Posted on 05/09/2005 6:39:00 AM PDT by Coastal
The White House Correspondents Dinner might sound like a gray and boring journalistic event, but for Washingtonians, it's becoming Hollywood Night. Among the celebrities attending this year's D.C. dinner were Richard Gere, Elisabeth Shue, Dennis Hopper and Jane Fonda. First Lady Laura Bush drew rave reviews from the pundits for her comedic routine playing on ABC's trashy new hit "Desperate Housewives."
Mrs. Bush joked that she not only watched the show, but she was a "desperate housewife" who took Mrs. Cheney, Condoleezza Rice and Karen Hughes to see male strippers at Chippendales, where they stuff dollar bills in the dancers' drawers, and that Mrs. Cheney's new Secret Service name was "Dollar Bill."
(Excerpt) Read more at nationalledger.com ...
Here ya go, Brent!
http://www.metamucil.com/index.shtml
Pandering to anti-Americans is not befitting a REAL President. Compromising our values for the sake of politics is even worse.
I know I'll be told to "lighten up" and that everyone thought these comments were cute, but I didn't appreciate this at all.
NOT FUNNY: Allowing millions of illegals across our border, even after 9/11 .
NOT FUNNY: A huge prescription drug bill that nobody wants and that will cost us untold amounts of money in the future.
NOT FUNNY: Failing to get traction on Social Security reform and allowing the Demoncrats to demogogue the issue.
NOT FUNNY: Not giving the "Godfather talk" to Frist to convince him to get a spine and use the ******* nuclear option already.
I lost respect for her, bad judgement it was for sure
Another breathless Bozo Report to tittilate Moral Nation
Good post.
The author of this article needs to lighten up. I watched the C-SPAN coverage and I thought it was great. She wasn't "pandering" to anyone. It was good honest fun at the expense of the President who has shown that he is a real man and can take jibes.
I think that the Correspondent's Dinner is a prime example of why liberals and the MSM hate George W. Bush so much. He is an affable and extremely likeable guy who is far more gracious, agreeable, humorous and personable than they care to admit. He doesn't fit into their low expectations of him and this pisses them off even more. I think he is a great man and a great President, and they know it too, and it angers them.
The First Lady showed herself as not only gracious, but a woman with an excellent sense of humor, and someone who is normal. My wife and I watch 'Desperate Housewives' and we love it!
It shouldn't be surprising that Hollywood's elite looked askance that some uptight, straitlaced, parent-prodding complainers were upset with the First Lady, wondering why she, of all people, had to promote that sleazy ABC show. [It certainly doesn't need the publicity -- you can't make it through "Access Hollywood" or "Entertainment Tonight" without your dose of "Desperate" hype.] It's some of the worst American pop culture has to offer, and will qualify as one of our foulest exports when it hits the international TV market, with America-bashers around the world declaring that America is captured perfectly by that cartoonish show: soulless wealthy people misbehaving in the most shameful ways imaginable. God bless America.There is, of course, another side to the story. Mrs. Bush has never actually seen the show, and clearly her tongue was placed firmly in cheek. What made the First Lady's routine such a smash with the crowd was the implausibility of it all. Those who follow the Bushes around with notebooks for their employment would find Laura Bush to be the antithesis of a "Desperate Housewife." The routine was funny because it was Mrs. Bush delivering it.
Still, still. If hypocrisy is the tribute vice pays to virtue, then the White House Correspondents Dinner is turning out to be the tribute that virtue pays to vice. Three years ago, President Bush was hailing Ozzy Osbourne, then the pop-culture sensation of the moment for his MTV "reality" show best known for showcasing his dysfunctional family and his never-ending trail of bleeped obscenities. At least the president gave the audience a good sense of the weirdness of Ozzy's metal tunes: "'Party With the Animals.' 'Sabbath Bloody Sabbath.' 'Facing Hell.' 'Black Skies,' and 'Bloodbath in Paradise.' Ozzy, Mom loves your stuff." And with that Ozzy became the toast of the town, the center of media attention for that year's Hollywood-meets-Washington weekend.
Mrs. Bush's speech, which seemed designed to loosen up the stuffy evangelical Christian image as the Washington press corps worries about a new American ayatollah under every bed, brought to mind the last feeble attempt to loosen up the Bush family image: the Bush daughters' clunky introduction of their father at the Republican convention in New York last summer.
True to the pattern, Barbara and Jenna Bush mocked their grandma for reportedly disapproving of the HBO stink bomb "Sex and the City," which was yesterday's loose-women flashpoint of TV trash. Grandma didn't like their clothes, or music, or favorite TV shows, so "Gammie, we love you dearly, but you're not very hip." By contrast, the girls endorsed their parents as "cool," insisting they knew the difference between "mono and Bono," and knew that Outkast was a rap group, not a "bunch of misfits."
It's never a bad idea for parents to be tuned into what the popular culture is offering, but there's a difference between knowing something and wallowing in it. Parents need to be knowledgeable and discriminating about the culture their youngsters consume, prepared unequivocally to condemn lust without borders, violence without conscience or language that assaults the ears.
By contrast with the Chippendales comedy routine, the First Lady gives a completely different impression in the May issue of Ladies' Home Journal, explaining how she tried to bring up her daughters by showing them her own self-discipline, by taking them to church and, even now, by taking care of her mother, who has moved into a retirement home.
America is grateful for a president and first lady who lead lives that don't look anything like "Desperate Housewives." The Bush family now needs to resist the urge to pander to Hollywood for political gain, and focus more attention on the growing American majority horrified by what that industry is teaching their children nightly.
I personally had no problem with the jokes, but understand that some people did.
I hope your opinion is respected here and that you are not trashed and bashed. I won't tell you to lighten up, you are entitled to your opinion.
Have a great day!
Why was Laura Bush's monologue considered "pandering?"
It was funny, plain and simple.
The President a few years back showed pictures of a "naked" Jeb Bush during one of his monologues at the Press Corps dinner (of course he was just a baby, I'm sure this must have offended someone.
Laura was just following in the President's footsteps of self deprecating humor about himself and his family. Anybody that's watched his performances at the same dinner, the last couple of years, would find Laura's "routine" fairly similar to what the President's had been.
He jokes all the time in his stump speeches about his mom being "the boss."
Hey, his latest joke was "President Clinton woke up from surgery to find himself surrounded by his closest family members, Hillary, Chelsea, and my dad."
It's just humor, not everything is political pandering.
You lost respect for her and I came to the realization that the extreme right is as bad, if not worse, than the left.
It's just humor, not everything is political pandering.
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My concern was more about the AUDIENCE -- not what Laura Bush was saying.
"My wife and I watch 'Desperate Housewives' and we love it!"
I don't watch it but Mrs. Bush was NOT pandering to Hollywood. She was using a familiar pop-culture reference in a joke. LOTS of people watch 'Desperate Housewives'.
Apparently lots of people are also judgemental as hell.
I find that a lot less attractive than a few barely risque jokes that would have been acceptable in the '50s.
Geez. This was the first time that I can remember where she did not come across as some sort of Stepford Wife. I thought "Wow! she actually has a personality." Oh well. I did not realize that this would lead to the moral destruction of the free world as we know it.
Me too. I always thought "right wing extremest" was an exaggeration. In the last year or so I've seen it in action, right here on FR.
It was a roast, not the end of civilization as we know it.
Yes, someone thought it would be a good idea to capitalize on Laura's sky high approval numbers by having her "perform" at the WHC dinner. Well, she didn't achieve those high numbers by dissing her husband and pandering to the media.
Probably the same "someone" who thought it was a good idea to have the Bush twins make fun of their parents and grandparents at the GOP National Convention last summer.
A couple of jabs is one thing but not a whole skit. The gleeful response of the lib audience to Laura coming down to their level is proof that giving aid and comfort to the enemy is never a good idea.
In similar vein David Gregory thought he had a big scoop on Chrissy Matthews when he "divulged" that GWB refers to the toon as Bubba in front of his staffers. Chrissy and David enjoyed a giggle because it made the staffers so uncomfortable and the implication was that GWB had gone over to "their" side or taken the toon into the fold.
Well, Chrissy/David, I can't speak for Dubya or the staffers but on FR we've been referring to the toon as Bubba for years - only here that's short for Beelzebubba.
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