Thread: GOP lawmaker invites rodeo clown who mocked Obama to perform in Texas

GOP lawmaker invites rodeo clown who mocked Obama to perform in Texas


By Justin Sink - 08/14/13 04:29 PM ET

Rep. Steve Stockman (R-Texas) invited the rodeo clown who sparked controversy by donning a mask of President Obama at the Missouri State Fair to preform in Texas, his office said Wednesday.

“Liberals want to bronco bust dissent. But Texans value speech, even if its speech they don’t agree with,” Stockman said in a statement. “From Molly Ivins to Louie Gohmert and every opinion between, Texans value free and open political speech. I’m sure any rodeo in Texas would be proud to have [the] performers.”

According to news accounts, the rodeo clown put on the Obama mask before being chased by bulls around a pen, leading to condemnations from a bipartisan group of lawmakers, including Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-Mo.) and Republican Lt. Gov. Peter Kinder. He was introduced by an announcer who asked the audience if they wanted to see “Obama run down by a bull.” But Stockman dismissed the reaction as "straight out of Alinsky."

"They want to crush dissent by isolating and polarizing anyone who questions Obama, even if it’s a rodeo clown with a harmless gag,” said Stockman. “The idea to create a state of fear and make people afraid to trivialize Obama. No one tried to personally destroy the rodeo clown who wore a George H.W. Bush mask.”

The performer has been permanently banned from performing at the Missouri State Fair, and officials have mandated sensitivity training for future performers. Stockman seized on that mandate in extending his invitation to preform in Texas.

“Disagreeing with speech is one thing. Banning it and ordering citizens into reeducation classes for mocking a liberal leader is another,” Stockman said. “Liberals have targeted this man for personal destruction to create a climate of fear.”

White House spokesman Josh Earnest said earlier Wednesday the flap was "not one of the finer moments" for his home state of Missouri, although said he had not spoken about the incident with the president.

It's not the first time Stockman has looked to seize on controversy. The Texas lawmaker invited Ted Nugent as his guest to the State of the Union after the rocker was criticized for his claim that he would "be dead or in jail" if the president was reelected.

http://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefi...rform-in-texas

Rodeo clown Tuffy Gessling: Someone threatened to burn my house down

By Jessica Chasmar-
The Washington Times
Monday, August 26, 2013

• 

The controversial rodeo clown banned for life from the Missouri State Fair for wearing a President Obama mask and mocking that a bull should run him down spoke out Monday about the death threats and fallout since the incident.

“I’ve had one lady spit in my face, called me a dirty name, spit in my face and walked off,” Tuffy Gessling told KCTV 5 News.

“I’ve had somebody threaten to run me over. One of them wanted to burn the house down,” he added.

Mr. Gessling made headlines nationwide after the event on Aug. 10, even making his way to the White House press corps, as spokesman Josh Earnest said, “as a native Missourian, it’s certainly not one of the finer moments for our state.”

The NAACP said the skit constituted “targeting and inciting violence against our president” and provides the basis for a federal investigation.

“I didn’t do this to do any hating on anyone. I did this to be funny. I did it to be a joke,” Mr. Gessling told KCTV. “I didn’t think anything more of it than what we’ve done 15 years ago, 10 years ago, five years ago, when we’ve done it with Bush, Clinton and Ronald Reagan.”

The rodeo clown insisted neither race nor politics had anything to do with his stunt.

“I actually think that a lot of people have lost their ability to laugh,” he said. “Look at the country as a whole, there is a lot more to be mad at than a rodeo clown at a rodeo trying to make somebody laugh.”

Mr. Gessling hasn’t worked since the incident, but he has a rodeo coming up in Jefferson City.

“If President Obama turns out, I would be honored to shake his hand,” he said.

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/...reatened-burn/




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The rodeo clown who sparked controversy earlier this month when he mockingly wore a President Obama mask as part of his act says he has received five death threats, had a lady spit in his face, and suggested he wouldn't mind shaking the president's hand.

In an interview with KCTV in Sedalia, Mo., Tuffy Gessling said the stunt at the Missouri State Fair was comparable to jokes that rodeos have pulled off at the expense of past presidents.

"I didn't think anything more of it than what we've done 15 years ago, 10 years ago, five years ago, when we've done it with Bush, Clinton and Ronald Reagan," Gessling said.

Gessling donned an Obama mask, and the announcer asked a crowd if they wanted to see "Obama run down by a bull." Another clown played with the lips of the Obama mask, and the act drew the ire of politicians on both sides of the aisle.

After video of the incident went viral on the internet, the Missouri State Fair fired Gessling and officials said he will never perform at the fair again.

In his interview, Gessling expressed surprise at the reaction.

"I actually think that a lot of people have lost their ability to laugh," Gessling said. "Look at the country as a whole, there is a lot more to be mad at than a rodeo clown at a rodeo trying to make somebody laugh."

Gessling also told the television station that his act wasn't racially motivated

"I never did anything because of anybody's race. I don't care what color somebody is. If they're blue, white, green, polka dotted, striped ... it doesn't bother me one bit," he said.

Gessling said hasn't worked since the Missouri State Fair, but that he will be taking part in an upcoming rodeo in Jefferson City.

"If President Obama turns out, I would be honored to shake his hand," Gessling said.

http://www.usatoday.com/story/theova...-hand/2700889/

Rodeo Clowns to Receive Reeducation after Clown hurts Liberals Feelings-"If I had a rodeo clown, he'd look like Barack O

Posted By: RumorMail <Send E-Mail>
Date: Wednesday, 14-Aug-2013 02:05:44

It's OK to make fun of every other president in history but 'the one'?? How many white people feel threatened by RAP lyrics? Rappers gonna go to re-education camps?

If I ever have to do re-education training, I want to do it with a bunch of clowns!

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/...vity-training/

he fallout from a Missouri rodeo clown’s mockery of President Obama continued as the Missouri State Fair said it will force all clowns to undergo sensitivity training and the head of the state rodeo-clown organization resigned.

The state fair commission voted Monday to ratify its decision to ban for life the clown in question who wore an Obama mask. The rodeo announcer and a second clown wearing a microphone asked whether the crowd wanted to see him get run down by a bull.

But the state commission went further Monday, saying it will require that before the Missouri Rodeo Cowboy Association can take part in any future state fair, “they must provide evidence to the director of the Missouri State Fair that they have proof that all officials and subcontractors of the MRCA have successfully participated in sensitivity training.”

http://www.rumormillnews.com/cgi-bin...es;read=284629