White House Releases Photo Of Obama Shooting Skeet

February 2, 2013

Comments

The White House, succumbing to skeptics, releases a photo Saturday of President Barack Obama skeet shooting.

The president told The New Republic in a recent interview that he goes skeet shooting “all the time.” Doubters of the claim quickly asked for photos, a request the White House denied earlier this week.

The image released Saturday proves he did in fact shoot skeet. Official photographer Pete Souza snapped this shot at Camp David on Aug. 4, 2012.

But it may do little to squelch the questions about exactly how often.

Indeed, I’m sure we’ll see the rise of the Skeet Truthers by the end of the weekend.

39 responses to “White House Releases Photo Of Obama Shooting Skeet”

11B40

February 2, 2013 at 12:35 pm

Greetings:

Yeah, but did he hit anything but air ???

And with baseball season almost upon us, I hope he does do any more of it lest he (or should that be “He”) injure his throwing arm.

Come follow he, he’s the Pied Piper…
Rafer Janders

February 2, 2013 at 12:37 pm

Yeah, I’m gonna need to see a photo of a dead skeet being held up by Obama before I buy it.

And has anyone checked the kerning on that shotgun?
al-Ameda

February 2, 2013 at 12:39 pm

This is a great Second Amendment photo-op!

Why wasn’t this used for the Captioning Contest?
stonetools

February 2, 2013 at 12:46 pm

I dunno, what’s the kerning on that photograph….

I think the reason the gun nuts have been making a big deal of this is that the gun nuts in their heart believe that if someone just held a gun, then you would feel the surge of love, power , and manly feeling that would come from this act, and understand why you should never limit in any way the ownership and use of these wonderful devices. So since Obama wants to limit use of guns, clearly he couldn’t have actually fired a gun.
Such is gun nut logic.
stonetools

February 2, 2013 at 12:48 pm

@al-Ameda:

Definitely should be the next one. Mr. Dill, take note.
Rafer Janders

February 2, 2013 at 12:49 pm

@stonetools:

I think the reason the gun nuts have been making a big deal of this is that the gun nuts in their heart believe that if someone just held a gun, then you would feel the surge of love, power, and manly feeling that would come from this act, and understand why you should never limit in any way the ownership and use of these wonderful devices.

So in that sense, a gun is a like a penis?

Which, yes, explains quite a bit about why these gun nuts are so invested in their…guns.
JKB

February 2, 2013 at 1:44 pm

@Rafer Janders: So in that sense, a gun is a like a penis?

“In the olden days, when leftists wished to argue against gun owners, they claimed that guns were phallic symbols…”
“… and that the excessive love of guns demonstrated latent homosexuality,” says William (the commenter), tapping his own memory as “I’m an old man and a living link with the past.”

Keep oiling and loading that pisstool, big boy. We know what you’re really doing….
Can we not now claim that excessive fear of gun ownership indicates a streak of homophobia? They don’t want to ban guns. We know what they really want to ban

.
gVOR08

February 2, 2013 at 2:07 pm

@Rafer Janders: I understand Psychology has moved past Freud and views him as a philosopher, not a psychologist, no longer really relevant. Sure seems difficult to understand guns and SUVs without reference to Freud. “Mine’s bigger than yours.”

Sorry if I’m displaying ignorance, but I do know little about skeet shooting or modern shotguns. What the heck is that upward venting?
stonetools

February 2, 2013 at 2:22 pm

@JKB:

To be honest, I really have to agree with Steven Saylor on another thread, its not that gun enthusiasts like guns, but its as if they actually worship these things.
I love my iPhone. I think its beautiful, and am usually never more than a few yards away from it most of the day . However, if iPhones were banned, I’d be annoyed, but it wouldn’t be a life changing event for me. If you look at the fervor of some of these commenters, If certain guns were banned, or even restricted, it would be to them like the end of the world, or like losing a body part. That fixation is why you get the penis comparisons.
anjin-san

February 2, 2013 at 2:41 pm

@ stonetools

I think you’ve got it pegged. I have been shooting for a long time & I own several guns. That being said, I can live without them pretty easily, and I have no delusions that they would allow my to offer anything beyond brief token resistance to the government should it become oppressive.

The foaming at the mouth on the right over guns is something I do not get – but then I tend to distrust fanatics of all stripes.
Rafer Janders

February 2, 2013 at 2:53 pm

@anjin-san:

I think you’ve got it pegged.

This may be a poor choice of words when discussing penis substitutes….or, perhaps, a very apt one.
C. Clavin

February 2, 2013 at 2:56 pm

JKB…
Still haven’t owned up to how wrong you were on the NRA ad.
What a loser you are.
C. Clavin

February 2, 2013 at 2:59 pm

I wonder when the cute bimbo from Tenn. is going to apologize to her Commander in Chief?
Rick Almeida

February 2, 2013 at 3:26 pm

@11B40:

Yeah, but did he hit anything but air ???

Of course, he was letting George Soros fling copies of the US Constitution into the air. Never misses those.
JKB

February 2, 2013 at 3:33 pm

No lawyers were harmed making this photo.

However, a lot of gun control nuts had their hearts broken
JKB

February 2, 2013 at 3:35 pm

@C. Clavin:

Is this person a member of the U.S. uniformed services on active duty? If not, Obama isn’t her commander in chief. He’s the man hired to administer the Executive Branch.
bill

February 2, 2013 at 3:41 pm

if he shot skeet ulrich that would be good! so does this mean he’s still the guy who increased gun rights (like he said a few years ago) or the bandwagon type who needs to blame something whenever something goes wrong? it’s not like he’s going to get anymore gun stuff banned, it was all a ruse to keep you all occupied while we got more bad economic news. a “kansas city shuffle” i believe!
it’s nice outside, get outta here.
Rafer Janders

February 2, 2013 at 4:12 pm

@JKB:

Curious how the conservative position on reflexively referring to the president as “the Commander-in-Chief” has morphed since the presidency went from George W. Bush to Barack Obama…
anjin-san

February 2, 2013 at 4:45 pm

@ Rafer Janders

It’s also curious how the conservative position that even questioning the “unitary executive” had a hint of disloyalty/treason about it vanished like dew on a summer morning when Obama took office.
JKB

February 2, 2013 at 4:49 pm

@Rafer Janders:

Not sure what conservatives do but they’d be wrong to apply the CinC title unless they were in a uniformed service on active duty. And the same applies to the Left.

It is not healthy for a republic to get in the habit of thinking their elected representatives have some kind of whimsical power to command private citizens. Sadly, we’ve traveled to far down this road in the last 100 years.
edmondo

February 2, 2013 at 5:13 pm

Giggle…Obama just had his “Dukakis in a tank” moment.
PJ

February 2, 2013 at 5:32 pm

@edmondo:

Giggle…Obama just had his “Dukakis in a tank” moment.

He’ll lose the election now…

Oh wait. The election was three months ago….
Rafer Janders

February 2, 2013 at 6:24 pm

@JKB:

Not sure what conservatives do but they’d be wrong to apply the CinC title unless they were in a uniformed service on active duty. And the same applies to the Left. It is not healthy for a republic to get in the habit of thinking their elected representatives have some kind of whimsical power to command private citizens.

You know, JKB, I agree with you 100%. You’re are absolutely correct about this as a matter of principle, and it’s a point I have made dozens of times myself.

However, let’s not pretend that when GWB was president, conservatives didn’t refer to him as the C-in-C almost by rote. I’m going out to dinner soon, so don’t have time to dig up the hundreds of examples I could find, but I’m sure some of my fellow commenters would be happy to.
sam

February 2, 2013 at 6:34 pm

@Rafer Janders:

And has anyone checked the kerning on that shotgun?

Ha!
JKB

February 2, 2013 at 7:21 pm

@Rafer Janders:

No need to waste your time, I will grant the point. The Right did use CinC for Bush all the time and were wrong to do so.
Moosebreath

February 2, 2013 at 8:53 pm

@stonetools:

“I really have to agree with Steven Saylor on another thread”

Either that was an odd typo, or one of my favorite mystery authors made an appearance at OTB.
Tyrell

February 2, 2013 at 9:05 pm

Now he just needs to go hunting with Ted Nugent.
anjin-san

February 2, 2013 at 9:23 pm

Ted Nugent

Good ol’ Ted. Fired Derek St. Holmes because his ego could not take sharing the spotlight. Never made a significant record after that. Likes to tell people how he is an “alpha male”.

I guess I can see why this bonehead is popular on the right.
Frank X White

February 2, 2013 at 11:48 pm

My doubts about this story: http://experiencedrivenlife.blogspot.com/2013/02/obama-skeet-shooter.html
An Interested Party

February 3, 2013 at 12:16 am

Come follow he, he’s the Pied Piper…

Oh? Has he lured away your children yet?

…and that the excessive love of guns demonstrated latent homosexuality…

First I’ve heard of that one…now, if we’re talking about the excessive love of guns demonstrating overcompensation for small personal parts…

Giggle…Obama just had his “Dukakis in a tank” moment.

Indeed…if he really wants to show that he is a big strong man, he would shot a lawyer in the face…
Stonetools

February 3, 2013 at 5:50 am

@Moosebreath:

Should have been Steven Taylor. Steven Saylor is a good mystery writer.
C. Clavin

February 3, 2013 at 8:55 am

The President is the CinC.
The President is her President.
Ipso Facto…
C. Clavin

February 3, 2013 at 9:00 am

Not that it matters…she was wrong about him shooting skeet. Will she fess up?
No more than JKB fessed up about being dead wrong on the NRA ad.
Republicans generally…and JKB specifically…are chicken-shits.
stonetools

February 3, 2013 at 9:20 am

I thought this would be a minor thing, but, incredibly, the top half of Memeorandum is consumed with right wing blogs expressing outrage that the White House is mocking their attempts to “fact check” the President’s remark about skeet shooting. These people deserrved to be mocked, but there is a bigger point to be made about gun politics. No Mr. Mister Blog says it best:

Me, I’m just tired of it. I’m tired of American politicians having to prove they’re fit to hold office by shooting guns — or demonstrating interest in any sporting activity they have a damn good reason not to care about.

I don’t hunt. Why? Because I grew up in a large city (Boston) and live in another large city (New York). Barack Obama grew up mostly in Honolulu. He’s lived since then in places such as New York, Chicago, and Washington, D.C. Of course he doesn’t spend a lot of time shooting.

Gun lovers want us to understand and respect their culture. Hey, why don’t you guys try understanding and respecting ours? If you say we shouldn’t have contempt for your enjoyment of hunting and target shooting, well, fine, I accept that — but you need to drop the contempt for those of us who didn’t grow up with those recreations, and never developed a fondness for them. It just wasn’t part of our culture, and that’s OK.

I hate that U.S. pols, in order to seem “down to earth” (which most of them aren’t), have to feign an interest in hunting or NASCAR (yeah, I even felt sorry for Mitt Romney to some extent, although his NASCAR comments were an unforced error).

Indeed. Even heh.
john personna

February 3, 2013 at 10:10 am

So … do we have new truthers? The skeeters?
Rafer Janders

February 3, 2013 at 10:53 am

@C. Clavin:

The President is the CinC. The President is her President. Ipso Facto…

No, not at all. The president is Commander-in-Chief of the United States military alone. He is not the Commander-in-Chief of America, or of any private American citizen.
C. Clavin

February 3, 2013 at 11:59 am

@ radar…
He’s the CinC.
He’s our Commander in Chief of our Military.
It’s a question of semantics.
And has nothing at all to do with JKB’s idiocy and/or cowardice.
labman57

February 3, 2013 at 1:36 pm

I agree with the NRA and all of those gun-toting patriots out there. Not impressed in the least, even if the photo wasn’t doctored.
(And of course, the logical assumption is that this is yet another Obama-instigated conspiracy to commit fraud against all REAL Americans.)

First of all, clay doesn’t bleed.

If Obama truly wants to convey the notion that he has some expertise with firearms, then he needs to take down a deer with a Bushmaster rifle, stroll through Walmart while armed to the teeth, or at the very least spray birdshot in the face of his hunting partner.
grumpy realist

February 4, 2013 at 1:19 pm

My experience with hunters has been: “I hope that’s not a weekend warrior from NYC.”

Look, we “gun control nuts” would have far fewer issues if you gun control nuts made damn sure that everyone out there waving a gun around knew how to operate it properly and didn’t act like a fool when carrying it.

Hunters coming through my backyard….grumble….