A rodeo clown at the Missouri State Fair put on a mask of President Barack Obama, and an announcer asked an enthusiastic crowd whether they wanted to see “Obama trampled by a bull,” according to a witness and video posted online.
Gov. Jay Nixon, a Democrat, said through a spokesman that the antics were “disrespectful and offensive,” and Lt. Gov. Peter Kinder, a Republican, said on Twitter: “We are better than this.”
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NBC News
. . . voice is heard over the loudspeaker working up the crowd and saying, "We're going to stomp Obama now."
"As soon as this bull comes out, Obama, don't you move," the second voice said. "He's going to getcha, getcha getcha, getcha."
"Hey, I know I'm a clown," the second voice said. "He's just running around acting like one. Doesn't know he is one." ...
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CNN News
I am amazed that in 2013, such hatred, intolerance and disrespect towards the President of the United States could take place at the Missouri State Fair. Our fair is supposed to showcase the best of Missouri, instead, it showed an ugly face of intolerance and ignorance to the world.
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Congressman William Lacy Clay (D) Missouri
Poking fun at our president is a time-honored tradition in this country, but the incident Saturday night at the Missouri State Fair rodeo went well beyond the line. The concept of an angry bull attempting to trample a black man for the amusement of a crowd is neither entertaining nor funny and is not the type of behavior that our taxpayer-subsidized State Fair should promote.
“House Democrats will be asking House Speaker Tim Jones to immediately appoint an interim committee to investigate this incident and to consider whether continued taxpayer funding is appropriate for an event that allows such racist actions to occur.
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Missouri House Minority Leader Jake Hummel (D) and Assistant House Minority Leader Gail McCann Beatty (D)
And it was just last week on this program where I . . . talked about Obama going on a comedy show to tell us something very serious about foreign policy, and I said this is diminishing the office of the presidency, the way Obama’s handling this, just totally diminishing it. He is reducing the office to the lowest common denominator, and I would suggest to you that whatever the truth of this thing is in Missouri, the clown putting on the Obama mask, is representative of the fact that there is a declining overall respect for the office of the presidency.
When the president of the United States more often than not connects with the American people on late-night comedy shows, what else can happen, other than the diminishing of the office.
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Rush Limbaugh
From the Missouri Rodeo Cowboy Association
The Missouri Rodeo Cowboy Association would like to extend a sincere apology for the inappropriate act during the Bull Riding at the Saturday performance of the MRCA Rodeo. The MRCA Board of Directors and over 600 members do not condone nor approve of this sort of activity. The MRCA Board of Directors is dealing with the situation firmly and quickly as this type of behavior will not be tolerated. The Sport of Rodeo is not meant to be a political platform. We are taking measures by training and educating our contract acts to prevent anything like this from ever happening again. All Members of the Missouri Rodeo Cowboy Association are very proud of our Country and our President. Once again our apologies to the Missouri State Fair and the fans who were in attendance and we hope to see you at another rodeo soon.
The president of the rodeo cowboy association — who doubled as rodeo announcer at the event Saturday — said on Monday he was not aware that a “rogue rodeo clown” planned to stage the performance.
“The rodeo clown did an act that was not in the script, it was not approved by the board of directors of MCRA and it was not appropriate,” rodeo association president Mark Ficken told NBC affiliate KSHB in Kansas City, Mo. “We extend our apologies to the Missouri State Fair. Rodeo is not a political platform and will not be again. We are taking disciplinary action.”
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USNews @nbc
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Donald Trump Keeping Birtherism Alive:
From This Week On ABC
Jonathan Karl, ABC News to Donald Trump: You said a lot of things over the years that people say make you not serious. One of the big things is on the birth certificates.
Trump: Why does that make me not serious? I think that resonated with a lot of people.
Karl: But you don't still question he (Obama) was born in the United States, do you?
Trump: I have no idea.
Karl: Even at this point?
Trump: Was there a birth certificate? You tell me. You know some people say that was not his birth certificate. Nobody knows. You don't know either. You're a smart guy, Jonathan, and you don't know either. Nobody knows.
Karl: I'm pretty convinced.
Trump: Ah! You said pretty.
Karl: Totally, without question, convinced.
Trump: You said you're pretty convinced, okay? Let's see what happens over time, but it's not my issue, Jonathan. My issue right now is much different. Wait a minute -- my issue is economic. Our country is being ripped apart by China and many other countries. That's my issue.
Karl: But on this issue, people thought you were out of line --
Trump: You said you're pretty sure. You can't be
pretty sure, that's not acceptable. You have to be 100% sure.
Karl: I'm 100% sure.
Trump: I don't think you are.
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More Birthers Lurking Out There . . .
. . . if [the birth certificate] is truly illegal, he (Obama) shouldn't be there and we can get rid of everything and I said I agree with that.
But is that the best way to spend our time?
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Florida Rep. Ted Yoho, via Huff Post
Yoho recalled a conversation with House Speaker John Boehner.
"And then I had a little fun with Boehner," Yoho said. "I told him about the sun tanning tax. He goes ‘I didn't know that was in there.'
I said, ‘Yeah, it's a 10 percent tax.' He goes ‘Well, it's probably not meant as that big of a deal.' I said ‘It's a racist tax.' "
At that point, the crowd at the joint meeting of the Gainesville, Gilchrist County and North Central Florida tea party groups erupted in cheering, laughter and clapping.
Yoho then continued. "He (Boehner) started laughing and he goes, ‘You know what? It is,' " Yoho said.
"And I have an Indian doctor in our office the other day. Very dark-skinned. And two non-dark-skinned people. And I said this to him. And they started laughing. And I said 'Have you ever been to a tanning booth?' And he goes ‘No, no need.'
So therefore it's a racist tax and I thought I might even go to a tanning booth twice so I can come out and say I've been disenfranchised. I got taxed because of the color of my skin. I mean as crazy as that sounds, that's what the left does. By God, if it works for them, it'll work for us."
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Ted Yoho via Gainesville.com
I think unfortunately the horse is already out of the barn on this, on the whole birth certificate issue. The original Congress when his eligibility came up should have looked into this and they didn’t. I’m not sure how we fix it.
You tie into a question I get a lot, if everybody's so unhappy with what the President’s done, why don’t you impeach him. I’ll give you a real frank answer about that, if we were to impeach the President tomorrow, you could probably get the votes in the House of Representatives to do it. But it would go to the Senate and he wouldn’t be convicted.
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Texas Rep Blake Farenthold at a Town Hall Meeting, via TPM
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Obama the Racial Divider
“This week I heard the president talk about phony scandals. There’s nothing phonier than the words that have come out of 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. about reuniting this country, bringing us together as a people.
No, he’s not a uniter; he’s a divider. He divides us on race, he divides us on income. He picks winners and losers.
. . . Listen, I’ll tell you what: It’s self-evident. I don’t know if people who aren’t reading or not watching, maybe, don’t have the same opinion, but I think it’s pretty obvious where we’re going with some of this stuff.
. . . People tell me all the time, ‘the trouble with you people is, you just don’t understand.’ Let me tell you something: I understand. I get it. I’ve watched how much erosion we’ve had. I’ve watched how much our freedom and liberty is under attack. No, I understand it.
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Pennsylvania Rep Mike Kelly, via Roll Call
From Arizona Central
Hundreds of protesters wielded signs, chanted slogans and argued with each other Tuesday outside Desert Vista High School in Phoenix, while President Barack Obama spoke about housing and the economy inside.
. . . Obama foes at one point sang, "Bye Bye Black Sheep," a derogatory reference to the president's skin color, while protesters like Deanne Bartram raised a sign saying, "Impeach the Half-White Muslim!"
. . . “Obama is ruining American values. He is ruining the Constitution. He needs to go back to where he came from because obviously, he is a liar,” she said. “I am not racist. I am part Indian. Obama’s half Black, half White.”
“He’s 47 percent Negro,” shouted Ron Enderle, a 77-year-old Chandler resident who said that he and his son served as Marines and his grandson is currently serving in the Marines.
Enderle criticized the president mishandling security at the U.S. Benghazi Embassy.
“My grandson is third generation Marine, and it bothers me to have this man as our commander in chief. I’m ashamed,” Enderle said.Judy Burris said that she blames Obama for racism in America reaching heights not seen since the 1960s Civil-Rights Era.
“We have gone back so many years,” she said. “He’s divided all the races. I hate him for that.”
She said that she brought her 12-year-old grandson Christian Cabrera to the protests because she thought it would be educational.
“He’s Mexican,” she said of her grandson.
Cabrera said he wanted to accompany his grandma “so I could protest about impeaching Obama.”
