Posted on 05/02/2005 8:23:14 AM PDT by areafiftyone
First Lady Laura Bush may have stolen the show with her surprise comedy routine at this weekend's White House Correspondents' Association Dinner, but her jokes and one-liners have made her no new friends among conservative Christians. In an official statement, one 'pro-family' advocacy group warned that Mrs. Bush's jokes at the President's expense were in violation of the Biblical command that wives respect their husbands.
Some shocked by Mrs. Bush's reference to herself as a "desperate housewife"
WASHINGTON, DC—The First Lady may have stolen the show with her surprise comedy routine at the 91st White House Correspondents' Association Dinner, but not everyone appreciated her jokes and one-liners poking fun at President Bush. At least one organization of conservative Christians quickly lashed out at Mrs. Bush's performance, warning that her remarks at the President's expense were a public refutation of the Biblical command that wives should respect their husbands.
According to an official statement released over the weekend by the Coalition for Traditional Values, an organization that seeks a more flexible relationship between church and state, Mrs. Bush's jokes at her husband's expense amounted to a public emasculation of the President. Pastor Roy DeLong, the statement's author and chair of the group, warns that the First Lady's performance comes at a time when the Mr. Bush's "manliness is already under attack."
Laura: Meet Ephesians
As a believer, President Bush is no doubt familiar with the passage from Ephesians that says 'Wives, submit yourselves unto your husbands, as unto the Lord,'" says Mr. DeLong. "That means that just as Christ is the head of the church, the husband is the head of the wife. That is not the
Mrs. Bush interrupted a speech being given by her husband at the annual dinner, remarking that "I have a few things I want to say for a change." She then proceeded to mock his performance, both public ("if you really want to end tyranny in the world, you're going to have to stay up later") and private, noting that by nine o'clock, Mr. Bush, whom she referred to as "Mr. Excitement," is typically sound asleep.
"One of the Proverbs says that 'a virtuous woman is a crown to her husband, but she that maketh him ashamed is as rottenness in his bones," notes Mr. DeLong. "I bet President Bush is feeling pretty rotten today."
Manliness in question
The rebuke to the First Lady's stand-up act comes on the heels of mounting concern about the President's image. Last week, Mr. Bush was seen holding hands with Crown Prince Abdullah of Saudi Arabia. Then the President raised eyebrows anew when he asked a crowd of supporters in Galveston, TX if they celebrated Splash Day, an annual gay pride event in that state, best known for attracting tens of thousands of buff men, wearing little more than suntan oil.
Even some members of Mr. Bush's famously loyal party looked askance at his recommendation during a speech on the nation's energy needs last week, when he encouraged Americans to consider driving hybrid vehicles, widely believed to be 'gay' cars.
Depraved housewives?
While the Coalition for Traditional Values was the first conservative advocacy group to jump on the First Lady's comments, more criticism is expected. In her remarks, Mrs. Bush likened herself to a desperate housewife, a reference to the hit show on ABC, noting that she watches the show with Lynne Cheney, wife of the Vice President.
"Desperate Housewives" has come under heavy fire from pro-family groups, including the American Decency Association, which has called for a boycott of ABC for airing the "degraded" show. Last fall, Mrs. Cheney asked the federal government to step in to protect the nation's children from the "Desperate Housewives."
If that were the case I would be a public eunuch after some of the zingers AMM has gotten in on me over the last 29 years.
Puritanism: the haunting fear that someone, somewhere, may be happy.
You do know the difference between a hairball and a Leno one-liner, don't you?
Psst. If you do, please clue me in.
Shalom.
This was a COMEDY ROUTINE written by their speech writers. Mrs. Bush didn't take it upon herself to interrupt the President's speech. The POTUS was in on the act. Therefore, Laura was in on the act and "in submission" to he husband. Seems everybody recognized this except the Trad. Val. group. Sheesh. (and I'm a conservative Christian, too)
Never heard of the source but after reading this, http://swiftreport.blogs.com/news/2005/03/news_that_the_r.html, I won't be going back and will ignore any more info based on them. They are the kind of misguided "so-called" Christians that give God a bad name.
Guess what? Christians have a sense of humor...who'd a thunk it? The neo-puritans need to get a life.
ohfercryinoutloud...
Some fringe group gets whacked out about this dinner every year. Remember the grief the President got over his remarks about looking for WMDs.
Some folks are just looking for a reason to be critical. Any reason.
Amazing that it was Nancy Reagan's performance at this dinner that softened her image for the press.
Now if the liberals are offended?! The hypocrisy is too much.
The DLM will get another one of their many fake orgasms over this most insignificant story.
Well, being male AND a Christian, I was neither offended nor upset over the remarks. Men who are sure of their manliness are not afraid to laugh occasionally at their own shortcomings.
I agree there is too much male-bashing going on. Go read Dobson's "Bringing Up Boys" and you will see just how bad it is. (better yet, buy the video series and have a group viewing with discussions with parents of boys - our church did and it was a HUGE success!)
With that said, however, Mrs. Bush was at a traditionally lighthearted dinner where jokes abound. She was obviously having a little fun with her husband, who she praised at the end of her speech. We have all seen her other side, where she has stood by her man and supported her from the inside. A lot of folks have criticized her for doing just that. Now she is criticized for poking a little fun at him? He laughs at himself over his mispronunciations and slip-ups. If he can laugh at himself, why can't she laugh at him sometimes as well? My wife pokes fun at my shortcomings, but I never see it as "male-bashing".
He obviously wasn't upset at it, so I see no reason that I should be either. Frankly, I saw it more as a slap in the face of the President, VP & Rumsfeld's detractors than the men themselves.
Bottom line, they were jokes and the people they were directed at loved them. So did I.
Knowing that it would NEVER have happened! -----sheeesh people!
I have to admit that amongst my giggles and belly laughs, my hackles went up for a second when Laura was poking fun of our dear President. But, what a great sport he was to take it all so well, and LAUGH...something these people CLEARLY are unable to do!
This may be a good time to remind them that there are tens of millions like me who will oppose their dogmatic approach to governing society as violently as I would the Taliban's.
Let's not get delusional here...
Good points!
The witch hunt has begun on FR and the other "conservative forums" on the net. It was a roasting of her husband and family....people can't seem to grasp this concept. People also can't seem to get over this entire b.s. picture that all conservatives must act like we are Amish.
Oh and I read on FR yesterday someone saying that Jackie O' would never have done something like this. You are right! She just looked the other way while her husband banged dozens of Hollywood broads and made her look like a total idiot in doing so.
Come on, Bush makes himself out to be the butt of his jokes.
"Puritanism: the haunting fear that someone, somewhere, may be happy."
LOL! Great quote.
I was very surprised that Laura did the horse joke.
Very funny, but still inappropriate.
I just wish someone would address the problems with this story that I raised above.
With that said, I think the media is going overboard reporting this. I think the only reason they are doing so is because it was at the President's expense. I bet if the First Lady or the President stood up there and threw one line zingers at Kerry, Kennedy, Leahey, Biden, et al., they would have come out today and lambasted the two for not being funny but mean-spirited.
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