[isthisnickcool]

Jeez! You guys need to lighten up! None of us should laugh or have fun until the soldiers are home? Don't know about you but I like to have fun even when somebody else isn't.

I'm not saying that. YOU are not the CIC or Rove. These men are responsible for serious things. They need to act like serious people. And can't you see that they are not being laughed "with" by the people that hate them? They are being laughed at. And that is pathetic.

[loreldan]

Reagan was also in serious situations, but he wasn't serious all the time, including at these dinners. I don't know anybody that is serious all the time - well, I do but I'd never want them to be President.

[Jokelahoma]

So are you saying, then, that once elected to public office, one had better hold to the campaign promise to never laugh, to never be self-deprecating, to never provide some levity, and under no circumstances ever, EVER crack a smile? I mean, there are serious issues to attend to! Taking a break for a few hours to let loose with a few giggles is just reprehensible!!!!!Eleventy11!

It's no wonder tensions are high on FR and elsewhere when all it takes to deeply and egregiously offend people is a burp. What next? Snickering at a funeral is suddenly a capital offense?

Plenty of serious issues abound. Plenty of people take them very seriously. But since it isn't for you or anyone else to decide for anyone else what is and is not funny, I'd tend to agree that many, many people here need to lighten up. Way up.

[Dolphy]

These men are responsible for serious things. They need to act like serious people.

And that includes taking part in various "traditional" events. The President closed with somber remarks...and appropriately put it all in perspective.