Where's the Outrage Over Frank Luntz's Joke About Killing the President?
By anniepa
@anniepa (27955)
United States
February 22, 2012 12:46pm CST
We currently have a Democratic U.S. Senator who spent many years as a comedian and comic writer; he once made a rather tasteless and uncharacteristically unfunny joke about former President Bush which has been referenced here many times by one of my good conservative myLot friends as a reason Senator Franken shouldn't be in the Senate and basically should be hated and vilified into eternity. My view is that every comic and writer of comedy tells or writes a joke that crosses a line now and then; if they didn't, they wouldn't be "edgy" enough to be very funny, some would say. Whatever, since taking office as a U.S. Senator Franken has shown his more serious side so he obviously knows how to separate his two lives.
Much more recently Frank Luntz, the Fox News contributor who tells the Republicans what to say to effectively scare people into voting for them, made a "joke" I think was at least as bad if not worse than Franken's and he's not a comedian. He told a group of Rick Santorum supporters he had a "Run, Barack, Run" bumper sticker on his car but that it's on the FRONT bumper. Ha-ha...ROFLMFA...let's joke about running the President of the United States down with a car! NOT FUNNY!! It wouldn't be funny if it were said about George W. Bush or Bill Clinton and it's not funny when it's said about President Obama.
http://crooksandliars.com/susie-madrak/frank-luntz-i-have-run-barack-run-sti
I ask you, where's the outrage? I don't care if you voted for President Obama, if you support him or any of his policies or NOT, this is disgusting and coming from a supposedly serious political consultant it's even more so.
Annie
5 people like this
12 responses
@xfahctor (14118)
• Lancaster, New Hampshire
22 Feb 12
Ok, where oh where do I go with this one? Do I go the responsible route and say in the most grandiose fashion I can muster that this is to be condemned and that Luntz (who I am no fan of) should be fired for such irresponsible and childish behavior? Or do I go with my gut instinct and just say this country really needs to get a sense of humor and stop taking ourselves so freakin seriously, thus risking being accused of being partisan, and that if it was a "lefty" that said something like that I would screaming from the highest hills over it (most of you know better though)?
3 people like this
@anniepa (27955)
• United States
23 Feb 12
You're right, X, most of us know better! Anyway, I didn't mean to come across as being "grandiose" and I know calling for Luntz to be fired would be useless since this IS Fox we're talking about. I agree some of us take ourselves too seriously these days but I also think there are some things that simply aren't meant to be joked about, especially in times like these.
Annie
@Rollo1 (16679)
• Boston, Massachusetts
26 Feb 12
I think I would prefer it if people could be outraged over just this comment and not the ginned up and false stories of people driving cars in the south, in this day and age, with a Run N* Run bumper sticker on the front. Why is it never enough to calmly and reasonably state a disagreement or disapproval of someone's comment or action and point out why it is wrong without making up something designed to start even more racial tension and try to inspire even more rage and hatred against some much larger, imagined enemy? The site you link to attempted not to just vilify Frank Luntz, but all Southerners and all Republicans and anyone associated with Fox News. The article is just as hateful as the comment, because instead of objecting to the comment as being disrespectful to the president, it attempts to make it entirely about race. Based on this kind of reporting one might assume that Liberals are the most racist people in the media, because to them, everything is about race. But I really don't think they are racists, it's just the easiest route to take to keep things from being about policy.
1 person likes this
@Rollo1 (16679)
• Boston, Massachusetts
26 Feb 12
Oh, and BTW, this very outraged article also refers to running down black people as a game in which you score points (sourced apparently from a question on Yahoo! Answers, LOL). Funny thing though, in the scoring system for Pedestrian Polo, you get more points for running down Chuck Norris than you do for Barack Obama and there are no categories based on any race or belonging to any ethnic group.
Just be mad at Frank Luntz if you think he's out of line. But never, ever, link to Crooks and Liars, because they appear to be just that.
1 person likes this
@bobmnu (8157)
• United States
24 Feb 12
The outrage is among the liberals who thought the Canadian Film on the Assassination of a Sitting American President was Art. I also noticed that there were two discussions on Mylot one asking who should be killed first President Bush or Osama bin Laden.
The MSM did not see or attend the speech so they could not report it. Unlike the MSM that picked up on the SNL show portraying Gov Palin saying You can see Russia from my house. That statement was picked up by the MSM and attributed it to Gov Palin, while the actual quote was you can see Russia from parts of Alaska.
I do think the joke was in poor taste and should not have been made.
1 person likes this
@6precious102 (4043)
• United States
24 Feb 12
Joking about killing anyone is never funny, but why is it worse to tell a joke about killing Obama than it was to tell a joke about killing Bush?
@bestboy19 (5478)
• United States
24 Feb 12
Maybe Luntz should follow the example of Franken and run for senator.
@crossbones27 (49463)
• Mojave, California
22 Feb 12
Annie you take these things to seriously. Don't you know it is funny when you say you are going to run over the black President with your car (sarcastically). I have to say some of these people are still living in the 50's.
1 person likes this
@thegreatdebater (7316)
• United States
24 Feb 12
There is no outrage because joking about killing the president is only bad when it is a republican. I don't know if the Supreme (ACTIVIST) Court has ruled on that, but I am sure it is coming soon.
@matersfish (6306)
• United States
22 Feb 12
"I ask you, where's the outrage?"
You're displaying it.
1 person likes this
@inertia4 (27960)
• United States
28 Feb 12
Every president in history was made fun of by comedians. and Saturday night live always made fun of the presidents. A joke is a joke. I agree that the republicans have to humor what so ever. They try to make a joke but it comes out sounding stiff. As a matter of fact I think the biggest and funniest joke right now is the sorry looking morons running for the republican party. LOL. I find them all funny in a sad way.
@gladys46 (1205)
• United States
23 Feb 12
Additionally Annie, in a featured column in the National Memo, EJ Dionne writes: "They say that President Obama is a muslim, but if he isn't he's a secularist who is waging war on religion. On some days he's a Nazi but on most others he's merely a socialist. It's simply astonishing that a man in his fourth year as our president continues to be the object of the most extraordinary paranoid fantasies ..."
I was absolutely amazed at Romney's statement during last evening's GOP "debate" that "President Obama's" attack on religious liberty was the worst ever!! Really ... if Mitt would offer any truth on this issue, I would think that the government's outlaw of his very own Mormon religion's polygamy, which caused his family to flee America to Mexico, would be the "worst ever" ... ya think!!!
@gladys46 (1205)
• United States
23 Feb 12
Hi Annie ... I agree wholeheartedly that Luntz' suggestion is outrageous. I also question any audience who receives this applauding! These are those who reduce/marginalize the very office of America's president. When a shoe was thrown at GW Bush by a foreigner, I voices my outrage loudly even though I was totally against the policies of GW ... I respect the office!
As this GOPTer campaign goes on, the important things to watch for me is the complete confused, convoluted way it's being conducted ... the accuracies of vote counts being questioned by their own candidates, the hostilities against their own, the flip floppin' from one stated principal to walks backs of same ... hey, where is the love!! Well-setttled social laws being revisited as if the issues of the economy disapeared for them (hint, hint)! As many have already said, the GOP has in fact "constructed" their very own President Obama .. the rest of us recognize the REAL President Obama! Actually, Annie they have nothing else but intolerance, ignorance and more LIES! And, just imagine being forced by federal laws to be pregnant for most of your young life!! Imagine that!
@bostonphil (4459)
• United States
22 Feb 12
I like Frank Luntz. He is a political analyst who, among other things, runs focus groups. I have seen him on television many times.
I do not think that he said anything so terrible. He was at a Republican fund raiser or other event. And that is what these folks do. They make fun of the other side. if it was a Democratic event, they would be making fun of the Republicans.
Rachel Maddow is a MSNBC personality. She is the female counterpart of Keith Obermann. They lean very far left and hate Fox. And Fox. in turn, hates them back. MSNBC and Fox are always jabbing at one another.
I don't think Frank said anything so terrible. I do not think it was racist. He made fun of Hillary also. Politics is nasty. I like to observe but do not get involved. I am a moderate independent. It makes life so much easier.
1 person likes this
