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Republican humor

By Booman Tribune

y Steven D
Sat May 17th, 2008 at 12:17:24 PM EST

I've always considered myself a failure as a
human being, because despite my desire to understand others, regardless
of their station in life or their culture, I've never been able to
appreciate the types of jokes that Republicans and conservatives find
so highly amusing. You know the ones I mean. Jokes with a small dose of
violence and murderous intimidation at their core, like this, for
example:

Maybe it's some character flaw in me, some genetic defect, but I just
doesn't get the giggles when conservative friends and acquaintances
respond with a little light eliminationist comedic repartee regarding
liberals, Latinos, African Americans, environmentalists, feminists and,
in general, anyone who doesn't hold views which are exactly like their
own. Case in point: Governor Mike Huckabee's recent stand up routine at
the National Rifle Association convention, where he apparently brought the house down with this crack about Senator, and presumptive Democratic nominee, Barack obama:

 

ABC News' Kevin Chupka Reports: Former GOP hopeful and
Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee is back in the news this week, making a
splash when he took a hit at Senator Barack Obama during the annual
National Rifle Association meeting.
Huckabee made an off-color joke during his speech in Louisville,
Kentucky, when a loud bang was heard off-stage.

"That was Barack Obama," Huckabee quipped, "He Just tripped off a chair. He was getting ready to speak. Somebody aimed a gun at him and he…he dove for the floor."

Now, I know Huckabee has since apologized for his remarks,
but one wonders why he bothered. Clearly he believes remarks regarding
the potential assassination of a prominent African American politician
is simply one of the most hilarious comments he could have made to
members of the NRA, and many of his fellow conservatives obviously
agree, or they wouldn't keep telling us that similar "jokes" by Ann Coulter and Rush Limbaugh and Bill O'Reilly
are legitimate sources of humor, which we politically correct and
pompous liberals simply don't get because we take ourselves way too
seriously.

Me, I tend to think this kind of thing in an America filled with millions of angry gun owners who sincerely believe Democrats and liberals are out to pry their shotguns, pistols and hunting rifles
from their "cold dead hands" is beyond the pale. Certainly, I don't
think liberals making jokes about assassinating President Bush or
Senator McCain would or should be considered in any way acceptable, nor
do I suspect that most conservatives would disagree with me. Yet,
somehow jokes about killing Democratic politicians and other liberal
figures is fair game for conservative comics. I think both are equally
reprehensible and repulsive. And most definitely not funny.

But then I laugh at stuff like Monty Python routines so what do I know.

 

Gun control is not just an evil plot by liberals...

..it has general support from almost anyone who is concerned that the unsatisfactory comparison between US quality of life compared to and developed country that does control access to guns. It is supported by traditionally non-liberal professional groups such as police and district attorneys, or almost anyone interested in having a civil society, or simply the majority of the populations of the cities and communities that have tied to determine their own community safety and quality of life such as those you mentioned.
The wing-nuts has repeated the phrase so many times they do not stop to think of how off based the assumption is that control support is limited to some small radical conspiracy hell bent on denying the majority from having an irrational gun and violence obsession. Just like the often repeated but utterly false claim that people need guns to protect their family. Every statistic proves that those same people are hundreds or thousands of times more likely to kill a family member than a stranger seeking to harm those same family members. But irrational people armed to the teeth have little regard of logic, facts or the safety of their own family let alone the safety of their community.

That is a major reason quality of life, lack of levels of daily fear or unlikelihood of death or grievous harm to members of their family is so superior in civilized countries such as all of Europe, Japan etc. Their live expectancy, crime rates, quality of life and level of education, along with all other major indicators of a civil society are surely superior to the US, partly due to the massive gun distribution among irrational and obsessive people in the US. People who care about such thing and their families support controls on guns, those concerns are not just held by "liberals" but the majority of liberals do support controls for the same reason they are better educated, think more maturely and deeply about issues of their lives, it is a philosophy that tends to be more attractive to informed, thoughtful people.

By StanjMay 17, 2008 - 11:19pm