April 5, 2013

"You know, if I was living out on a farm in Iowa, I’d probably want a gun, too."

"When somebody just drives up into your driveway and you’re not home, you don’t know who these people are, you don’t know how long it’s going to take for the sheriffs to respond, I can see why you’d want some guns for protection."

Obama, quoting Michelle (or purporting to quote Michelle), showing some understanding of principles of federalism related to the way people have different needs and different policy perspectives in different parts of the country.

Rereading the quote, I said: Why Iowa — of all places where people might have a preference for guns? Why Iowa and not, say, Idaho? Vocalizing the question made me instantly see the answer: They had to go to Iowa to campaign. Iowa's the big early caucus state. They know Iowa, but they don't know Idaho. Why would they?

By the way, how long does it take the police to respond in Chicago? They know Chicago....

I assume Obama likes to graciously acknowledge that there are some parts of the country — unsophisticated places — where people cling to their guns because that's all they've been able to figure out so far in their limited little lives. Show a little respect for these rubes before you proceed further, to school them on the need for gun control. But drag in Chicago, and it gets complicated. Chicago is the very place where he thinks the gun control is needed, the very point that must be explained to the blinkered farmers.

If you concede that you might want a gun when somebody comes up to your door in Chicago, it's no longer clear what the sophisticated people are supposed to think.

66 comments:

Seeing Red said...

If I'm walking down Michigan Avenue after this past weekend........

Or I just don't go anymore and Rahm loses money.


This is gonna get interesting.

G Joubert said...

Obama hasn't a clue about life in rural America. He traffics in stereotypes.

edutcher said...

He wants a gun in IA to protect him from all the bitter clingers out there.

He figures he safe in Chi-town 'cause he's their homie.

Love to see the look on his face the dark night he discovers the fallacy in that one.

Unknown said...

On a farm in Iowa. Probably one of the safest places in America.

Meade said...

"NRA Finally Hires a Cool Black Guy"

Carol said...

Wait, someone drives up on your driveway, and you're not home....huh?

sakredkow said...

I assume Obama likes to graciously acknowledge that there are some parts of the country — where the people are unsophisticated — where people cling to their guns, because that's all they've been able to figure out so far in their limited little lives.

There's that cruel neutrality we know and love.

KLDAVIS said...

"Wait, someone drives up on your driveway, and you're not home....huh?"

If he's quoting Michelle, then she was probably referring to someone driving up while the wife is home alone. He self-edited to avoid the stereotypical weaker female and made the story sound nonsensical as a result.

I Have Misplaced My Pants said...

Carol--he was "quoting" the missus talking to him. Should have said "if we lived on a farm, someone turned into our driveway, you weren't home," blah blah. Mister Brilliant Orator at work again.

Ignorance is Bliss said...

Carol-

That was my thought. If I'm not home when they drive up, what am I supposed to do with my gun?

Meade said...

You know, if I was living down in Chicago, I’d probably want a gun, too. When somebody just walks up to you as you are sitting in your car, with your child, parked in front of your home, you don’t know who these people are, you don’t know how long it’s going to take for the Chicago police to respond, I can see that you’d want some guns for protection.

Ipso Fatso said...

The sophisticated people in Chicago live in high rises on the lakefront or on the near southside with 24 hour-7-day-per-week-security guards at the front door and secure underground parking. The vast majority of these people are white, wealthy and oh so liberal. They are the ones who want the hoi polloi like me disarmed—for my own good. The only time they have been anywhere near the southside is when they fly over it on the way to the Caribbean from O’Hare. Other sophisticates live in neighborhoods like Obama’s on the southside which are wealthy and cut off from the riff raff. They are in theory more exposed once out in the public but that risk can be managed as well.

AllenS said...

Probably nothing more than Obama making shit up.

MayBee said...

I think Michelle has watched In Cold Blood too many times.

Eric the Fruit Bat said...

So long as we're being pedantic, there's only one Sheriff.

Those are the deputies who don't show up until too late

Joe Biden, America's Putin said...

Thank you king and queen Obama. Whatever you say. Perhaps you can write a special rule for the good people of Iowa that will not apply to the rest of us. We are at your mercy, your highness.


I Have Misplaced My Pants said...

Carol--he was "quoting" the missus talking to him. Should have said "if we lived on a farm, someone turned into our driveway, you weren't home," blah blah. Mister Brilliant Orator at work again.

Tibore said...

"When somebody just drives up into your driveway and you’re not home, you don’t know who these people are, you don’t know how long it’s going to take for the sheriffs to respond, I can see why you’d want some guns for protection."

Yeah, but of course the police respond immediately in New York, LA, Chicago...

Liberal urbanites are the new provincials.

L Day said...

I know an elderly lady who lived alone in a very nice neighborhood adjacent to the Indiana Dunes. Gary, Indiana, but a very nice neighborhood. She awoke one night to the sound of someone breaking into the house. She could hear the intruder rummaging around in the house as she dialed 911. The operator told her to use the door leading outside from her bedroom and to run to a neighbor's house. She did, and waited 45 minutes for the police to arrive. When asked why it took so long to get there the responding officer said. "They know when the shift change happens and time their break-ins for when we'll have the longest response time". Learning that my friend lived there alone he said, "Lady you should get a gun." She thought his suggestion was scandalous.

dreams said...

Plus, the Dems know that those rubes out in Iowa and other largely rural states aren't going to vote for them anyway.

Tibore said...

"Meade said...
You know, if I was living down in Chicago, I’d probably want a gun, too. When somebody just walks up to you as you are sitting in your car, with your child, parked in front of your home, you don’t know who these people are, you don’t know how long it’s going to take for the Chicago police to respond, I can see that you’d want some guns for protection."


Meade is on it. I mean, it does depend on what part of town you're talking about, but yeah, what Meade said.

I recall when my late grandmother's neighbors during the period she lived in Chicago were nonplussed at the appearance of gang members on their street corner. Their response to me at the time was that it was a safe neighborhood because the police would show up and drive them away.

And yes, that did happen. The cops eventual presence did intimidate them into leaving, and the neighborhood was relatively safe as far as such neighborhoods go. But the point is the gangers were there, trolling for drug buyers... and all it takes is a literal minute or two for something bad to happen.

Brew Master said...

From the article:

“They’re saying your opinion doesn’t matter,” he argued, accusing GOP lawmakers of trying to “run out the clock,” “change the subject,” and “ignore the American people.”

Always look for the projection in an Obama speech.

Tibore said...

"Ipso Fatso said...
The sophisticated people in Chicago live in high rises on the lakefront or on the near southside with 24 hour-7-day-per-week-security guards at the front door and secure underground parking."


You'd have hoped that the wilding events on the Mile would've woken some of those people up. But I've seen zero evidence that that has happened.

Ipso Fatso said...

Police response times vary. I have had to call them a number of times and most of the time they are here within a few minutes, some times it may be 40 minutes. It depends on whether they think this issue is dangerous and also depends on what else is going on at that time. Your mileage may vary.

chuck said...

I would think Chicago should be a `must carry` city.

Seeing Red said...

I still find it really interesting that once Rahm became mayor, this stuff seemed to bubble up.

Summer's coming we'll see what happens on The Mag Mile & Oak Street Beach.

Carol said...

Actually shit like that does happen. We're in an isolated spot and I get the shivers when someone knocks on our door. We've had home invasions and terrorizing of homeowners who thought they were safe out in the boonies.

Years ago some young guy from Indiana got off a Greyhound in Montana, walked several miles and killed a couple who'd retired here and built a trophy home out in the woods.

I heard that in Argentina after the financial collapse, worst places to live were in town and way out of town.

dreams said...

"Piers Morgan's Hollywood House 'Protected by Armed Response Security Systems'..."

Drudge.

Ipso Fatso said...

"You'd have hoped that the wilding events on the Mile would've woken some of those people up."

Tibore, when our media darlings can't even bring themselves to lable the offenders as black or african-american so as not to offend the Reverend Jacksonas far as those people in the highrises are concerned these kids are from Naperville.

dreams said...

I've said it before and I'll say it again we're living in a sick, decadent time.

Ignorance is Bliss said...

You people should cut Michelle some slack. It's tough being a single mother.

Dust Bunny Queen said...

If someone drives up your driveway and you're not home.......you are likely to be robbed and your guns will be stolen along with everything else salvageable or sellable!!


However.....If someone drives up your driveway and you ARE home, alone....and the cops are over 45 minutes away (or an hour in our case), you do want to be armed and ready.

Where I live, you also want a gun if you go outside at night because you might meet a mountain lion, coyote or some other nocturnal predator. During the day too. Not too long ago an elderly lady, 80 yrs old, in our area shot and killed a mountain lion that was in her chicken coop area. Try that with a BB gun or slingshot.

AllenS said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
chickelit said...

A PSA reminder: The Feds have proposed registering ammo purchases and even most gun purchases. One obvious reason "rural folk" may not like this are stunts pulled by this newspaper. If I recall correctly, that publication was followed by at least one burglary where the thieves were after guns they knew were in the address publicized in the news article.

AllenS said...

Bold text are my words. This is really a stupid statement:

When somebody just drives up into your driveway and you’re not home [well, numbnuts how would you know it then, you don’t know who these people are [of course you don't know them, you're not home], you don’t know how long it’s going to take for the sheriffs to respond [why would they respond, someone drove up into your driveway, but you didnt see it because you were not home], I can see why you’d want some guns for protection [what good would a gun do you in this situation].

Henry said...

If I was living on a farm in Detroit I might want a gun too.

chickelit said...

If you concede that you might want a gun when somebody comes up to your door in Chicago, it's no longer clear what the sophisticated people are supposed to think.

People in flyoverland may just tend to think Chicago should get the log out of its own eye first regarding gun violence.

Jay Vogt said...

Iowa here.

2011 murders per 100k:

Iowa 1.5
Chicago. 15.5

Might want to start the conversation as to whether law abiding citizens MAY be armed from that.

MadisonMan said...

Obama hasn't a clue about life in rural America.

If I lived on a farm, like Dad did, sort of, I'd have a gun to kill varmints. That it would work on some nefarious stranger is incidental to its main purpose.

Sam L. said...

Well, in the sophisticated areas of Chi-town, they got lots-o-cops around. Where they ain't...

Johanna Lapp said...

Yeah, as long as Bad Ass Barry was home to protect me, I wouldn't be wishing for a gun instead. Or in addition. The man is scarier and more intimidating than Touré Niblet.

I just hope he's better at throwing a punch than he is at shooting a basketball.

TMink said...

Given how many people are murdered in Chicago, I would want several guns if I was doomed to live there or some other high crime blue party madhouse.

Trey

Big Mike said...

By the way, how long does it take the police to respond in Chicago?

Are we talking Hyde Park or the area south of East 63rd? The Gold Coast or the far South Side?

Amartel said...

You know, if I was living in the White House, I'd probably want absolute power, too. When half the country disagrees with you about the scope and role of government, you don't like these people, you don't know how long it's going to take for the media to wear them down on a particular issue, I can see where you'd want absolute power to move your agenda.

Sigivald said...

I'm confused (figuratively, not at all literally) as to why somehow police response times in the 5-15-30 minute range are unimportant in suburban and urban areas, by implication.

If it's someone you need a gun to defend against, and he's at your door, the only definitely way cops might help you is if there's one already at your house.

Which is, shall we say, unlikely?

(I've noticed a lot of people not only don't think they need to provide for their own defense, but have actually argued (in what is to all appearances a completely sincere way) that the expectation that they do so is an attack on them, an imposition on their ... I guess the only way to put it is "right to be feckless because other people just shouldn't be criminal in the first place so I shouldn't have to take my security into my own hands".

Makes me wonder if there might be a bit of that in the background assumptions here.)

Big Mike said...

Where I live, you also want a gun if you go outside at night because you might meet a mountain lion, coyote or some other nocturnal predator. During the day too. Not too long ago an elderly lady, 80 yrs old, in our area shot and killed a mountain lion that was in her chicken coop area.

Shhh. The enviro-nut wing of the Democrat Party will be out to picket her for destroying one of nature's beautiful creatures. Everyone knows that mountain lions are basically cowards that run away from humans. Well, except for the ones that kill and eat people.

Tibore said...

"Ipso Fatso said...

Tibore, when our media darlings can't even bring themselves to lable the offenders as black or african-american so as not to offend the Reverend Jacksonas far as those people in the highrises are concerned these kids are from Naperville. "


Do you know that this is actually indoctrinated? I'm not kidding; I wish I were. Way back when I was a student, in the days of Reagan and Bush the elder, and before I settled on a chemistry degree, I was taking entry level classes in the journalism school (natural extension of my time on the high school paper and yearbook). They had this "interactive" program to teach interview techniques (again: late 80s, early 90s, so the interface was really poor). One of the simple tasks was to write up a robbery by interviewing witnesses and police. One of the multiple choice questions about the "who" was the physical description, and below that it broke out into whether they were white, black, Asian, etc., and if you chose to "ask" that, the virtual policeman would respond "human being".

I am not making this up. If anyone thinks I'm BS'ing, I will tell you straight on that I was personally hands on with that program. I saw it do it myself.

Oddly enough, and to her credit, the instructor accepted that the point the software was making was "debatable" (that was actually an incredible concession from her), and a lot of us in the class just gave each other the "WTF?" look when we got to that part of the exercise, but the point is that it was actually part of the instructional software used.

So yes, that sort of attitude gets indoctrinated. I'm disappointed but not surprised at how the news characterized the incidents.

Michael K said...

Can anyone seriously imagine Obama on a farm in Iowa ? He and Michelle are the epitome of urban cool with armed security guards.

I used to know a radiologist who lived in Chicago's John Hancock building. I've eaten in the restaurant on the 105th floor. He said it was nice commuting by elevator in the winter.

That's why they aren't up in arms about the "wilding" on Michigan Avenue. They look like ants down there. Above it all.

Michael said...

Tibore: Happily for the reading public with an itch to know, the African-American community has afforded clues to their very own racial identity through the invention of names that adhere strictly to their cohort. So no need for the journalist to dirty their pristine and pompous souls with outing the race of a human being when the human beings often do so themselves.

cubanbob said...

Micheal K is on to something special: Barry and Michelle starring in the reboot of "Green Acres".

On another thread someone pointed out there are 90 million people no longer considered to be part of the workforce. Lets see if we take off of that group who are between the ages of 21 and 60, sane sober and have a clean criminal background and train them in gun use and safety and have the be the personal 24/7 security detail of every tax payer. Everyone gets a security detail like Barry and Slow Joe. Problem solved.

Rabel said...

Michelle's actual quote:

“You know, if I was living out on a farm in Iowa, I’d probably want a gun, too. So I could shoot myself in the fucking head."

MadisonMan said...

Not many cougar fatalities, but I did notice that two were in the same town, albeit separated by many years. Kyouquot, BC. Strike that town from the list of towns to visit.

Rusty said...

Meade said...
You know, if I was living down in Chicago, I’d probably want a gun, too. When somebody just walks up to you as you are sitting in your car, with your child, parked in front of your home, you don’t know who these people are, you don’t know how long it’s going to take for the Chicago police to respond, I can see that you’d want some guns for protection.

There are some parts of Chicago not even the police will go.

hombre said...

I can see why someone who was "not home" would need a gun to protect himself from those guys driving up the driveway. Can't you?

Particularly, if your "single mom" wife is with you ....

LOL!h

David said...

Massively condescending man.

Mike (MJB Wolf) said...

And screw all those farmers down in southern Illinois who need guns because the idiots in Springfield answer to Chicago baby! If you seek consistency run like hell from liberals. Especially if they are trying to appear sympathetic to you because that means there's already a dagger aimed at your heart.

test said...

MadisonMan said...
Not many cougar fatalities, but I did notice that two were in the same town, albeit separated by many years. Kyouquot, BC. Strike that town from the list of towns to visit.


There's some sort of recent cultural interest - a la the re-emergence of Chuck Norris or interest in Zombies - for cougars. Apparently it's all the rage. I wonder exactly how they died? Heart attack from the stress, smothering, or possibly claw wounds?

I wonder if these reported deaths will end the fad, or if the deaths will attract the riskier thrill seekers.

MayBee said...

I love Rabel.

Michelle Dulak Thomson said...

"When somebody just drives up into your driveway and you’re not home, you don’t know who these people are, you don’t know how long it’s going to take for the sheriffs to respond, I can see why you’d want some guns for protection."

Wait. You might want "some guns"? Only in Westerns does anyone fire more than one at once. And where are you, that you have multiple sheriffs?

Seeing Red said...

It just dawned on me, the Amish have guns. Will they have to give them up?

Cincinnatus said...

You know, its not hard to find out just how many tons of firearms, ammunition and other weapons that the Secret Service shipped into the Obama home in Chicago.

Paul said...

Chicago, on the bad side of town, IS THE PLACE TO HAVE A GUN.

And that is what such people as Obama and Biden don't understand. See those two have SS Pretorian guards all around them but in the poor side of Chicago you have nothing unless you pack illegal guns or knives.

And if you are a woman, alone, with no weapon, you are at the mercy of two strong men ANYTIME.

Now I've been in the marital arts for 30+ years, combat pistol shooting for almost 30 years, taught self defense, taught CHL, I keep fit and well I doubt if I'll ever be in a gunfight (but it can happen!)

Yet I know a lot of people who don't have my training and they live in bad areas and don't have to money for fancy guns or gear. I have no doubt Chicago had millions in that fix.

So what the progressive say about gun control is all wrong. We need more guns in the hands of good people and the government needs to get out of the way.

DADvocate said...

Obama doesn't care, doesn't understand and doesn't give a shit. He's an idealogue who says stupid crap like this hoping he'll trick someone into supporting his point of view.

It's your constitutional right whether you live in Idaho, Iowa, or anywhere esle in the U.S. The founders at least partially specified that right to help keep wanna be despots like Obama from taking over.

Unknown said...

Seeing Red said...

It just dawned on me, the Amish have guns. Will they have to give them up?


I'm pretty sure Muslims have them too. Who do you suppose will be approached to give them up first?

Bruce Hayden said...

I loved the clips of Dianne DeGette yesterday, one of the primary backers of gun control legislation in the House, telling her audience that she represents DPD, and if the crime had happened in her home district of Denver, it would never have been an issue requiring private gun ownership. It was pointed out that when you need cops in seconds, they are minutes away sort of thing.

But, what was humorous to me was that a couple of decades ago, a bunch of us were at a party in one of the nicer parts of Denver (1 block south of where Mamie Dowd Eisenhower grew up), and we witnessed what appeared to have been a home invasion/burglary. 911 was dutifully called, and then we camped out on the front lawn waiting for the police response. Then, about a half an hour later, about a half a dozen squad cars showed up with lights and sirens. The perps were, of course, long gone. And, that was in DeGette's Congressional district.

DPD have always been tools, or at least had a lot of questionable officers. Ran into it first some 40 years ago, when two officers lied on the stand in order to convict me of a pair of traffic offenses, both of which together were highly unlikely from a logical point of view. And, a friend was thrown in jail for essentially panhandling (it was his hippie phase), and came out of it with some broken ribs from a beating DPD officers gave him.

Bruce Hayden said...

There's some sort of recent cultural interest - a la the re-emergence of Chuck Norris or interest in Zombies - for cougars. Apparently it's all the rage. I wonder exactly how they died? Heart attack from the stress, smothering, or possibly claw wounds?

My understanding is that they typically kill by strangulation, clamping their jaws around your neck.

One thing that you don't want to do in their vicinity is run. They apparently take it as flight, triggering their attack reflexes. Jogger a couple of decades ago in Idaho springs, Colorado, was taken, and this was presumed to have been primary cause.

A bit over 20 years ago, I was living west of Denver in the foothills, and nearest neighbor (and the only one we could see) told us that he was seeing one come through his and our properties ever day at dusk in his night vision rifle scope. My kid was young, so as a result, I always had my shotgun out when we were playing on the porch. Went on for a couple of months, but then a cat started taking dogs over on Lookout Mountain every couple of days, about 5 miles east of us. Initially, they couldn't track it, but it finally took a big enough dog (maybe 75 pounds) that it could't pick up, and so dragged it to its den, allowing it to be tracked and killed. Turns out that it was the cat going through our property every evening, in a gully maybe 100 yards from the porch.