July 16, 2008
Now that is funny

Lynne Varner of the Seattle Times editorial page says, without irony, that "The Obamas are not that funny"

It is difficult to spoof the couple who may occupy the White House because they do very little that could be deemed ha ha funny or strangely funny.
Hmmm.. Among other things, the Obamas are self-important, humorless people who promise to change the world, coming from a worldview that is often wildly at variance with reality. How could that not be funny? The fact that the Obamas don't intend to be funny and neither they nor their supporters realize how funny they are makes them and their supporters even more funny.

Have your say. Are the Obamas funny? Is Lynne Varner funny? Ha ha funny or strangely funny?

Posted by Stefan Sharkansky at July 16, 2008 09:33 AM | Email This
Comments
1. There's nothing funny about those on the left who think a crippling energy policy and socialism are the right path for the USA. I find most of the left to be humorless and angry. Even their supposed funny men, Stewart, Colbert and Maher are just laugh track stand-ins manufactured for political consumption.

Real humor requires more truth than Progressives can muster.

Posted by: Jeff B. on July 16, 2008 09:34 AM
2. Here is some real humor; JibJab's latest.

Posted by: Jeff B. on July 16, 2008 09:43 AM
3. For POTUS I've only voted Republican once (Nixon...no laughing please..), but Sen Obama is starting to concern me. I just don't feel we know enough about him? I agree he's not 'funny' per se and principally because of the 'unknown' factor.
Hmmmm, I don't know...I might just have to exercise my right not to vote this time around (or write in Mrs Clinton). :)

Posted by: Duffman on July 16, 2008 09:44 AM
4. Funny (pun intended) you brought that up. Maureen Dowd the curmudgeonly op-ed writer of the NY Times just wrote a column on the same subject.

However, he went back two years and quoted so-called comics like Jon Stewart, Leno and others; these comics, and I use the term loosely, were supposedly salivating at the jokes they could make of Obama.

However, just in the past two days they were quoted as saying there was nothing to make fun of him. Huh? Talk about being in the tank.

Maureen, it seems, is not impressed with the DalaiBama as she lambastes these so-called comics.

Posted by: swatter on July 16, 2008 09:50 AM
5. Duffman, thanks for the A-game, but you should be in hog heaven- the opportunity to vote for either of 2 Democrats. What is in a title? McCain was close to being on Kerry's ticket in '04.

No need to sit out.

On topic, there are tons of things to make fun of Obama.

For example,

faux pas without telepromter
flipflops in the style and manner of the great one- John Kerry
the way he walks
the smugness in his expression

Need I go on? These aren't deal breakers for many supporters, but I gotta believe someone can joke on these things.

Posted by: swatter on July 16, 2008 09:55 AM
6. Jeff B.

Pretty funny link worthy of a 7 on the chuckle-meter.

Posted by: Don Ward on July 16, 2008 10:00 AM
7. Jeff B. beat me to it. I love the unicorn part.

Posted by: Mike H on July 16, 2008 10:03 AM
8. Every time anyone in the media mentions anything that the Obama faction considers not adulation, it is announced that no one should mention it, so it's kind of hard to poke fun at what is forbidden! One great example is his ears, which now no one is allowed to mention publicly. I have to admit, the first time I saw him I laughed, thinking it was Erkle (sp) all grown up! Jeff B, the link was funny beyond words!

Posted by: katomar on July 16, 2008 10:22 AM
9. The JibJab clip was great. I laughed out when the unicorn part came up. And then it occurred to me that ALL liberals (if not Demorats) have that type of world view. I noticed that the Tonight Show audience really roared as well.

BO may or may not be funny but he sure is a whiner . . . "Why can't I just finish my waffle?"

Unicorns all around! http://youtube.com/user/jibjab?ob=1

Posted by: G Jiggy on July 16, 2008 10:33 AM
10. Even the left finds NObamanation unfunny.

Maureen Dowd

Bill Carter

Five approved Obama jokes

Sample:
A traveling salesman knocks on the door of a farmhouse, and much to his surprise, Barack Obama answers the door. The salesman says, "I was expecting the farmer's daughter." Barack Obama replies, "She's not here. The farm was foreclosed on because of subprime loans that are making a mockery of the American Dream."

Posted by: Obi-Wan on July 16, 2008 10:42 AM
11. I saw the Jib-Jab clip on Leno last night.
The Unicorn part was great.
Typical of the Utopian Marxist philosophy.
Drink the Kool-aid.
Promote an "earthly savior" to regulate Utopia.
"Progressively" impose more & more, stricter & stricter regulations requiring more & more government and higher & higher taxes.
Trust your soul to the brother ridin' the Unicorn.

Posted by: Mr. Cynical on July 16, 2008 10:42 AM
12. What's funny is that "humor" is being discussed as policy in this sourpuss factory. Stefan Sharkansky calling the Obamas "self-important, humorless people"??? Now, that's funny, and considering the 10's of millions of votes Obama has won, the 10's of millions of people he's drawn into the Democratic Party, gotta to say that his importance has transcended himself quite a bit... wouldn't you? And compared to his opponent, the grumpy old fogie clamoring to prove himself as right-wing as you (and failing, you still despise him), I'd say the humor deficit is on the Republican side as always.

Posted by: Frankenputz on July 16, 2008 10:57 AM
13. Hey Frankenputz, you want to know where the humnor is? Check this: ". . . considering the 10's of millions of votes Obama has won, the 10's of millions of people he's drawn into the Democratic Party . . . " and now he's even with McCain in the polls. Now that's funny!

Posted by: G Jiggy on July 16, 2008 11:09 AM
14.

Not enough to pay all the bills, so you go spend it on a pair of ear rings.

This reminds me of a story awhile back about how the bulk of the purchases made on "emergency" debit cards given to Katrina victims were spent on luxuries instead of the supposedly needed necessities.

This woman is a low grade moron. I used to think she had the depth and IQ of a sardine tin, this confirms that my assessment was far too generous - I wouldn't trust her with a three minuite egg.

Michelle Obama's $600 Earrings
Townhall.com ^ | 7/15/08 | Amanda Carpenter


Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama's wife, Michelle, complained the government's $600 economic stimulus check was only enough to buy "a pair of earrings" while stumping for her husband.

"You're getting $600 - what can you do with that?" Mrs. Obama said in Pontiac, Michigan last week. "Not to be ungrateful or anything, but maybe it pays down a bill, but it doesn't pay down every bill every month. The short-term quick fix kinda stuff sounds good, and it may even feel good that first month when you get that check, and then you go out and you buy a pair of earrings."

She made these remarks at a "working women's roundtable discussion."

Although Mrs. Obama has been praised by fashionable outlets like Vogue magazine for her sense of style, her comments about $600 earrings reinforces an unflattering image of the Ivy-league educated Obama lawyers. They've both been called "elitist" several times though the course of the presidential campaign season.

Mr. Obama's former Democratic rival Hillary Clinton called him at "elitist" for telling donors at a private fundraiser in San Francisco that "bitter" Americans in places like Pennsylvania "cling to guns or religion."

Mrs. Obama has similarly come under fire for saying her husband's candidacy made her proud of her country for "the first time in my life" and encouraging women to "move out of the money-making industry into the helping industry" in Zanesville, Ohio--one of the poorest areas of the nation.

Posted by: JDH on July 16, 2008 11:49 AM
15. JDH, this IS the same women, remember, who said to a group of factory workers that if it wasn't for her husband's two bestselling books, she didn't know how they would have have been able to make it financially. Mind you, before those two books, they were making between $250k and $500k a year after they had quit their higher paying lawyer jobs.

Posted by: Mike H on July 16, 2008 12:10 PM
16. Nothing funny about this - definitely a picture of Impact, however. :)

Posted by: Duffman on July 16, 2008 12:12 PM
17. It is largely unknown but a sworn truth in the tall-tales convention, the making of a liberal happens within days of birth. They have a medical procedure called a "humorectomy".
It's an incision done through the right ear and leaves a scar blocking all common sense from penetration to the brain as well as damaging the nerves that make it possible to laugh.
The Alpha testing of this was performed on Henry Waxman, Jesse Jackson and of all people, Algore.
Side effects are many but most noticable are the unstoppable mouth flapping and illusions of self importance. (see Maureen Dowd)

Posted by: PC on July 16, 2008 12:55 PM
18. One other side effect is the prolonged infant screaming/whining to be taken care of.
They abandon parental care in exchange for government care.
As you can tell, this operation is the mental kin to self mutilation.

Posted by: PC on July 16, 2008 12:59 PM
19. If the unicorn rider and his bitter half take the white house, some budding comedians are going to have a very good start to their careers. Assuming of course the koolaid drinkers don't take them out with a sock full of quarters.

McCain may also single handedly bring back Saturday night live ratings as well.


Posted by: Andy on July 16, 2008 01:03 PM
20. Sadly, if this Marxist and his bitter, boorish wife make it to the white house, the joke will be on America.

Obama on your shoulder

Barry Beginner

The Candidate of Change

I love your new Obamas!

Mr Bilingual

Posted by: Ragnar Danneskjold on July 16, 2008 01:34 PM
21. New Category: Funny-Sheesh!

Posted by: John425 on July 16, 2008 02:00 PM
22. How can people not make fun of the Obama's? Talk about a couple who simply beg for snarky satire.

..can't I just eat my waffles?

..you need to learn spanish to live in the USA(but I don't speak it myself)

..how does (insert solution) help Michele's kids?

..57 (or 59) states?

And his friends are a bottom land of fertile opportunity (Wright?! Ayers?! Dorn!? Rezko?!!, Johnson!!??)

Rag, Obama on my shoulder was one of the funniest videos I have seen yet. Have you seen this?

It is almost to the point where I would like to see the Obama's in the White House--it would be like an ABC sitcom (just with real nuclear weapons, unfortunately. But at least we would go out laughing).

Posted by: iconoclast on July 16, 2008 02:02 PM
23. Michelle is not only not funny, she's downright angry. For someone that has led a fairly priveleged life, Mama Obama is one tall glass of sour milk. Which is ironic considering her outlook on life appears to be one of "the glass is half empty". As for senator Fauxbama, his "57 states" comment was hilarious, though it loses some of its hearty guffaw when you realize it wasn't a punchline.

Posted by: Rick D. on July 16, 2008 02:17 PM
24. I think Obama's ears are pretty darn funny and I've read that he's really sensitive about people joking about them (all the more reason to).

Posted by: Eunice Burns on July 16, 2008 02:20 PM
25. #24 Don't you just know that SNL is out there doin a search for a comedian of Obama's likeness to get ready for next season. :)

Posted by: Duffman on July 16, 2008 02:37 PM
26. Storytime! ... or a cautionary tale?

Today- July 4, 2034- Rick Campbell, one of our senior members at age 87, is here to reminisce a bit and give us a history lesson. He says he is so old that he learned to drive an internal combustion engine car (remember those) with a manual transmission. He once owned a typewriter. He remembers when bicycles had one speed; phones had two-party lines, and cameras had something called film. As incredible as this may seem, he says that when he was young, it was common for people to smoke in restaurants and public places. He is from a different time; almost a different world.

I'm sure all of us are far too familiar with the tragic events of 2010, so Rick is not going to plow that fertile field again. Instead, he is going to give us a personal look back at the conditions that led up to that fateful year, in a speech titled '2010 Was Not A Good Year To Be President.'

'2010 Was Not A Good Year To Be President'

Yes, 2010 was long ago and far away.

As we look back on history, it appears that some Presidents had easy ride- times of growth and stability. Teddy Roosevelt, Warren G. Harding, Dwight Eisenhower, Bill Clinton come to mind. Those were good years to be President.

Others were elected just when the Republic was facing terrible crises: Abraham Lincoln, Woodrow Wilson, Franklin Roosevelt, and George W. Bush. They rose to the occasion, even though they were controversial and widely hated while in office. Not such good years to be President.

Just a few years prior, in 2008, the country began foundering. We were in the sixth year of the Iraqi Occupation, and the economy was flat. The mainstream press clearly wanted a Democrat elected.

Although we didn't know it until some years later, oil producing nations had colluded to secretly buy their own oil on the open market, driving oil prices to shocking levels above the true demand price- reaching a high of $162 a barrel in October, 2008, just before the general elections.

Their purpose was simple: to effect regime change in the United States. And of course, the U.S. economy was already in a real estate slump and also suffering the curse of stagflation; slow growth and high inflation.

There were a million home foreclosures. Independent truckers went under by the thousands. Airlines failed. Airlines with names now long forgotten: United, Delta, Northwestern, American. All now merged, of course, into the one lone U.S. carrier we love so much: Southwest.

Against this backdrop of weariness of the war on terror, and economic distress, the American people were ripe for a demagogue, and they certainly got one in Barack Hussein Obama. He and his running mate Kathlene Sibelius inspired them with vague notions of hope and change; of a world in which diplomacy settled all international problems, of free universal health care, of abundant alternative energy, of peace and love. It was a vision too good to resist.

The Republican nominee, a name you probably haven't heard in years anyone? Yes, it was John McCain, an obscure Senator from Arizona had no clue how to run a national campaign, and a platform nearly as liberal as Obama's. The selection of Condoleeza Rice as his running mate looked brilliant at first. Unfortunately, black voters viewed her as white, and women voters viewed her as one of the guys.

Even so, the McCain/Rice ticket would have won the election if it weren't for the fact that 16 percent of conservative Republicans voted for anyone remember? That's right, Bob Barr, another name that's a footnote in history.

After Obama's narrow win, thanks to recounts in Broward County, Florida, the country was positively giddy. A Democrat House, Senate, and President. At last an end to gridlock in Washington. Camelot!

When Congress convened in January, 2009, the 44th President of the United States did something unique in history: he made good on his campaign promises. Certainly most Americans never really thought he was serious during the campaign. But whether because of inexperience, idealism, or simply incompetence, he followed through.

In Obama's first One Hundred Days, the Congress passed his initiatives, and he signed them into law as he said he would. He repealed the Bush tax cuts, and increased capital gains taxes. He enacted a windfall profits tax, and instituted price controls on gasoline and diesel fuel. He passed universal health care, which added an additional 10 percent tax increase on all working Americans. He signed the Immigrant Amnesty bill which created 12 million new citizens instantly, each with entitlements. He closed the detention facility at Guantanamo Bay, and summarily released all the detainees. He repealed the Patriot Act, and cut funding for espionage, and eliminated all terrorist listening and wiretaps. Most important, he began the complete and immediate withdrawal of all American troops from Iraq . He ignored the advice of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, who wanted to retain bases in Kuwait and Qatar. Instead, he went with the recommendation of Secretary of Defense Dennis Kucinich, and ordered all troops back to U.S. soil.

Viola! In One Hundred Days, by May of 2009, it was all done, and the vision was complete. He did exactly what he said he would do. And so it was in the summer of 2009 that things began to unravel for Obama. Of course, the economy needed a tax cut, not an increase, and unemployment quickly rose to 12 percent. Even attorneys and economists were put in the bread lines. Hard times. Price controls on gasoline immediately led to shortages and gas lines.

The global cooling trend we have seen for the past 25 years first became obvious in 2009, exposing the CO2 global warming fraud. People were justifiably angry. Federal deficits increased massively because thousands of baby boomers, facing job loss and much higher taxes, simply gave up and took social security.

Although the superb U.S. health care system was thrown into disarray, the bright spot was the creation of the Federal Department of Health care, and the immediate hiring of 250,000 administrators, inspectors and auditors, the only job growth in any economic sector in 2009.

By February 2010, the U.S. military withdrawal from Iraq was complete. It was a very expensive undertaking. And then in March, the gradual Shiite insurgencies from Iran turned into a true Iraqi civil war. In May, Iranian tanks crossed the border and quickly took Baghdad . Although the exact number is not know, at least 230,000 Sunni Iraqis died as we stood by Iran also quickly moved into undefended Kuwait.

President Obama did exactly what he said he would. He sent Secretary of State Maria Cantwell to Tehran to meet with Iranian President Ahmadinejad. After two weeks of high level talks, the United States agreed to allow Iran to retain Iraq and Kuwait to create stability in the middle east, with the understanding that Israel would not be disturbed. Cantwell returned to Washington, and explained the agreement in her famous speech, in which she proudly noted that the Obama administration had finally achieved 'peace in our time' in the Middle East. So there was some surprise at the rocket attacks on Tel Aviv on August 14th.

President Obama said, 'This is not the Mahmoud Ahmadinejad I knew.' The Obama administration decided it would be de-stabilizing to take sides in the conflict, and approximately 29,000 Israeli civilians died during the summer and fall.

American Jews were appalled at the inaction. Yes, in 2010 most American Jews were Democrats, but because of 2010, they are solid Republicans today. As awkward as it was, everything might have turned out all right for the Obama administration going into the fall mid-term elections of 2010, if it hadn't been for the dirty bomb in the Port of Long Beach.

The administration had cut funding for the inspection of containers, because they felt it showed a 'lack of trust' in the international trading community. It wasn't really a very big bomb, and thank goodness, not a real nuclear device, but nonetheless it contaminated some expensive real estate- Newport Beach, Palos Verdes Estates- and ultimately caused the death of 14,000 Americans. People were especially annoyed that Disneyland had to be closed for decontamination. And so, in the midterm elections, Republicans regained control of both the House and Senate, and the rest is history.

The impeachment proceedings against President Obama for 'failure to protect and defend' were swift and nearly unanimous. Vice President Sibelius resigned. Newly-elected Speaker of the House, J.C. Watts, became the 45th President of the United States.

But you know the rest of the story well.

Republicans finished the war on Islamic fundamentalists, largely by aiming ICBM's at Mecca and Medina.

No Democrat has been elected President since.

Republicans have held both Houses of Congress.

History of Western Civilization and Economics are now taught in all public schools, and in English only.

Marriage is defined as one man and one woman.

And there are border fences, north and south.

We old codgers remember the ancient Confucian curse: 'May you live in interesting times.'

Well, 2010 was an interesting year, but it was not a good year to be President.'


NO JOKE!

Posted by: Ragnar Danneskjold on July 16, 2008 02:43 PM
27. 24. Those are his real ears??? Oh, my GOD...I thought he was just expressing his pride in belonging to the MICKEY MOUSE CLUB. : )

Posted by: NW Denizen on July 16, 2008 02:44 PM
28. Secretary of State Cantwell? Now that's funny. Or is it scary?

Posted by: Obi-Wan on July 16, 2008 04:00 PM
29. @ 25 ~ Why not just use Barack Obama's twin brother? As you can see, he's got an ear up on the competition for the SNL role.

Posted by: Rick D. on July 16, 2008 04:26 PM
30. 28.

Not all that far fetched when one considers nancy pelosi. I think terrifying is a better description.

Posted by: NW Denizen on July 16, 2008 07:09 PM
31. Rags...seriously; you HAVE to learn to tone it down in the cut-and-paste department. It's painful my man. :)

Posted by: Duffman on July 16, 2008 07:32 PM
32. @26: Now that was FUNNY. I always find the mad ravings of crazy right-wing moonbat conspiracy lunatics remarkably amusing! Just seems like you're suffering from an extreme form of Obama Derangement Syndrome, and completely detached from reality whatsoever.

But to answer the main question, Obama is certainly more funny than McCain or Clinton. Unless you count unintentional gaffes that show exactly how old McCain really is...

Posted by: demo kid on July 16, 2008 08:23 PM
33. Rags...seriously; you HAVE to learn to tone it down in the cut-and-paste department. It's painful my man. :) -Posted by Duffman at July 16, 2008 07:32 PM

There are many times that others say what I want to say much better than I can OR that put forth a point that I hadn't considered and that I beleive is a point valuable enough to share.


I have a very easy solution for you my little friend, one that involves personal responsibility (yours): DON'T READ IT if/when it bothers you!

Easy, eh?

Posted by: Ragnar Danneskjold on July 16, 2008 08:43 PM
34. Ragnar, I would have to say you might be Nostrodamus' little brother. God help us.
Obama is not funny mostly because anyone who
can only bowl a 37 should be put to sleep.
Imagine what he would do on a golf course.

Posted by: mark on July 16, 2008 08:44 PM
35. Now THIS is funny! Dave Being Hi-Jacked

Posted by: Duffman on July 17, 2008 11:44 AM
36. I've been thinking about the queens "Just like Bush" ad... and what an opportunity it offers.

COME ON ROSSI CAMPAIGN: WAKE UP and THINK!!!

A similar ad but one that CONTRASTS with "NOT LIKE GREGOIRE!"

Posted by: Ragnar Danneskjold on July 17, 2008 11:50 AM
37. Why did Obambi say "Let me finish my waffle"? Because he was in IHOP - International house of pancakes - and it's the only international experience he was willing to get.

(From caller to Michael Medved show)

Posted by: Ron on July 17, 2008 01:07 PM
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