At yesterday’s press conference, Obama suggested that even his daughters were worried about the gulf oil spill, noting that Malia knocked on the bathroom door just to ask him if he had ‘plugged the hole yet’. Beck responded by mocking the notion that Obama would use his daughter to score political points. I’ve got the clip below. But TVNewser is reporting that Beck mocked Obama’s daughter, Malia:
Fox News’ Glenn Beck is facing some heavy (and justified) criticism following comments he made about Malia Obama. HuffPost’s Jason Linkins has a thorough rundown of what transpired, but here is the short version:
Just a few days after Beck spoke out against mocking the children of public figures in an interview with Fox News contributor Sarah Palin, he proceeded to mock President Obama’s daughter Malia on his radio show.
Writes Linkins:
So, to revise the central tenets of Beck’s “leave the families alone” credo, people should only criticize the children of public figures of people whom Glenn Beck doesn’t like, including the ones who are stillborn.
First, the idea that Beck is being hypocritical over his “leave the families alone credo” is ridiculous. He isn’t mocking Malia, he’s mocking the president for using his daughter to score political points. In the interview with Sarah Palin, he plainly stated that everyone should leave their families out of the political debate, and other people should respect that. Well, Obama DID inject his daughter into the political debate, so I’m not seeing the hypocrisy here. If he were actually mocking Malia, maybe, but he’s not. He’s mocking Obama.
TVNewser continues:
While the rest of the segment mocked Obama (Who certainly deserved it. Using your kids as a political ploy is trashy when Palin uses it and it’s definitely trashy when the president does) with lines like “Daddy, I know you didn’t plug the hole yet but did John Podesta? ‘Cause he’s the guy with the real power, daddy. Mommy told me,” the education line is making fun of the Obama daughters specifically.
The idea that Beck is criticizing Malia’s education is also crap because he didn’t criticize Malia’s education at all. Rather, he mocked the president for making her sound like she was 3 years old with the question he said she supposedly asked. But you can listen and decide for yourself. Below is the clip that is stoking the controversy.
Personally, I thought it was hilarious. (there’s more below)
Also, just so you don’t have to take anyone’s word for it, I’ve clipped Beck’s comments to Sarah from their interview the other day regarding his defense of family (his “leave the families alone” credo):
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UPDATE: I’m not sure why, but Beck apologizes anyway (H/T Johnny Dollar):
“May 28, 2010 – 14:25 ET
In discussing how President Obama uses children to shield himself from criticism, I broke my own rule about leaving kids out of political debates. The children of public figures should be left on the sidelines. It was a stupid mistake and I apologize–and as a dad I should have known better.”
This kinda shocks me, but I stand by my analysis. I simply don’t think he did anything hypocritical or wrong. What do you think?