The White House Correspondents Dinner

[Brown]

I just watched the White House Correspondents Dinner on C-Span. The highlight of the evening was a video of David Letterman presenting a "Top Ten Favorite George W. Bush Moments." The top ten videos showed the following:

10. Bush bumping his head on a helicopter ceiling.
9. Bush at a podium saying, "If it feels good, do it. If you got a problem, blame somebody else."
8. Bush giving a speech on immigration, muffing a line, then sitting silent and befuddled for five seconds.
7. Bush bouncing a basketball, but the basketball doesn't want to bounce.
6. Bush giving a speech: "That there be a stable Iran, an Iran that is capable of rejecting Iranian influence. I mean, Iraq."
5. Bush: "I like to fish."
4. Bush trying to exit a news conference through a locked door.
3. Bush accidentally dropping his dog about three feet onto the tarmac.
2. Bush: "Doin' a better job of talkin' to each other. The left hand"--gesturing with his right hand--"now knows what the right hand"--gesturing with his left hand--"is doin'."
1. Bush spitting on the White House lawn.

Bush himself then rose for a brief speech. He said something quite quotable, and quite good.

I think a society that can poke fun at its political leaders is a society that's a confident society, and a free society.

But things took a downward turn from there:

And I was looking forward to doing a little poking myself. But in light of this week's tragedy at Virginia Tech, I, ah, decided not to be funny.

Bush made a somber little speech that recognized the work of reporters who covered the events in Virginia. Surely it will not escape notice that Bush felt no such need to be somber at previous dinners, which were held after slayings of American soldiers on foreign soil.

In any event, Bush sucked all the humor out of the room. And then he introduced the main speaker of the evening, mimic and comic Rich Little.

The introduction could hardly have been worse. The president had thrown a bucket of cold water on his audience, and it was now Little's job to make them laugh. Little proceeded with his opening line, which he had apparently written in anticipation that the president would at least try to tell a joke, at least one joke, for cryin' out loud:

Thank you. Mr. President. I can't wait to get home and add you to my resume ... as being an opening act.

On the whole, Rich Little was, well, Rich Little. Some of his impressions were good (he started off with a pretty darn good John McCain), and some were not as good. He described his own act pretty well before he did it:

I want to tell you right off the top that I am not a political satirist. I'm not up here tonight to make any point, politically, believe me. I'm an impersonator, basically. I do a lot of impressions of people, and some of 'em are politicians. You know, I'm a night club entertainer that tells a lot of dumb, silly, stupid jokes, you know? And I'm just here tonight to try and make enough money to get my relatives out of Canada.

Little was right about the quality of his jokes. They tended to be on the corny side. To the surprise of some folks, there was a bit of salty language. The audience laughter was mild. In response to a less-than-rousing reaction to a Johnny Carson impression, Little remarked in his own voice:

You thought Colbert was bad...?

The centerpiece of Little's performance was his medley of impressions of US presidents.

He started with Reagan. For a long time, Little stood in front of the microphone, swaying back and forth and wobbling his shoulders as Reagan used to do, with a look of Reaganesque puzzlement on his face. Eventually he spoke (in a perfect, soft Reagan voice):

Who the hell are you people?

He then portrayed Reagan as a doddering boob. Little did a passable Jimmy Carter, and told a ribald joke. Little then moved on to elder George Bush--sounding like he was doing an impression of Dana Carvey--and a less-than-mediocre Bill Clinton.

Little's impression of George W. Bush was p*ss-poor. Not even close. It did have a joke that was something of a put-down of the current president, however, and not what you'd expect from someone who wasn't supposed to be "political":

We will look out, we will look out, and we will see, we will see a nation at peace, 'cause I'm optimistic, I'm optimistic about the future. I see a country, I see a country where there's clean air, and clean water, and clean streets. I see a country where there's no poverty, and no bigotry, and no unemployment. I see a country where there's no bombings, no al Qaeda, and no terrorists. I see ... I see ... Switzerland, actually....

After referring to Switzerland as a "city," Little, his back turned away from Bush, asked his audience:

Take a look: Is the President laughin'? Is he comin' towards me? Good!

Little ended with an impression of Richard Nixon. When he was a younger man, Little used to wag his cheeks in imitation of Nixon's jowls. Now, as an older man, Little actually resembles Nixon fairly closely. If Little had a Nixon-like haircut, the resemblance could be quite striking. Little has jowls of his own, now, real ones. At one point, he shook them uncontrollably then said, "I'm having a jowl movement." The president thought this was funny, but then, he's always a sucker for poop jokes.

The Nixon bit was okay, but it too was corny and there was no sure-fire laugh material. Little got polite applause, said a few words of thanks, and ended his act.

 

[Brown]

My review of the Dinner was posted quickly. Also posted quickly was this review from Editor & Publisher. I note that the story contains several errors. My quotes are accurate, but some of theirs are not. And the Colbert remark came after a Johnny Carson bit, not an Arnold Schwarzenegger bit.

The report said the McCain impression "bombed." It did not. There was a level of laughter appropriate to the tenor of the joke. It wasn't a real knee-slapper, but it got a laugh, no silence, no boos.

How can I say that I'm right and these guys are wrong? Because I used a recording of the events to write my review, and I checked my facts and my quotes.

 

[Brown]

This report from AP is a little better. Like E&P, AP used the B-word:

After one joke bombed, he said, "And you thought (Stephen) Colbert was bad."

This joke didn't exactly bomb, either. But Little did go a long way for that punchline, and he clearly expected to get a much bigger laugh than he actually got.

By the way, the AP quote is inaccurate. Mine is accurate.

One thing I forgot to mention: Ann Compton was on the dais, next to Laura Bush. At a glance, these two ladies looked like twin sisters.

 

[davefoc]

Brown, thanks for the review. I had been curious how this thing would go with Rich Little. The whole concept seems a bit dicey right now with a serious war going on and a widely disliked president that is easy to make fun. But making fun of the guy is a little creepy when he's sitting right there listening to it.

The Virginia Tech shootings didn't make it any easier.

Personally, while I would consider it a great compliment to be invited to this thing based on, presumably, a successful career as a Washington Journalist, I think I'd skip it. My view of Bushco is that it is not a normal administration, going through the normal tribulations that all administrations go through. This administration is a corrupt, inept band of self serving partisans that don't deserve to be treated like a normal administration and even showing up to this thing gives them more respect than I think they deserve.

 

[SezMe]

I'm troubled by the very concept of the WH Correspondents Dinner. It's too chummy. The press corps has a job to do that involves, in large part, being in an adversarial role to the Executive Branch. Both the WH and the press corps can be engaged in such a way that both act in a respectful manner but that does not go all the way toward collegiality. When the President and the correspondents are all together having a grand time, I'm wondering if serious news reporting and analysis got left at the door.

 

[Brown]

I'm troubled by the very concept of the WH Correspondents Dinner. It's too chummy. The press corps has a job to do that involves, in large part, being in an adversarial role to the Executive Branch. Both the WH and the press corps can be engaged in such a way that both act in a respectful manner but that does not go all the way toward collegiality. When the President and the correspondents are all together having a grand time, I'm wondering if serious news reporting and analysis got left at the door.

Steve Scully, president of the Association, was mindful of these concerns. He said:

[This Dinner] has received its fair share of criticism, and those who question whether reporters and their sources should dine together at a night like this.

Now, our job is to question policies and look at events with a skeptical eye. And I have to tell you, one dinner will not change that; so I hope for just a few hours, we can put aside our editorial, our political and our partisan differences....

So let tonight be an example of what is good about our democracy and our First Amendment. Let us be reminded that an adversary is not the same thing as an enemy, nor does an evening of civility mean we are selling out.

 

[SezMe]

Thanks, Brown. But I remain, uh, skeptical. Scully's position is that this one dinner is the sole colligial event. I don't believe it.

As I stated, civility is one thing, hard-nosed reporting is another. I'm not convinced the two are compatible.

BTW, I'm not ragging at you...I know you are the messenger, not the problem.

 

[TragicMonkey]

I'm troubled by the very concept of the WH Correspondents Dinner. It's too chummy. The press corps has a job to do that involves, in large part, being in an adversarial role to the Executive Branch.

Don't forget the whole Gay Prostitute Fake Reporter Gate.

I wonder exactly how chummy they can get?

 

[Mephisto]

I'm troubled by the very concept of the WH Correspondents Dinner. It's too chummy. The press corps has a job to do that involves, in large part, being in an adversarial role to the Executive Branch. Both the WH and the press corps can be engaged in such a way that both act in a respectful manner but that does not go all the way toward collegiality. When the President and the correspondents are all together having a grand time, I'm wondering if serious news reporting and analysis got left at the door.

I agree with you completely, SezMe - I see the correspondents dinner as a way of "paying off" political correspondents and would add that if they were military contractors (who are also supposed to remain unapproachable by government favors) this would be against the law.

This whole thing reeks of bribery as it's definitely difficult to be objective about someone's performance when you shared dinner, drinks and guffaws with them the night before.

 

[Brown]

The best thing about the dinner are the sideshows. A few years ago, it was Al Franken upstaging the Fox News guys. Then there are the perennial "You invited WHO??" controversies. This year, it was Sheryl Crow and Laurie David confronting Karl Rove.