Glass Houses
February 19, 2010
This is starting to get silly.
President Barack Obama and Mayor Oscar Goodman
Tensions between President Obama and Nevada elected officials over the president’s anti-Sin City remarks escalated Thursday when Las Vegas’s mayor refused an invitation to meet with Obama when he arrives in town.
“I’ve got other things to do quite frankly for my constituents here in Las Vegas who rely on me to do the right thing as a mayor,” Mayor Oscar Goodman told KTNV Action News.
Goodman was invited by the White House to meet the president on the tarmac when he arrives Thursday night and to the town hall event scheduled for Friday, Goodman spokesman Jace Radke told [KTNV], adding that the mayor would consider the invitation if Obama promised to apologize for his remarks.
The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Goodman is still smarting from comments Obama made suggesting that people saving money for college shouldn’t blow in it Las Vegas.
Really Oscar?
I mean …. REALLY?
What, specifically, would those “other things to do for my constituents” be?
Another “off with their heads” sentiment? Another photo op with a martini and showgirls? Another attempt at building the world’s most under-utilized sports stadium? Another $400,000 campaign to prevent airplanes from flying over the homes of its passengers? Knocking down the Stratosphere to make way for a brand-spanking-new cafeteria for government employees?
I don’t know about the rest of you, but this whole faux-outrage routine is wearing thinner than Madonna’s vagina.
“Oh look, isn’t Oscar so cute when he’s defiant! I bet he’s sauced and laying in a pool of his own vomit at this very moment. That’s our Mayor!”
Seriously, if you still find this novelty act amusing, then … I don’t know how to say this gently … you’re just unintelligent. I’ve danced around it long enough. If you think this routine is cute in any way, then you are just dumber than a dog’s dick and should not be allowed to vote, let alone breathe. Please, bring back voter literacy tests.
“We are hurting, we have people in foreclosures, we have people having a hard time feeding their families and we can’t stand to have a flippant statement made,” Goodman told the news channel.
“I haven’t heard an apology, I haven’t heard a response. All I do is get invitations,” he said.
Goodman said he thought Obama had a “psychological hang-up” of using Las Vegas as an example of excessive spending, and that his time, an apology wouldn’t be enough.
“He has to step up right away and say, you know, he wasn’t thinking,” Goodman said. “Sometimes when he’s not using his monitors and reading what he says, he doesn’t think. And this is one of those times he didn’t think, and he should straighten out the record because he’s been here, he knows Las Vegas is a great place.”
Oscar, what in the fuck are you talking about? Do you even know anymore? This whole thing is just ridiculous.
“Rex, it’s obvious that you just love Obama, you long-haired dope-smoking leftie liberal!”
You’re absolutely wrong.
I would take a massive dump in a bowl of Cheerios and use an angry rhinoceros penis as a spoon before I would ever vote for a Democrat … or for that matter … a Republican. If you are registered with any of these two parties, in my opinion, you are completely and utterly batshit insane. We have a one party system, and voting for anyone in it is delusional.
That being said, I’ve read, and re-read O’Drama’s statements regarding Las Vegas, and I can’t for the life of me see anything wrong with them.
He has said that corporations should not use taxypayer money to pay for trips to Las Vegas, and he has said that people who are saving for major expenses should not gamble that money away in Las Vegas. These statements are common-sensical. They are irrefutably true. What in the hell does Obama have to apologize for? I mean, aside from the Federal Government’s massive failure in all other areas.
For goodness sake, I stood 10 feet from Oscar just two weeks ago as he got on top of a podium, donned a hard hat, and declared Rexville “blighted”.
I didn’t get pissy. It is blighted. The comment probably didn’t help existing nearby businesses, though. Don’t they count?
I should probably point out that this “blight” comment came from the same guy who referred to Bette Midler as “short and fat”. The same guy who told a group of 4th graders that his hobby was, quote … “drinking”.
When asked if his statement was acceptable to elementary school children, Oscar defended himself by saying “I answered the question honestly and truthfully, I’m not going to lie to children.”
Yet, Oscar wants an apology from Obama for stating the truth?
I think it also bears repeating that, before becoming Mayor, Oscar Goodman was a MOB LAWYER. A person who’s sole job was to put known killers back into the community. A guy who, to this day, openly drinks on the job.
For Christ’s sake, Oscar isn’t throwing stones in a glass house, he’s throwing hand grenades and launching SCUD missiles.
Look, I think I speak for many Las Vegans when I tell the Mayor to either meet the President, or don’t meet the President. I don’t think a single person outside of City Hall cares either way. We just wish he would make a decision and shut up about it, though. Don’t play chicken with the damn President.
Don’t make him apologize and buy us flowers and candy like his little bitch who got her feelings hurt when he called us “fat”. Nobody’s feelings are hurt. We don’t need to be infantalized. Don’t pretend that you are defending our honor just to keep your name in the headlines.
Where did this sudden burst of political correctness come from anyway?
Nobody wants to state the obvious, so I will:
Oscar, the President doesn’t care if you meet him. It is of no consequence to him. He doesn’t need the endorsement. Check your self-esteem. It’s too high. Seriously, it is. You’re the Mayor of a 500,000 person town in a state with 5 electoral votes. You snubbing Obama is like me declaring that I won’t meet with Angelina Jolie the next time she is in town. Sure, such a declaration would make me sound important, but do you really think she would give a shit?
“Oh well gee, if VegasRex won’t come to my party at Pure then call the whole thing off! I guess I’ll just skip it and buy another Asian baby.”
Come on, man, there is nothing wrong with being a lame duck boozehound … as long as you recognize the reality of the situation.
This whole thing is starting to get embarrassing for those of us that don’t have the luxury of drinking ourselves into a nightly stupor to kill the pain. We have to live with the ridicule of the rest of the nation pointing at us and laughing for being hypersensitive girls.
For the love of all that is good and holy in this town, please, just … stop.
If, by chance, you are one of those Las Vegans that got upset about O’Drama’s remarks, please allow me to speak for the rest of the country when I say … get a f’ing life.
Either that, or take up drinking as a hobby.
Written by james on February 19, 2010 at 6:30 am
you are right…i was thinking the same thing about obamas statements and i really would have to agree with what he said…thats one of the few things hes said i agree with..
las vegas over built and now cant afford the payments….they took a big gamble and didnt win…its good for the tourist pocketbook, better prices, better choices, and better looking hookers….a win win situation!
no offense rex, but i drove through rex-ville and it is a blight…it might be home to you but its a dump! sorry, but true!
Written by Tonez78 on February 19, 2010 at 7:15 am
Well I must agree, no one really cares that Obama made the comments he did about LV because most of us understood what he meant. With that said, Obama needs to check his own money decisions since he is spending MY money on some pretty ridiculous stuff. I wouldn’t get on my soap box here since quite frankly I am tired of Mr. O.
On a side note, thanks Rex for the pics and your take on things each day, it’s my daily LV get away!
Tony
Written by buttnugget on February 19, 2010 at 1:49 pm
“a pool of his own vomit”… Do you know how much vomit it takes to fill a pool? That’s what Oscar is busy doing!
Written by ColinFromLasVegas on February 19, 2010 at 5:46 pm
Gosh, Rex. Finally. Someone that actually makes sense regarding this issue. You nailed it.
Whatever you do, Rex, don’t go look at those slanted Las Vegas Review Journal articles regarding President Obama’s visit. Especially the comments section. It seems like every way-the-fuck-out-there right wing nutball neo-conservative is using those articles to slap President Obama, Senator Reid and any other Nevada politician. Except for Senator Ensign. They leave him alone. It’s cool in their estimation for Ensign to screw a staffer’s wife and then ask his parents to pay $96,000.00 to the husband and offer him a job to shut him up.
“I’ve got other things to do quite frankly for my constituents here in Las Vegas who rely on me to do the right thing as a mayor,” Mayor Oscar Goodman told KTNV Action News.
Oh? And what exactly is that, Mayor Goodman? You have to show up somewhere with your two showgirls, Elvis impersonator and martini? Because we never, ever see you sitting at a desk doing paperwork shit you are supposed to be doing.
I swear that asshole don’t work. And to say that he is doing work is a travesty. That clown spends more time knocking people out of his way to get in front of a microphone and a camera than he does doing any work. His main priority as a Mayor is photo opportunities.
I agree totally with your assessment though, Rex. It seems like you are a drop of rationality in a lake of absurdity though.
Mayor Goodman needs to get over himself and quit making mountains out of molehills. And I really do hope Mayor Goodman realizes that President Obama will not lose any sleep over not meeting his dumb ass.
And good luck, Mayor Goodman, on waiting for that apology from the President. There’s more of a chance Godzilla will turn crossdresser and start wearing a pink tutu.
Written by Geri Behrens on February 19, 2010 at 6:41 pm
Spot on!! Couldn’t have said it better myself.
Written by Aaron on February 19, 2010 at 7:46 pm
“…buy another Asian baby.” ” …so awesome….and so true.
Written by vegasonefan on February 19, 2010 at 8:50 pm
Imagine if Goodman put his own ego aside for a moment and asked Obama to have his picture taken in front of the Welcome to Fabulous Las Vegas sign! Think of the publicity and the additional tourists a picture like that would bring plastered on every newspaper and on the evening news all over the country and the world!
Written by d3wayne on February 20, 2010 at 4:34 am
is it just me ? or does the picture of Jesus look like Sayid Jarrah from Lost?
Written by StevenOfBaltimore on February 21, 2010 at 9:25 pm
Obama’s comments weren’t inflammatory. I’ll keep coming to Vegas for the rest of my life no matter what happens to the town. But I wouldn’t want my kids blowing their tuition there either (or anywhere else for that matter. Oscar’s clearly being hypocritical. And he missed a major opportunity. His seat is wide open for you now, Rex.
Written by Ron from MI on February 22, 2010 at 3:46 am
I think the problem with Goodman is that he’s too over-reactionary when the word “Las Vegas” is used someone’s speech when it comes to social responsibility.
I don’t live in Vegas and yes, I shouldn’t be talking about it. However, Vegas has visitors coming from all parts of the country (if not the globe) just to visit the place. I think there are some people who are worried that the town may “dry up” when bad press hits the Strip. With its economy on a wobbly wheel, the ride ain’t smooth like it was almost five years ago.
But regardless of the times, Obama’s comments about social responsibility and how Las Vegas gets tied into it is not quite off the mark. I don’t think banks and corporations should use bailout money to go on junkets just to stay at a hotel on the Strip. I also don’t think you should be using hard-earned tuition money just party your ass off in this town. And i doesn’t deter me from coming to Las Vegas in the future. Vegas has its own problems just as the Metro Detroit Area has its problems (Nevada is #1 in the rate of foreclosures, while Michigan is #2; on the flip side, Michigan has the highest unemployment numbers in the nation while Nevada is not too close behind, at #2.)
However, Goodman isn’t helping matters much. By him going off on the President and not meeting him at the airport does not do the town any justice. It gives an image that when times are good, people go into denial and get too optimistic; yet when things get bad, people go into denial and look for an opportunity to blame someone for their troubles.
The comment sections of the articles in the RJ’s own website are perfect examples. Lots of reactionary talk and no middle ground. Some of it is just too nutty too understand; makes me want to pull my hair out of my head.
And that’s what Goodman is trying to achieve in his last year of office: publicity followed by a stirring of the pot in regards of the issues. I can’t change the man, and there are some character traits that make him colorful. But if in his last year of office, if something goes down in the City, and neither Metro, the Mayor or the Governor can’t control disorder, they will have to ask Obama for assistance.
A burning of bridges does and will not make matters any better, even in the event of an emergency.
Goodman needs to think beyond his city pride and dwell on more responsible solutions for the city than worrying about what Obama said about Vegas. There are more important things to deal with, including foreclosures, unemployment, over-development, homelessness, schools, community, crime, traffic, public official responsibilities and so on. Getting mad over what Obama said is nothing but a waste of time (and money.)