Fox's Griff Jenkins on Obama bike ride: "Where is he going? ... [M]aybe to get a pocket protector for his nerd pencils"
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SUMMARY: On Live Desk, Griff Jenkins said of a recent photo of Sen. Barack Obama taking a bicycle ride: "Where is he going? And I was thinking, maybe to get a pocket protector for his nerd pencils. What is that?"
On the June 9 edition of Fox News' Live Desk with Martha MacCallum, blogger and Fox News correspondent Griff Jenkins said of a recent photo of Sen. Barack Obama taking a bicycle ride: "Where is he going? And I was thinking, maybe to get a pocket protector for his nerd pencils. What is that?" Jenkins went on to contrast Obama's photo with photos of President Bush and Sen. John Kerry (D-MA) taking bike rides, describing Bush's photo as follows: "[Y]ou got a manly mountain bike coming down the trails, a strong bike -- it fits him." He continued:
You got Kerry, looks like he's doing the Ironman, very triathlete-looking. He is an athlete of course and rides bikes competitively I'm told, back in the day, and that's what the campaign was trying to do. And then they let Senator Obama be seen with jeans and sneakers, looks like Jerry Seinfeld.
Following Jenkins' comments, host Martha MacCallum stated, "I think you're being too hard on him. I think Barack Obama is so cool that it's almost good for him to look a little bit nerdy -- 'cause he always looks so cool." Jenkins responded: "Don't say that. Listen, somebody on the Obama campaign -- I know it's tough to talk to your boss and you don't want to tell him these hard things because he's running for president but please do it. You gotta let him know."
From the June 9 edition of Fox News' Live Desk with Martha MacCallum:
MacCALLUM: And Barack Obama, taking a break from the campaign trail over the weekend. He played a little bit of golf, we're told, he took Michelle out for dinner, and helped his 7-year-old daughter's slumber party, which is always a sleepless night for any parent that's been through that. But one weekend activity is getting some buzz on the blogs.
Griff Jenkins is a blogger at Griffnotes.com and a Fox News correspondent. What? Put the picture back up again, you guys.
JENKINS: Yeah.
MacCALLUM: What's wrong with -- what's wrong with him? He's going for a ride on his bike.
JENKINS: Well, here's what no one's said yet, and Anita just asked me: Where is he going? And I was thinking, maybe to get a pocket protector for his nerd pencils. What is that?
MARC LAMONT HILL (Fox News contributor): Looks like he's going --
MacCALLUM: You can't really see the back tire, but in the other picture, the back tire actually looks like it's flat, which is not a great image either. And Anita, you mentioned, like, you know, is he with his family?
ANITA KAY (attorney): Right. I mean, maybe he's with his kids or maybe he's on the way to the gas station to get air in the tires.
MacCALLUM: Maybe he's trying to ride his --
KAY: That's a possibility.
MacCALLUM: -- bike instead of put gas in his car --
KAY: There you go.
MacCALLUM: -- which would be a good thing to do. But let's pull up the other pictures that Griff points out on his blog of John Kerry -- Senator John Kerry biking and also President Bush. What's the comparison you're making here, Griff?
JENKINS: Look, you got a manly mountain bike coming down the trails, a strong bike -- it fits him. You got Kerry, looks like he's doing the Ironman, very triathlete-looking. He is an athlete of course and rides bikes competitively I'm told, back in the day, and that's what the campaign was trying to do. And then they let Senator Obama be seen with jeans and sneakers, looks like Jerry Seinfeld.
MacCALLUM: I think you're being too hard on him.
KAY: No.
MacCALLUM: I think Barack Obama is so cool that it's almost good for him to look a little bit nerdy --
JENKINS: Do not --
MacCALLUM: -- 'cause he always looks so cool.
JENKINS: Don't say that. Listen, somebody on the Obama campaign -- I know it's tough to talk to your boss and you don't want to tell him these hard things because he's running for president --
MacCALLUM: I know.
JENKINS: -- but please do it. You gotta let him know.
That picture of Obama on the bicycle is far better that THIS one of Bush on a Segway:
And here he is after a different bike experience:
Seriously, GRIFF Jenkins? This is a real person?
I can just imagine nerds all over the world, cowering in fear... please don't beat me up, GRIFF! Take my lunch money, GRIFF!
Seriously, though - this has to be satire, right? If so, then it's actually pretty funny.
This is just another example of the non-sensical BS that the news media has to use to fill their all-consuming time-slots.
If you have a chance, check out the Daily Show from last night. The first segment features the carnivorous plant from Little Shop of Horrors as the media saying "FEED ME."
I would say that Griff Jenkins' only experience with pencils was of the "number two" variety, judging from what he writes with them.
And every time he says "Number 2", he laughs like Beavis and Butt-Head. :-)
And then they let Senator Obama be seen with jeans and sneakers, looks like Jerry Seinfeld.
Or maybe like one of us?
What the hell ever happen to the American public getting a kick out of watching our Presidents [or Presidential candidates] at play. You know what FOX, I think most of us still do.
I was just a kid, but one of my earliest memories of JFK was watching him toss a football around with his family.
BTW this guy Jenkins looks like a nerd...
I like the way they pump up Kerry to slam Obama. In 2004 he was an elitist for riding that bike. Now he's an athlete and Obama is a nerd.
I mean, they've hitched their wagon to an empty suit who struts around like he's wearing an invisible gun belt, bobs his head like a chicken stalking a Junebug, and giggles when he talks about death and destruction. I'd be frustrated, too, if I had to haul water for a douchebag like that.
If I wanted a moron as president I'd have written myself in on my ballot.
Can we please have a president with a little more intelligence and drop all of this manly bullsh_t?
Griff Jenkins is calling Obama a nerd? Seriously, If your name is Griff and you weigh a buck fifty and you also wear your glasses half way down your nose you have no right calling someone a nerd. I'm sure Griff considers himself geek chic but he's not.
Oh that's good.
Griff is going for that Jerry Lewis look, next he'll be screaming " LLLLLAAAAAADDDYYYY!!"
Followed by Jerry Lewis filing a lawsuit, claiming copyright infringment. :-)
Everyone needs to stop calling FOX News, "news"!! It's no more news than Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, or Howard Stern!!!!!!!!!!!
I don't have a lot of faith in anyone giving the news these days, I go and dig, I find my own info wherever it comes from, I form my own opinions.... I check in with all the TV news outlets everyday, then I go research for myself..
I do watch FOX.......... When all the news people start to talk, I go watch the Simpsons..........
On his blog, Jenkins refers to the bar extending back from the seat stem of Obama's bike as a "tire fender." It is in fact the arched rod connecting his bike to his daughter's trail-a-bike, making a pseudo-tandem. How interesting that the photo cut off without showing Obama's daughter. A video of the ride can be seen here.
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-6793812913814426041&q=obama+bike&ei=HcNOSKvJO6TsrAK9yNS9DA&hl=en
Anybody doubt that a similar piece about a Republican taking such a ride would have been focused on family values and caring fathers?
Fact is, that looks more normal to me than somebody wearing speedos.... but I'm just an average guy who had one of the original Schwinn Stingrays.... it had white wall tires.
Couldn't it also be argued that somebody wearing Speedos, riding a $1200 mountain bike is...... an elitist? Just asking.
Is it a normal reaction for the first question to be "Where is he going?" He's riding a bike with his kids, taking a break from the campaign. Is he going to Bill Ayers house? Crazy church? It can't just be a bike ride.
OK, maybe the question was made up, just a set-up for the blazing "nerd pencil" punch line.
Didn't you know, Colonel? He's taking his daughters to a madras so they can be taught to be terrorists!
Sorry, shouldn't have said that and given the Fundamentalist News Channel an idea...my bad.
Not much worse than CNN's Anderson Cooper 360 from Monday... "Obama campaigns for the dork vote"
http://home.comcast.net/~krkweb/du/CNN_AC360_20080609_Obamacycle.jpg
... apparently similar comments were made on MSNBC's Morning Joe program on Tuesday.
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=108&topic_id=132483&mesg_id=132554
Griff's blog does not allow comments, so I emailed him. His blog is here
This is the message I emailed him...no I don't expect to get a reply:
Griff, you have cut off the back half of Obama's bike in the picture. It is not a "tire fender", it is the rod that connects to a second tandem bike on which is riding Obama's 7 year old daughter. They are going on a family bike ride. If Obama was a Republican, you would have shown the whole bike and discussed what great family values that Repub has. You MUST correct yourself, show the whole bike ride and apologize for being a moron to your readers. I don't expect you to do so because you are apparently a 150 pound geeky Faux Snooze tool. The link to the actual ride is here. Show it on your blog, or I will harrass you every day until you do.