Texas congressman invites ‘Obama rodeo clown’ to perform in his state
A House Republican has decided to stoke the fires of a recent controversy by inviting the rodeo clown who wore a mask of President Barack Obama to appear in his state.
The Missouri State Fair drew heavy criticism recently for its decision to feature a rodeo clown wearing a President Barack Obama mask. What really seemed to upset people was the crowd reaction to the Obama rodeo clown, as he encouraged a bull to chase him.
The strong reaction prompted the state fair to ban the Obama mask-wearing clown from future events.
However in a statement released Wednesday, Texas Republican Steve Stockman said that any rodeo in his state would be proud to have the banned clown perform.
“Liberals want to bronco-bust dissent. But Texans value speech, even if it's speech they don’t agree with,” Stockman said. “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 performers,” he said.
A White House spokesman who hails from Missouri weighed in on Wednesday, saying the mask-wearing rodeo act tarnished the reputation of his home state.
"I can tell you, as a native Missourian, it's certainly not one of the finer moments for our state and not the way that I like to see our state mentioned in the news," deputy White House press secretary Josh Earnest told reporters.
The Missouri State Fair has not released the name of the clown who wore the Obama mask. So it remains unclear if he was attempting to make a disrespectful political statement about the president or was simply going with an easy approach to working up the rodeo crowd.
On his congressional website, Stockman evoked liberal organizer Saul Alinsky in an attempt to tie the rodeo clown ban directly to Obama.
“The liberal reaction is straight out of Alinsky,” Stockman said in a statement. “They want to crush dissent by isolating and polarizing anyone who questions Obama, even if it’s a rodeo clown with a harmless gag."
"No one tried to personally destroy the rodeo clown who wore a George H.W. Bush mask,” he said.
