Video: Obama stumped on Hanford nuke waste clean-up, “Uhhhhhhhhhh”
If you put yourself out there as the presidential candidate most in touch with The People, if you put yourself out there as the champion of the environment, and if you put yourself out there as the candidate best able to represent the Pacific Northwest and bring about “change,” you should have a staff competent enough to brief you on the biggest policy issues consuming the electorate’s energies there as you campaign for votes.
The Hanford nuclear waste clean-up has gone on for decades. It’s been a cause celebre for environmentalists and the PNW congressional delegation. When I worked at the Seattle Times, I took a tour of the now-closed Fast Flux Test Facility at Hanford, which some cancer researchers said could have been used to produce life-saving medical isotopes. Every year brings new funding battles. Hanford is to the region as Yucca Mountain is to Nevada, and Obama was plenty opinionated about the latter issue.
Well, McCain was asked about Hanford last week while in Washington state and offered a concrete policy answer:
Asked whether Washington state residents would stand for more nuclear power development after dealing with some monumental problems, including the polluted Hanford site in Eastern Washington, McCain said he would speed cleanup efforts and push for technological advances in disposing of nuclear waste.
McCain said the U.S. should emulate Europe in advancing its methods of cleaning up the radioactive byproducts of nuclear power.
Over the weekend, Obama also took a question about Hanford. Let’s underscore here that Hanford is not some tiny municipal dump. It’s the nation’s most contaminated nuclear site. Obama’s response? Well, watch it yourselves (hat tip: blogs4mccain):
The transcript:
Here’s something that you will rarely hear from a politician, and that is that I’m not familiar with the Hanford, uuuuhh, site, so I don’t know exactly what’s going on there. (Applause.) Now, having said that, I promise you I’ll learn about it by the time I leave here on the ride back to the airport.
Yes, typical Obama supporters applauded and cheered him for announcing his ignorance and then using it as an exercise in self-congratulations.
Imagine if it had been the Republican presidential candidate patting himself on the back for not knowing Hanford from, uhhhh, Sioux City. Or Sioux Falls. Or somewhere in some of those states in the middle. Whatever.
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Categories: Barack Obama
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As Rush has said, B. Hussein Obama is awful without a teleprompter.
I don’t know, Michelle. I kind of like it when people tell you they don’t know when they don’t know. Who’s to say that they didn’t brief him? He might have been told to dodge the issue in order to buy time?
” Now, having said that, I promise you I’ll learn about it by the time I leave here on the ride back to the airport.”
and before the sun comes up I will find a way to tax it!
Ok, if he doesn’t know where our WMD came from, how will he ever know where Iran’s are?
Hehehehehe. These things will happen. A lot of states and a lot of issues. It’s a grind. I prefer his answer of ignorance to a off the cuff sidestep of fake knowledge. Much ado about nothing. He needs to hire Joe Lieberman to whisper the correct information in his ear.
Alohaguy#4, He’ll just ask them to show him. LOL
Joe: “You’ve visted 47 states, not 57!”
Barack: “Oh, yeah, ‘A lot of states and a lot of issues.’”
I’d really love to know what my fellow Seattleite Obamaphiles think of this. Hanford has been near constant in Washington news. To hear the Democrats presidential candidate say he knows nothing about it is shocking, even for a cynical conservative like me.
Uhhh…Yes we can!
/sarc off
He Misspoke 57 states. Funny though.
Aloha to you.
Barack: “Where are the WMD?”
Mahmoud: “We aren’t working on WMD, but we do have underground arugula processing facilities – or as we like to call it – ‘rocket salad’.”
Barack: “That’s great, what does that stuff cost at the Tehran Whole Foods?”
He’s pandering to the greenies in the Pacific Northwest and he doesn’t know about Hanford?! He just keeps showing us what a Grade A asshat he is.
Worked on Hanford containment. Also know that Afghans are not Arabs and Iranians are Persians. Obama, you can hire me for the next six months for $1 mil, just don’t ask for me to vote for ya.
The thing is, John, that since Obama avoids specifics on every real issue that would get mixed reactions, this “answer” will have to become part of his stump speech.
This is just a variation of a standard classic political evasion, “We’re all concerned about XYZ and I’ll appoint a commssion to do research and provide oversight. Thank you for bringing it up”.
i.e. there’s always been filler for “don’t ask me – I don’t know and I don’t care, I’m outta here in a half hour anyway so it ain’t like it matters”.
Although he could have bitten his lower lip to really sell it.
Translation: rest assured my wife is chewing our Campaign staff right now for me being unaware of Hanford and being unprepared for yet another issue I know absolutely nothing about.
next question, softball please, you maam the one in front that looks faint.
Good points, Purplepeep. Thanks.
On May 19th, 2008 at 7:57 pm, AlohaGuy said:
He needs to hire Joe Lieberman to whisper the correct information in his ear.
Joe: “You’ve visited 47 states, not 57!”
Barack: “Oh, yeah, ‘A lot of states and a lot of issues.’”
Well as Rush pointed out, there are 57 Muslim states… coincidence?
“Rocket Salad”? Maybe when Hillary sees the writing on the wall and drops out, Obamination might be able to get Elton John to join him and sign songs about the “Rocket Salad”.
MM, you worked at the Seattle Times? (falling out of chair) Well at least it wasn’t the P.I. but it’s getting there. Can’t wait to see Obumma in a live debate, it should be good for a few laughs.
Call me skeptical.Looks like a set up question to show that what he doesn’t know now he will soon.An eager to know your problems leader.I could be wrong.
The simple answer would have been to ship it to Yucca mountain and let Harry Reid “develop” the land … all the dems win and that is all that matters right?
He doesn’t know about Hanford? Holy moley and this guy wants to be president? Notice how he always has his sleeves rolled up so he can go to work for change. Excuse me now while i barf.
good one and true, tks, i needed the chuckle
uuuuhh, uuuuhh, uuuuhh, uuuuhh,
If I had a dollar for every time barry said UUUHHHHHH,
I’d be, uhhhhh , quite wealthy.
One dumb mother f……er. That’s all you can say about this idiot.
I expect every candidate has been well-coached on how to respomd when posed with a question about which the politician is clueless.
(But the old “this important and overlooked issue deserves serious consideration” used to be a standard in the politician’s defensive Q&A session arsenal.)
This idiot doesn’t know about HANFORD?
Just WHO are these multitudes of morons who are supporting this idiotic product of Affirmative Action?
Obama = truly uninformed, but favored, IDIOT.
His supporters = brainless, brainless.
not sure why as the lilt wasn’t there otherwise but Obambi’s “uhh”‘s reminded me of another famous character that over-used (utilized?
) the word “uhh”
I say, uhh, I say, uhh, sweetie, don’t ask me those questions I’m not prepared for!
Has McCain decided if condoms help prevent the spread of HIV yet? He was a little stumped last time he was asked.
Fair being fair and all.
Reporter: “Should U.S. taxpayer money go to places like Africa to fund contraception to prevent AIDS?”
Mr. McCain: “Well I think it’s a combination. The guy I really respect on this is Dr. Coburn. He believes – and I was just reading the thing he wrote– that you should do what you can to encourage abstinence where there is going to be sexual activity. Where that doesn’t succeed, than he thinks that we should employ contraceptives as well. But I agree with him that the first priority is on abstinence. I look to people like Dr. Coburn. I’m not very wise on it.”
(Mr. McCain turns to take a question on Iraq, but a moment later looks back to the reporter who asked him about AIDS.)
Mr. McCain: “I haven’t thought about it. Before I give you an answer, let me think about. Let me think about it a little bit because I never got a question about it before. I don’t know if I would use taxpayers’ money for it.”
Q: “What about grants for sex education in the United States? Should they include instructions about using contraceptives? Or should it be Bush’s policy, which is just abstinence?”
Mr. McCain: (Long pause) “Ahhh. I think I support the president’s policy.”
Q: “So no contraception, no counseling on contraception. Just abstinence. Do you think contraceptives help stop the spread of HIV?”
Mr. McCain: (Long pause) “You’ve stumped me.”
Q: “I mean, I think you’d probably agree it probably does help stop it?”
Mr. McCain: (Laughs) “Are we on the Straight Talk express? I’m not informed enough on it. Let me find out. You know, I’m sure I’ve taken a position on it on the past. I have to find out what my position was. Brian, would you find out what my position is on contraception – I’m sure I’m opposed to government spending on it, I’m sure I support the president’s policies on it.”
Q: “But you would agree that condoms do stop the spread of sexually transmitted diseases. Would you say: ‘No, we’re not going to distribute them,’ knowing that?”
Mr. McCain: (Twelve-second pause) “Get me Coburn’s thing, ask Weaver to get me Coburn’s paper that he just gave me in the last couple of days. I’ve never gotten into these issues before.”
Oh sure, the liberal media would never jump on a candidate if he/she didn’t know something they thought he should:
Eerily familiar, no? But you will still hear about Bush’s failings, but for Obama, this is already long dead.
Let’s, like, face it and such as. Miss Teen South Carolina is better without a teleprompter than Barack Obama. As are most U.S.-Americans and such as.
Lady: What about hanford?
Oblahma: My wife is not a hereford, and I said to lay off her.
“Yes, we…uhh…whatever.”
Obama is getting away with this only because the Press is ACTIVELY covering up and distarting things for him.
Goebbels and Riefenstahl probably counld not do any better a job manipulating and spinning stories the way our press has done.
The press has abdicated of their vital role in democracy, that of informing the populace of all the facts. Instead they are MAL-informing – that is, deliberately misleading and altering the news, leaving out facts, and selectively emphasizing others.
Small wonder our democracy has started to deteriorate. And the blame goes to the dominant medai, who would rather produce a result than produce honest reporting.
I live in Connecticut and I know that Hanford exists and what it is. I don’t know ever detail. I don’t expect the candidates to know every detail about every toxic wast site, but you should know about the major ones.
Shooter if you had a dollar for “every time” Barack said uuuhh, you would have one dollar, now if that was “each time”, you would be wealthy.
This clown needs to roll his pant cuffs up to avoid all of the Bull***t that he is standing in. I love how he thinks that a comment like “You won’t hear other candidates say this..but”, makes him honest and willing to be informed. What an ass
monkeyclown.I think HANFORD has just been added to the
NO ASK ZONE.
Poor poor Jesus Obama dumb as a box of hangers with an angry wife.
He makes them feel like he’s one of them. He doesn’t just “feel their pain,” he embodies their ignorance.
Ok…raise your hand if you voted for Bush.
Ok now do you remember his answer when asked who was the general in charge of Pakistan back in 1999?
A: What is this 50 questions?
I would take this post seriously if the people on here were harsh about Bush’s lack of knowledge on foreign affairs. I would take it seriously when attacked Obama for not being as articulate on the stump as he is in his prepared comments, if you did not vote for Bush. However, when compared to Bush, well you be the judge…
His staff explained to him that Hanford is in one of the 57 states. Obama smiled and said.Uhhh, I knew that.
Bush comments on musharraf taking over Pakistan in a military coup…
Bush, in answering the question about the leader of Pakistan, also said: “The new Pakistani general, he’s just been elected — not elected, this guy took over office. It appears this guy is going to bring stability to the country and I think that’s good news for the subcontinent.”
This guy could break wind, get applause, and sell it on Ebay (“It smells like nectar of the gods”).
Drink the Kool-Aid ??? These nuts are beyond that !
He could sit in a RACIST, AMERICA HATING, BIGOTED CHURCH, for 20 years, and there could be VIDEO of the PASTOR spewing VILE HATE and BIGOTRY, and there could be VIDEO TAPE, AUDIO TAPE and PRINTED WORDS by OBAMA saying that the PASTOR was like FAMILY to him, and that this BIGOTED PASTOR was OBAMA’S SPIRITUAL MENTOR…
All this could happen, and libtards would still fancy JESUS OBAMA as a man who transcends time, space, dimension and race.
In fact libs believe that Jesus Obama has THE FORCE with him.
It would be funny if it wasn’t so fugging scary.
OK…to be fair I’ll give Hussein credit for admitting he did not know the subject matter. It just shows that he is not ready to take on being POTUS.
he Uhhhs a lot.. a LOT.. listen to him answer questions on the fly and he stammers and uhhs and ummms,..
when I lived in arizona, Fife Symmington had a radio show on and just about every question he got was, “That was a good question, I’ll have to get back to you on that.”
It’s sad.. To paraphrase El Rushbo, these are supposed to be the most informed people in the nation.. and the best he can give is a ‘I’ll read up on it later’..
The Governor at the time, Fife Symmington, to help clarify..
Mookie,
go have sex with someone with AIDS using only a condom and then tell us..
I understand that Jesus Obama isn’t going to know EVERYTHING. I mean, he’s never served in National office, nor did he have any accomplishments as a BACK BENCHER in ILLINOIS.
He has been a U.S.Senator since about the time he started raising money and running for President as a “RACIAL UNIFIER”.
His Bill Ayers, Bernadine Dohrn and Tony Rezko aided foray into politics was brief in Illinois, and COMPLETELY without ACCOMPLISHMENT.
Add to that the PAIN and MISERY of having to pay back those COLLEGE LOANS while still struggling to afford his childrens piano lessons and camp attendance, while still giving 25 THOUSAND DOLLARS to his RACIST PASTORS church and retirement. All while just scraping by in a $1,600,000.00 MANSION in HYDE PARK, (not to mention the REZKO addition to the COMPOUND.
No wonder Michelle “the mouth” Obama has NEVER BEEN PROUD of America.
His ties to MARXIST PROFESSORS at Columbia and his board membership on a Columbia professors “charity” that has funnelled money to ISLAMISTS, and Bill Ayers friendship isn’t relevant. We ALL hang out with MARXISTS, TERRORISTS, and ISLAMISTS.
Liberals are WAY too stupid and way to invested in their own stupidity to see this ass-clown for what he is.
He is a fraud. Just like John Kerry, just like Al Gore. Just like John Edwards.
Con-man phonies make LIBTARDS easy prey.
Well the Messiah tastes his shoe once again. PLEASE stay out of my State ! We have more than enough Leftys as it is.
“Uhh, I don’t know nuttin’ about anything, but leave my wife alone y’hear? And Bush is uhhh, being too mean to terrorists.”
- Obamessiah
“Yaaaaaaaaaay *cheer* *whistle* applause*”
- Typical response from brainless, weenie, schmuckish, Obama votebots
Yeah, he’s going to learn all about it during a car ride.
Tuffy, I think you meant SUV ride.
I live practically next door to Hanford and am not surprized Obama has not heard of it. Hanford is located in Eastern Washington which always votes RED and I bet many in the Blue part of Washington State has not heard of Hanford probably except for the Greenies. Many in the Seattle area think Eastern Washington is actually part of Idaho.
Usually people appreciate honesty, he could of just lied, and no one but him would have known. They knew he could of. That’s why they clapped.
He admitted to not knowing the Encyclopedia of America.
Tell me about someone who knows everything about everything and I would say you must be talking about God.
See, he was honest. He wasn’t the best math student, but he’ll get educated.
It does sound like a trick question.
Not all contraceptives prevent AIDS. Birth control pills are contraceptives and they don’t prevent AIDS. Neither do IUDs.
Didn’t they teach you that in sex ed? Or were you too busy playing with condoms in class?
Silky appreciates HONESTY!!!
Excellent.
Obama is friends with a TERRORIST.
Obama went to this TERRORISTS home, for a $$$$$$$$ FUND RAI$ER.
Obama is a MARXI$T by his own words.
Honesty is great. It will set you free.
Atheling, Mookie went to public school.
Nuff said.
Practicing to be Pres…”plausible deniability?”
Not to be picky, but…”could have, could have!” Or “could’ve,” not “could of.”
In the LIBTARD world. Being stupid, vacant or ill informed is a PLUS.
I wonder if Michelle is proud of being an American right now?
I mean, this is what an Ivy League education is all about, right?
Maybe if they made a movie about it, with Jane Fonda in it, then he’d remember it…
My brother and sister both developed thyroid cancers 30 years after having lived near Hanford as kids. That place is the real deal. The fact that Obie knows nothing about Hanford betrays his pitiful lack of knowledge and lack of intellectual engagement. To prop this little man up as a presidential candidate is ridiculous in the extreme. Ask him if he is aware that we fought a couple wars in Europe and see what he says.
Here’s what Juan McCain should have said:
“I believe in nuclear power. As president, I will use every means possible including violating the Constitution (since I’m already used to doing that) to get government out of the nuclear power industry. We must build and we must build NOW! For the security of America I think we can put up with a few three headed frogs… Heck – we can put up with some three headed amigos for that matter! Some folks will get sick. Some will die. Some of the cooling towers will be in your back yard… that’s just tough: you can move out and let the Mexicans live there. But the good of our nation forces us to call for the immediate, accelerated construction of 500 nuclear power plants. Also, I am going to use lethal force to guarantee that oil drilling in ANWR and in South Dakota commences within 15 days. The USA is going to be energy independent in spite of Democrats and other evil forces in our nation who want us to collapse.”
Let’s just add that to the long list of things Obama doesn’t know about, like national security, economics, the Constitution, and so on.
At least he admitted he didn’t know anything about it. I prefer that then some BS filler. I do agree with this:
“you should have a staff competent enough to brief you on the biggest policy issues consuming the electorate’s energies there as you campaign for votes.”
They dropped the ball.
And McCain doesn’t deserve praise either for a generic answer. There was nothing “concrete” about it. I could’ve come up with that response also and I don’t know anything about Hanford either.
Then why does ultra liberal France have 59 nuclear plants, supplying 79% of their energy. They export 18% of their energy and have among the lowest cost of electricity in Europe.
Friggin’ US liberals like you keep us from energy independence.
I cannot for the life of me ‘get’ the whole B.Hussein is ‘charismatic’, a ‘great speaker’, ‘articulate’ etc etc. Every time he speaks all I hear is blahblahblahletmebeclearblahblahblahtypicalwhitepersonyadayadayada
Truth be told, it was superior to more radical Islamofascist elements getting their hands on Pak’s nukes.
The point is, it was an ambush interview while Bush was still governor. No matter how you slice it, a governor will have less interaction with international affairs than a senator.
Second, Bush was being interviewed with no idea that there was an ambush planned. Obama headed in to make a speech and should have been briefed.
Minimally, he should have had a pat political answer for that other than “duh, I don’t know.” Bush’s recovery from the ambush interview was much more effective.
And besides, shouldn’t the Obamessiah (PBUH) be omniscient? Seriously, off his teleprompter, he is a blubbering idiot, but the press will never admit/report that.
“Change,” like the word “quality,” means nothing without a qualifier. Change can be either good or bad. Obama never states exactly what kind of change we will be getting, does he?
Can anyone imagine how the New York Times would react if John McCain said he did not know anything about the Hanford nuclear plant? The NY Times would have Jim Ruttenberg and his permanent team of McCain investigators writing two dozen columns about how senile McCain is. Can anyone imagine how Colbert and Jon Stewart would react? They would both go bat S_ _ t over the the “gaffe”. It is pretty obvious what is going on in the MSM coverage. Aging baby boomers like Frank Rich and Tom Friedman at the Times like to show their moral superiority by supporting a liberal African-American candidate. Rich even suggested that anyone who does not support the cool Obama is a nerd.
Even though Obama has never heard of Hanford and thinks America has 57 states, the MSM worships Obama as if he held the lost ark.
Hmmmm….rocket salad….wait….what’s that smell?
As for getting back to someone later, I think GHWB when running for re-election against Bill Clinton, couldn’t answer a question from a reporter, and promised to get back later with an answer. I believe he did, but we all see what that got him (/sarc; obviously, there were other factors that ended his presidency).
Let’s see if Barry follows up on this issue. McCain may be winning small battles like this, but the polls seem to show he’s losing the (electoral) war.
*out*
Futute speak: “Now, having said that, I promise you I’ll learn about it by the time I leave here on the ride back to the airport.”
On the way
a. to
b from
1. Syria
2. Iran
3. North Korea
4. any of the 57 states except Mass., Hawaii, Illinois and (probably) Michigan.
This should be good. (Applause.)