If the President of the United States compared me to Donald Trump, I guess I’d be pretty upset too.
When President Obama addressed the nation about his birth certificate yesterday, he said, “We are not going to be able to come together in a bipartisan fashion if we get distracted by sideshows and carnival barkers.” It was a pretty clear reference to soon-to-be GOP Presidential candidate and massive ass wipe Donald Trump.
Over the last weeks Trump has used every ounce of his fame and ambition to drum up attention around “birtherism,” distracting the public from real issues such as the budget and climate change. By pandering to the racist tendencies of the Republican base and the Tea Party in particular he has used this “issue” to claw his way into the limelight. He’s now the ridiculous, though somehow poll-sanctioned, GOP frontrunner for 2012.
“Carnival barker” is actually a pretty apt description.
Unfortunately, Obama’s words were met with deep, though slightly misplaced, offense from the carnival barking community.
“I am extremely upset by the reference,” Frank Zaitshik of Wade Shows told Huffinton Post.
“I think what Obama said is the same type of stereotype that has been placed on African Americans,” Zaitshik said, furthering Obama’s point by displaying his talent for shameless attention-getting. “You wouldn’t expect those comments from someone who is a minority and has faced prejudice.”
“There’s no such thing as a barker unless it’s a dog,” added 16-year Coney Island worker Scott Baker.
In making a point about birtherism (I’m happy to see that my spell-check still rejects that word), Obama painted a broader picture which includes lawmakers, flag-draped activists and the media at large. Since the 2008 campaign, politics and the media have essentially turned into a carnival, replete with clowns (Victoria Jackson), freak shows (testifying fetusts), dunk-dummies (Rick Santorum), and fabricated side shows (birtherism).
Based on the past few years, Donald Trump isn’t a carnival barker belting his sales pitch in a serious environment. He’s a carnival barker at a carnival.
April 29, 2011 at 2:10 am, stupidarticle said:
some people are just stupid. get over yourself. you chose to have that shitty carny job. douche.
April 29, 2011 at 2:33 am, Syndivird said:
“some people are just stupid.” – stupidarticle
How judgmental and condescending can you get? Who are you to judge them? What do you do for work? We’d all love to know….and please have the decency to be honest.
April 29, 2011 at 2:25 am, Rose Hall said:
how stupid are this teabaggers, the President was right to say carnival barkers and sideshows because that’s all we been seeing from the teabaggers.
April 29, 2011 at 2:56 am, Will Merydith said:
The absurdity of this whole birther situation just continues to evolve.
April 29, 2011 at 6:05 pm, Goneflukin03 said:
distracting the public from real issues such as the budget and climate change” Climate change? Dude we are about to have a dollar crisis. I really hate D&T when you write political pieces, you always have it so backwards.
May 01, 2011 at 8:34 pm, flipmode said:
you don’t have to read D&T when they write political articles. That is what political media is for. this is for humor and opinion. and some seriousness never hurt, in fact it makes the humor more worthwhile.
April 30, 2011 at 6:08 am, john charles webb jr said:
Obama’s “SEAL” is an endangered species
if OBAMA DOES NOT GET HIS ASS IN GEAR . . . . .
PEOPLE ARE GOING TO VOTE “WALLET”
AND NOT RHETORIC .
I AGREE , THE REPUBLICAN HOPEFULS ARE A CARNIVAL CLOWN-CAR .
The Democrats SEEM TO BE ‘dignified corpses’ .
April 30, 2011 at 6:12 am, john charles webb jr said:
for instance ….
PRICE CONTROLS ON GASOLINE .
May 03, 2011 at 3:47 pm, Fred Lulling said:
Nice picture you used here of Chris Moriarity a convicted pedophile sex offender currently in jail.
November 28, 2011 at 6:26 pm, Rich said:
For the owner of Wade Shows to cast dispersions on the President of the United States is worse than the thief shouting: “ROBBER!” With Frank Zaitshik’s track record, he would be better off not attracting attention to himself. To learn a little about Zaitshik’s Wade Shows’ recent carnival, Google: “Before You Head Out to a Summer Carnival.” Owners like Zaitshik are most responsible for reinforcing the negative reference, “carnie.” Google: “U.S. Troops cheated out of money at carnival, CBS News” or look at a Barbara Walters feature: “ABC 20/20 Carnival Games” to see why the words “carnie” and “barker” are pejorative in most cases. To find out more about Zaitshik and other “carnie” owners, check out the book: “Carnival Games: $10,000,000,000 Hoodwink Racket – Organized Crime on American Midways.” President Barack Obama’s use of the negative connotation “carnival barker” was most appropriate in the context of the subject he was explaining. It is the corrupt carnival game scammers, and not President Obama, who taint the law-abiding carnival workers. (Where’s R.I.C.O.?)