Free Republic

A couple of years ago, Ayaan Hirsi Ali was having dinner at our house in Holland and we decided to watch a comedy show on TV. I believe the reason was that Wouter Bos, the leader of the Dutch Social Democrats and a colleague of Ayaan’s in parliament, was scheduled to appear on that show. The program featured stand-up comedians discussing the news, together with the well-known guest. And because Ayaan was an ongoing topic in Holland, they started talking about her. One of the comedians remarked: “Ayaan, she doesn’t have a clitoris, does she?” The audience laughed. And Wouter...

I honestly hadn’t given too much thought to Wanda Sykes’ rather predictably meanspirited attempts to skewer Rush Limbaugh at the correspondent’s dinner last evening — it being de rigeur these days for the wannabe edgy to take shots at Limbaugh, and to receive at least tacit official sanction for doing so. And the President’s reaction suggested that she’d done just that. Had I more respect for Obama, I’d have expressed surprise and revulsion. As it stands, however, I was hardly surprised — either by the joke and its venue, or by Obama’s ostensible approval. – This latest from the White...

Obama Laughs While Conservatives Attacked By Vile Black LesbianRev. Jesse Lee Peterson, Founder and President of BOND Action, Inc., released the following statement blasting President Barack Obama’s smiling endorsement of Wanda Sykes during her scathing attack against conservative talk show host Rush Limbaugh. At a recent White House Correspondents’ Dinner, Sykes accused Limbaugh of treason and compared him to the terrorists of 9/11. She also said she hopes that Rush’s “kidney’s fail.” Sykes comments drew laughter from President Obama and most of the journalists in the room. The following is Rev. Peterson’s statement on this issue: “Wanda Sykes’ remarks...

Buried at the end of Chris Rovzar and Jada Yuan's fantastic White House Correspondents' Association Dinner party report is an incendiary quote from Christopher Hitchens about the evening's entertainment, comedienne Wanda Sykes: "The president should be squirming in his seat. Not smiling," he said. "The black dyke got it wrong. No one told her the rules." Rovzar and Yuan note that Hitchens was the "last man (barely) standing" of the evening. Other highlights of the always amusing NYMag writers' report include Jada Pinkett's face to face interaction with Tom Cruise, a shoe-less Meghan McCain, an allergy-stricken Elizabeth Banks, and several...

I love Wanda Sykes, I always have. I laughed out loud watching her White House Correspondents’ Dinner routine (on the Web; Salon has never attended that particular circle jerk of DC insularity; maybe someday we will!) Sure it was off-color and, um, slightly out there – but that’s the point. Or it used to be. Even if I didn’t already love Sykes, my point of view would be: Once a barely elected president who started a devastating war on false pretenses can joke about those pretenses at that same dinner (Remember Bush looking behind sofas for WMDs? ) it’s hard...

Isn’t it this guy’s job to convey Obama’s thinking to the media? Then how to explain this answer when we have video proof of The One merrily yukking it up during Sykes’s offending bit? Good lord, even Keith Olbermann thought it was “probably” in bad taste, which, coming from him about a fellow lefty, is tantamount to nuclear-hot outrage. Ben Shapiro said all that needs to be said about the fundamental cowardice of dumping on Republicans at Obama’s big debutante ball:

After drooling over Obama's "stand-up" comedy, Olbermann blasts Wanda Sykes over her comments on Rush Limbaugh. "Oh no! Not good, not about him, not when you mix in 9/11," says Olbermann.

Conservative talk-show host Rush Limbaugh took the high road Monday following Wanda Sykes saying he is a terrorist and making other acerbic comments about him during a comedic routine at the White House Correspondents' Association dinner over the weekend. Talk-radio fans and political junkies buzzed in anticipation about what Mr. Limbaugh might say on his national, three-hour radio show. Instead of retaliating against Ms. Sykes, Mr. Limbaugh spent much of the show praising former Vice President Dick Cheney, who on Sunday was much kinder. "What motivates Dick Cheney," Mr. Limbaugh asked rhetorically numerous times during his show. "He has all...

The New York Daily News reports that Meghan McCain daughter of Sen. John McCain, threw a tizzy at the White House Correspondents' Dinner on Saturday. She apparently lost it when she tried to get into the gala with only two tickets - and she had two friends with her. “The security guard sent her to talk to someone to sort out the situation, but Meghan got bratty and nastily told him, ‘We’ll just stand here then,’ like an insolent child,” a source told the paper. After dealing with the guard, she allegedly "muttered to her friends, ‘Does he even know...

WASHINGTON (May 11) -- The White House is keeping its distance from an entertainer's joke comparing commentator Rush Limbaugh to a terrorist. Presidential spokesman Robert Gibbs on Monday was asked for President Barack Obama's reaction to the joke by comic actress Wanda Sykes at Saturday's White House Correspondents' Association dinner. Obama took part in the event.

Political blogger Meghan McCain isn’t exactly the toast of D.C. right now. Sen. John McCain’s daughter — who writes online for The Daily Beast and will soon release a book about life as a Republican — lost it after getting stopped by security when she arrived at the White House Correspondents dinner Saturday. The problem? She had only two tickets, but brought two friends. “The security guard sent her to talk to someone to sort out the situation, but Meghan got bratty and nastily told him, ‘We’ll just stand here then,’ like an insolent child,” our source said, adding that...

Wanda Sykes is the most gutless and feckless performer ever to grace the White House Correspondents Dinner. Sykes, for those who haven’t seen her stellar work in gems like Over the Hedge, is a militant lesbian with a grating voice and an obnoxious strut. Well, apparently she’s not so proud to be gay. Because when given the opportunity to make jokes about the nation’s leading proponent of opposite-sex marriage, President Barack Obama, she said precisely nothing. Meanwhile, she saved her real ire for non-governmental figures like Rush Limbaugh and Sean Hannity. To Obama’s hysterical laughter, she said that she hoped...

Not pleased with joking about 9/11.

Sick

By now you have probably read about Wanda Sykes’ comments at the Correspondents Dinner. It is the first time in recorded history a lesbian has stood before America’s media elite and performed oral favors on a man — and not just any man. She did so to the President of the United States. It was a Lewinsky moment without the cigar and stained dress. Never mind that the American media elite would never dream of inviting anyone to speak at the Correspondents Dinner who supported a Republican. But the fawning hagiography to Obama continues. And it does so with some...

AND NOW . . . amidst billowing clouds of fragrant, aromatic first- and second-hand premium cigar smoke. . . it is time for . . . that harmless, lovable little fuzz ball, the highly-trained broadcast specialist, having more fun than a human being should be allowed to have, from behind the golden EIB microphone, firmly ensconced in the prestigious Attila-the-Hun chair at the Limbaugh Institute of Advanced Conservative Studies, serving humanity simply by showing up, and he’s not retiring until every American agrees with him, do NOT doubt him, with shrieks of joy at the mere mention of his name...

Here is what David Feherty, a golf guy who poses no threat to the memory of Lenny Bruce, wrote in a Dallas magazine recently: "If you gave any U.S. soldier a gun with two bullets in it, and he found himself in an elevator with Nancy Pelosi, Harry Reid and Osama Bin Laden, there's a good chance that Nancy Pelosi would get shot twice, and Harry Reid and Bin Laden would be strangled to death." Not funny. An old joke, tastelessly retold.

....And naturally the wingnuts over at the bastion of intelligentsia that is Free Republic had lots to say, this coming from "Las Vegas Ron"... The good news is that stuff like this takes its toll, and not on the objects of attack. I don't know if Obama realizes it, but he is generating racial tension. After reading how his pick to lead the US Forest Service had no previous USFS background, a fellow commented, "Why do I expect he's black?" I thought it was in poor taste, but then, sure enough - the pick is a black man known for...

Gibbs on Sykes: 9/11 is not 'comedy' By: Alexander Burns May 11, 2009 02:01 PM EST In his daily briefing Monday, Robert Gibbs distanced the president from comedian Wanda Sykes’ joke comparing Rush Limbaugh to a 9/11 hijacker at the White House Correspondents’ Association Dinner. "I don't know how the guests get booked,” Gibbs said, adding that he hadn’t “talked specifically” with Obama about Sykes’ crack. “I think there are a lot of topics that are better left for serious reflection rather than comedy. I think there's no doubt 9/11 is part of that,” Gibbs continued.

WASHINGTON (AP) - The White House is keeping its distance from an entertainer's joke comparing commentator Rush Limbaugh to a terrorist. Presidential spokesman Robert Gibbs on Monday was asked for President Barack Obama's reaction to the joke by comic actress Wanda Sykes at Saturday's White House Correspondents' Association dinner. Obama took part in the event. Sykes jabbed at Limbaugh for suggesting that he wants Obama to fail.