Posted on 04/30/2006 3:43:25 AM PDT by saveliberty
By ELIZABETH WHITE, Associated Press Writer 2 hours, 20 minutes ago
WASHINGTON - It was twice the fun for members of the White House Correspondents' Association and guests Saturday night when President Bush and a look-alike, sound-alike sidekick poked fun at the president and fellow politicians.
"Ladies and gentlemen, I feel chipper tonight. I survived the White House shake-up," the president said.
But impersonator Steve Bridges stole many of the best lines. Vice President Dick Cheney and his hunting accident were targets of his humor on a couple of occasions.
"Speaking of suspects, where is the great white hunter?" Bridges said, later adding, "He shot the only trial lawyer in the country who supports me."
Bush continued a tradition begun by President Coolidge in attending the correspondents' dinner.
He invited Bridges to play his double. The president talked to the press in polite, friendly terms. Bridges told them what the president was really thinking.
Bridges opened like this: "The media really ticks me off — the way they try to embarrass me by not editing what I say. Well, let's get things going, or I'll never get to bed."
"I'm absolutely delighted to be here, as is (wife) Laura," Bush replied.
"She's hot," Bridges quipped.
The featured entertainer was Stephen Colbert, whose Comedy Central show "The Colbert Report" often lampoons the Washington establishment.
"I believe that the government that governs best is a government that governs least, and by these standards we have set up a fabulous government in Iraq," Colbert said in a typical zinger.
He also paid mock tribute to Bush as a man who "believes Wednesday what he believed Monday, despite what happened Tuesday."
Yet it's the Who's Who of power and celebrity in the audience — invited by media organizations to their dinner tables — that draws much of the attention.
Joining ABC were former Ambassador Joseph Wilson and his wife, Valerie Plame, the CIA officer at the heart of a leak investigation that has reached deep into the White House.
Others on the guest list included rapper-actor Ludacris; James Denton, the hunky plumber on ABC's "Desperate Housewives"; "Dancing With the Stars" winner Drew Lachey; New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin; tennis player Anna Kournikova; and Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger.
Award winners honored at the dinner were:
_Deb Riechmann of The Associated Press and Terry Moran of ABC News, Merriman Smith Awards, the top journalism award for White House reporting under deadline pressure.
Riechmann was recognized for breaking the news of Bush's choice of John Roberts for the Supreme Court. Moran was cited for his broadcast coverage of Bush's first visit to areas hit by Hurricane Katrina.
_Carl Cannon of the National Journal, the Aldo Beckman Award for his profile of presidential adviser Michael Gerson. The award is given for repeated excellence in White House reporting.
_Marcus Stern and Jerry Kammer of the Copley News Service, the Edgar A. Poe Award for a series of stories on Rep. Randy "Duke" Cunningham, who resigned in disgrace and pleaded guilty to accepting $2.4 million in bribes. The Poe award recognizes excellence in news of national and regional importance.
The association was established in 1914 as a bridge between the press corps and the White House. The current president is Mark Smith of AP Radio.
___
We'll know things are getting better when Freepers
are invited.
He's supposed to make it clear to the assembled propaganda wing of the DNC masquerading as journalists in the room that in their relentless attempt to undermine him and put the Democrats back in control of the Government they are jeopardizing national security, encouraging the enemy and undermining our ability to come together as a nation and win the war.
And that if they keep it up they will face consequences they will not be too happy about.
Thats what he is supposed to be doing
Ann's arms looked like Hillary's thighs.
No way this was paid by taxpayers. It is put on by the White House correspondants Association and probably paid for by the ticket prices. The president is a guest.
If you saw the Clinton clips before hand something was very apparent - Clinton bashed others, not himself. AP did a clip of past presidents. For the republican ones they had comedians mocking them. When they got to Clinton they had Clinton up there making his own jokes, about others. They did have Reagan at the end make a good one. (tagline).
Point is, Clinton's so full of himself he uses even this dinner to brag about his "accomplishments" and can't even bring himself to be humble. And the press loves him so much, they play right along.
The audience laughed a lot at the line about Hillary rolling her eyes. That can't have made the Dims happy.
You and I must have been watching a different guy. Almost 100% of last night's live thread freeper comments were devastatingly critical of this unfunny excuse for a comedian.
A lot of us had to turn the TV off or walk out of the room. It was excrutiating and embarrassing to watch him try unsuccessfully to be humorous and even relevant.
Freepers are an extremely upbeat, witty and humorous lot. They laugh at good material even though it may be at the expense of themselves or conservatism. Liberals are humorless, and the only thing that gets them to laugh is bad, downbeat, negative humor.
Liberals were laughing at this pathetic little lefty last night.....conservatives were not.
Leni
He lampoons himself every time he mentions "the jobs Americans won't do".
You might get my thanks......or a bust in the chops.
Leni
Does anybody know when C-SPAN will rebroadcast this, and in what timezone? As an aside, does anybody else find the C-SPAN website to be incomprehensible to people with simple questions such as mine?
Bush is going to have a real hard sell with the WOT, and the hard part is going to come from his alienated Joe Sixpack base.
Usually I enjoy these roasts. Didn't even have the heart to read about it this year.
Yeah, the press paid for all the security, riiiiight.
Oh, come on. You're sounding like a DU troll that's trying too hard.
I think they said 12:30 EST today-that is PM.
I'll never forget the WHCA one in 1999. That one was held the weekend after Elian was abducted at gunpoint from his relatives' home in Miami.
Watching all of that with those self-important Annointed People That Know What's Good For You was surreal.
Vomitus Maximus WHCA "dinner."
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