
Like David Webb (Jason Bourne, is that you? I keed! I keed!):
To my friends on the right or otherwise, PLEASE STOP! Who gives a cr*p about skeet-gate? It's a distraction for a few more days when we should be talking about the economy. Ever wonder why these "non-issues" come out at a time when say … the unemployment number ticks up?
And DrewM:
Remember when it was the left that went nuts with crazy theories every time Bush did something innocuous?Good times, good times.
— DrewM (@DrewMTips) February 2, 2013
I laughed at people who demanded an investigation into "Turkeygate" as well as anyone who did. I guess times change. breitbart.com/Big-Journalism…
— DrewM (@DrewMTips) February 2, 2013
If the issue is that we shouldn't take a magnifying glass and micrometer to the Obama image and conclude that there's no evidence the trigger was pulled, and therefore the smoke coming out the barrel must be the result of controlled demolition charges set by the CIA, I couldn't agree more. If you want me to agree that, in the scheme of things, whether the photo was a set-up, whether he was actually shooting skeet, a stationary target or a lawyer friend's face, whether he was firing a shotgun or rifle, or whether there's visible recoil or not isn't a BFD, I will gladly do so. If you want me to agree that low jobs numbers and an economy coughing up blood is more important than whether Obama was actually doing what he claims he was doing in the image, I will also agree. But with a caveat.
Sure, the release of the image was likely timed to coincide with the release of even more bad jobs news but it is just as likely that Obama initially brought the issue up to coincide with and support last week's Senate anti-Second Amendment hearing. Are we to just let that pass without criticism? Do we pretend that Obama and his media lapdogs haven't been spending massive amounts of time and energy trying to curb our Second Amendment rights?
We don't want to look like rabid Progressives obsessing over the authenticity of a turkey, but it's important to make a distinction between the two instances of propaganda. To look at what the two different images say. The Bush image says, "I may be Commander in Chief but I'm also one of the guys bringing a little bit of home, in the form of a traditional meal, to The Troops". Maybe all of that is a lie. Maybe the war was stupid, maybe the expression on his face is insincere, maybe he's not really "one of the guys", and maybe the turkey is Teflon-coated to make it more photogenic, but at least what he is doing and the message he's trying to convey falls within the responsibilities of the Commander in Chief as everyone understands them.
The Obama image, on the other hand, is saying, "I may be the Chief Executive of the United States of America, but I'm also just one of the guys exercising my Second Amendment right to use a firearm to hunt and participate in recreational shooting sports". It's the same lie Amy Klobuchar tells every time she gets all folksy and talks about her Uncle Dick in his deer stand. The Obama image is this continued attempt to use the Jedi Mind Trick to convince you that, despite what the second half of the Second Amendment actually says, it doesn't contain the rights you are looking for. That the Democrats cannot be accused of trying to take away a fundamental right essential to making America what it is because that right never existed in the first place.
If you don't think pushing back against that message is as important as exposing Obama's economic failures, I don't know what to tell you.
BTW, David Poof…err, I mean, "Plouffe"…can kiss my ass.
McGehee on February 3, 2013 at 11:16 am said:
Apparently some people mistake making fun of something for taking it seriously. I personally don't care if the photo is genuine or staged — the purpose of releasing it is obvious and is, equally obviously, false.
Nobody is trying to prove that Obama doesn't know how to handle a shotgun properly. He has already stipulated as much.
Starless on February 4, 2013 at 7:55 am said:
I can sympathize with a sensitivity to shiny object distractions — we don’t have a lot of room to go off on tangents right now — but in this case I don’t think it’s a distraction.
Obama doesn’t know how to handle a shotgun properly
Which is scarier? Obama with a shotgun or Brezhnev behind the wheel?
Bill Edlebeck 2 on February 4, 2013 at 6:42 pm said:
Sure, I remember some great Bush photo op’s; clearing brush, playing golf, standing on a rock somewhere and saying “Heck of a job Brownie”; commandeering an air craft carrier, a fighter jet, flight suit, and a big banner from Kinko's that said “mission accomplished”. How about that press conference he called in the fall of 2007 to tell us (big surprise) that his policies over the last eight years have resulted in the collapse of our financial system, our investments, equity, and oh yeah, Paulson says we hafta give the banks responsible a billion dollars with no strings, or even paperwork for that matter… just for starters. God, I wish he knew how to use Photoshop! (or a computer, or spell…)
Starless on February 5, 2013 at 7:30 am said:
You missed something; you forgot to call him “Chimpy McBu$Hitler”. Your OfA minder is gonna awful pissed!
Lance Boyle on February 7, 2013 at 2:50 pm said:
Barry shoots a shotgun, says, “See, I don’t need 25 shots to have a blast! I don’t want to take away your guns, just the ones I decide I want to take.” Next target, the 1st Amendment.