Politico's Ben Smith briefly posted video of President Barack Obama calling Kanye West a "jackass."
However, less than an hour after publishing the video at this link, it was yanked.
At his Politico blog, Smith explained, "Wiser heads than mine at POLITICO made the call to take down the video of the "jackass" moment. Sorry about the tease if you missed it."
Sites like The Atlanta Journal-Constitution's Political Insider that embedded the clip now sport a message saying that there is no video available at this time.
Politico told Mediaite, "We just felt upon reflection that it was more respectful to a fellow news-gathering operation to take it down."
Since the Associated Press (along with Politico) had no problems posting an audio version and because Raw Story has never made any prearranged deals with any presidential administration to keep comments off the record, we present the following video, as featured for less than an hour on the Politico website on Sept. 16, 2009:
[Editor's note: This article incorrectly identified the Atlanta Journal-Constitution in an earlier version. We apologize for the error.]
Ah, come on. That's just funny as hell. We get a president with a personality, and eveyone want's to jump on every little crack.
So why was the camera running anyway, and why the deliberate question?? They set him up. It wasn't any damn accident that it went out. News media. There's your jackasses.
They'll take any cheap shot they can take for a buck, but go out and do any real reporting; that's to haaaard.
I'm glad to have a president who calls a jackass a jackass!
he is a jackass what is the big deal!
Obamanos! lol. He's too cool. And the man is speaking the truth - what a bonehead move by Kanye West.
Tht was great. A president with a sence of humor and norml reaction/responce like the rest of us!
Steve: "I'm glad to have a president who calls a jackass a jackass!" Exactly.
Let's just hope there is not another apology gate over this one. K.West should bear the epithet and be humbled.
the big deal is the media hiding it from us...
Wow, the president is human, and funny, and right.
Better a jackass than a man who will perpetuate George Bush's actions. At least Kanye is just full of himself, rather than being completely full of shit.
I am sure that Obama's comment was racially motivated, since he is 1/2 black and West is all black. I cannot believe that he is such a racist. It just so obvious that it was racial. Yes, I am sure that is what it was, pure racism. It just makes me so upset to think that Obama is making comments degrading an all black man. Where are Al Sharpton, Jesse Jackson and Jimmy Carter on this one ?
He was just calling it the way he saw it.....I'm sure many of us agree...
Finally something the Left and Right can agree on! Now if only Right wingers stopped fetishizing corporations...
[...] making the issue a high priority) (Politico) – Mylatch (another Gen-Y recruiting tool. Politico yanks video of Obama calling Kanye West a jackass – rawstory.com 09/16/2009 Politico’s Ben Smith briefly posted video of President Barack [...]
A jackass by any other name would smell just as jackassy?
/so sorry, billy
I love it! West is a jackass, I'd like to see him try to deny it. I think that most people thought that his actions were appalling and probably agree with Obama but I'm sure the right will try to make him out to be a disrespectful jagoff. I can hear Fox now...
The President is right.
Hey, Raw, remember just a few weeks ago when you broke that Bill Richardson's corruption charges were dismissed by Washington insiders and then pulled it after an hour? Now there's a story.
Well, what is wrong with the president saying and calling things as they are, what person doesn't think the same and have the right to express their feeling, one big thank u for the president!!!!!!!! This shows he is human and among us!!!
The only people who find this offensive are 60+ year old ninnies and religious zealots, everyone else already thought or said "He's a jackass" when they saw or found out about what Kanye West did. In our current popular culture (the majority of voters) do not find the term "jackass" in anyway inappropriate, if you're like me you consider it a replacement for a swear word like Dang! instead of damn. Yeah you heard me old ladies, DAMN. This is a non-story.
i wish president was as blunt with republican assholes..
Politco yanks irrelevant red herring video, but rawstory continues to cover it as though it were the release of the Pentagon papers.
This site is a sick fucking joke.
[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by mirza9 and Scott Smith. Scott Smith said: RT @tweetmeme The Raw Story » Politico yanks video of Obama calling Kanye West a jackass http://bit.ly/m1JdM [...]
You people actually believe this manufactured astro turfing viral marketing advertising effort?!? No wonder we have no investigation of 9/11, a nation of fools. Books not blogs dummies!
hahahha effin A
finally a black president who speaks his mine and tells da truth
Hats off to the President for saying what we were all thinking !
I'm certain they pulled it because they were counting on blowback. Instead, the masses dug it.
so he told the truth i think west is a jackass also . i dont agree with all the presadent does and say but he did good this time
Politico is more of a right wing entertainment facility than they should be.
Politico yanked it when they realize that instead of hurting President Obama with Politico's conservative audience his calling West a Jackass was helping his popularity with them and Politico can't have that happening.
hey im gonna let you finish but....
Obama said one of the best statements of all times!!
he is a jackass for doing that even tho i do like his music but damn that just heartless....
kanye how can you be soo heartless??
you know, i'am not a follower of president obama,however its nice to see he is human and right!,he calls it like he see's it!!!,kanye has always been a jackass-just listen to him talk!!-ONE FOR OBAMA!!
Kanye is a troubled man. He needs serious help. He has been given too much and it has distorted his power of reason. This appears to be common among societys rich and powerful. President Barak belittles himself by discussing such people. The outbursts by those whom we place on pedestals are the cries of tormented minds. Peruse history and you shall find many examples!
The president is cool, and right! Please don't apologize....
Egad, what a narcissist. "Cut the 'President' some slack."
This is an era in which "legitimate" news organizations such as AP will harass websites for daring to reprint a couple of paragraphs from stories they "own", and others will go even further and threaten lawsuits for merely LINKING to content on their sites. Those who aren't being actively threatened in this instance are being given mixed messages as to the legality of posting this content.
I've no doubt that if they Lawyer Up against The Raw Story, this video will disappear just as quickly, unless TRS has either full confidence in their position or can afford strong legal counsel or proabably both.
Obama must be racist.
If kanye West is a jackass, what's he doing at the awards ceremony ITFP?
If Obama wants to call him a jackass, that's OK, because Obama is black and Kanye is black, so there's no predjudice/racism, right? But, then, Obama is the President, and Presidents are not supposed to say things on the record about show-biz personalities, right? But then Obama, being the Prez, he can say what he wants, and nobody should care, unless they are predjudiced/racist/redneck/southern or have red hair and freckles, right? But if Obama says something that a president is not supposed to say, he should apologize, because that is unbecoming of a President....OK, I think that about covers it.
Politico = THE GREAT SUCK!!
The prez calls West a 'jackass' and it's a big deal? Hey, West IS a jackass and has always been one. The fact both men are black is irrelevant. Two facts stand out in the video. Obama's frank honest and funny. And West is a 'wannabe white ' IDIOT NOT a jackass. Obama 'called a Spade a Spade'! More power to him!
I keep waiting for white politicians to call Joe Willson
In the background: "That's what Pink! said!" and lots of laughter. If she endorses his response, that's good enough for me. I do too, so I back Raw Story in another effort to cover news nobody else wants to cover (wants covered?).
The pool video was given to Politico. The motive seems plain enough, given the President's hand motions and his question, "Where's the pool [reporter]?" along with his request to "give the [Office of] the President a break."
So, they or he or she ignored all that and released it to a right-slanting person, where Politico got it, and who knows who else. Petty little dirty trick, and then it backfired.
I'm glad to get this little candid glimpse of President of the United States of America Barack Hussein Obama unplugged. Thanks for that, GOPher slug in the pool.
Now that I've seen it, I see no reason not to further report on it, anyone who has a blog. You can even complain about it if you want, accuse the President of setting this up and pulling it off using the people in that room intentionally if you want.
Just link to the video, please.
Knowing as little and as much as I do about his wife and children and the candid times we've seen with him and his family, it seems they can keep him grounded to his humanity even though he is the leader of the free world, and that eases any fears I have that he is as conceited, arrogant, or elitist as our last Chief Executive was.
His only motive in asking for a "break" from the pool reporters then, I believe, would be to not have the President of the United States of America, the most powerful man in the world, dissing an obviously upset rap star who behaved badly in public. Even if the man Barack Obama meant what he said, and it was an earned description of what was done. He did act like a jackass.
And so far, Pres. Obama hasn't created a bubble containing a small number of people with access who filter everything he hears, so that he will more closely follow their collective will; the so-called "vast right-wing conspiracy" known as the Project for a New American Century or something like that, as the former Chief Executive did. So even if it doesn't last I believe we are still seeing glimpses of the genuine deal, Barack Obama, President of the U.S.A.
Pres. Obama's off-the-cuff responses to this question about current events couldn't have been asked of our last Chief Executive if you valued whatever limited access you had.
I don't worry much that Pres. Obama is thinking he's more than he is, like above the reach of the law, again like our last Chief Executive and his entire administration (or else they would not have cooperated with the crimes and criminals).
I hate that making such huge changes logically takes a very long time and so my agenda hasn't been more fully completed, but hard work, feet-to-the-fire and personal activism, and a lot of patience will get as much as Pres. Obama can produce. I believe he is committed and will prove to be efficient and trustworthy to those of us who elected him.
We believe that is a good thing for the entire nation. It's okay if you don't and want to do what we did, protest and all that. Instead of pointing to the Hitler/Bush posters of the anti-war movement (that's what they were referring to, the take over the world actions of Bush) as an excuse to go much, much further, I would expect the Christian supremacist party to be a lot more creative.
Ok, whats the problem???
The media sycophants surrounding Obama were laughing, but let's keep in mind that the president is calling "jackass" on a guy that was brave enough to say on TV that George Bush doesn't care about black people.
Kanye West is my kind of jackass. He fits the symbol of the Democratic party, which is a stubborn, kicking jackass. I hope Kanye West keeps speaking his mind. I wonder when Barack Obama will get in touch with his Democratic jackass.
Problem is it humanizes a man that a determined number of citizens want demonized, same time wouldn't be surprised if the White House didn't want it out there either. It was human and engaging. it touches lightly on issues they want to downplay, such as race and incivility, incivility is an issue they don't want to spotlight. Last thing they want is another distracting sideshow.
Rush Limbaugh was using just the "He's a jackass" sound-bite (they did play the whole exchange once) today as a verbal punchline, using it several times. After reflection they probably won't use it tomorrow, since his listeners, if they heard the whole exchange, might find the President engaging, thoughtful and worse, someone they'd like to have a beer with...
Looks like a impromptu set up released to convince us that the president is a regular guy like the rest of us. Just like Bush was a regular guy whose chore was cutting brush down on the ranch.
Except the president isn't a regular guy. If he were he wouldn't be president.
Now if the man would call Baucus a jackass, we'd be getting somewhere.
Isn't some 1 rasist if they criticize anything a black man does... just as they are anti semetic (even tho most Jews are not semites & Palestinians are) if you criticize Israeli policy/actions?
Or is that idea a shield of dishonor & cowardice?
I am happy to say that I have FINALLY heard something from a president that I COMPLETELY agree with!!!! We couldn't have said it better ourselves Mr. President!!!
Everyone, including Kanye himself, has agreed that what he did was truly a jackass move.
So what is the problem with the President acknowledging fact?
Correct, President Obama is human and there is nothing wrong with what he said. Kanye West did make an ASS out of himself. What in the world was Kanye thinking... Dun
the media is a JOKE, get real and did some real reporting.... DUH
The President KNEW he was being taped, KNEW it would be leaked, KNEW it would be popular, and did it as another Sister Souljah moment.
He had just stated that his opponents were not racists, and then disses a brother who dissed a white woman.
Plus, I already hear some saying that this is how lighter-skinned blacks have mistreated their darker-skinned brothers and sisters. Amazing!