The Party Party: Republicans have more fun

National Review Online ^ | 3/26/2004 | Michael Graham

[Utah Girl]

Believe it or not, once upon a time, the Democratic party knew how to party. We conservatives were the staid, humorless, easily offended sticks-in-the-mud, while our liberal counterparts spent tax dollars on irreverent performance art and told us to lighten up. The Left had Lenny Bruce and the Smothers Brothers, while the Right had the comedic stylings of Richard Milhous Nixon.

Wanna guess who was having more fun?

The current brouhaha surrounding President Bush's performance at the Radio and Television Correspondent's Dinner shows just how completely things have changed. Liberals, who urge taxpayers to be tolerant of portraits of the Virgin Mary that include publicly funded elephant dung, are outraged over a simple joke. And a funny one, too.

What happened? Somehow, over the past 30 years, liberalism has mutated into something akin to an anti-comedy vaccine. The more you're Left, the less you laugh.

From Janeane Garofalo to Al Franken, exposure to liberalism has infected the comic sensibilities of the formerly funny and ravaged their senses of humor. Even Michael Moore was once a pretty funny guy, for a few minutes at least, in the late 1980s. Today, the typical public appearance by Michael Moore has all the lighthearted comedy of a Manhattan screening of The Passion of the Christ.

I happened to be at the Correspondent's Dinner on Wednesday night and there's no doubt about it: Bush did well. As a former stand-up, I felt for A. J. Jamal, the comedian who had to follow the president that night. (Jamal tanked, by the way.) The gathered throng saw the photos, heard him deliver his "Those Weapons of Mass Destruction must be around here somewhere," and burst out laughing.

At least, everyone around me did. It turns out some people had a very different reaction. Here's this from socialist writer David Corn, who was also at the event:

The audience laughed. I grimaced... Disapproval must have registered upon my face, for one of my tablemates said, 'Come on, David, this is funny.' I wanted to reply, Over 500 Americans and literally countless Iraqis are dead because of a war that was supposedly fought to find weapons of mass destruction, and Bush is joking about it. Instead, I took a long drink of the lovely white wine that had come with our dinner [emphasis in the original]."

Oh, the humanity! The president is joking, my fellow journalists are laughing, and I'm sitting here swilling cheap banquet-hall chardonnay!

Corn was hardly alone in his outrage: John Kerry, Nancy Pelosi, and Terry McAuliffe all announced their offense. Even Al Sharpton called the joke "one of the most despicable acts of a sitting president."

And who knows more about despicable behavior than Al Sharpton?

Some of the comedy complaints can be dismissed as pure partisan attacks of the "Bush did it so it must be bad" stripe. Interestingly, Kerry & Co. appear to be truly sincere in their offense. What happened Wednesday night really hurt them.

I think that what has aroused their passion isn't the joke, but the laughter. "Don't you know how bad things are in America?" Democrats seem to demand. "Don't you know how evil President Bush is? How can you laugh at that monster, particularly when he's talking about the most horrendous moment in American history — the invasion of Iraq!"

What the laughter from Wednesday's left-of-center Washington audience shows is that, even among their rank-and-file, the image of Bush as a plotting warmonger heartlessly making light of his foreign-policy trickery doesn't stick. President Bush was mocking himself and his current political predicament regarding WMDs, and the joke works because he clearly believes he's doing the right thing. Even the Washington press corps knows it.

But this is an election year, and political calculations conquer all, and so the Democratic p.r. machine will continue to push their anti-humor assault for as long as they think it will attract voters. But will it?

The Democrats are currently busy dividing the electorate into those who like to laugh and those who don't; between those who don't take themselves too seriously and those who do; between those of us who are smiling and the people who want to wipe that grin off our faces.

I know which team I want to be on in November.

— Radio-talk-host Michael Graham is an NRO contributor.

[Democratshavenobrains]

It should be obvious by now that most of the Democrat party cared NOTHING about removing Saddam, no matter how many people he killed.

[Starve The Beast]

Over 500 Americans and literally countless Iraqis are dead because of a war that was supposedly fought to find weapons of mass destruction, and Bush is joking about it.

That's the essence of the Left's current humorlessness. They've fallen in love with beating their breasts and tearing at their hair. Pretty hard to smile when you're trying to save the universe from evil incarnate.

[Dolphy]

Even Al Sharpton called the joke "one of the most despicable acts of a sitting president."

Gee, I think of Clinton and Monica in the Oval Office while bin Laden was plotting...but then maybe Clinton wasn't sitting.

[avant_garde]

I haven't meet a happy liberal since Clinton's inauguration. Don't mind one bit either.

[avant_garde]

I meant to write "I Don't mind it one bit either." Plus there seems to be a correlation between my happiness and their anger.

[pop-aye]

"Over 500 Americans and literally countless Iraqis are dead because of a war that was supposedly fought to find weapons of mass destruction, and Bush is joking about it."

Over 100,000 Kurds were killed by Saddam, and that is a conservative guess.

I have noted in a number of threads that when you get a bunch of anti-american, anti-war, anti-bush people protesting on a street corner, there are no smiles, only sad, sullen, despair.

When you get a group of 2 or three FReepers on a corner to show the anti's that this is a Wonderful Country and we should be grateful for the Freedoms we have, you see smiles, laughter and hugs.

Saddam did have WMD. He proved that. What we have yet to determine is where the darn things are now.

When your platform is based on hate.... hate america, hate bush, hate republicans, hate life, it is not surprising that you don't have much of a sense of humor and can't find much to be happy about.

Today I am HAPPY... and thank god for that. (and yes, I thought the joke was wonderful)

[Utah Girl]

Isn't that the truth. They all wander around with big clouds of doom over their heads. President Bush has the hardest job right now, and yet he is sunny and happy.

[Reagan Man]

>>>... are outraged over a simple joke. And a funny one, too.

The President was poking fun at himself, but there was absolutely no need to venture into this subject matter and give the librats more ammunition to use against him. It was a bad joke done in poor taste. Politically dumb.

[I still care]

I always wonder how these guys respond to Rush Limbaugh's parodies. I know they have to have heard them somewhere along the way.

The Christmas Song

Lieberman, Gebhardt, and Sharpton:

Christmas, Christmas time is here
Then the primaries start next year
We work hard and we work fast
But Howard's first and we're all last
Want to break out from the group
Howard's just an empty suit
Gee it's cold and getting late
Can't we have more debate...

Narrator: That was very good Lieberman
Lieberman: Naturally
Narrator: Very good Gebhardt
Gebhardt: HAHAHAHA
Narrator: Sharpton, you were a little loud. Watch the bullhorn..Sharpton, Sharpton, SHARPTON!
Sharpton (through bullhorn): OK!

Want to break out from the group
Howard is a real fruit loop
He's McGovern '68
Can't we have more debate...

[McGavin999]

You've got to admit, President Bush has a great sense of timing and he's really funny. Most of those people started to laugh before he even started to speak because they KNEW he was going to be hysterically funny.

[Utah Girl]

I didn't watch the dinner live, but watched the tape last night. He was very funny and spot on. And the ending was just priceless. President Bush can be very funny, but never forgets what matters the most.

[Qwinn]

"Politically dumb."

Given the media climate and full-on Pravda-press we have going on in this country now, Bush -breathing- is politically dumb.

He'll be attacked for anything, no matter how utterly mundane and to-be-expected. The "outrage" over the 9/11 ads was proof. I even heard posters -here- claiming how "tasteless" that was, and frankly, I consider them the last holdovers of the "stuffed shirt" Republicans.

He'll get attacked no matter what. He knows that. So he does what he thinks is right, he relaxes, he says what he thinks at the time and he doesn't bother softening it for ultra-defensive, chronically offended leftists.

Nor should he.

I'm a strong fiscal -and- social conservative who also happens to think that South Park, despite it being incredibly offensive to -everyone- and most -definetly- makes fun of sacred cows, even mine, on a regular basis, it is still hilariously funny. So do most Freepers.

Lighten up. The Iraq War wasn't just about WMD anyway, and any Freeper -should- be aware of that.

Qwinn

[Reagan Man]

This isn't a huge mistake, but nonetheless, my remarks were right on the money. PresBush is a gentleman and an old fashioned Republican. This was a topic, he should have stayed away from.

Whether you want to admit it or not, the primary reason we went to war in Iraq was because of Saddam's WMD/WMD programs. Not having located hard evidence of their existence to date, leaves the President open to criticism. That's political reality. Remember, this election will be decided by swing voters.

I've been a conservative Republican for 36 years and one thing I've learned in that time, you don't hand your political opponents an issue to use against you. Especially not in this highly volatile election season.

Btw, South Park is liberal trash and I doubt many FReepers watch it.

[Caipirabob]

The comedy thing didn't work for Hitler either.

"Vy did ze chiggin chross ze road? - TO INVADE POLAND! JA!"

[EllaMinnow]

Bumping this one back up!

[ilgipper]

No matter what the President says, these vermin are going to pick something out of it to be 'offended' about, and try to make a campaign issue. This year is going to be ugly,ugly, ugly. I am geting so disgusted, I have stopped watching the news channels (not easy for me to do!).