I would love to see it. I'm looking forward to your link.

I don't want to reach here, but there's something very neat about a guy who can take a joke, and laugh at himself a little. That goes for anybody.

Well, except me.

While I disagree with Bush on some social issues, I do find the guy genuinely likable. But I wouldnt care if he had the personality of Ford so long as he continued pressing national security better than anyone has proposed to do.

Partisan hacks will, of course, be absolutely outraged that Bush would make jokes about WMDs. They'll seethe with the hate that's come to define them, and insist that he is "mocking" and "insulting" them (or "mocking and insulting the American people"). Irrational hatred--hatred aimed at the wrong people for the wrong reasons--kind of twists people that way.

Fortunately, I think the most of people will recognize this for what it is: self-deprecating humor from a good and competent President who made the smartest call he could with the best information available, acting in the long-term strategic safety of the United States (and having done something that is the greatest humanitarian accomplishment of the last generation).

No amount of "he's either a liar or an incompetent" partisan spewage will change that, especially given that most people know perfectly well that Clinton, Gore, and Kerry all had the same information and all said we were doing the right thing before we went in.

This is a man I am going to be proud to vote for in November, and proud to work for the re-election of. Win or lose, I'll know I've backed the right man for America.

I thought it was funny!

P.S. switch to decaf, dude.

You can't not like someone who is so comfortable making fun of himself. Can anyone imagine Kerry doing such a thing? Or if he attempted it, seeming at all natural? W seems so comfortable in his own skin and with who and what he is.

Oh, imagine Ms. Frosty Stare poking fun at herself. Inconceivable.

I think Reagan was a good president because he also had a good sense of humor.

It was funny. The last one I really liked was the one Clinton did his last year. He made that video w/Tony Blair and others. That was classic.

I think that he might get some heat for the WMD jokes.

Because joking about the Administration's incompetence in potentially allowing Iraq's WMD to fall into the wrong hands thereby threatening American citizens is HILARIOUS...

Alex,
Chill.

I pissed myself.

I'm a stupid asshole. Don't mind me. My brains have been scrambled after I got skullfucked in the bighouse.

Anybody know if they are going to air it on C-SPAN sometime?

My favorite Radio & TV Correspondent's Dinner moment was when Don Imus gave his infamous "Speech From Hell." I still have it on tape, somewhere.

The joke, really, is on people like Alex and Vince, who never seem to realize that they ARE the punchlines.

Oy. Some people can't understand the joke. The search for WMDs has become such a punchline that even Bush has to joke about it a little bit.

--|PW|--

I was channel surfing and found the last few moments of it, followed by a panel discussion in which the members were supposed to grade the humor. A couple of sourpusses sounded like Alex and Vince here, 'D-, he SHOULDN'T be making jokes about WMD,' and 'F, That is the President's idea of humor?' I'm not a Clinton fan but he WAS funny at these events which I thought was supposed to be the point: a night off from politics! I'm half remembering a quote from Menken, I think, about 'a puritan is someone who is afraid somebody, somewhere is having a good time'. I'd rather be the somebody than the puritan everytime, so thanks for the chuckles, W.

We'll see how funny it is if terrorists use those things to kill American citizens. Will y'all still find the "joke" funny then? Bush is the Commander-in-chief, not the comedian-in-chief, and some topics ought to be handled with some dignity, especially in time of war.

The "Bush can do no wrong" crew is in my ass. The chickenhawks are turning me on. Oh, I pooped my pants.

I want to smell Bush's crack. I love to smell crack.

Hey Dean! Cheers on your blog! Ha ha ha ! Cheers, wait, that's not funny - you're a boozehound!

Wait, that is funny! Ha ha ha! My mommy is a boozehound too. I like to jerk off on pictures of my mommy. I love my mommy.

Vince, you are a complete and total ass, and apparently someone whose only pleasure comes from seeing others in pain.

*GAZE*

BTW, Rumsfeld just got grilled by a reporter about Bush's comments last night. Was it appropriate, etc.

I don't see the difference between mocking Dean or the hundreds of dead soldiers. You're comments can easily be made to Bush on behalf of a mother's dead son, some mutilated soldier or many of the other thousand injured. The fact that the 'Bush can do no wrong crew' are laughing with him speaks volumes. Jay Leno making a joke is one thing, but the head honcho? Gimme me a break. If you're a former Enron employee, how would you like it if Ken Lay publicly made jokes about cooked books, when you've lost your pension. You call him an asshole! Bush is an asshole, plain and simple, for making these 'jokes'. And so are the rest of the people who laughed with him.

Hey, I'm a (functional) alcoholic myself. Therefore, it's like Chris Rock making fun of black people.

Well, Vince. This is my post. So pick on me. You want to rip Dean and look like an ass - no problemo. But you will have to answer to me.

Bush is being smeared and slammed over the WMD thing constantly and everyone has conveniently forgotten that the last administration said exactly the same shit. He is making fun of himself.

Wait. It is funny.

"So I lied about WMDs to send thousands of Irakis, and 600 Americans to their early grave. And this is a picture of me pretending to look for the WMDs under my desk. Ha ha."

See. Hilarious.

I'm sure the widowers/widows/parents of killed soldiers/relatives of dead irakis will find the president's levity uproarious.

Everyone has their suspicions. Some sketchy intelligence but no hard evidence. Then comes this guy and his pals. Their belief in action is so strong that they proceed to do something about it. I don't recall the previous adminstration barking against those claims of WMD.
Lies, beliefs, suspicions, inklings. Nothing found despite all those years of inspections. If Gore was in and all else were the same, we would be in exactly the same place, just the other side of the accusations.
The difference is that this adminstration acted, thereby being the ones held accountable.

My defense against my lie being that you lied too is no defense at all. It doesn't change the fact that the unconfirmed and dubious intelligence was used to start a war.

Afghanistan was clear. It had a clear goal and clear reasons. To throw Iraq onto the back of the hunt for bin Laden was stretching it. They have their reasons. They're just not being forthright about it because it wouldn't stand.
The other reaons being touted were there as justification long before September 11, so that's not making the cut either.

Sometimes it doesn't matter what you say - it's what you do that makes the difference.
Personally, I don't think this adminstration cares one way or the other whether they ever find WMD - that's why they can actually joke about it. It wasn't ever the 'real' reason to get this war going in the first place. Wolfowitz has said has much.

In my world, you act on something because you have a reason. You don't reason on your actions.

Were you raised differently?

Aleand: Actually, the "Irakis" seem quite happy to be, you know, not under the thumb of a murderous psychopath. They don't give a fuck about the WMD issue (except for the Kurds and some of the Sunnis, perhaps, who were on the receiving end of them... but on the other hand, perhaps they might get the black humour of the weapons used against them not being found?).

None of the military people I've heard talk about Iraq, nor their families, seem to think it was "about WMDs".

I'm sure that neither the Iraqis nor the families of dead soldiers are particularly pleased that you think you can speak for them for political points, hmmm?

Given that "NO WMDS!! BUSH LIEZ N PPL DIEZ!!" has become such a chattering-point among the lunatic left, it is, in fact, funny for the man they're accusing of Leading The World To Horrible War And Killing Everyone He Can, For Oil (That Somehow He Isn't Stealing For The USA But We'll Ignore That)... can make fun of himself over the very intel failure they're harping about.

Or, in other words, "Lighten up, Francis".

Bush 'mocked hundreds of dead soldiers' only in your diseased imagination, Vince.

Or did you turn off your TV before the end of his speech? Hell, did you even watch it at all?

sigi:

(I'm from Argentina. In Spanish, it's Irak. As an aside, why the use of u-less q's in many arabic-origin english words instead of k? Iraqi, Burqa, etc.)

Listen, if W had come out saying that we were going to war to liberate Iraq (happy now?) from a ruthless dictator, and to foster democracy in the middle east, I might have had many more reservations opposing the war. (Those would have mainly been due to the fact that I consider him, and his team to be total hacks that would NOT have been able to do it right. Honestly, if they can't put up a proper coalition -like his dad did- you know their prospects are bleak. But that's my partisan self speaking.)

But he didn't. He came out pushing the war against terrorism. That was a non-issue when it came to Iraq. He pushed the terror rationale because it was the only one he thought would work both in the domestic and international fronts. WMDs were supposed to be part of that terrorist threat (combined with links to al-Qaeda -another incomprehensible u-less Q there- ). So it was a dishonest effort from the beggining.

And now he jokes about it?

I mean, even if I concede your point, war is not funny at all. What the heck you would feel if it's your kid who's there? And the Prez is joking about it?

Sorry man. Not funny. I think this is going to came back and bite him in the ass. As it should.

I like President Bush. I oppose some of what he's doing or advocating now, but I have like him, same as I liked President Clinton, in spite of everything. Bush is probably going to win because Bush is likable. It's a tautology, I know, but people tend to like somebody who's likable, and most people tend to vote for him. Bush is likable. Clinton was likable. Reagan was likable. Carter was totally incompetent as a President, and even worse as an ex-President, but he was likable. Ford was likable. From everything I've heard about him, Kerry isn't likable. I know _I'm_ not likable, but Kerry even less so. President Nixon wasn't likable in the way the other Presidents I named were, but he had _style_, as does Robert Dole. Kerry doesn't. Too bad. He hasn't given me any good reason why I should vote for him, so I don't know who I'm going to vote for for President in this election.

Wow, there are some serious asses out there with issues.
Ara, Mark, Tim, I apologize for being harsh in a previous post, at least your heat was political. Jackasses like Vince want to make it personal. That has nothing to do with his politics, and everything to do with the fact that he's lowlife scum.

Steve, I dunno that I'd use "Dole" and "style" in the same sentance.

I mean, the man had a lot of good qualities, but I'm not sure style is one of them... :)

And, as much as I hate to do so, I have to stand up for Carter, just a little bit. I mean, normally, I can't stand the man. He's a rabid anti-semite, and the socialist/thug dictator doesn't exist that Carter won't fawn over. But let's give the man his due.

Carter did, in fact, start increasing defense budgets before Reagan made it popular. And Carter did try to kill the B-1.

As Ara likes to say: I'm just saying... :)