By Stone Martindale Mar 29, 2007, 15:29 GMT
Well, this year they weren't reeled in like fat Tuna by satirist Stephen Colbert, who slyly skewered President Bush to the horrification of the person who booked him to host last years dinner. The annual Correspondents' dinner featured a comic breakout performance of President Bush, and a mortifying rap ditty sung by Karl Rove.
The annual politicians-and-journalists event seemed a bit more festive and silly this year.
The Washington Post and Los Angeles Times report that Brian Williams burped "The Battle Hymn of the Republic." Karl Rove jumped around and did his level gangsta best on stage as rap star "MC Rove." President Bush "mused" about Illinois Sen. Barack Obama's "sleek, hairless pecs."
The annual gathering of scores of broadcast journalists in the Washington Hilton ballroom has hosted some funny moments, such as the 2004 Correspondents' dinner where Bush's jokes about not being able to find weapons of mass destruction slayed the room.
The JibJab guys opened the show with an animated short called "What We Call the News" featuring bobblehead cartoon versions of the likes of Anderson Cooper and Geraldo Rivera, singing and dancing amid cable news mainstays such as Britney Spears and Anna Nicole Smith. www.JibJab.com.
Bush kept it short and sweet this year, his comic good timing and self-deprecating humor winning the audience.
"A year ago, my approval rating was in the 30s," the president said. "My nominee for the Supreme Court had just withdrawn, and my vice president had shot someone."
Classic pause, beat, then he said: "Ah, those were the good ol' days."
Bush also thanked Virginia Sen. Jim Webb for providing security for the dinner. (Webb is a democrat who is a-ok with the guns).
The president joked he saw a photo of Obama on a beach vacation, "his sleek, hairless pecs glistening.""Shows how biased the press is," Bush added. "Ever seen a shot like that of Denny Hastert?"
The LAT reports comics Colin Mochrie and Brad Sherwood of the ABC show "Whose Line Is It Anyway?" took the stage.
NBC anchor Williams and Cheryl Gould, senior VP of NBC News, were brought onstage to deliver the sound effects for a skit about a hunter and a lawyer that ended with the two burping "The Battle Hymn of the Republic."
The show devolved at that point when Rove, dubbed "MC Rove" performed in an improvised on-stage rap. NBC White House correspondent David Gregory served as a back-up "dancer". http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hYZre8kEsuw
In summary, it was all sick and wrong.
"Tell me, what is your name?" Sherwood rapped.
"MC Rove!" the Bush advisor yipped.
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David ShankboneMar 30th, 2007 - 20:08:07
Ah, Karl Rove and the bootlicking Washington press corp. How about this for a follow-up: Yo! I'm Karl Rove While the press laughs, you cry! While I laugh, the troops die! Bah ha ha ha ha uh...yeah. What a Grand Old Party it must be. David Shankbone
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