That Mitt Romney would say America doesn’t want “more firemen, more policemen, more teachers” and Don Rickles would think it’s OK to tell a racist joke about The President Of The United States in 2012 shows the problem we have in some corners of this country.
Romney picked an appearance in Council Bluffs, Iowa to say “He (Obama) says we need more firemen, more policemen, more teachers. Did he not get the message of Wisconsin? The American people did. It’s time for us to cut back on government and help the American people.”
Wild.
Let’s recap: Mitt Romney thinks America wants less, not more, firemen, policemen, and teachers. Think about that.
Then Don Rickles came back and told a joke at a tribute to Shirley McClaine that was totally racist and disrespectful of Barack Obama as President Of The United States. According to The Hollywood Reporter the 86-year-old comedian said “I shouldn’t make fun of the blacks. President Obama is a personal friend of mine. He was over to the house yesterday, but the mop broke.”
What’s worse, The Hollywood Reporter‘s Gregg Kilday tried to soften the blow by presenting other jokes Rickles made. But what Gregg Kilday missed is that all of the other jokes about everyone from Warren Beatty to Jack Nicolson had nothing to do with race; with Obama, it was all about his being Black.
What’s equally upsetting is the Huffington Post’s version of the post gave an arena for commentators who call themselves conservative to rubber-stamp Don Rickles’ joke as being OK.
In my book, it’s not OK. I like Don Rickles, but that doesn’t mean I have to like all of his jokes – especially ones that insult the President Of The United States because of the color of his skin.
Mitt Romney and Don Rickles: terrible symbols for America today.