July 15, 2015

"I'm glad Obama is taking prison rape seriously, but the president shouldn't be telling comedians what kind of jokes they are and aren't allowed to tell."

"Would he tell comedians not to joke about murder? How about drone strikes that kill innocent people?"
Posted by Ann Althouse at 9:11 PM
Tags: , , , , ,

15 comments:

The Godfather said...

Gee, the first time Obama has stepped beyond his proper role as President, and jaltcoh catches him!

His post-presidential role will apparently be Pope.

7/15/15, 9:24 PM
Sebastian said...

Next thing you know, he's gonna tell us criticism of his Iran deal doesn't make sense, maybe even that a reporter shouldn't ask questions about hostages still held there. If that happens, God forbid, JAC and AA will be right on it, no doubt.

7/15/15, 9:40 PM
Gahrie said...

After the last 7 seven years, this is what you object to?

7/15/15, 10:39 PM
William said...

The President also came out against drugging women and raping them. He takes these vanguard positions all the time.

7/15/15, 11:02 PM
kcom said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
7/15/15, 11:46 PM
kcom said...

He's an arrogant, self-important sonofabitch. What's new?

Need more evidence? Just read the Iran post above. He's perfectly comfortable telling people what they should think (and what's persuasive). Because if it's HIS opinion, it has to be TRUE.

7/15/15, 11:47 PM
walter said...

"He's an arrogant, self-important sonofabitch. What's new?"
That kinda thing happens when one gets a Nobel just 'cause....

7/16/15, 12:35 AM
walter said...

But hearing him actually speak on this is interesting. Some of it having the tone of "Yeah..so give me a break..you got anything better? I'm only the leader of the most powerful nation in the God damned world. I'm not "God"...

7/16/15, 12:39 AM
pst314 said...

How about joking about using the IRS to punish political enemies?

7/16/15, 8:48 AM
geokstr said...

The entire comedic industry, in addition to all the non-comedic cultural, entertainment, journalistic and educational empires, already viciously self-censor to avoid any criticism of The Won's policies, background and worldview. For Him, however, this is clearly insufficient adoration of Himself.

7/16/15, 9:48 AM
Brando said...

Obama does have a point--to the extent that there is a "rape culture" in this country, it is that the idea of a man getting raped is sometimes okay and often hilarious. Think about that scene in "Trading Places" where the "bad guy" was thrown in a cage with the gorilla, and it was clearly implied he was repeatedly raped by the gorilla. Hilarious laugh line! Now imagine if that was a female villain and she was being raped (by a gorilla or otherwise). No laughter there.

And often people say "good luck getting pounded in prison!" when someone commits some crime--see, the idea is that this is men, and bad men, so their being raped is okay. That they somehow deserve to be raped, even while at the same time most would agree that prisons should not have torture as part of the program. Yet, isn't rape a form of regular torture?

As for what people can joke about, though, I agree there really are no limits--humor is a broad category, is a matter of personal taste, and no one should be told what they can and cannot say. But it's fine to point out just how in poor taste it is--and what it really means--to joke about prison rape.

7/16/15, 3:02 PM
mikee said...

Obama's problem in criticizing others is that he is like the guy complaining about being fired from his job, "After so many years of faithful service! Screw one goat in the company parking lot, and all that history means NOTHING!"

Obama, no matter which of his attacks on his opposition you wish to describe, has gone and (rhetorically) screwed a goat in the company parking lot, and cannot be allowed to get away with telling us he deserves our respectful silence on any issue.

7/16/15, 4:34 PM
mikee said...

Hillary, on the other hand, is the goat and now wants to be CEO of the company.

7/16/15, 4:34 PM
Mountain Maven said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
7/16/15, 5:23 PM
John Althouse Cohen said...

After the last 7 seven years, this is what you object to?

If you click the link in my blog post on "drone strikes that kill innocent people," you might notice that I have objected to other things Obama has done. Not every one of my posts about the president is a catalogue of everything I've ever disagreed with him about.

7/17/15, 12:41 PM

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