Saturday, February 2, 2013

Is Obama’s Skeet Shooting Photo All Smoke?

Update: Did you say we the people can't "manipulate the photo in any way"? We the people say FU! Twitchy captures the very funny results! Best tweeted caption: "A lame duck shooting a clay pigeon." Also POTUS is now known as "President Mom Jeans".

The White House has released a photo which claims to be POTUS skeet shooting. However, I’m calling BS on this as nothing more than a staged, and perhaps partially photoshopped, print.

The photo shows the president holding a shotgun (at first mislabeled by the liberal press as a rifle). Blue smoke is seen shooting out the barrel and vent. But did the president actually fire the gun, or was the smoke added later to a staged shot?


Skeet are clay disks called “pigeons” that are usually flung by a trap, meant to represent a bird in flight. The point is, when the pigeon is flung, the shooter must move the gun to try and “lead” the pigeon so the shot will reach the moving target as the paths intersect. Furthermore, the skeet is usually flung up in the air, so someone firing at one would have their gun pointed up, not straight like target shooting.

Yet Obama has almost no movement at all when allegedly firing the weapon, even in high resolution. Whatever the level the skeet was at, he should have been moving left to right while firing. So unless he shoots skeet in a “caged hunt,” this is simply another staged WH photo.

Furthermore, the gun looks to be held (mounted) incorrectly, which could result in a substantial “kick” a shotgun produces.

In the AP article, Michael Hampton, executive director of the San Antonio-based association, tactfully suggest the president obviously didn’t go “skeet shooting all the time.”

“This isn't something he's done very often because of how he's standing, how he has the gun mounted,” he said.

If you want to see a slow motion of what skeet shooting looks like, here’s a good example:


One former senior advisor, David Plouffe, tweeted the challenge, “Make our day — let the photoshop conspiracies begin!” He does have a point. Hopefully, this doesn’t become the latest “bait” set out to distract conservatives from a president trying to take away gun rights.

The user is also warned that, “The photograph may not be manipulated in any way and may not be used in commercial or political materials, advertisements, emails, products, promotions that in any way suggests approval or endorsement of the President, the First Family, or the White House.”

Really? I’d bet the courts might have something to say about that as it’s taken by the White House photographer. It’s not a private photo. And I’m so looking forward to the motivational posters.

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