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May 03, 2005
Laura Bush, Unplugged
If you haven't seen Laura Bush's speech at the annual White House Correspondents' Dinner, you can view the video here. Writes John Tierney:
Her timing had the audience howling, and the edgier lines had them gasping. Jokes about pent-up sexual frustration from a prim librarian? With her born-again husband sitting there and enjoying it? And cameras recording it for Republican preachers who are determined to get sex out of schools and off television?For the mainly Democratic audience - this was a crowd of Washington journalists and luminaries from Hollywood and Manhattan - it was an evening of cognitive dissonance. How to reconcile this charming image on stage with the Bush they love to bash?
Mrs. Bush's performance, and her husband's reaction, wasn't a shock to the reporters who cover the White House. For years they have tried to convince their friends outside Washington that Mr. Bush is actually not a close-minded dolt, and Mrs. Bush is no Stepford Wife or Church Lady. Yes, they're Texans who go to church and preach family values, but they're not yahoos or religious zealots.
Even NPR said Mrs. Bush's speech was "more than a breath of fresh air. It transformed the evening's proceedings, which suddenly suggested an entirely different metaphor. For a moment, it was possible once again to think of a Washington black tie function as fun. By extension it was possible to think of official Washington as a community with some species of shared interest."
UPDATE: More from Michelle Malkin here:
Just put it to the other-shoe test: If it were Teresa Heinz Kerry standing up on the dais telling the same jokes, the conservative commentariat would be buzzing for the rest of the year about what a tasteless skank she is."Lighten up?" How about cleaning up? The First Lady resorting to cheap horse masturbation jokes is not much better than Whoopi Goldberg trafficking in dumb puns on the Bush family name. Unlike many Beltway and Manhattan commentators, I do not think the Wonkette-ization of the White House is a good thing.
Posted by bill at May 3, 2005 09:17 AM
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