In one of the more disjointed and scattered press conferences in recent memory, President Obama took a moment to speak about gay rights in Russia after having been asked a question about that subject by nobody in particular:
Not asked about gay athletes, Obama speaks about gay athletes.
— Guy Benson (@guypbenson) August 9, 2013
Obama, segueing from a question about Edward Snowden’s temporary asylum in Russia, the cancelled summit with Putin and the general failure of the “reset button” to improve U.S./Russian relations, started talking about gay rights in that country as it pertains to their Olympic athletes:
Obama in response to anti-gay legislation in Russia: Hopefully gay/lesbian athletes bring home gold, silver, bronze medals during Olympics
— Hardball (@hardball) August 9, 2013
Obama: "if Russian doesn't have gay or lesbian athletes, it probably makes their team weaker"
— Jessica Taylor (@JessicaTaylor) August 9, 2013
Here’s the video:
Clearly Obama was in no hurry to get to Benghazi questions:
I'm not watching The Lightbringer's presser, but is he talking about gay athletes again? Like that's an important topic right now?
— RBe (@RBPundit) August 9, 2013
Obama: I strongly object to Russia's laws on gays, but it won't actually affect anything.
— Jim Geraghty (@jimgeraghty) August 9, 2013
#POTUS hoping gay and lesbian athletes bringing home medals. Really, in an answer on summit cancellation
— Hugh Hewitt (@hughhewitt) August 9, 2013
Will somebody please ask a relevant question? JESUS GAY AND LESBIAN ATHLETES
— Dr Hugo Hackenbush (@MangyLover) August 9, 2013
@rdbrewer4 We went from Putin to the Olympics to Gays? WTF?
— David Horton (@JohnPSquibob) August 9, 2013
Why do they have to be "gay and lesbian athletes," @BarackObama? Why aren't they just "athletes?"
— Michael Deppisch (@deppisch) August 9, 2013
Obama’s explanation got a little confusing:
https://twitter.com/redsteeze/status/365917391089184769
Perhaps one reason Obama veered into that subject is because he’s been a well-known champion of gay rights for several hundred days now:
https://twitter.com/NoahPollak/status/365915411948118017
Obama clearly thinks a lack of gay rights in Russia is not a “phony scandal.”
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