When a joke misfires

May 17, 2008

I mentioned this briefly yesterday, but Mike Huckabee’s comments at the National Rifle Association conference were pretty striking. If you haven’t seen it, here’s the clip:

After hearing a noise backstage, Huckabee strayed from his prepared remarks and said, “That was Barack Obama, he just tripped off a chair, he’s getting ready to speak. Somebody aimed a gun at him and he dove for the floor.”

I wasn’t in the room, but based on the reports I’ve seen, the audience laughed at the first sentence in Huckabee’s joke. The response was far more muted after the second sentence. (While there’s some scattered laughter on the audio, the New York Daily News said “most in the audience went silent.”) I guess timing is everything in comedy.

Five hours later, Huckabee seemed to realize his quip wasn’t funny. “I made an offhand remark that was in no way intended to offend or disparage Senator Obama,” he said in a statement. “I apologize that my comments were offensive. That was never my intention.”

The notion of a gun pointed at Obama certainly wasn’t part of his prepared text, and I don’t doubt that Huckabee was trying to be funny. For that matter, I try not to overreact to every attempt at humor that goes awry. People say dumb things sometimes.

But the context here looks awfully bad. Obama, the first serious African-American contender for the presidency, had to get Secret Service protection earlier than any candidate ever, because he’d been subjected to so many threats. Huckabee was talking to an almost exclusively white, right-wing audience of firearm enthusiasts about someone aiming a gun at Obama.

Could he possibly have picked a worse joke?

In the broader political context, Slate’s Christopher Beam made a good point:

Maybe Huckabee didn’t get the memo, but assassination jokes aren’t exactly kosher right now. (Not that they ever are, but Obama supporters voice legitimate concern.) It also highlights another reason why Huckabee isn’t a serious vice-presidential pick. Combine his loose lips with the Obama campaign’s umbrage hair trigger and a gaffe-hungry media, and we’d have quips like this splashed across Drudge every week.

There’s been some buzz this week about Huckabee on McCain’s short list for VP candidates, and it’s true, jokes like these reinforce the notion that Huckabee might have a problem with message discipline. As a candidate, he told plenty of gun-related jokes, and most of them were, at a minimum, eyebrow-raising. Given that McCain himself is already gaffe prone, Huckabee probably didn’t help his chances yesterday.

Meanwhile, John Cole, who acknowledged that Huckabee’s quip was “offensive,” offers a partial defense for the former Arkansas governor.

[M]aybe I just have a soft spot for Mike Huckabee, or maybe I am just a sucker, or maybe it is because I have a history of saying stupid things I immediately regretted, I am willing to bet he will offer not only an effusive apology and explanation, but an apology is sincere and heartfelt. He knows he screwed up, and he will own this and do the right thing, I am betting.

Additionally, to all the people who are going to freak out about this remarks- yes, it is offensive. But how offensive is it in the big scheme of things? Personally, watching Mike Huckabee make this stupid remark in an off-the-cuff and unscripted gaffe tells me a lot less about him that watching George Bush go to the heart of the Israeli government, and in a scripted event read from a card, lecturing the descendants of the Holocaust about appeasement and Hitler for some brief, cheap, domestic political gain.

Huckabee’s gaffe was an accident and, while unfortunate, is forgivable. Bush’s crass, calculated, and obnoxious rhetoric yesterday is not. We would be wise to remember which is worse.

I find this pretty compelling. Huckabee told a very dumb joke about a very serious subject. But Bush’s Nazi appeasement remarks pissed me off a whole lot more.

Also on the list of speakers at that NRA festivity were John Mc Cain AND Karl Rove. That “alleged ” chair falling was the sound of a “joke ” falling flat around the world. I didn’t hear McCain denounce and reject Huckabee’s inane remark-but Rove’s speech was pure white bread propoganda, guaranteed to froth up the rabble rousers,and that (falling) chair had Karl’s fingerprints all over it.

  • I actually think this is “honest stupidity” on his part, not malice.

    Still, right there, I think Huckabee slashed his chances for VP in half.

  • So funny, I forgot to laugh. Republicans are a bad joke. Come next January, the Democrats will have a 435-0 edge in the United States House of Representatives: not one of these nasty little GOP troublemakers will be reelected in the historic Obama landslide.

    Maybe the “leadership” of the Republican Party should be making reservations to accompany Bush and Cheney when they flee to Paraguay in January. Pricks on the Paraguayan pampus… What a concept…

  • Huckabee as the VP for a seventy something year old McCain? God no!!

    Huckabee is the clown that held up insurance payments to tornado victims as governor of Arkansas because the phrase ‘Acts of God’ in the insurance contracts offended him. I’m sure the Lord was quite proud of his actions though, since the victims were surely lowly poor people.

  • A v.p. who makes jokes about assassinations? This is ok because it wasn’t scripted? Are you guys saying this because you want an easily defeatible republican vp candidate? Are you kidding? This jackass has given the religious right (And this was a preacher making an assassination joke, even more disturbing) way too much credibility as is. Any more national exposure only helps his type of extremist messages in the future. Good riddance to a menace in sheep’s clothing.

  • If we’re going to show some sense of proportionality on Huckabee’s joke, maybe we should first wait until Republicans do the same thing with Obama’s “bitter” statement and Michelle Obama’s “first time in my life” statement. And by the way, I think the same is true of Hillary’s “hard working Americans, white Americans” comment as well, since I truly don’t think that came out quite the way she intended.

  • OT: Sen. Kennedy taken to hospital this morning with “stroke-like symptoms” per CNN. Let’s hope for the best.

  • Quotes from Anderson Cooper’s show last night:
    Ed Rollins (Repub strategist): “I’m sure he meant no harm and he’s certainly apologized… He’s not a mean man…” (me: not sure I agree with that!) ” …I think he’s very sorry.”

    David Gergen: “I’m sure he didn’t mean it. But to joke around about guns and Barack Obama is the single most tasteless thing one can do in American politics.”

  • Could he possibly have picked a worse joke?

    Don’t think so – but her could have BEEN a worse joke as repug candidate, though mclame is really just as bad.

    Him becoming POTUS would be something that just couldn’t happen, even in an extremely BAD joke.

  • As I recall, many gun owners were seriously upset with cheney when he shot that man in the face. They take their guns, gun safety, and hunting safety seriously. “Jokes” about pointing guns at presidential candidates should offend this crowd.

    But then again – it was an African American front-runner – so maybe many of the goons in the NRA accept that.

  • Didn’t Huckabee often on the campaign trail joke about shooting people who didn’t vote for him or who disagreed? I remember being somewhat more off-put than usual every time I heard him say one of these “witty” one-liners. Yea, not ready for prime-time. And at least he didn’t apologize “If some people were offended” I mean it was an actual apology, though I’m still not sure he understand just how and why it was sooooo damned offensive about any Presidential candidate, but especially a minority.

    And don’t normal people actually duck and dive when a gun is aimed at them? Isn’t the NRA supposed to want safe gun ownership? So why even go there Huck? Sheesh.

    If he had said ” Dick Cheney came in holding a rifle, everyone scrambled for cover.” See, that would have been funny.

  • “Huckabee’s gaffe was an accident and, while unfortunate, is forgivable. Bush’s crass, calculated, and obnoxious rhetoric yesterday is not. We would be wise to remember which is worse.” – John Cole

    Really, if worse then Bush is the new metric on public speaking, pardon me while I go hang myself.

    The problem isn’t with republicans going off their prepared speeches, the problem is they spend all their time pandering people who use this type of language in their regular vocabulary and it ends in a bade joke.

  • Mike Huckabee should be arrested and charged for making a terroristic threat against a US Senator and a presidential candidate. This should be handled no differently than if a private citizen had made the same comment. He is a disgrace to our nation. This was no joke. I believe he intended to put that out there because it is code to the assassin. That’s just what it is. We all need to pray for the safety of Senator Obama.

  • I’m sure that he didn’t intend anything by it, but it would have helped if there was actually a joke somewhere in his comments. Huckabee wasn’t doing an SNL sketch, so mocking someone’s ability to get off a chair without tripping was already a cheap shot. But the second part about ducking when someone points a gun at you…? Is that the wrong thing to do?

    One thing that I have noticed about ‘context’ is that with Republican attacks against Obama and Democrats, they shrink the context to the point necessary to make a useful smear. Looking at the broader context usually reveals that Obama wasn’t saying what the twisted and compacted sound bite suggests.

    But expand the sound-bite of a Republican gaffe and things just get worse.

    Both before and after the Huckabee gaffe, he was laying in to the Democrats, distorting their positions. It is interesting that Republicans talk in such a way that you can’t usually create a meaningful sound-byte that is worse than the larger context.

    So the gaffe seems to me more like his state of mind on display. The problem was that he turned his attack into a useful sound bite, and out of context it sounds much less willful than with the larger context. The larger context is an attack on the Democrats, he just added in a little physical violence to top it off.

    But compared to what Bush said…not even close. But it proves my point. If Bush said what he said at a campaign event, or in a private interview, who cares, during an official event, worse, at an official international event, still worse, but in the context of an official celebration of the birth of an important ally, could it be any worse than that?

    Republicans rely on context to elevate almost meaningless bull**** into a serious smear.

  • Scottw714 proclaiming anything anyone says as a “accident” is pretty foolish – he didn’t “misspeak” either – clearly he said what he meant.

    Perhaps he thought it was funny, but that just goes to show the shallowness of his thinking and a total cluelessness about the Christian faith that he proclaims to represent.

    Even dur chimpfurher knows better than to joke about pointing guns at people – his remarks the other day was pure political pandering. At least he didn’t try to duck responsibility for it by proclaiming it a “joke.”

  • As someone old enough to read in the 1960s, I remember quite clearly five assassination attempts, two of them successful, against men running for or holding the office of President — JFK, RFK, George Wallace, Ronald Reagan, and Gerald Ford. In addition, Martin Luther King, not a presidential candidate but a figure of great and powerful national importance, was assassinated. There is nothing — nothing — funny about guns going off in the vicinity of leading national figures. In fact, so shocking were these events that for someone alive then, as Huckabee was, even to think of this as remotely funny is so out of line as to be very strange, even bizarre in some way. That Sen. Obama is African American, has already received many threats, and that the lunatic fringe factor is a real worry makes this worse to the nth power. What was Huckabee thinking? He’s not stupid, so this is not a rhetorical question. It seems likely to me that he was playing out a “joke” that came to him naturally before an audience he assumed thought along similar lines.

    In addition there was something else ugly going on in his remarks: the “punchline” if that’s what it was had the Obama of Huckabee’s imagination hiding under a chair — scared and cowardly. That was what was supposed to be even funnier than the idea of a gun going off near him. It is my understanding that bigots fear the strength of those they oppress or seek to oppress, and certainly white bigots in this country have sought in many ways to undermine the strength and standing of black people in general and black men in particular. Picturing Obama as cowering under fire seems in line with the bigot’s instinctive need to belittle and demean.

    Shame on Huckabee.

  • Another thing that is interesting about the Huckabee ‘joke’ is his ‘apology’. It is barely above the ‘sorry if what I said offended anyone, that wasn’t my intention’ apology.

    But just a few weeks ago, Huckabee was on with Chris Matthews and talking about the Hagee apology for the “Great Whore” comment. He characterized the Hagee apology as falling into this lowest category, and then he said that if he ever sticks his foot in his mouth, he hopes that he has the strength to make an unequivocal apology, disowning the content as well as for offending anyone.

    Unless I missed something, he hasn’t disowned the content of his remarks, just the fact that they were objectively offensive, kind of like “I know it is offensive to say this, but I think someone needs to shoot…”

  • “I apologize that my comments were offensive. That was never my intention.”

    Maybe it’s just me, but I find that a pretty damning statement right there. How do you not anticipate that a comment like that would be offensive? There’s this little thing called “empathy.” As a word it does not appear in the Bible. But as a concept it’s all over the thing. Maybe Hucksterbee ougtha re-read it…

  • I think the Secret Service needs to have at least a discussion with Huckabee. Let’s not forget that this “joke” was taped and shown on national tv. Frankly, I wouldn’t be surprised if it were set up; that joke came awfully fast in response to an “accidental” incident off-stage.

  • Just a few weeks ago at another big Republican dinner, Cheney said he did not think his cousin, Obama, wanted to go hunting with him.

  • Like many others posting here, I was struck immediately with the thought: “If someone aimed a gun at me, I certainly would dive cover.” And then my thoughts immediately flashed to Virginia Tech, Columbine, and the many other iconic places where some loon with a firearm (guns don’t kill people; people kill people) massacred many innocents. The survivors of these incidents were the ones who had time or presence of mind or luck to scramble for and find cover. I think Huckabee should be on the receiving end of approbation for several news cycles in the interest of (dare I say) fairness and balance. “Intention” is not usually the yard stick used by the Corporate Media when it flogs a poorly phrased remark by a public figure. Huckabee was trying to disparage Obama with opportunistic “humor.” The Media should flog him for it for a good three days. Only those who have been in his place may have the grace to excuse him. Barack Obama might absolve him. But in the interest of “equal (lack of) protection,” I think he should be basted and stewed for a while before fading. Should he show up on the GOP ticket, he should be tarred with the comment. Sad thing is, I suspect many of his fans think he said nothing offensive.

  • What is going on? Cannot people make a joke at all in a democratic society? Whatever happened to the American fun-making for a good laugh? Are we so silly like little babies? Come on, it was just a joke from Mike. I am sure he has no personal grievances against Obama. Let us laugh a bit during this tense campaign. If you do not laugh a bit, you will become angry, upset and strike out at someone. Come on, take it easy. Listen, the sky is not crashing down on us. Come November, there will be the Presidential election and we will have a President and we will accept the people’s choice, whoever it may be.

  • Huckabee is the best choice for VP. He will make a good VP. Go John, choose Mike. Let the envious liberals say whatever they want.

  • Another point is that if you watch the surrounding video, Huckabee is talking about how Obama/Democrats wants to take away the guns of hunters. No word on what he considers fair game, but apparently Obama falls into that category.

  • What is wrong with you people? He talked about a gun pointed at Obama…bad taste? humor? What would even make his brain go there?
    Rove should be in prison and with any justice, soon will be. This is the McCain entourage, crooks, liars and idiots…none of which has anything to do with the interests of the NRA. I’m sick to death of these pundits comments about Huckabee…”how could such a nice man be so mentally twisted”…DUH!

    Just like Ashcroft and other preacher politicians, Huckabee hides what he really is but from time to time it comes slipping out. A VP candidate means a chance at president and that is almost as scary as a McCain presidency. Almost hell, nothing is that scary. Thank God it will never happen.

  • CB,
    As an unapologetic lover of puns and all kinds of word games, I want to thank you for the superbly fitting title to this post; from the moment I saw it, there was never any doubt at all what the subject would be.

    Matthew, @27,

    Why don’t you go hunting with Cheney?

  • we’d have quips like this splashed across Drudge every week.

    That’s pretty hard to take seriously. Drudge is a faithful water carrier for his Gooper benefactors, and would never turn his swiftboat lie machine against the wingnut faithful. It’ll be reserved 100% for Democratic gaffes.

    Is Chris Beam new to this country?

  • Some people may remember the Youtube republican debate on CNN, where Huckabee got a question about the space program, and suggested that maybe they could send Hillary on the first rocket to Mars. So I’m guessing that this remark was sitting, in some form or other, in the back of his head. What that means overall I don’t know, maybe he just has a tasteless sense of humor, maybe he finds humor in morbid thoughts, maybe he’s just that malicious, I’ll let others make that judgment.

  • I think HRC is hanging on in hopes that BHO wants to visit a park in Washington D.C. late at night.

    I’d rather go hunting with Cheaney than take a care ride over Chappaquiddick with Teddy Kennedy.

  • Libra, why don’t you take a car ride with Teddy? Or how about his nephew, that crashes cars in D.C., high on drugs, with no charges.

  • what is going on here (matthew ?)..
    is ignorance..
    if you really cared about America .. Americans
    you’d fight your way out of that hillbilly time warp you’re in and join the rest of us..
    and us doesn’t just include Americans..
    Huckstabee’s remarks were not only reprehensible, they were illegal(Patriot Act).
    if you do get a clue and find a way out..
    convince your cousins to follow along..
    ..

  • Although I kind of agree with John Cole, it’s not that hard to play that “well, that’s not worse than…” game.

    I mean, yeah – the Iraq war IS a tragedy, and yeah, our troops ARE dying because we were pushed into an unjust and avoidable war, but y’see… Hitler exterminated MILLIONS of helpless Jews during his time in Germany. Now, what’s worse, really?

    See what I did there? Now you don’t feel so bad about Iraq, do ya?

  • Funny, but wasn’t Huckabee’s son, David arrested in April 07 for trying to sneak a fire arm and ammunition aboard a comercial flight? Would that not cause a politician to be more circumspect about making jokes invovling guns?

  • C’mon, leave the poor drooler alone. He’s a Southern hillbilly, a Southern Baptist, and a Southern Republican. Proof of what “inbreeding” creates.

    Three strikes and he’s out.

  • Hey BDS (#38) – hey, I think I saw you with that T-shirt with the “hunting with Cheney” on it. As I recall, you’re really fat, still have acne, and the words on the shirt were covered with drool.

    Oh wait, I have you confused with the other ten fat fuckwits I saw wearing that shirt.

  • Matthew (#27) said: Come November, there will be the Presidential election and we will have a President and we will accept the people’s choice, whoever it may be.

    I’m glad to find you in such a cooperative mood, Matthew. Will you please post your address and the location of the nearest open field, so we know where to send the black helicopters when we come to take you to the education camp? (you’ll notice I didn’t say “re-education” since in your case it’s pretty obvious the first time never happened).

  • I wrote to Huckabee on his website about his distasteful comment.

    I let him know that God was dissappointed with him.

  • The media remind me of a bunch of kindergardners. As soon as they see something amiss, they rush to see who can tattle tale to the teacher first.
    The press hears anything that has a possible nuance of a story and they run to their Blackberrys, cell phones ,etc to tattle tale.
    The press needs to practice reporting, not being a big tattle tale person..

  • Tom Cleaver; You really have a problem being racist against Southerners. Does that make you feel like a big man? You would squeal like a pig if someone made a racial comment against a black person.
    You have such double standards.

  • You said it right Joanie. Oh! as I said before, the whole of abyss has broken loose. One man made just a jovial comment; here these people are going for his head. What about all of them comments their friend’s pastor made…”God-damning” our country, etc? What about those remarks by their friend such as Americans “holding on to their guns and religion,” etc? “Amercans invented AIDS,” etc? “Chickens are coming to roost,” etc? McCain did not go for these people’s heads for such comments.

  • We all need to lighten up! I don’t agree with his politics but he ussually does have a great sense of humor. He really does not seem to have a “mean bone in his body.” I think that he just tries to put humor in when he can; this is a quality that I admire and one which is lacking in today’s society.

  • Another vote for awkward, thoughtless spontaneous stupidity.
    He was properly mortified.

    That he thought in that nanosecond that the joke would be well received was testimonial to a rep the NRA may wish to improve someday. Similar jokes have tripped up speakers in the past.

  • Come on, everyone, lighten up a bit. Boy, it is going to be the tough election ever! It seems the candidates are not fighting, we the readers and audience are doing the dirty work for them. Listen, friends, I am sorry if I incited sour reaction from y’all. Listen, let us do an honorable campaign. Keep that blood-pressure in check. Will ya? Thanks guys!

    • Comments are closed.