White House dinner a real joke

 

The baked chicken had thicker skin than the assembled guests at the White House Correspondents Dinner the other night. After the Comedian in Chief’s 20 minute long set, politicos and journalists lined up to say they had their feelings hurt and that the President’s comedy had crossed the line.

Did he go too far? No, and listening to wealthy, pasty-faced, over-fed politicians say they have had their egos bruised and feelings hurt by a joke does injustice to the millions of people who get their feelings truly hurt each week when they line up for food stamps or unemployment checks.

The White House Correspondents Dinner has essentially become a roast for and by people who really just aren’t funny. Everybody in that room loves to sling it but they really can’t take it when the barbs come their way. Congratulations to Jimmy Kimmel for trying to entertain a room full of people who have to look around to see if others are laughing before they join in.

Kimmel was good. He’s no Stephen Colbert, but he did have a great line near the end. “Some people say journalism is in decline, they say you've become too politicized, too focused on sensationalism, they say you no longer honor your duty to inform America but instead actively divide us so that your corporate overlord can rake in the profits,” Kimmel said. “I don't have a joke for this, it's just what some people say.”

If the purpose of the event is to honor the work of journalists like Marie Colvin and Remi Ochlik, who were killed in Syria recently, why hold a roast and include the likes of a Kardashian or a Lohan? It cheapens their memory.

The party planning committee for the Correspondents Dinner needs to decide what kind of an event it is going to be and settle on an identity. As for those ruffled politicos? With Congress having a nine percent approval rating, it seems the American people have decided that THEY are the real joke.