Huckabee apologizes for Obama gun joke

[Faygo Kid]

Source: UPI

LOUISVILLE, Ky., May 16 (UPI) -- Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee Friday apologized for telling an audience of gun rights supporters an offstage noise was Barack Obama ducking a gunman. . .

. . . "That was Barack Obama, he just tripped off a chair, he's getting ready to speak," Huckabee joked. "Somebody aimed a gun at him and he dove for the floor."

Huckabee late Friday issued a statement apologizing for the remark, The New York Times reported.

"I made an off hand remark that was in no way intended to offend or disparage Sen. Obama," the statement said. "I apologize that my comments were offensive. That was never my intention." . . .



Read more: http://www.upi.com/NewsTrack/Top_News/2008/05/16/huckabee_apologizes_for_obama_gun_joke/2500/

---

He's old enough to know EXACTLY what he was saying. We have seen this before. I don't buy his apology.

Goodbye, Mike Huckabee, as a player on the national stage. Good riddance.

[wtmusic]

1. A gracious apology for a really stupid comment.

Huck has a way of being extremely charming when on the spot, and would be McCain's best choice for a running mate.

[cstanleytech]

4. Yeah, Huckabee has alot of charisma in my opinion

and if I did not detest his stand on to many issues and if I were not afraid he would try to turn the country into a theocracy I might be tempted to vote for him.

[Tunkamerica]

12. you for got the sarcasm tag

you can't be serious. you'd vote for huckabee if he weren't quite so religious? that's your only problem with him?

[cstanleytech]

40. No, he would also have to be more moderate on alot of other issues

so really the odds of me voting are probably the same as aliens landing on the whitehouse lawn to bring us world peace and happyness.

[merwin]

44. You missed the 'if i did not detest his stand on issues' part.

Not just religious.

[bowens43]

53. HIltler had a lot of charisma too....

[ChairmanAgnostic]

54. people close to him all admit

that under the veneer of sweet southern charm, he is one of the meanest, most ruthless, arrogant assholes around. Once you pierce his charm facade, the guy is a real jerk.

[KansDem]

60. "Once you pierce his charm facade, the guy is a real jerk."

Remember eight years ago when Cokie Roberts told us on NPR that Bush had a "charm offensive?" That he would go to DC and get things done by being "charming, oh so charming?"

And he turned out to be "a real jerk" too.

Coincidence?

[lutefisk]

64. The Bush facade is pure "jerk", but underneath that facade it's much worse.n/t

[Nevernose]

62. Welcome to the world of Southern Baptist clergy

To be fair to Huckabee, I seriously doubt there was anything intentionally malicious about his joke. Just stupid and in poor taste.

[Faygo Kid]

5. Not any more. He ended it with this comment.

Just what McCain needs, with his ass in the tank, anyway: A running mate who "jokes" about shooting the other side's candidate.

Give me a break. Huckabee is no longer in the equation, and actually, he isn't neocon enough to be in the equation to have begun with. Wasn't ever going to happen.

"Extremely charming," my rear end.

[Change has come]

11. my rear end too.

:wtf:

[1_cali_dem]

35. At one time I thought

:kick: ....that he was charismatic and "charming" as well, and did enjoy him as a thorn in the side of MC_LAME, but hearing his remarks today I lost any respect that I may have held for him. He's another sneaky, pandering, republican. (as if there might be any other kind of republican?):hippie:

[ladeyday]

30. Okay..................

I hope they DO put the huckster on the McInsane ticket. Good ad ammo video of cHuckles "funning" about Obama

[Brundle_Fly]

46. Having your people release a statement is hardly

a gracious way to apologize.

[Joe Bacon]

48. Please let Mc Cain pick the President of the Wayne Dumond Fan Club!

Please let him pick VANILLA CHRIST! PLEASE!!!!!!!!!!!

[AlinPA]

56. Gracious? "that was in no way intended to offend or disparage Sen. Obama"-

his remark was disparaging and belittling (one of the other meanings of the word). Typical republican "apology".

[Tangerine LaBamba]

2. Offhand, my ass......

That was set up and quite deliberate. Huckabee was just pandering to the worst in that audience. This whole scenario tells any intelligent person everything he or she needs to know about Huckabee...

If he'd gotten a great big laugh and a round of applause, he surely would not be apologizing right now.

Anyone who lived through the two Kennedy assassinations and the MLK murder cringes when someone makes a "joke" like that.

[Faygo Kid]

8. Hear, Hear, applause. Precisely. Took him what, 8-10 hours to see which way the wind blew?

I remember all three assassinations like they were yesterday, and anybody old enough to do so knows Huckabee is not "charming." Anyone of his generation KNOWS the gravity of the words he said, and they don't just "slip up." The memories are part of who we are.

[Tangerine LaBamba]

26. Those murders changed the world

of those of us who were just coming of age then. How different everything might have been if only they'd not died. We'll never know, but we forever live with our losses.

That Huckabee would even DARE to make such a joke tells me how far we've sunk under this alleged "administration." He really believes that such ugly remarks are acceptable; that's because those right-wingnuts have gotten away with so much these past eight years. Shame on him, a supposed "man of God." I wonder what his God thinks of those who utter such vile words.

I honestly believe the tide has begun to turn. I want to live in a civil world again.

[PSPS]

28. You're exactly right

I remember when Leno made a "grassy knoll joke" on the anniversary of JFK's assassination. I've loathed that piece of filth ever since.

[Tangerine LaBamba]

73. :::::: gasp ::::::::;

He did that? The sonofabitch. I never liked him, never watched him, but doing something like that is beyond the pale.

I'm so tired of the vulgarities that have become so accepted in our culture. I want good manners and civil behavior back.

[jwirr]

15. We especially cringe when we think how many nuts like huckabee

are out there. Apology or no this is incitement to do harm to another person.

[AlinPA]

57. It was not "offhanded"- it seemed rehearsed. There was zero time between the sound and

his disparaging remark. Phony republicans as usual.

[fortyfeetunder]

68. Yes, I cringe....

I vividly recall those three assassinations because they happened within my early childhood, struggling to figure out what life was all about.

My unfortunate conclusion by the time I was 12 was anyone who had a vision, a dream, and wanted to seek positive change in the world risks getting eliminated.

I can accept Huckabee's apology, but no way in hell will I forgive him.

[thunder rising]

3. And right on schedule.

[L. Coyote]

6. Huckabee: "It's the chair's fault."

[Lint Head]

7. He was in front of the NRA. I own a gun and I believe in the

right to bear arms. I do not believe that the NRA is protecting the right to bear arms. It is nothing more than an club for fascists to rant. It use to be on organization that helped people understand gun safety and how to properly handle firearms. I am old enough to remember that. Huckabee is apologizing for something that he thinks but came out unexpectedly. I believe he is a subliminal racist and deep inside wants to plant that 'thought seed' that someone would do to Obama what was done to MLK. That would eliminate the threat Obama is to republicans. They could never, and i mean 'never', run an African American for President.:dem:

[Robeson]

10. I'm not big on the right to guns thing, ....

...but I think you're dead-on about Huckabee. I just don't trust the slick preacher.

[Lint Head]

18. He is slick. I expect to see his eyes rotate in the opposite directions

at any moment. Is is a very strange person. :dem:

[calimary]

45. Well, it certainly proves that that particular "thought seed" has already taken root in

his mind.

VERY VERY revealing that this so-called "minister" would joke in that way.

Yeah. REALLY funny, gomer. A veritable laugh-riot.

NOT.

:puke:

Frankly, of those who still approve of him after he uttered a crack like that - their reactions tell you WORLDS of information about them, also.

[C_U_L8R]

9. He issued a statement??

Huckabee needs summon up the decency to apologize to Obama's face.
What a total asshole.

[debbierlus]

13. Fuck him

[Lena inRI]

14. FREUDIAN SLIP comes to mind. . .

. . .also, letting the cat out of the bag comes to mind.

Code words. . .codifying. . .green light for whom?

Apology is meaningless. . .useless. . .can't TAKE BACK those words!

Yeah, but I am confident Team Obama has already figured out the necessary strategy to cope with this off-the-wall comment. . .

OBAMA WILL BE READY...

:kick: :kick: :kick: :kick: :kick:

[lib2DaBone]

27. K&R Off the wall look.... at the Grassy Knoll

More than A FREUDIAN slip. It was a promise and a premonition. Any one wanna make book that if Obama even gets close, he will get whacked? Wonder how it wil happen? Let's see. Maybe in the crowded kitchen of a hotel in L.A.? Maybe in a motorcade in Downtown Dallas while Papa Bush watches from the sidelines? Maybe on a hotel balcony in Tennessee?

[AlphaCentauri]

71. Some republicans are looking for a volunteer, no doubt about it

Their mind is so racist and too stretch

[Duncan]

16. What an irrelevant piece of shit. nt

[jwirr]

17. I'm curious. What was the reaction of the audience at this NRA meeting? nt

[Stuckinthebush]

20. Evidently it was shock

Lots of murmurs and no applause.

[jwirr]

23. I would say that is good.

[ProudToBeBlueInRhody]

66. One thing about the NRA.....

....and I'm no fan.....they don't take kindly to people making jokes about shooting people.

[hatrack]

36. The clip is over in the video section - there was some applause . . .

Maybe not the "show-stopper" Ol' Huck was hoping for, but some, which is depressing enough, God knows.

[UTUSN]

19. This is AT LEAST as bad as the Macaca deal!1 n/t

[unkachuck]

21. "I...

"apologize that my comments were offensive. That was never my intention."

....wrong jagoff, that was exactly your intention....to cast Obama as a wimp and weak on terror is every slimy repugs job until November....then quickly apologize, as your fetid negative verbal stench lingers in the air....

....well guess what, douchebag?....it's not going work anymore....$4.00 a gallon gas and eight solid years of lies and war have finally convinced the noble American people that you repugs are untrustworthy evil scum....

....right here, suck-a-bee....

[defendandprotect]

22. "Not intended to offend or disparage" . . . ???? Huh????

Disgusting man . . .!!!

[goforit]

24. Premeditative murder Huckabee?.....bite your tongue.

[KamaAina]

25. Okay, then, I guess that's the end of that.

:sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm:

[Botany]

29. Nothing is as funny a shooting of a black man.

What a total classless prick.

[alcibiades_mystery]

31. Huckabee: "When I said that that n*gger better watch his step, I did not mean to offend!"

Fucking puke.

[redirish28]

32. He apologized BUT the idea was put out there... What Racist gun loving

might try and follow through with the joke...


How many more "off handed" remark will be made by Repugs who later apologize saying they didn't mean it.

[DU GrovelBot]

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[ladeyday]

34. Never liked him:

a republican from Arkansas?
a southern preacher? (although the man who brought me to Christianity was a red head from TN)
PLEASE!!
His previous jokes were NEVER funny. And as a southerner, he KNOWS funny is NOT shooting a black man. As a "Christian" he KNOWS funny is NOT shooting ANY man. As a politician, he KNOWS Barack Obama is in danger as a black man running for presidency. Huckabee is slime & should be denounced & rejected by every Republican of conscience.

[mcollier]

43. I Second That Ladeyday!

America needs to Reject and Denounce the republican party if the best they can do is trott out dispicable low classed good ole boys like Huckabee, McCain and Romney. The three stooges trying to make America laugh at a time when we need serious people with real plans to help our country. The republic message is simple, always has been simple and always counts on the simple. Would the simple minded people please get out of the republican shit tank.

[kcass1954]

37. "I apologize that my comments were offensive" is NOT an apology.

That's a republican non-apology - "I'm not sorry I about what I said, just sorry that you were offended by it."

A real apology would be, "I'm sorry that I made the comment."

[harun]

69. I am surprised more people didn't notice that. It is a NON-APOLOGY

Media has let so many republicans away with this kind of thing, despicable.

[roody]

38. He would not have said that about a white candidate.

[Robeson]

39. Bingo. Which exposed his racism, or wishes. Both of which are....

...probably inseparable.

[Octafish]

41. Exposes more than Huckabee's inner mind.

The episode displays just what kind of people the upper-echelons of the GOP really are -- murder-minded KKK thugs.

[Oldtimeralso]

42. Hey Mike Huckabee,

The V.P.'s office just called and he want to take you hunting!

[bleever]

47. "Mis-speaking" about murder is a bit more than clumsy.

A sad end to a promising shot at being a two-time loser.

Oh wait: mission accomplished.

[LTR]

49. It was a disgusting comment, and totally hypocritical

It's pretty telling and pretty sad when a supposed pastor makes a joke about assassinating a presidential candidate. At an NRA rally. Anyone see the irony here?

I will say that Huckabee has at least tried to stay above the fray, and actually ran a somewhat classy campaign. But judging from this horrific gaffe, as well as the pardoning of the guy who raped a Clinton family member while governor of Arkansas makes one wonder which comes first - faith or political posturing?

[JDPriestly]

50. He's pathetic.

[darue]

51. hey, he admit3ed they were offensive. big of him. rare. point to schmuckabee

he's up to -99 now.

[bowens43]

52. fuck you huckabee

[LeftHander]

55. "You might just be a nedneck..."

If you make casual jokes about shooting black people...

[Rose Siding]

58. Raising that old caricature of the terrified black man is as bad as the gun thing, imo.

"Who dat say who dat when I say who dat?" Remember those movies? VERY ugly.

[ryanmuegge]

75. That's what I was thinking. Very nasty stuff.

And it doesn't take much analysis to think that he may have been referencing that stereotype. If he did mean that as a reference to that kind of ugly racial stereotype, he deserves to be crucified in the media. I can promise you, however, that we will see none of that kind of psychoanalysis (after all it wasn't a Democrat's gaffe). When a Democrat says something that could be construed as questionable, the media practically play it backwards looking for the tape to say, "nasally rape puppies and kill them." A Republican gaffe is covered at a surface level and quickly buried.

[livetohike]

59. To make that type of comment about any Pres. candidate

and to make it in that setting is not only irresponsible but should be vehemently opposed. He should be ostracized by the media and if the heads of his party don't step up and chastize him on this, they should be exposed for the low life human beings they are.

He acts like a Junior High School student who is trying to be the class clown. To think he was a serious contender for the Republican Presidential nominee says a lot about their following.

Where did he get his minister credentials? He's a disgrace.

[Faygo Kid]

61. Think the Right-wing radio types will make as much of this as "sweetie?"

Barack calls a reporter "sweetie," and immediately personally calls the reporter to apologize.

Huckabee "jokes" about shooting Obama, waits 5 hours, issues incredibly weak statement through spokesperson - "apology" isn't even personal to Barack.

Naturally, the Reich Wing is all bent out of shape about the one-word "sweetie" remark. Huckabee's gun comment?

Crickets from them. As expected.

Back to running on Rev. Wright, right Sean?

[wordpix]

63. Huckbee makes a dangerous remark & gets off with a statement about intention;

Obama attends the church of Wright and gets boiled in oil. :mad: :grr:

[AndyTiedye]

65. Perhaps Huckabee KNOWS Something

:scared:

[ProudToBeBlueInRhody]

67. Another "I apologize if anyone was offended" deal

Buh bye, Mike.

[goclark]

70. He is smart enough to know better so

Anyone that understands what that implies is smart enought to not say it.

To say it means he meant to say it.

[daleo]

72. Huckabee ran for the presidential nomination

If nothing else, you would think that would prevent him from making light of assassinations. Apparently he's a moron, though.

[annm4peace]

74. GOD and GUNS is more sacrilegious than GOD DAMN AMERICA

It has always disquested me how some American churches put God (Christ) and guns together.

Huckabee is just showing his true colors and shows that he is not a follower of the works for Christ.

He might be a "christian", just like many in the country are, but he is NOT following the works of Christ.

How foolish he looks as do most people who speak at the NRA.

[struggle4progress]

76. Heard this one? "A group of patriots was dousing Huckabee with gasoline ..."