Sometimes a cigar is just a cigar - Laura Bush was a smash at the White House Correspondents’ Association dinner, therefore it must have been transparent political calculation orchestrated by Karl Rove. Get a grip, Elisabeth.
I read some stuff today about Mrs. Bush's humor from that press party...some of them are complaining now about how risque she sounded. First they complain she is too stiff and phoney, then now...can't make them happy.
The jokes were puerile, the delivery forced. (She even stumbled over a line about George's mispronunciations, which was quite unfortunate.) But who cares? The only offensive thing about Laura Bush's "comedy" performance was the wild, enthusiastic laughter from the un-partisan crowd. What in God's name did they think they were hearing?
Naturally I'm offended by the duplicity, the whorishness, or the shortsighted self-interest of politicians. But I must admit that I feel something really visceral about the automatic screams of delight and validation that a politician gets-- and I mean ANY politician gets-- just from the act of being willing to tell something resembling a joke. It's like clapping for the retarded kid's poem.... except that at least the latter case reveals something GOOD about the applauder.
That Laura Bush smells doing some speechwriter's inoffensive standup is hardly interesting. That she'd be universally hailed for this crap is.
To repeat a talking point of late 2001, "Now is not the time for these kinds of jokes." No, the ONLY proper time is after I'm dead, so I don't have to see the moronic rave reviews afterwards.
I read some stuff today about Mrs. Bush's humor from that press party...some of them are complaining now about how risque she sounded. First they complain she is too stiff and phoney, then now...can't make them happy.
ReplyDelete"although they said the idea came from one of the more shrewd political animals at the White House, President Bush"
ReplyDeleteBut I thought he was a simpleton, a moron, a dunce? How can he be that and shrewd at the same time?
The jokes were puerile, the delivery forced. (She even stumbled over a line about George's mispronunciations, which was quite unfortunate.) But who cares? The only offensive thing about Laura Bush's "comedy" performance was the wild, enthusiastic laughter from the un-partisan crowd. What in God's name did they think they were hearing?
ReplyDeleteNaturally I'm offended by the duplicity, the whorishness, or the shortsighted self-interest of politicians. But I must admit that I feel something really visceral about the automatic screams of delight and validation that a politician gets-- and I mean ANY politician gets-- just from the act of being willing to tell something resembling a joke. It's like clapping for the retarded kid's poem.... except that at least the latter case reveals something GOOD about the applauder.
That Laura Bush smells doing some speechwriter's inoffensive standup is hardly interesting. That she'd be universally hailed for this crap is.
To repeat a talking point of late 2001, "Now is not the time for these kinds of jokes." No, the ONLY proper time is after I'm dead, so I don't have to see the moronic rave reviews afterwards.