- Joined
- Jun 10, 2007
- Messages
- 39,369
- Likes
- 3,390
- Points
- 113
Obama is legitmately hilarious at the annual press dinner
- Thread starter MickZagger
- Start date
Welcome to our community
Be a part of something great, join today!
- Joined
- May 24, 2007
- Messages
- 73,116
- Likes
- 10,949
- Points
- 113
Margaret Carlson joins Tom Brokaw and Sarah Palin (that's an odd couple) in ragging on the event.
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-04-29/how-sarah-palin-is-right-about-washington.html
The heart of the evening is a monologue by a hired comedian. (This year it was Conan O’Brien.) The president goes first, however, reading jokes written for him by speechwriters who could be doing other things. President Barack Obama, like George W. Bush before him, has mastered the self-deprecating joke. Even when the lines -- from the president or the professional -- aren’t funny, we all chuckle indiscriminately, because none of us wants to fail the exam or lose the student- council election. We fail to notice we have become what we used to criticize.
The criticism that the dinner constitutes an exchange of favors between the political, celebrity and journalistic classes misses the point. The politicians see the dinner mostly as an obligation. The celebrities see it mostly as a disappointment. A few years ago comedian Larry David attended. When he was asked to come again he said no, adding that you have to be a dinner virgin to attend in the first place. George Clooney said he was surprised when his car pulled up to a hotel: He thought the White House Correspondents’ Association Dinner was at the White House, not in a basement ballroom with 2,500 other people. I don’t think he was joking.
The better criticism of the dinner is financial, not political: While hundreds of our colleagues have lost their jobs and news budgets have been slashed, we are spending a king’s ransom to create the illusion that we are important.
(more at the link)
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-04-29/how-sarah-palin-is-right-about-washington.html
The heart of the evening is a monologue by a hired comedian. (This year it was Conan O’Brien.) The president goes first, however, reading jokes written for him by speechwriters who could be doing other things. President Barack Obama, like George W. Bush before him, has mastered the self-deprecating joke. Even when the lines -- from the president or the professional -- aren’t funny, we all chuckle indiscriminately, because none of us wants to fail the exam or lose the student- council election. We fail to notice we have become what we used to criticize.
The criticism that the dinner constitutes an exchange of favors between the political, celebrity and journalistic classes misses the point. The politicians see the dinner mostly as an obligation. The celebrities see it mostly as a disappointment. A few years ago comedian Larry David attended. When he was asked to come again he said no, adding that you have to be a dinner virgin to attend in the first place. George Clooney said he was surprised when his car pulled up to a hotel: He thought the White House Correspondents’ Association Dinner was at the White House, not in a basement ballroom with 2,500 other people. I don’t think he was joking.
The better criticism of the dinner is financial, not political: While hundreds of our colleagues have lost their jobs and news budgets have been slashed, we are spending a king’s ransom to create the illusion that we are important.
(more at the link)
Similar threads
