Wanda Sykes’ Jokes About Rush Limbaugh Prompt Debate

Sykes set a new bar for the dinner, maybe previously set by Colbert.. she was bawdy and spread the wealth around to all parties.. it was nice to laugh.. and Rushbo is probably a deserving goat..

The mental gymnastics required, on Sykes and Obama’s part, to ignore Rush’s elaborations on this topic (mentioned by the Telegraph writer) demonstrate a strong desire to be able to wish Limbaugh dead.

Limbaugh is consistently nasty and mean-spirited-an expensive-cigar-smoking, drug-addict (recovering?) who spares nobody to the left of him in his comments. Let’s see if he can take it as well as hand it out.

The left always uses thuggish tactics against anyone that gets in there way. I commend Jake for reporting on this. The larger question is, why is the media not calling out President Obama’s thuggish tactics against the Chrysler bond holders?
In an extraordinarily candid open letter to Obama, hedge fund manager Cliff Asness defended his industry from the president’s “backwards and libelous” charges. “Managers have a fiduciary obligation to look after their clients’ money as best they can, not to support the President, nor to oppose him, nor otherwise advance their political views,” Asness wrote. He has oversight of some $20 billion at AQR Capital Management, LLC , which is not involved in the Chrysler case.
Asness minced no words: “The President’s attempted diktat takes money from bondholders and gives it to a labor union that delivers money and votes for him…Shaking down lenders for the benefit of political donors is recycled corruption and abuse of power.”

I think the comments about Rush were inappropriate but Rush can take care of himself. I was more concerned about Sykes comments about teachers sleeping with students. The Catholic Church has suffered a huge scandal about priests who were accused of sexual molestation, but now if it involves teachers its a joke? This sort of thing cheapens the country and the office of the Presidency, but then Obama and his lack of respect for the Constitution does the same thing so I guess they are comfortable together.

Wanda Sykes is hilarious and her jokes were really funny to me…but is that sort of talk appropriate for the President to publicly sit and laugh at like a classless, drunken fool in a comedy club? No.
The President is SUPPOSED to represent our highest standards, but instead he’s just another clown.

Wanda Sykes was a blast! Her jokes were funny and the right is making way too much of this. My advice to the right: If you can’t take the heat, get out of the kitchen! It’s ironic that the people who can dish it out the most can’t take it.

Should anyone be surprised that Obama’s WH Correspondent’s Dinner turned into an episode of Saturday Night Live?
He could have been presidential rather than childishly play to his base supporters. He needs to grow up.
Obama forgets there are 50 million of us that didn’t vote for him. To him we don’t exist.

Rush Limbaugh and Sean Hannity= worse then Taliban!

ooow please, so rush limbaugh has the right to attack obama, but no one can attack rush? that makes no sense, i take rush limbaugh’s comments that more seriously then a comedienne cracking a joke or two

Sykes then said, “Rush Limbaugh, I hope the country fails, I hope his kidneys fail, how about that? He needs a good waterboarding, that’s what he needs.”———-So, this is humor? What a classy group of people! Limbaugh was clear: he said he wanted Obama’s policies to fail because they are socialist. And Carpenter with her Palin tirade–who are these “comedians”? I guess I hang around with a better group of people since I never heard of them–not missing anything. Yessir, that’s a classy bunch at the White House.

I wonder what all those here who appear so offended thought about George W. Bush’s little skit at the Radio and TV Correspondent’s Dinner a few years ago. The one where he made a funny little movie of himself wandering around the White House, looking under couch cushions, etc. pretending to look for the non-existent Iraqi WMDs? What a laugh riot! I’m sure the thousands of dead and injured U.S. soldiers sent to war under false pretenses (not to mention Iraqis) though that little bit of political theater was just HILARIOUS!

Black humor-not funny, no finesse.

Very disappointed in Sykes–even more so in Obama’s finding it funny. Ironic how the left is all about freedom of speech as long as it is not critical of their guys or ideas. Rush was not out of line hoping the policies he disagrees with fail. She was out of line wishing Rush’s kidneys fail?! Obama was way out of line finding kidney failure funny.

Where were the press when Bush went to far?

Rush can handle this–he is way stronger than the thin skinned Obama.
Rush will turn this into a plus for him.
There are millions of us that also want Obama’s socialism to fail.
We love this country and don’t feel the need to apologize for it.

I was shocked by how cruel her jokes were. It’s one thing to disagree on political issues but to wish someone’s kidneys to fail or for them to die is beyond cruel. For Obama to laugh at this is just plain juvenile. It would be like me wishing she get’s ovarian cancer for telling such a “joke”.

At some point the president has to stand up and take charge. This is just another of a long list of examples that Obama just sits in the corner and giggles like a little school girl. Be a man for once Obama!

Wanda Sykes comments were HATE SPEACH, were they not? Then, to see Obama, our President LAUGHING, was terrible. I have a friend that has failed kidneys, it is no joke. Dialysis, transplants, great joke to wish on someone you disagree with.
This President and his supporters are a disgrace.

I don’t think any remarks wishing someone to die are funny, or comedic, or show any talent.
Rush is a bright guy and I am sure this will work to his benefit rather than his detriment, so he is not the point.
Hateful speech wrapped in grins and giggles is still hateful speech and says volumes about all of the media, the celebrities, and the Administration who did the grinning, giggling and guffawing.
Shame on all of you.

Sykes is giving a hate speech about an white radio personality – calling him a terrorist, traitor and wishing him dead AND the President is laughing, thinking it is funny?
I think the President owes Mr. Limbaugh and the citizens of the United States an apology.

No jokes about the tacky gifts given to PM Brown?
No jokes about Michelle Obama wearing $540 sneakers while handing out food to the needy?
No jokes about waterboarding Pelosi to get the truth out of her?
No jokes about Arne Duncan shutting funding to poor, minority children?
No jokes about Dems Sen Feinstein, Maxine Waters, and Barney Frank benefitting by directing TARP money to their fave banks?
No jokes about the Dems refusing to investigate ACORN for fraud and corruption while handing over billions in taxpayer dollars to them.
No jokes about President Obama handing over Chevrolet to a foreign car maker, Fiat, for nothing, so they can turn Chevrolet into golf cart company.
Epic Comedy Fail!

No jokes about the tacky gifts given to PM Brown?
No jokes about Michelle Obama wearing $540 sneakers while handing out food to the needy?
No jokes about waterboarding Pelosi to get the truth out of her?
No jokes about Arne Duncan shutting funding to poor, minority children?
No jokes about Dems Sen Feinstein, Maxine Waters, and Barney Frank benefitting by directing TARP money to their fave banks?
No jokes about the Dems refusing to investigate ACORN for fraud and corruption while handing over billions in taxpayer dollars to them.
No jokes about President Obama handing over Chevrolet to a foreign car maker, Fiat, for nothing, so they can turn Chevrolet into golf cart company.
Epic Comedy Fail!

Rush hopes this country fails. He is un-American and a drug addict.

Truth: “You all thought it was a hoot most likely when Bush did his video of looking for WMD in the office, the ones that didn’t exist and 4000+ soldiers died for, or patriotic when those who didn’t agree with the war got called “unpatriotic”
Unfortunately for you, that’s because all of the intel on those WMDs came from the previous “Administration”. Bush was just looking for the mess his predecessor left under the desk.
Mrs. Clinton confirmed that when she voted in favor of Bush’s war. She said it wasn’t Bush who told her about WMDs, it was her husband’s intel people.
Now, how about posting again for our amusement your totally fake picture of Bush holding the kids’ book upside down?

Sykes is a winner !!

Go ahead. Make this an issue.

Rush Limbaugh once joked that Chelsea Clinton was the White House dog.
Chelsea was 13 years old at the time.
And then there was the time he mocked Michael J. Fox’s parkinsons symptoms on the air.
Limbaugh has been taunting people from the safety of his studio for decades. And now the grenades are being lobbed back into his court. Deservedly so.
I was holding my sides from laughing during Obama’s pitch-perfect performance and during Wanda’s brutal takedown. The dinner was a fantastic success and all the outrage you’re hearing from Republicans is fake.
Republicans have become the party of victims now. Which is also hilarious.

It should have been a fun night for both sides.
It was until Sykes became cruel and hateful. This could have easily been prevented.
How are we ever going to get along when the president laughs at that crap?
So now waterboarding is funny, and even OK if used against someone who criticizes Obama.
This is the kind of stuff that turns people against him.

It’s amusing to see grown adults wetting their Depends over this.
Evidently, many are not familiar with the axiom: Wishing for something does not make it so.
If it did, all of you hyperventillating over Wanda Sykes’ jokes would right now be living in Afghanistan or the Congo where people have REAL PROBLEMS.
Get. Over. Yourselves.

Why is the media lending credence to this story? Or for that matter,Wanda Sykes?Had it not been reported, the story or,what was said would never have left that dinner hall. Who is Wanda Sykes anyway?

Wow… you mean it’s cruel when Wanda Sykes says this stuff about Rush, but when Rush pretty much spews this stuff on a daily basis about anyone that doesn’t agree with him, it is acceptable? I think some of you have let party lines even define your sense of humor.

Rush is acting like an entertainer.
Sykes is acting like a comic/wrong venue perhaps.
Obama needs to act like a president.
Not just an advocate of the left.

Wanda Sykes was brilliant and her jokes pitch perfect. Tacky jokes for a tacky rush and tacky tacky tacky palin.

Why is it okay for Rush to entertain and Wanda can’t?
Give.Me.A.Break.

Pres Obama laughed at every joke just like we should do if they contained an element of the jokular. Seems that with this Rush who is a bit of a joker, things were too close to the truth.

Obama and Sykes were GREAT!!!!!!!!
It only hurts when you realize that what Sykes said, were all on the mark.
Repubs did not have a sense of humor prior to the dinner, and they most certainly do not after the dinner.

Too bad she left Matt Drudge out–her comments were spot on. How dare ask that the country fail. Bush has been doling out socialism for his corporate cronies for years. And where was Limbaugh’s outrage at 6 full years of republican rule in the WH and Congress, yet not ONE spending bill was vetoed!

“When their President Bush put our military men and women’s lives on the line (thousands now dead in Iraq) we Americans didn’t see the humor in it.”
But now that your president Obama has Americans getting killed in both Iraq and Afghanistan, and he’s doubled the number of troops in Afghanistan, and civilians are being slaughtered by American assassinations-by-drone, you can yuk it up to beat the band. Have fun.

Why is there a double-standard? Where was the outrage over some of Limbaugh’s more extreme comments?
What is it about Sykes’ comments that you find disturbing? Is it because she’s female, black, or on the left?
Rush and the other ############ had it coming. Doesn’t feel so good to be on the receiving end, now, does it?

We are reading this on ABC, one of the news organizations that presented as fact the lies put out by the Bush administration in justification for this catastrophically wasteful war in Iraq.
That is something to be taken seriously.
Wanda Sykes remarks were flippant and sometimes very humorous.
Sykes took aim at everybody, including Barrack Obama, Barrack Obama’s wife, Joe Biden… as well as a raft of Republicans. President Obama laughed at all of it.
It is a well known fact that Republicans cannot take a well-aimed joke. They are miserable and humourless. The whining complaints in this page only prove my point.
LIGHTEN UP! Learn to laugh at a good harmless ribbing. Be serious about cynical lies perpetrated by politicians.
Duh!!!

ABC is probably the most honest and ethical news source on television, that’s why they take heat from both sides.

It was once said that a black man would be president “when pigs fly”…Indeed 100 days into Obama’s presidency…
Swine Flu.
Definition of Progressive/Liberal Joke: Cool to joke about someone getting kidney failure, being tortured, & dying but it’s never cool to joke about “race” because that could offend someone.

Limbaugh makes these kind of remarks about liberals, Democrats and anyone else he disagrees with, so I’d say he was fair game.
Good for Sykes.

“Poor guys working on the line…well, working on the line for now that is, until those jobs are shipped over to China or India….”
Being shipped over by Obama Motors, Inc., and no one else. How much of GM and Chrysler does Rush Limbaugh own? How much do the treasury and the UAW own?
I’m gonna continue to drive my foreign luxury gas-guzzlers and laugh out loud at you morons.
Get a sense of humor, folks–dead civilians in Afghanistan and 8.9% unemployment are a barrel full of laughs!

It’s comedy Jim.
- Bones

Any of you claiming that Rush Limbaugh or Sean Hannity have ever wished someone die of kidney failure (OTHER than Osama Bin Laden) are mistaken. Provide your proof
The left has to hate. That’s what the left does. Now that Bush is done, you’re still hating.
Didn’t you just win an election? You control the government and instead of telling us how wonderful things are, all you’re doing is hoping people with whom you disagree, die.
Class act, liberals, class act.

I’m just trying to remember if I was in a coma or something in 2006 – because, apparently, rush Limbaugh was detained in Costa Rica with Viagra that was prescribed in someone else’s name, and I never heard about it until JUST NOW.
Um…what’s that about the evil Liberal media out to destroy conservatism? If that were actually true, I certainly would have heard about Rush Limbaugh being detained in Costa Rica with Viagra that was prescribed in someone else’s name!

Im sad that this is what is reported as important…

RUSH said
“Rush Limbaugh said he hopes this administration fails,”
NOW THE NIT WITS are twisting words around. Only the sane ones really do hope Obama fails at destroying this country.

“The latest Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey found that 40% would vote for their district’s Republican candidate while 39% would choose the Democrat.”
I’m laughing louder and harder than anyone at that show last night.

Republicans ALL measly 20% of the country, haven’t a clue how ridiculous they look, by making a stink over a VERY FUNNY comedy routine. You will marginalize yourselves even MORE, because you are such BAD SPORTS.
Obama had hillarious lines too, the Boehner person of color….not a color found in nature, made me laugh til I cried.

“You [Republicans] will marginalize yourselves even MORE, because you are such BAD SPORTS.”
Why do you care? Isn’t that what you want?

“The country is SO thankful we have a SMART president with a rye sense of humor.”
——-
“It was also interesting to see that political interaction in Europe is not that different from the United States Senate. There’s a lot of — I don’t know what the term is in Austrian, wheeling and dealing.” –confusing German for “Austrian,” a language which does not exist, Strasbourg, France, April 6, 2009
Now that’s funny!

People out there are taking this way too literally. Come on it was just joking, get a sense of humor.
This was extremely toned down and light humor compared to what most comedians are spittin these days anyway, so you’d better get used to it. It’s the world we live in.
Rush Limbaugh deserves whatever’s said about him anyway. If the conservatives were smart they’d distance themselves as far from him as they can cause they’ll never win an election when people perceive him as a leader.

Turn the tables a bit. If Wanda had said that about Obama, would it still have been funny? And since when is torture, wishing someone dead, accusing someone of being a traitor and a terrorist, funny, regardless of who is being talked about, just because you disagree with their political views? It’s not funny, it’s sick. It’s vengeful and slander. I would like to see her sued. I have no respect for the woman. Recall the humor of Bob Hope. He was funny without personal attacks.

Rush can put it out, but can he take it?

She should have kept the humor a little more impersonal. Simple jokes like Tim Geinther, ha ha, Joe Biden, ha ha ha, Nancy Pelosi, ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha get me every time. Oh that Nancy Pelosi one is a real belly laugh.

Here’s how a Brit who was there reported it in the UK Telegraph:
“Although the Left is reporting her White House Correspondents’ Dinner speech as ‘taking shots’ at Limbaugh and mocking everyone, that’s a gross misrepresentation of what turned into a hateful and disgusting diatribe.”
The problem is, if you’re ill-bred trash, you have no antennae that tell you what kinds of shots are funny and mocking, but not in grotesque bad taste. This poor woman never had parents who could teach her the difference, and neither did Barack Obama.

“You dismissed the notion that when his policies would fail, America would fail as well.”
I continue to dismiss it, and indeed I dismiss it out of hand. When his policies fail, we will have private ownership and control of our automobile companies, our insurance companies and our banks, and those of them that cannot succeed in a competitive marketplace will be liquidated and replaced by competitors who can do the job successfully. The government cannot do so, and it will not do so. So his policies will certainly fail, and we will all be better off for it. And America will succeed.

Shame on her, her mama should wash her mouth out with soap.

The joke about Gov. Palin says more about the people that thought it was funny, then it does about Mrs. Palin. Intgrity vs. lack thereof.

“Rush Limbaugh deserves whatever’s said about him anyway. If the conservatives were smart they’d distance themselves as far from him as they can cause they’ll never win an election when people perceive him as a leader.”
LOL. I’m always amused when the opposition gives the GOP advice for regaining control of their party. That’s like Al Qaeda providing tactical guidance to the US military to defeat terrorism planned by…Al Qaeda. Nonsensical, but that’s liberalism for you.
Rush’s audience has grown dramatically in the past year, and will continue to do so, as more and more Americans wake up to the fact that this administration is damaging our republic, eroding our personal liberties, and putting our national security at risk.

I watched the clips … she was funny. It’s always more telling about the individual who can’t take being ribbed than about the individual doing the ribbing.
I was listening to Lardball in 1992 when he was telling the audience, “You don’t have to the thinking, I’ve done it for you.” Hence, the nickname “dittoheads.” Unfortunately for him, since then he has begun believing his own memos.
Memo to dittoheads: Get over yourselves! You lost the election! A majority of voters are not you! They want the President to succeed!
mp

Apparently they can dish it out but can’t take it, the lowest form of human being.
And that joke about Palin? Freakin hilarious!

“Please let us know, people. Do you want Mr. Obama to succeed, or to fail, in killing civilians in Pakistan? Which it it?”
We’re not going to let you frame the question any way you want of course. We want Obama to continue to successfully attack militant leaders in Pakistan while also succeeding in NOT killing civilians. Even Cheney said today that the militants are probably faking the number of civilian casualties and even killing the civilians themselves, the intent being obviously to thwart our efforts to keep up pressure on them. So do you want us to succeed or fail in attacking militants in Pakistan? Which is it?

Quit whining, Republicans.

It is written somewhere that when you wish something on someone it will come back on you.
Posted by: Linda
=======================================
Like “I hope he fails”?

Sykes’s comments may have been in bad taste, but so is MOCKING PEOPLE WHO HAVE PARKINSON’S DISEASE which is what Rush has done. Plus, he’s not a comedian, or is he?
He has no standing to complain.

Only the British have the guts to call out Obama’s hatred:
She then concluded: “Rush Limbaugh, I hope the country fails, I hope his kidneys fail, how about that? He needs a good waterboarding, that’s what he needs.” Obama seemed to think this bit was pretty hilarious, grinning and chuckling and turning to share the “joke” with the person sitting on his right.
There’s not much room for differing interpretations of what Sykes said. She called Limbaugh a terrorist and a traitor, suggested that he be tortured and wished him dead.
What was his crime? Hoping that Obama’s policies – which he views as socialist – will fail.
That’s way, way beyond reasoned debate or comedy and Obama’s reaction to it was astonishing.
Imagine if a comedian “joked” that Obama was a terrorist who was guilty of treason and should be tortured and allowed to die. There would justifiably be an outcry.
But when the “joke” comes from a liberal, Obama-supporting comedienne and the target is a right-winger then the likes of Hilary Rosen and Donna Brazile are on CNN saying it’s just comedy and Limbaugh is “fair game”.
And Obama laughing when someone wishes Limbaugh dead? Hard to take from the man who promised a new era of civility and elevated debate in Washington.

With all the hatred and lies spewing from the right, a little honesty from the left is late in coming.

Wanda Sykes was funny as heck. I cracked my side laughing at her comments about Rush and the others. She was too funny.

I guess WHCD jokes are only funny when it was President Bush yukking it up about not being able to find any WMDs in Iraq.
But making fun of a sensitive soul like Rush Limbaugh? Oh, heaven forfend! I’m clutching my pearls and fainting like a good Republican just thinking about it.
And, of course, so is GOP lapdog Jake Tapper.

I seem to remember a president of the united states making a joke out of not being able to find WMDs. Talk about inappropriate as our service men died on this lie.

No class, and the sad thing is you like it that way.

I agree with Klein. Limbaugh is very inapparopriate and he deserves a harsh joke like that one.

Wishing “socialism” to fail is political statement..Wishing someones death is a sick statement derived from a sick mind..

Just from reading the anti-Rush posting its obvious that 99% of you don’t even listen to the guy – but at least you know how to watch msnbc and listen – well – make that “listenED” to Radio America. I Too hope most of Obamas policies fail. If you don’t – then you don’t care much about your children or their childrens America – we can’t borrow anymore from China, taxation will drive out jobs and at one time – any 3rd grader knew that printing money only brings inflation – so PRAY GOD his policies don’t get the green light – or we’ll all be afraid of kids telling on parents.
Wanda who?
Liberals need to grow up and know how to have a debate without throwing a tantrum, insults or evading the issues.
Rush isn’t “Rush” – he speaks for a whole lot more on a daily basis than any single “citizen” in the world – I don’t listen to him because he tells me what to think – I listen to him because he says what I’m already convicted to.

ha ha, what a bunch of squares. i mean really, who goes to the sunday shows for comedy reviews? they are humorless without fail.

drip err drp..Freedom of Speech or Freedom of Expression..DEAL WITH IT!!

Jokes said behind a podium with the President’s seal on it should be a little more tasteful.
Posted by: wheres_reason
======================================
You think Laura Bush telling the same audience at the same dinner that GWB tried to milk the horse (a male horse) was tasteful?
Or that she watched Desperate Housewifes while Mr. Exitement was sound asleep, “If those women think they’re desperate, they ought to be with George.”

This reporter used someone from the Washington Times as a source? Seriously!?
You’re in the bag for the far right. Just like Limbaugh.
If Rush can’t take what he dishes out, well – that’s the very definition of a punk.

Amanda Gruber, who works for the Moonie times, thinks Wanda Sykes is inappropriate? Wow, that’s a surprise.

Really, this all boils down to the Republicans whining. And Rusty Limbaugh whines the most because he knows he will get paid for all of you sheep that listen to him. How sad is this? I hate the way Limbaugh twists everything into a knot that he can exploit. He will have more than most of us to answer for when he dies and crosses over. He will be forced to face the actual truth and his role in the darkness that has come on this world. You know, the worst crime, the worst sin, is lying to yourself so you can be successful or keep your prejudices, or have the winning side in any given argument. There is still time for us all to reach for truth undistorted by political philosophy. Sykes would not have said those things if Rusty hadn’t created the persona he has created. He is responsible for so much darkness and racism. He is responsible for people, like the guy who listens to Rush because he has his “convicts”, being able to avoid asking the hard questions. He will indeed pay, perhaps not in this world, but certainly in the next.

“Rush doesn’t give a crap about the rest of us. He already has his $400M.”
If you’ve got hundreds of millions of dollars you wouldn’t be as concerned if the country does fail would you?

My father died from kidney failure. Didn’t stop me from laughing at Syke’s joke. Because it was a joke. Flippant. Off handed. Sarcastic. It wasn’t a wish or a curse. It was comedy.
Get over it. Non issue.

“LOL. I’m always amused when the opposition gives the GOP advice for regaining control of their party. That’s like Al Qaeda providing tactical guidance to the US military to defeat terrorism planned by…Al Qaeda.”
or like a US Senator disclosing the existence of a US air base inside of Pakistan.

Who cares about Rush Limbaugh. Wanda Sykes was funny. It was a joke.

Conservatives sure have come a long way from sending the Dixie Chicks death threats.

Well, lefties, how would you respond if Sykes called for Obama’s kidneys to fail and for him to be waterboarded?
Probably outrage and anger….but of course, you are hypocritical so its okay to call for the death and torture of Rush, but not Obama.
Sick, sick twisted hateful minds

I thought it was funny, and receive dialysis 3 times a week due to my own painkiller addiction! Hey, Rush dishes it, he should be man enough to take it. I couldn’t find it in me to defend someone like Rush. Wanda was a riot and I got a great laugh from her jokes. Go Wanda.

“If you’ve got hundreds of millions of dollars you wouldn’t be as concerned if the country does fail would you?”
ask George Soros

VaPatriot said:
“Sykes used Rush to give her career a boost. Pitiful.”
__
-1
Dude, if your are working the White House Correspondents dinner, your career doesn’t need a boost.

“Well, lefties, how would you respond if Sykes called for Obama’s kidneys to fail and for him to be waterboarded? ”
Has Obama been engaged in hardcore Oxycontin and liquor abuse which would make his kidneys weak? Has Obama been dismissing torture as “frat pranks”?
No? Then those jokes wouldn’t make any sense.
Man, why do conservatives suck so much at humor? Is it because they’re the real joke?

“Well, lefties, how would you respond if Sykes called for Obama’s kidneys to fail and for him to be waterboarded? ”
Has Obama been engaged in hardcore Oxycontin and liquor abuse which would make his kidneys weak? Has Obama been dismissing torture as “frat pranks”?
No? Then those jokes wouldn’t make any sense.
Man, why do conservatives suck so much at humor? Is it because they’re the real joke?
Posted by: WR | May 11, 2009 12:01:19 AM
Why, yes, Obama admitted to serious binge drinking, cocaine use and marijuana use.
And how about calling for Rush to be waterboarded?
How would you respond if Rush said on Friday that Obama should be waterboarded and laughed?
Would you accept Rush saying “it was a joke?
Of course not, becasue you are hypocritical and hate filled for anyone who opposes the new American Dictator

If Obama was anything as awful as Rush and Sean, and Wanda told the same joke and replaced those two with Obama, I would still laugh. Too funny….she was awesome.

“Funny how Sykes makes a joke about drug use with an admitted coke head sitting just two seats to her right.”
It’s just not prohibitive anymore to experiment with drugs and still get into the White House. Look at W. He allegedly tried cocaine too and certainly wasn’t above getting half shot in the can and driving his car into a hedge.

“Wanda wanted Rush’s kidneys to fail, she didn’t say anything about wishing him dead, now did she?”
Agreed. This is the exact kind of reasoning Rush would use to defend his disgusting insults. You misunderstood. I never claimed I wanted him to die, etc. I find it odd that when it goes the other way, Jake Tapper is so eager to reprint falsities about Sykes. As for waterboarding…I’d love to see anyone who supports Limbaugh complain about that, since he’s compared the practice to luxury resort experiences. Turnabout is fair play; I see an inordinate amount of defense of Limbaugh’s statements, taking him at his word that he meant one thing when he obviously meant to imply another. Fair is fair.

Yeah BABY, that extra $13 a paycheck is really going to come in handy; of course, in January of 2010 it drops to $8 a paycheck…PLEEZE GET REAL…

Pat Buchanan, the Washington Times and the London Telegraph? I think you’re trying to drum up Sunday site hits.

“Look at W. He allegedly tried cocaine too and certainly wasn’t above getting half shot in the can and driving his car into a hedge.”
It didn’t take long for Bush’s name to appear, did it? Bush drove his car into a hedge, did he? What did Ted Kennedy do with his car and Mary Jo Kopechne? I forgot.

And, do you remember Colbert at the same dinner 2 years ago – he took Bush and his adminstration to the cleaners in front of all the Bushies.
You neocons have proven one point previously mentioned – “You can dish it out, but you sure can’t take it!”
Posted by: sandy | May 11, 2009 12:08:30 AM
DThat’s the whole point sandy – the WHCD is done to roast the PRESIDENT. Just like Bush got hammered by Colbert.
Yet, because of the cult of Obama, OBama got a pass, and instead ole Wanda called for Rush’s torture and death.
Nice work lefties, so this is post partisanship new era?
Sickening that so many folks on here would defend Sykes’s call for Rush’s torture and death. You people reaally need to think before you post.

I think the Rush comments were fine in this context – no one can credibly say a comedian at this well-known event was putting forth a credibly accusation of treason that a reasonable person would believe.
But the crack about Palin was mean spirited and not appropriate.

Just like Bush got hammered by Colbert.
Posted by: the Truth
========================================
On the contrary! Stephen Colbert praised and extolled the virtues of the President endlessly.

How can someone be too mean to Rush? It doesn’t compute. He is the maestro of mean. He loves controversy, gets him lots of viewers. So why is anyone getting excited about others returning fire? Silly!
Posted by: Ed Fladung | May 11, 2009 12:21:58 AM
Callign for an American citizen’s torture and death, in front of a visibly laughing PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES, is not “mean”. It is evil.

Here is some Stephen Colbert at that WHCD-routine in 2006.
“Madame First Lady, Mr. President, my name is Stephen Colbert and tonight it’s my privilege to celebrate this president. We’re not so different, he and I. We get it. We’re not brainiacs on the nerd patrol. We’re not members of the factinista. We go straight from the gut, right sir? That’s where the truth lies, right down here in the gut. Do you know you have more nerve endings in your gut than you have in your head? You can look it up. I know some of you are going to say “I did look it up, and that’s not true.” That’s ’cause you looked it up in a book.”

Satire is meant to skewer. To want Obama’s policies to fail is to wish death and disease and homelessness on those who will fall through the cracks, so given Rush’s hypocrisy about drug abuse–advocating prison for small-time offenders but pleading out of felony charges–using the fatal consequences of drug abuse, such as kidney failure, is how grownups do satire. If you want to sit at the kiddie table, watch network TV. You want the one night a year when the powerful get together to do some truth-telling through humor? Wanda slammed it outta the park.
Not to mention, since Wanda Sykes was accusing Rush of treason, which is a capital crime, using death as a central trope of the joke is as appropriate as saying you want a murderer to fry.

Limbaugh deserves everything he gets back from the hate he spews daily. It will be interesting to see what happens when he and Cheeney, along with Hannity, Beck and YOU go to work for Chavez in Venezuela….

Aaron…YOU WIN!!!! I was wondering who the first one would be to bring out the race card thing in a lame attempt to defend Pesident Obama…go back to the 60′s…

Waaaaaiiiit on…
That hideous witch Ann Coulter spews constant filthy hate speech about muslims, liberals, and anyone else who happens to be the target of her rage. She has repeatedly called for many people on the left to be killed and tortured, both as groups and targetting out individuals. Whenever anyone on the left calls her out on her disgusting bile, we’re told, “Oh, she’s just an entertainer, not a news reporter. She’s an opinion columnist, not a journalist. You shouldn’t take her jokes seriously…”
Nevertheless, she is treated as a serious news source by thousands of right-wing idiots, and the mainstream media has used many of her hateful lies as serious talking points.
Here we have a genuine comedian making some genuine jokes, and she’s being criticised for going too far?
The American right-wing is a pack of whinging hypocrites. You love to sling the filthiest mud you can dig (or make) up, but if even a fleck of it splashes back it’s straight into shrill faux outrage mode.
Basically, you can all shut the hell up. You’ve had your eight years of Fox News and the RNC setting the agenda, you’ve completely lost touch with real Americans, and you are paying the politic price for your outrageous arrogance.
Get used to this stuff, because you’re facing a minimum of seven more years of it.

It is his socialistic POLICIES that need to fail, Limbaugh has always been clear about that while the media and other socialsts change the truth to suit their positions.
Why does the truth always get distorted – I have to admit that I voted or Obomba because I thought he had character – and now I regret it. After seeing what he has destroyed in 100 days, I blame myself for swallowing the hope line.
Anyway, back to the point, that’s just how my fellow Dems deal with anyone they disagree with – Lies. Pelolsi – Richardosn – Frank – Daschel – Feinstein – Watters – The list of opportunities for humor were somehow overlooked.
Term Limits

More feigned outrage from crybaby conservatives.

Seven more years…Ummmm probably not when Mr Obama’s policies begin to bare fruit…Vote Independent

Oh, yeah, my heart bleeds for a guy who mocked Michael J Fox’s Parkinson’s disease. Poor, poor pitiful Rush. Ah, the delicate sensibilities of the guy who said Chelsea Clinton was so ugly because Janet Reno was her father. Yeah, riiiiight.

Bush Limbaugh did initially say simply and unequivocally that he wanted Obama’s administration to fail. You can try to pretty that up by rationalizing post-facto that he only means socialist policies, but we all know Rush meant this even if Obama’s policies are merely typical Democratic policies.

It is distasteful reading some comments here. Are we now saying that Waterboarding is okay except when Americans are being water-boarded. Torture is torture and should always be condemned. As for Wanda Syke’s jokes, if he cant take it, then he shouldn’t dish it. In any other country, Rush Limbaugh would have been in prison. How can you say you want the President of your country to fail? Lets face it, it is only cover-up when people say, he meant Obama’s policies. They are only trying to make it seem lighter. Obama is doing very well. I dont agree with all his policies but I will never wish the President of my country any failure. If he fails, America fails.

“Can’t tolerate water boarding..just too horrible…Gitmo cruel and unusual punishment…..wire tapping just too rude…on and on and on”
You guys support all this stuff because you don’t have the guts to uphold our principles.

You mention in your first sentence that there was “chatter in the blogosphere and on cable TV”. However, you neglected to include a few of the many comments from the “blogosphere” that saw Sykes’ comments as nothing more than a comedy routine. There are thousands of people out there who have said that this will be blown out of proportion and treated as another “Dijon” shiny object distraction. Did you not see any comments on Twitter, or did you not think they were relevant? Also, I think you owe someone a hat tip. You know who.

Calling for the torture and death of an American citizen is unprecedented at any event with the PRESIDENT present.
Posted by: the Truth
=========================================
Only the President himself can call for the torture and death of an American citizen?

Why are liberal democrats soooo afraid of conservatives that they have to resort to this level of name calling? This is the party that WON the election! Maybe it’s because conservative ideas are realistically possible. You can’t spend your way to prosperity and everyone can’t be on welfare. That’s a sobering concept to the Obama Koolaid drinkers….. Remember Mr. Obama, 60,000,000 Americans voted AGAINST YOU!

@ Parallax View:
Wishing someone dead an act of a sick mind?
Like, say, the people at Sarah Palin’s rallies who called for Obama’s death? Or the millions of conservative forum trolls who every day tell us “America-hating liberals” to die? Seems to me they were a bit more sincere and enthusiastic than Sykes was. Does that qualify as being sick?
Speaking of sick, what about those in Texas, presumably Palin’s “real Americans”, who screamed secession as soon as a democratic election resulted in a president and policies they didn’t like? Curious how they suddenly liked the government again when the flu hit and they needed help from the CDC…
Still, I betcha they’ll be trying to outlaw evolution in schools once again as soon as they forget that modern (i.e. evolution-based) biological research is the reason most of them are still alive, if they ever even noticed in the first place.
Think I’m a sick person for saying that? Almost was. I live in Texas after all.

Someone needs to explain to me why it is offensively over the top to JOKE that wishing the administration to fail puts you in league with terrorists who want to kill Americans, when for over seven years, it wasn’t considered offensively over the top to say the same thing in all seriousness.
Sykes’ joke wasn’t particularly funny, but what’s funny is listening to right wingers who don’t even get that she was just saying the same thing they said for YEARS – and now they’re all offended? They need to look in a mirror.

“It’s truely the Party of No. They have no idea how to govern…”
They’re the party of no government. Why would they need any idea of how to govern?

theTruth is right.. calling for the death and torture of an American citizen is unwarranted. Except that it was only Rush and he wants America to fail.
Posted by: doug
===========================================
Obama only needs to declare him an “enemy combatant” and it’s done.
Obama’s case is even stronger. Bush needed torture to get “confessions”. Obama already has the audiotape of Rush wanting to bring Obama down and hurt America.

I thought everything she said was hilarious and what’s more, needed to be said. I’d love to see her do some political humor every week.
Obama was funny. People get uncomfortable with zingers when they’re too close to the truth. Tough.

Republicans as a political party…..
“Bask in the entertainment
of a dying breed of ignorance”

You may be right, if BO and his left-wing friends get their way we may have Cuban style elections. One party, one candidate…..its a sure winner.
Don’t count the R party out yet. So far Clinton and Carter have been great “interim” presidents until the next conservative steps up. I will just guard my money and wait.

Who cares about Rush Limbaugh? Republicans always throw a raging hissy fit when people laugh at him. Poor babies.

Because Bush would never use the media to mislead our enemies right?
Think 1st Iraq war. That was awesome …. and we are going to take out troops here and here on this map and ….. BAM hit them somewhere else completely.
I guess the liberal media can be useful… hmmm I guess I shouldn’t be too harsh.

Posted by: Mrs.Plasticman
Think 1st Iraq war
that 1st Iraq war, the one that Cheney said around 1994, the reason they didn’t go all the way to Baghdad was that the cost would be too high in lives, cost too much and the chance of winning was small…..
but of course his opinion changed and all the dire events he imagined came true…..
‘After you take down Saddam Hussain’s government, he asks, “then what are you gonna put in its place? That’s a very volatile part of the world, and if you take down the central government in Iraq, you can easily end up seeing pieces of Iraq fly off… it’s a quagmire … if you try to take over Iraq… How many additional American causalities was Saddam worth? Our judgment was not very many, and I think we got it right.”
Today Vice President Cheney is viewed as one of the chief architects of the war and its chief apologist.

And further more,
Jake, you have a record of not being supportive of the president dating back to the campaign trail and neither is Toby of the London Telegraph. Wasn’t it Toby who got upset when Obama didn’t attend a DC journalist function several months ago and did his spot on Leno instead? Yeah, I remember that.

Poor rightwingnuts. So much to complain about. So little time.

meanwhile pakistan is collapsing as the beltway ponders this weighty question

In America, we have a Democracy and Constitutional First Amendment freedoms for which many brave people, including African Americans, fought, sacrificed and died. Any insidious ingrate that is too fragile for our cherished First Amendment freedoms should not be in Wanda Sykes’ country.
Rush Limbaugh is a vulgar, insidious, shrill college drop-out who caters to like-minded individuals who are uneducated and uninformed who cannot discern between entertainment and information. (I saw him on C-SPAN – Ugh!) Rush makes millions HATE mongering, FEAR mongering and WAR mongering (even though he avoided the Vietnam War) and politicizing taxes, which we pay for a civilized society. Rush and civility are not synonymous. Rush is an insult to all who sacrificed so much for our freedoms. You go girl!

The audience responses to some of Sykes’ jokes (groans) was quite appropriate in all the circumstances.

Sykes didn’t imply that Limbaugh be tortured, WATERBOARDING IS NOT TORTURE!
Come on wingnuts, get your talking points straight!
Pathetic!

satire, people, satire.
All students in the USA (I am one of them, well not a student anymore, but a us citizen) should read the following essay:
A modest proposal…it’s satire 101.

Hopefully it was already mentioned, but wasn’t it Bush who made fun of the search for his imaginary WMD at this same dinner and all the hens clucked with laughter.
To quote another famous “entertainer”
“Comedy is not pretty.”

Can someone PLEASE explain to the dittoheads what socialism means? Their misuse of the term is really getting old…

If the WH Correspondents didn’t think Sykes was funny, then don’t invite her back. As for taking umbrage at what she said, too bad. Maybe it’s time for another reality check from Stephen Colbert for the “we’re the White House correspondents” lobby. I’m amazed that Sykes didn’t do a suck up routine on all of you since that’s all you do in your jobs.

I thought those type of “jokes” were targeted for people who were actually there-sitting in the audience? Sykes was just ranting, disguising it as a joke.
I doubt that any of her subjects will miss any sleep over it.

Rush Limnbaugh never said that the wants The President to fail. He said he wants sociailism to fail. He gave an interview with Sean Hannity – check it out on U Tube – it is a matter of record.
This is all the same publicity/propaganda from the left that smeared the Bush administration and continue to smear it. It is the elite on the left taking Rush’s comment and bending it so achieve their objective: paint Rush as a mean guy who hates America.
And, because Rush is the de facto leader of the Republican party then all Republicans are mean guys that hate America.
It is not enough that the Republicans produce the likes of George Bush and we all know “his administration was tantamont to the Evil Empire” because, as we are seeing in the Republicans today “they are all mean guys and hate America.” (Rush is the leader of the Republicans and he said so)
By the time the rank and file get this message they get all emotional and ready to burn down the mission. They hate Republicans, they hate Rush, they hate anything that smacks of conservatives and they hate them through and through to the point that it is not enough for them to go away, “they want them dead, they want their families dead, they want their house burned down.” (Al Capone – “The Untouchables”)
Yesterday on “This Week” I heard Sam Donaldson chastise Rush for this comment. I like Sam Donaldson; I think he was a good White House correspondent and was sorry to see him get put out to pasture. He is a smart guy and, though I disagree with him, I am glad to hear his side of the story. He went on a rant about how Rush said he wants the President to fail and this is a moral issue, and so on for several minutes. Rush never said that and, I believe Donaldson – and the rest of the elite on the left – are taking this to task every chance they get and probably will for as long as they can get mileage out of it.
They are not trying to “make a point” they are trying to “fuel the faithful.”
If you think about it the only different between “Rush” (mean guy that hates America) and “Bush” (aka Evil Empire) is one silly little consonant.
The bad news is that this advertising plan has been working for the last 5 years. It is working today – listen to some of the posters on this site alone – they hate Bush, they hate Rush, they hate anything that is Republican-like and when you ask them why they get angry and stomp off.

I watched the recording of her routine. I had no problems with it… she hit nearly everyone, starting with the sitting president and vice-president. I had no issues with it.
I am curious, tho. Why the almost frenetic focus on what she said about a mere radio show host?

Rush didn’t WISHED the country to fail. Just the anointed ones policy to fail.
Wanda WISHED Rushs kidneys would fail.

It is the height of complete, brazen (even stinking) hypocracy, to even *ponder* if this was “over the line,” when everyone was ready to “consider” the bald-faced and near-treasonous inflammatory lies spread by the McCain/Palin campaign about Obama.
This is disgusting. It’s “ok” for Limbaugh to openly wish for the failure of the PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES, let alone all his other hate speech, and Wanda Sykes went “too far” ? No way. If anyone can’t take it, then I challenge you to get on the air with Limbaugh and dare ask him to be more considerate of those he so readily misrepresents and even shamelessly lies about as fodder for his juvenile rants.

Wow, I thought conservatives loved harsh political humor and thought “it’s all in good fun!” I can’t count the number of times I’ve heard that response when their caustic emails have hit my inbox.
Can’t take it, don’t dish it out, guys.

Limbaugh says far worse about people every day. He has made himself fair game for that type of abuse.
In particular he has supported the use of waterboarding against enemies of the state while hoping for the state to fail. That type of hypocrisy is exactly what a comedian is there to point out.
Pity that Jake is such a GOP hack that he can’t see this. Nobody uses the Moonie Washington Times for a support quote unless they are a Republican partisan.

Here is a perfect comment from the rank and file :PIt’s nice to read comments from the Bu$h/Cheney holdover dead-enders group here. ”
Fact is, Obama won by 2 mm votes. This is far from a landslide and even though it is unlikely that breaking the lip lock you have on the left talking points it is even better that the delusion reaches out to the pure numbers. The Republicans are far from dead – they are just regrouping.
But, go ahead, Einstein – count ‘em out. It makes the come back that much more sweet.

Seriously, you Obama supporters can’t be this dense. You have to know that when Rush said he wants Obama to fail he meant his policies; out of control spending, abortions, defense cuts etc. Also this “comedy” seems to slam all conservatives who have the same opinions as Rush. Obama can’t come out and say he wishes everyone who disagrees with him would die, but it certainly sounds like this womans vile routine was aimed not just at Rush, but all conservatives. In other words – you want Obama to fail we want you gone.

Liberal blanket statements without any evidence or proof.
“Rush always says…”
Every liberal I know hates Rush, yet they never once listened to him. They are told what to think and do a great job of toeing that line.

GOP get owned again! What losers!

Let the whining begin from the right, how dare anyone ever call them on their b.s.

Give me a break, Jake Tapper! And please stop wasting our time with inane articles.
There is no way that Wanda Sykes could top the hatefulness that Rush spits out continually. Rush got what he deserved.

I’m sure this issue is something that Americans everywhere are very concerned about, particularly during these challenging economic times. We must move beyond our petty differences and come together as a nation to protect Rush Limbaugh’s delicate ego from the rapier wit of Wanda Sykes.

Wanda who??? Never heard of her, never seen her. Ever.
Having said that, I bet she is black.
I too wonder if she came from Harlem and thinks Palin would make a great running mate to Obama and do a great job as veep, just like the rest of Harlem that voted for Obama.

I think an important distinction is getting lost here. Democrats are sneering that Republicans need to remember they lost the election, stop whining about Rush being picked on, learning to take what supposedly has been dished out in the past. However, you miss the point that there was a line crossed by Ms. Sykes in terms of taste.
I have no problem with banter at the Correspondence Dinner that takes potshots at the out party as well as the in party. The president, actually, showed how that could be done. He also made a crack about Rush Limbaugh and the Republican Party, which was quite funny — No, Michael Steele, the Republican Party does not qualify for a bail-out. And Rush Limbaugh does not qualify as a toxic asset. That was funny even if you disagree with the premise of the joke– that the republican party is in trouble and that rush limbaugh is detrimental to the party.
Instead, Wanda made a political speech,not a joke. Then she threw in a crack, as I have seen numerous posters around here do regularly for months now, about Rush’s former prescription drug addiction. That is an ad hominem attack, and should be out of bounds. Would anyone there think it appropriate to mention the president’s own admitted former experimentation with illegal drugs as a source of humor? I don’t think so.
Sykes apparently thought it was okay to joke about 9/11 and about torture, so long as her jokes were aimed at an unpopular Republican. I was disappointed. One does not have to be a Dittohead or a right wing nutbar or even a Republican to think that even Rush Limbaugh deserved better.

You guys know these were jokes right? She doesn’t really want him to die.

Limbaugh on health care legislation: “Before it’s all over, it’ll be called the Ted Kennedy memorial health care bill”
Pat Buchanan is an idiot.

Rush Limbaugh’s problems with drugs go beyond the one incident with pain killers.
When he was arrested for illegal Viagra on a return flight from the sex-tourism capital of the western hemisphere…. nobody asked, “What’s Rush Limbaugh doing in the Dominican Republic, where people travel to visit underage prostitutes, with a bottle of viagra?”
Instead, he criticizes “immorality” and insinuates immorality in everyone else. What’s the big deal for him to take a little bit of what he dishes out daily?

“Rush Limbaugh said he hopes this administration fails,” Sykes said. “So you’re saying, ‘I hope America fails’, you’re, like, ‘I don’t care about people losing their homes, their jobs, our soldiers in Iraq’. He just wants the country to fail.”
In this paragraph, Sykes engages in torture. She tortures logic until it is defeated.
Obama and Bush do share something in common. Bush was self-depecrating at those events and Obama was insulting of Bush.
Barack Obama has no class.

The way Obama cuts our defense budget, cuddles up to our enemies, and constantly criticizes our country
looks like Obama wants America to fail.

So now waterboarding is pretty funny to BO and his hypocrite Hollywood friends…

Well, let’s see; Obama wants a judge for the Supreme Court who will violate his or her oath and ignore the law.
Obama handed over Chrysler to the UAW and his ownership in violation of property rights.
Obama will have a more than 2 trillion dollar deficit this year.
Who in his right mind would want any of this to succeed?

With them spending all their energy on jokes like this, it’s easy to see why the Republican Party is quickly going extinct.

Joking about torturing someone as a response to their endorsement of torture….
Is not the same thing as endorsing torture.
If you want to try Wanda Sykes for a crime against humanity for saying Limbaugh should be waterboarded….
What should we do to the folks who wrote the legal memos and actually carried out torture??????

I think you care too much about nonsense like this.

Nobody on the left ever wished Bush would die, and most of us hoped, especially after 9/11, that he would in important way succeed. It would have been treason if we hadn’t. It is treason when Rush doesn’t. If there are those on the right who support torture for those who hate America and America’s policies – as stated by our president – Rush deserves to be tortured. It’s quite likely he has inside information on serious, violent plots against our nation. Let’s find out!

“Limbaugh hasn’t complained. Why are you suggesting he has?
It’s amazing how few of you have any grasp of facts.”
And Obama clearly didn’t laugh at the Limbaugh jokes when they were made.
It’s amazing how you don’t have any grasp of the facts either.

Posted by: TR | May 11, 2009 9:22:32 AM
Try listening yourself. Limbaugh read the column written by Ehrenstein and commented on it. Limbaugh further commented on Shleby Steele’s observations as well.
Your statement is dishonest.

“Limbaugh never called Obama a ‘magic negro’.”
Yes he did. Repeatedly.
You can listen to the audio here:”
Limbaugh was reiterating what was said in the LA Times (that Obama was a “magic negro’.)” The LA Times writer originated that in a March 2007 column.

Limbaugh only likes it when it’s a fair fight for him — you know, when it’s a 13-year-old Chelsea Clinton, or a Parkinson’s Victim like Michael J. Fox.
He is such a brave big man.

I’m no Rush supporter, but I think watching Wanda Sykes do comedy is an act of terrorism. Allowing her to perform is a crime against humanity.

There isn’t an attack that could be too harsh for Rush. He has a history of judging people based on race. He’s completely anti-woman, too.
Wanda said what she should have said.

“Rush has said far worse things about people on his show.”
Prove it.
Limbaugh does not wish death on people.

At least there was no attempt to revise that old “Petraeus-Betray Us” joke. Don’t think that one went over to well.

Pretty classy,
A Ms. USA contestant offers a comment on a hot potato polical question and all the libs and politically correct scream and cry as if they were dismembered while Sykes can make fun of drug use (as if nobody in Hollywood has had a drug problem)and wish painful death to a private citizen. You keep exposing your selective outrage and double standards to everyone.

How many Rupert Murdock Papers must you qoute?

“And Obama clearly didn’t laugh at the Limbaugh jokes when they were made.”
You’re kidding, right? Did you not watch it??
He certainly did slap on a huge smile.

Obama’s joke about Air Force One fly over of New York City is the real news here.Did he think it was funny after hearing the cost of this photo shoot,over $300,000 dollars of tax payer money pissed away.Obama and the Democrats and the liberal news media still don’t have a clue.Change is coming in 2010.

Some of you folks are very naive….Folks like Hannity, Beck, and Limbaugh do not want to see America succeed…They want to see themselves succeed by gaining more viewers and listeners…If Obama’s policies make America successful these self-centered egotists become less successful…That is the bottom line…

“This person has wished much worse than kidney failure (which is not fatal)”
It’s not fatal? A patient of mine died not long ago from renal failure. I was not her nephrologist. I’m sure her son would like to know why it cannot be fatal.
And I’d like you to prove the rest of your assertion as well. Liberals cannot distinguish facts from their opinions.
It’s no wonder you belong to the cult that is Obama. You all think saying something makes it true.

Sure, I could find some deranged fringe lefty teenager ranting about Bush on a web video or in some radical forum….
But when you have people like Rush Limbaugh or Glenn Beck (who are the mainstream figures in the GOP these days) saying equivalent things, there really is no comparison.
Even Cheney said that Rush Limbaugh represents the true GOP better than Colin Powell.

George W. Bush looking everywhere for those damn WMD’s was a real knee slapper . . .

I think that a lot of the Bush dead-enders are stuck in sports mode.
They want their team to win. They don’t care if it hurts their neighbors or the country. They want to win. And they cannot believe that they lost to Obama.
It’s just like people who watch Days of Our Lives… and then stalk and attack the actors in real life to punish them for the evil they did on the show.
There is always going to be a portion of the population whose love for Limbaugh or the GOP is going to make them highly vulnerable to whatever message they transmit to their fans.
These people will form an irrational hatred of whatever “demon” their hero tells them to hate. Even if they have to make immense personal sacrifices, they are going to follow their leader.
1) Convince people they are in existential danger (Some diabolical force is going to put them in FEMA camps).
2) Tell them you have the answer (the simpler the answer the better: cut taxes).
3) Tell them that they have a coherent enemy (preferably one person or a small group).
4) Tell them that anyone who says otherwise is under the influence of this evil one. The more sense your opponent makes, the more they are out to get you).
This has been going on in American since the puritans burned the witches.

“These people will form an irrational hatred of whatever “demon” their hero tells them to hate. Even if they have to make immense personal sacrifices, they are going to follow their leader.”
And what was it Obama said- “I am the only thing standing between you and the pitchforks” after he demonized the financial sector of this country?

But London Telegraph US editor Toby Harnden had a very different reaction, writing “Obama seemed to think this bit was pretty hilarious, grinning and chuckling and turning to share the ‘joke’ with the person sitting on his right.
**************************
Excuse me…but is the guy a lip reader? Mind reader? How does he know what he was “sharing” with the person seated next to him? Maybe Obama turned to the person and said “Oh that’s the joke that’ll be on the news tomorrow” or maybe he was asking if it’s rude to get up and go to the bathroom, or asking what time it was, or where Tom and Katie were seated??
For real, how can this “journalist” know what Obama leaned over to say unless he was the one it was said to?

I don’t think it is a fantasy to suggest that Wall Street is out of touch with Main Street.
It’s a balance, and I think Obama has done a good job of trying to balance people’s outrage with the financial sector with a recognition of the fact that they are important.
In fact, I think it has hurt Obama politically to stick up for the financial industries as much as he has.
But yes, he is different from the typical GOPers in this respect. Thanks for noting this.

I was impressed by Obama’s speech at the 2004 Democratic Convention which shared the dream of One America united by virtue of our likenesses rather than our differences. Alas, it was “just words”.
Like Bush aka The Uniter before him, Obama has done nothing to foster bi-partisanship and has gone out of his way to ram an uber-partisan vision down America’s throats.
If you dare disagree, you are labeled a threat ala the Tea Partiers or are dismissed with an “I won”. Nothing new with Obama – just the same old thing as 8 years of Republican rule but coming from the opposite end of the political spectrum.

I agree with J. Tapper. This was extremely inappropriate and it was outrageous that Obama thought it was so funny. Inappropriate behavior for the president of the U. S. Thanks Mr. Tapper for your candid article.

I think no matter what the president does or says – the right wing will attack. Just look at General Colin Powell – a soldier who had the guts to defend his country. A vice president too cowardly to do anything but take deferrments to get out of serving and sides with an “entertainer” who also has never served. I’ll take the guy who had the guts to serve. We’ve had democratic and republican presidents – I don’t recall in recent history, any states wishing to secede the union because their guy didn’t make it until now. Republicans have always accused democrats of being socialist, weak, facist, marxist, but there was no talk of seceding. Republicans should get over the “if I can’t have it, nobody will” mentality. I’ve voted for both republican and democrat candidates, some won and some lost – the “united” states has remained a beacon for civilization. Republicans messed-up. Instead of stoking the fire for the fringe elements of the party why not come up with some reasonable ideas. If the ideas of the republican party have worked,then they should still be working-right? The majority in this nation should be thriving – right?

“I agree with J. Tapper. This was extremely inappropriate and it was outrageous that Obama thought it was so funny.”
First of all, I don’t think Jake said it was inappropriate. Secondly, is the video of Obama laughing specifically at the wishing Rush dead line?

Marylou should get her facts straight. The fact is that after Obama added the “tax Cuts” which the stupid Republicans wanted, not one of them voted for the Stimulus Package. The Obama administration won’t fall for that garbage again. The Republican Party of Saltines is dead. Everyone keeps saying they’ll be back but, I don’t see how.

Why aren’t we talking about Dijon?

Rush Limbaugh: the GOP’s delicate flower.

So, Republicans think that torture is OK, but jokes are “over the line”?

“A new low for the Obama administration.
Scheesch we have 1000 more days of these amateurs”
=). I think you mean more like 1,350, but the reality is more like 2,800 days.

Wanda Sykes is an entertainer… Rush calls himself an entertainer….
Why is it that the moment someone makes fun of Rush, the media comes to his aid?
I can’t even beleive the media is doing this again…. you guys just can’t help yourselves huh?

“Leave Obama alone.”
The shoe doesn’t feel so good on the other foot, does it?

What people on the right don’t seem to get if Obama policies fails then what happens to the country? If Bush and Obama had made a decision to let all the banks fail we wouldn’t be in a recession we would be in a depression, I don’t think that is a chance they should have taken with American lives, that is okay for Wall St. to take extreme risk not our Presidents. If we don’t do something about health-care how many more companies and regular citizens will continue to go bankrupt? If we don’t address climate change how many more Katrinas and 100 year floods will places like IA, ND, WV and many other places have to suffer? If we don’t find a way to get “clean coal” or make natural gas the primary alternative how much more American money will go to foreign countries to provide our energy? THINK PEOPLE!

Obama has no class, and he shows it on a daily basis. he’s thin skinned, can’t handle criticize (so it’s a good thing the media is so in the tank for him that he gets very little of it) and he thought it was hysterical to wish Limbaugh dead, because he knows Rush will never have a good thing to say about him. Say what you want about George Bush, but he never lowered himself to this show of disrespect. never addresses all the left leaning loons that were calling him a killer or Hitler, but Obama just doesn’t seem to get it… HE’S PRESIDENT. He Should be above all this, not getting down in the mud with them.

A picture of Rahm in his ballerina costume.
Now that would have been funny.

Political Satire is part of the American way and should never be discouraged whether it is at the expense of ANY political party; however, wishing someones “kidneys to fail” in an effort to get a laugh is a sign of a deprived mind as well as a deprived society..

Limbaugh dishes out way worse daily. So can he take it like a Democrat would, with a smile and a sense of humor, or is he going to sob like a typical Republican pansy? Remember when he ran to the ACLU to defend his medical records privacy after all the bashing he’d done of them? What a hypocritical baby.

So this is Obama’s new era of civility?
He needs to start by looking in the
mirror.

“Obama and his snobby friends are back in the old pre-9/11 mindset.
They think jokes about that horrible day are funny.
I feel safer.
Shortly after Sept. 11, George W. Bush interrupted his inveighing against evildoers to crack a joke. Bush had repeatedly promised to run an overall budget surplus at least as large as the Social Security surplus, except in the event of recession, war or national emergency. “Lucky me,” he remarked to Mitch Daniels, his budget director. “I hit the trifecta.”
Yah jokes about 9/11, where’s the outrage, to quote republicans

“Obama still hasn’t fixed what’s wrong in the financial system.”
Right, he’s been on the job for three months and still hasn’t cleaned up all the messes that the Republicans made in eight years! What a failure!
Keep on posting, “Dr” John. You’re hilarious.

It wasn’t that long ago that Obama cultist were just as hateful toward Hillary and her supporters.
The comics, the media, the blogs treated Hillary just like they treat Palin, Cheney, Rush.
So don’t feel bad Republicans–this kind of hate is directed at anyone that threatens Obama.
Obama’s useful idiots.

“Obama’s useful idiots.”
Actually, I think that refers to you and all the other mouthbreathing conservatives who make it so easy for him to argue against.
You’re about as effective an opposition as the Washington Generals to his Harlem Globetrotters.

“The POTUS laughing at jokes about waterboarding”
I thought conservatives — including Rush himself — kept telling us waterboarding was no big deal? If so, why can’t we laugh at it?
No worries, we’ll just keep laughing at you.

This issue as far as I’m concerned is not so much what Sykes said, although I do find it distasteful. Commedians say distasteful things all the time, however, she shouldn’t have done it at this particular event, imho. That said, the issue for me is the POTUS laughing his head off at 9/11 jokes and that Sykes wished death on someone. It shows a real lack of class and this ain’t the first time with him.

I cringed when Wanda Sykes said those things, not because she was wrong, but because I knew the whining man-babies on the right who dish it out daily are totally unable to take it and would make a federal case out of it. Look at what they did with mustard, for crying out loud. They already leave in a state of perpetual paranoia and victimhood. We don’t need to feed their delusions.

I hope the gay community/supporters are real proud of the way Sykes let Obama have it for not supporting gay marriage.
Not one joke about that.
She was more interested in “tough” jokes about his b-ball skills and his boobs.
Sykes didn’t show any courage going against the opposition–real courage would have been going after Obama.
She chose to kiss his butt. Typical.

Obama has no class.
He’s back on TV today trying to act like a mature man–trying to look presidential.
He’s everyone’s president…
Didn’t look that way last night.

sykes is a comedian. everyone is fairgame. obama has more class than bush could ever dream of having. what about all of the vicious, mean comments and jokes the republican party made towards hilary clinton when she was in the running? have we forgotten? none of this will even matter in 3 years. democrat, republican, liberal, conservative, gay, straight, black or white…..all of these labels will no longer mean anything.

Conservatives & Republicans are left with trying to justify Bush & Cheney’s failed administration..
‘hard work’ for sure…
They are left with ‘Tea Parties’, birth certificate conspiracies, mustard, torture etc. and complaining that Obama hasn’t solved the worlds problems in 100 days.
relax and enjoy the Republican demise….
‘Bask in the entertainment
of a dying breed of ignorance’

Awww those mean nasty people are giving Rush Limbaugh some of his own medicine. Horrors!

Topic:
Why would anyone laugh at an “I hope he dies” joke? It’s not funny. I used to like Wanda Sykes,
maybe Ms. Sykes uses the ‘shock value’ of that to illuminate how inane Rush, Coulter, Savage, Boortz, Hannity & O’Reilly actually sound when they spew their invective.

maybe Ms. Sykes uses the ‘shock value’ of that to illuminate how inane Rush, Coulter, Savage, Boortz, Hannity & O’Reilly actually sound when they spew their invective.
Posted by: T-Rex
Maybe Sykes can learn something from them. While they criticize the president and his policies, they have never wished death on him. Even Rush, who hopes the president’s policies fail, has never wished kidney failure on the president. Joking that you hope some one dies because you don’t like their opinion is lazy, not to mention not funny.

It’s a joke, for crying out loud. the same people attacking Sykes over this make excuses for Rush Limbaugh’s jokes all the time.
Meanwhile, people are dying in the Middle East, jobs are evaporating across the country, the financial executives who got us in this mess are largely still in power.
And the DC press corps is navel gazing!!

Let’s see; over a million Iraqi’s and Afghans dead, over four million dispossessed, a former government staffed with unprosecuted war criminals, an economy in free fall due to rampant corruption and Republicans are whingeing on about one comedienne telling jokes in poor taste about another “entertainer” who is a joke in poor taste.
Nothing. Ever. Changes.

“GOP = Grim Old Party-poopers.
They can dish it out, but they can’t take i”
Of course not.
Right wingers are cowardly bullies.
That’s why Rush rarely appears anywhere where he does not control who talks.

Remember the good old days when we could respectfully disagree with each other?
These days, if you don’t like someone’s opinion, it’s OK to try to destroy them or joke about their death. As a nation, we used to be better then this.

The tone of this “comedic” hatefest, as well as most of the Obama cultist comments on this board, are great examples of the kind of HOPE and CHANGE you can believe in! YES WE CAN…spew hate, negativity and hypocrisy.
Things are going to look very different in DC after next year.

mrb – it was the London Telegraph who brought this controversy to light … not republicans and not the American media. The London Telegraph, who had no stake in the recent election, was the media outlet who said “Obama seemed to think this bit was pretty hilarious, grinning and chuckling and turning to share the ‘joke’ with the person sitting on his right.”
Stop blaming everything on Republicans! A republican didn’t tell Sykes to tell that joke, and a republican didn’t force Obama to laugh at it. At some point, people need to take responsibility for their own actions (or inactions).

These days, if you don’t like someone’s opinion, it’s OK to try to destroy them or joke about their death. As a nation, we used to be better then this.
Posted by: DEQ
well, you have to hand it to Republicans for their support of free speech…. like the guy in New Orleans who told Cheney ‘where to go’ and was promptly arrested for expressing his opinion.
of course if Republicans would have reconsidered calling everyone who didn’t agree with them ‘traitors’ and ‘treasonous’ it might have led to more fruitful discussions.

no, Bush & Cheney only started a ‘pre-emptive’ needless war which has killed 4500+ Americans and maimed and wounded upwards of 30, 000, and commit war crimes by torture…. ot counting the 100′s of thousands of dead civilians….
They like their death and mayhem in more concrete terms. Mission Accomplished
Posted by: T-Rex
Can we stay on topic please? We were discussing an inappropriate joke told by Sykes and Obama’s reaction to it. Stop bringing Bush into it. This is not about him. We as a nation, need to move beyond this “Bush made me do it” excuse for everything. Move on people! Why not start counting the number of people who have died in Iraq since Obama has been in office.

So Wanda Sykes called Rush a traitor…it’s EXACTLY what he is – EXACTLY what he’s always been.
Limbaugh, Hannity, Fox “news” and the rest of MSM-approved GOPig Propaganda Arms have been instrumental in the Reich-Wing’s non-stop assault on our country and they ALL deserve to be treated FAR worse than this.

Topic:
‘Stop bringing Bush into it. This is not about him.”
of course it is…. as Bush and Cheney along with the hateful GOP were the primary proponents of their hateful failed cult ideology and demonizing the opposition.

Wanda hoped for kidney failure – which does not immediately result in death. More likely dialysis and transplants. Which is common with drug abusers.

and while we’re at it:
this self righteous indignation about Sykes & Obama pales to the reality of Bush & Cheney invading Iraq:
‘The Bush administration based a crucial prewar assertion about ties between Iraq and Al Qaeda on detailed statements made by a prisoner while in Egyptian custody who later said he had fabricated them to escape harsh treatment, according to current and former government officials.
The officials said the captive, Ibn al-Shaykh al-Libi, provided his most specific and elaborate accounts about ties between Iraq and Al Qaeda only after he was secretly handed over to Egypt by the United States in January 2002, in a process known as rendition.
The new disclosure provides the first public evidence that bad intelligence on Iraq may have resulted partly from the administration’s heavy reliance on third countries to carry out interrogations of Qaeda members and others detained as part of American counter terrorism efforts. The Bush administration used Mr. Libi’s accounts as the basis for its prewar claims, now discredited, that ties between Iraq and Al Qaeda included training in explosives and chemical weapons..’

Have we forgotten Rush dancing around on TV, while he listened to “Barack the Magic Negro”?

Where’s the video of evil GOPers laughing at those “I hope he dies” jokes??: I 4get
I think Bush making fun of not finding WMD’s
during the Iraq war is the same, the only difference of course is that Bush was responsible for actual death… unless you think that starting a war of choice for political gain is funny….

Would the President have laughed if she said ‘we should waterboard’ KSM?
We did, and he thinks it isn’t funny.
But, torture isn’t funny, right Mr. President?

“Stop bringing Bush into it. This is not about him. We, as a Nation, need to move beyond this “Bush made me do it” excuse for everything. Move on people!”
Topic
LOL! Move on people! Nothing to see here, just move along like nice little citizens and leave the “uniter” alone!
This type of conversation is the logical result of Rovian politics. It should surprise precisely no one that Republicans have succeeded in their divisive Rovian mission; it is clearly the only thing they can do well.
It is just unfortunate that they provided us with such good object lessons; our education is now complete. As thou soweth, so shalt thou reap. This is ALL about little George and his merrie band of criminals.

Rush has said a lot worse about plenty of people…he gets away with it as he is a talk show host and there is freedom of speech. O.K. She is a commedian and they make fun of people, including..Rush. Get over it.

Rush has said a lot worse about plenty of people…he gets away with it as he is a talk show host and there is freedom of speech.
Posted by: talmag |
that’s what people keep saying, but I’ve been searching all morning for jokes of Rush limbaugh wishing death – or worse – on anyone and just can’t find one. Do you know of any? I even went to his website and don’t see any quotes of him saying he hopes someone dies.

Hey, it’s a free country, for now. Un-funny comedians are low on the priority list.

“Rush has said a lot worse about plenty of people”
Here we go again. As if you’re saying it makes it true.
Prove it.

What’s so wrong with hoping someone dies? It is funny! If you don’t like the person, what could be more appropriate then wishing they die of kidney failure?
Laugh! It’s funny! And it could become the catch phrase of the year. I can see teens saying to each other during high school debates … “I don’t agree with that statement. I hope your kidneys fail.” The public would just love it!
As another election season gets underway in the next few years, we might be hearing that a lot … it will ease the tension of the election and keep people laughing.

Can someone explain why Democrats are now emulating everything about Republicans that they claim to hate?
Negativity, hatemongering, partisanship, constant making of excuses, fingerpointing and hypocrisy.
Oh, and the government is still spying on citizens, the deficit is four times what it was under Bush, we’re still in two wars and our president is still against gay marriage.
You call that change? I call that disgusting.

“It doesn’t get much funnier then kidney failure does it?”
How about making fun of Parkinson’s disease?
Is that funny?

Poor Jake, he is having to scrub comments about the eliminationist element of the Republican Party by one of those AWFUL liberals on a thread about an eliminationist joke about an eliminationist.
Journalism is just no fun anymore, is it?

Paul:
nice to see you coming to grips with the malfeasance during the recent Bush years….

my my. how things have changed…
it’s no longer Republicans saying we didn’t do things……
now… it’s yeah, but Obama is still doing it and it’s been all of 100 days and he hasn’t fixed everything yet
Republicans finally admitting their cadre of Neo-Con cultists screwed up… impressive !

“…..to his face and not into a mike.”
Ummm, no, Wanda Sykes was speaking into a microphone at a gathering of like-minded journalists. “To His Face” means, you know, TO HIS FACE.
Pity the violence that addle-minded liberals continue to perpetrate against the language (e.g., “racism”, “welfare”, “million”).
Oh, and advice to Karen Tumulty of Time Magazine — I’m sure Mr. Limbaugh didn’t earn the prof’l longevity and audience size he currently enjoys without having to endure japes like this. But then, he’s a big boy with a big micrphone, tune in this week and catch his response.

More Rush quotes:
“Take that bone out of your nose and call me back”.
“They vote with their v a g i n a s”.
“Frankly, I’m fed up… no, I’m weary of even having to express sympathy for Cindy Sheehan. Oh, she lost her son. Yes, yes, yes. But we all lose things.”

“nice to see you coming to grips with the malfeasance during the recent Bush years….”
I was aware of it from day 1 with Bush actually, just as I’ve been aware of it with Obama from day 1.
The stupidity and incompetance of the Bush years were unacceptable as they were, but when they are continued, wrapped in immense amounts of hypocrisy as they are now by Obama, it’s inexcusable.
Change and hope were just lies used to sell another worthless product to gullible consumers.

Melanie, I’m getting a bit weary of you pulling out all of these Rush Limbaugh quotes that yes, are offensive (especially when taken out of context)and in poor taste — but not one of the quotes you pulled out is on the same level as saying “I hope his kidneys fail.” When has Rush limbaugh joked about hoping someone died?
I think we both know that there is a big difference between saying you don’t agree with someone and saying you hope they die.

“now… it’s yeah, but Obama is still doing it and it’s been all of 100 days and he hasn’t fixed everything yet”
I don’t know if this is in reference to me, since I just commented on how Obama was continuing every mistake from Bush, but if it is you should be aware that I didn’t vote for Bush either time.
Aside from that, even if a Republican was the one making the comment (which would be an improvement over the denials of Hannity et al), it makes THE most important point in any political discussion — that the Democrats are showing themselves to be crude, hate filled hypocrites.
You’re doing everything you said you didn’t like about Republicans. What on Earth makes you think that Independents like myself have any tolerance for your idiocy?

“Like the so-called “Tea Parties” when more than half didn’t even know what they we suppose to be fighting against… the other half were down right racist…”
Melanie, I don’t see how your comment even relates to mine, but I have no connection to tea parties and I regret to inform you that Democrats are every inch as racist as Republicans. I really fail to see much difference between members of one party and the other except one side is comprised of religious fanatics who hate “sinners” and the other is comprised of people who lamely go out of their way to make it look like they’re bursting with love for the world…when they’re filled with hate for everyone, including themselves.

Melanie – I simply asked you a question (no hate implied). You are the one calling people names.

If the GOP wishes to dish it out then they should be willing they need to be willing to take it right back.

Posted by: paul | May 11, 2009 3:08:02 PM
Rush is a disgusting human being who spews his hate, intolerance every single day… Anyone who listens to him and supports is views is no better… No wonder decent Americans are leaving the Republican party in droves… what is it now – down to the 21% intolerant, bible waving – haters like Ann Coulter…

Melanie, what makes Rush so hateful? That he calls people names? Says mean things?
You are doing the same thing you claim to hate Rush for? Why is it OK for you to say “Rush is a racist, bigot who hates everyone and anyone HE can’t convince to FOLLOW HIM!” But it’s not OK for him to say something similar?
It’s ok for people to say they hope he dies, but it’s not ok for him to say the same thing?

Posted by: liberal translation | May 11, 2009 3:17:43 PM
It was a joke – somewhat distasteful – BUT a joke – just the same…
Personally, I think this country and the world would be a better place if people like Rush and Cheney died naturally and soon… They incite hate, FEAR and intolerance with every breath they take… Somewhat akin to Hitler and the SS…

Melanie, perhaps it was a joke, but some of us don’t find kidney failure too funny and think that joking about someone’s death is just wrong.

where were all these ‘sensitive’ indignant Republicans when Rumsfeld was saying: ‘we know where the WMD’s are, they’re north, south, east and west’..
clever, somewhat amusing except if your kid was killed in Iraq for no reason.

“Rush is a disgusting human being who spews his hate, intolerance every single day… Anyone who listens to him and supports is views is no better… No wonder decent Americans are leaving the Republican party in droves… what is it now – down to the 21% intolerant, bible waving – haters like Ann Coulter…” – “Melanie”
So now I’m actually wondering if a person can be this hypocritical or is Melanie a Republican operative working out of Karl Rove’s garage to make Democrats look like buffoons.

Democrats can’t win an election without us, and it looks like we will get the chance to show you that very soon.
Posted by: paul
Dems are shaking in fear of your ‘wrath’…oooooh,

Wow, you folks are nuts. Joe the Plumber asks candidate Obama a question, doesn’t buy his answer, and the press and blogosphere hound him ever after. Okay, so then he went on to make an idiot of himself with public statements of late and I am no fan of his views, but he has every right to speak his mind as a common citizen in the beginning, which is how it all began.
Then Miss California gave an answer to a pageant question that Perez Hilton did not like, a more inarticulate statement of the exact views of the president of the United States, and again she becomes the object of public scorn and all her past is dug up in an unseemly way. (scantily-clad pictures is one thing, but dragging up the details of her parents’ divorce was beyond tacky and unfair).
Now we see people justifying saying anything on earth about Rush Limbaugh because, well, he’s Rush Limbaugh and he deserves it. And apparently anything said about Republicans, especially ones associated with the younger Bush’s administration, is perfectly acceptable because, after all, Bush started a war that liberals didn’t like.
come on, people. Is the politics of personal destruction really going to continue to go after ordinary folks (Joe and Prejean) just because they self-identify as conservative? And are the libs going to justify the paranoid rantings of conservatives like Rush and Sean by treated them like animals? Does that really make sense to you?
Wanda was out of line and the president’s spokesman said so today. Are you still going to defend her? Or are you going to listen to the White House and rise above?

Mike,
Rush is already having a slow painful death, and he is taking his listeners along for the ride.

“there is a big difference between saying you don’t agree with someone and saying you hope they die.”
“I am not inspiring or inciting riots, I am dreaming of riots in Denver.” Rush- dreaming of mass violence at the DNC….
“There won’t be riots at our convention,” Limbaugh said. “We don’t riot. We don’t burn our cars. We don’t burn down our houses. We don’t kill our children. We don’t do half the things the American left does.”
Rush – accusing Liberals of being rioters, arsonists and baby-killers.

“Wanda was out of line and the president’s spokesman said so today. Are you still going to defend her? Or are you going to listen to the White House and rise above?”
I wouldn’t have said it, but I don’t see the big deal. It’s not comedy if nobody gets hurt. As for the White House position, of course that’s their position, publicly. They’re too smart *not* to hold that position. Publicly.

“I wonder if that is because they have herds of blackshirts who arrest everything that moves at their conventions?”
Oh you betcha, Mike! And let’s not forget The Bush Crime Family’s FABULOUS innovation: The Free Speech Zone!
Ya know, it’s really stunning to recall the wide-ranging and decidedly UN-AMERICAN actions of these Reps.
You don’t see Obama’s people checking for anti-Liberal bumper stickers to weed out dissent at his public appearances…

I think having C- comedian Wanda Sykes at the White House is wonderful. It just goes to show how “well run” this administration is. Let just see how we can blame Bush for this…

Melanie wrote: “Oh, don’t forget it was Bush who ordered Frannie/Freddie in June 2002 to GIVE loans to people he knew would not qualify under regular loan qualifications.”
Would you please provide the specific quotes! (NOTE: Actually it was the Clinton Administration in 1995 that threatened the loan companies with heavy fines if they did not lower their lending standards.)
April 2001: The Bush Administration’s 2002 budget declared that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac presented a potential problem and “could cause strong repercussions in financial markets, affecting Federally insured entities and economic activity.”
May 2002: President Bush calls for the disclosure and corporate governance principles within his 10-point plan for corporate responsibility to apply to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.
February 2003: The Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight (OFHEO) released a report warning that unexpected problems at a Government Sponsored Enterprise (GSE) could immediately spread into financial sectors beyond the housing market.
September 2003: Fannie Mae discloses SEC investigation and acknowledges OFHEO’s review found earnings manipulations.
September 2003: Treasury Secretary John Snow testifies before the House Financial Services Committee to recommend that Congress enact “legislation to create a new Federal agency to regulate and supervise the financial activities of our housing-related GSEs,” and set prudent and appropriate minimum captial adequacy requirements.
October 2003: Fannie Mae acknowledges a $1.2 billion accounting error.
February 2004: The Bush Administration’s 2005 budget highlights the risk posed by the explosive growth of the GSEs. It warned that the safety and soundness regulators of the housing GSEs lack sufficient power and stature to meet their responsibilities.
April 2005: Treasury Secretary John Snow again calls for GSE reform. “Events that have transpired since I testified before this Committee in 2003 reinforce concerns over the systemic risks posed by the GSEs and furth hightlight the need for real GSE reform to ensure that our housing finance system remains a strong and vibrant source of funding…Half-measures will only exacerbate the risks to our financial system.”
August 2007: President Bush calls on Congress to pass a reform package for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.
December 2007: President Bush again warns Congress of the need to pass legislation reforming GSEs.
March 2008: President Bush once again calls on Congress to act on reforms of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.
May 2008: President Bush issues several pleas to Congress to pass legislation reforming Fannine Mae and Freddie Mac before the situation deteriorates further: “Americans are concerned about making their mortgage payments and keeping their homes. Yet Congress has failed to pass legislation I have repeated requested to modernize the Federal Housing Administration that will help more families stay in their homes, reform Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to ensure they focus on their housing mission, and allow State housing agencies to issue tax-free bonds to refinance subprime loans.”
July 2008: Congress finally passes reform of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac as it becomes clear that the institutions are failing. BUT IT WAS TOO LATE!

“I, like a lot of my family and friends gave up on all news expect for Fox. I am glued to the channel. They tell it like it is on all sides.”
The stupid, the proud, the right wing.
“The U.S. is the laughing stock of the world, no thanks to the main stream media.”
Naaah we were a laughing stock when we renamed food in the House cafeteria.

Hmmmmmmmmmm – Get real people it is her job – she is an entertainer and she delivered.
Everyone had a good laugh and for the President he needed a good laugh. He has a lot to deal with on a daily basis – I hope most of the comments made him laugh – And the “Foxy” lady in the house who listens to only fox news -my advise listen to all the news channel with your family – be open minded – believe me you will feel better for and don’t forget to enjoy life.

meanwhile… back at the now defunct Crawford Ranch….
A CIA inspector general’s report from May 2004 that is set to be declassified by the Obama White House will almost certainly disprove claims that waterboarding was only used in controlled circumstances with effective results.
- the impending release of a May 7, 2004 IG report that, the paper added, would show that in several circumstances the techniques used to interrogate terrorist suspects “appeared to violate the U.N. Convention Against Torture” and did not produce desired results.
It is difficult, the report will conclude, “to determine conclusively whether interrogations have provided information critical to interdicting specific imminent attacks.”

Let’s get real.
The correspondents dinner is really a “semi-public” affair and has become a TV spectacle only in the past few years. It’s supposed to be a time for people who work with and against each other to “let their hair down” for a social evening. It’s not the inauguration! The humor is expected to be “roast-like” and not subject to deep analysis the next morning.
Ah, for the good old days, before the news departments became part of the entertainment department and before 24 hour cable news!
Bah, humbug.

the jokes were great. Palin got knocked up before she got married. She preaches abstinence only after she didn’t ,and low nad behold, her teenage daughter gets knocked up too. duh. Then run for VP an dmake a mockery of your family after your abysmal performance with your own abstinence and claim you support a theory that you, nor your daughter was able to achieve, you’re ASKING people to make jokes about you. Its like a 500 lb Kristy Ally saying Jenny Craig works great. Really????? Then why are you 400 lbs! ————second point, about RUsh…LOVE IT!! Hysterical and TRUE! TRUE! TRUE!!!! oh please, spare us the sour grapes, she’s RIGHT sourpuss republicans. suck it up and be careful what you say next time! It’s called a ‘natural consequence”. Skyes is funny! funny! funny!

“All that is left of the party are intolerant bible wavers”
You mean like the Obama supporting Dems who voted for Prop 8 to prevent equal rights for gays in CA?
“gun lovers”
Yeah, I would say that most of the armed robbers in the country would be Democrats. Just a suspicion. Hunters and LEGAL gunowners, not so much.
“ignorant fools who vote against their own BEST interest because other fools”
This describes the welfare population who could be building productive lives for themselves but can’t break the welfare cycle the Dems have them in.
“AND don’t forget the rich Wall Street executives, hedge managers, and bankers who basically bankrupted this country… They are all republicans too”
Check your facts. Most of them are Democrats as well. You really don’t have a clue .

she is a comdeian barack is the president and limbaugh is a recovering political buyer of prescription drugs. how can this be bad? someones favorite underminer has taken a blow by a comdian and he has a fit. made news so he is showing problems of what? who knows probably does not want to be ruled by a black person. to me both the white and black person killed the american indian. in florida are thier any true blooded americans like an english blood line in england. you know all the ones that were transfered thier.

Wanda would be funny if she wasn’t as ignorant as she sounds. I hope Obama’s socialist reforms fail too. Who is Wanda to support the consigning of my child to financial enslavement and the servicing of others’ debt?
Why is my daughter responsible for bailing out the banks, the automakers, the homeowners, the unions et al, for gambling and losing?
Why doesn’t Wanda pony up her own money if she thinks what’s happening is such a great idea? Of course not, her and her ilk can talk the talk but walk it they will not.
Yes, I guess I do find her ignorance laughable and sad all at once because she like so many like her are nothing more than lemmings.

Why is my daughter responsible for bailing out the banks, the automakers, the homeowners, the unions et al, for gambling and losing?
—————————————-Million dollar question? Why is anyone responsible for anything we are all victims but somehow we all learn to roll with the punches.
I think the President is setting new grounds and if you are realistic you have answered your question – war cost money Vet. and it is now pay back time
I am not worried; I sleep comfortably knowing that somehow all that created the mess in are doing everything to cover their tracks and live the good life- it is simply the way things are. Some need Wanda, Some need Rush, that is just the way things are.

“The President deserves my silence.” – George W. Bush. I believe that this was G. Dub’s way of saying, “You made your bed , now lie in it.”

Limbaugh deserves much worse than he got. He’s a loathsome, treacherous piece of crap.

Mr. Tapper…I am disapopointed in you. After all the things Rush has said and one thing so vile about the English Prime Minister which journalists refuse to even discuss or bring up…you have no reason to defend him. Check it out on Rick Sanchez’ show a afew weeks ago if you don’t believe me. Rick was flabbergasted that no one even complained. When you answer to this, then I will consider respecting you again. Mr. Limbaugh gets what he gives, finally. He said this is free speech and so she has free speech also. Can’t have it for some and not for all.

And they wonder why there is so much hatred in our nation. Well MR president, you hang out with the thugs of the world and you turn your back on our oldest allies. You have a hateful celebrity make fun of your political opponents. Is this the change we can believe in or is it payback time? I think we should all move to Texas

How come Hannity never mentioned Wanda talking about him on his show?

Wanda Sykes is just a racist!!! just like all of the far left Liberals. They can joke about a Conservative but Conservatives better not joke about a Liberal.

Conservatives just can’t joke. Period.

We are bailing out the banks, Auto industry & the military because of Bush and his corrupt flunkies…
They are enjoying the good life while millions are losing their jobs, commiting suicide (whites only), losing their bank accounts & their homes, while Bush & his flunkies enoy millions in over-seas accounts…
Get your facts right about the economy and how it came to be…
Remember this, it was Bush who Madoff with your money…but they only caught Madoff and convicted Madoff…
Chryler greed got to them, and now they do not want to pay their employees benefit/retirement plan…
I guess you are the same people who voted for a war of WMD’s and continue to tell the lie that your kids are in Iraq fighting for me and my life…
GET REAL…

United States of the Offended, that’s what we’ve turned into. She didn’t joke about him because of partsianship, he IS a joke.

Mr. Limbaugh lives in a glass house, and enjoys being stoned. What’s the issue here?
whining? yeah.

Don’t forget that Lord Saint Obama voted for ther bailouts when he was a Senator, evn if it was two months before the election. In fact he never voted against a single thing Bush did, always for and hasn’t made a move to undo anything at all, such as the Patriot Act, and continues to assault our Constitutional rights. Currently in Congress: Bills to make name calling a jailable offense, including the internet, so if you call someone a pooopyhead, you can be fined 1000 bucks. Is that freedom of speech? Bills to fine you for using rainwater. Bills to outlaw farmer’s markets and using heirloom seeds, so Monsanto can own allt he food on earth, and filed a patent for WATER. These are not freedom things, are they. Obama is perpetuating tyranny.

Yes Beth, I certainly know what a “joke” is – when it is actually funny, and not perpetuated by half-truths (i.e lies…).
If you would actually look DEEPER into the matter and I am not referring to just this little incident – you would see that if a conservative comedian made a comment like that about a liberal talk show host (I don’t know any off-hand) during Bush’s presidency at a similar event – and had Bush snickered at it – well, imagine the outrage the media would project. Bush would be called insensitive for having the audacity to laugh, and the comedian would be excoriated publicly. Here, Ms. Sykes is lauded for her “spunk” and “wit”.
What I am saying is this: If it’s good for the goose – it’s apparently not good for the gander. The media and Hollywood leftists apparently have a very close-minded view of what is appropriate for a liberal to say versus a conservative. A liberal can speak all sorts of personal opinions, and be deemed relevant and progressive, but let a conservative speak their opinions – and suddenly they are racist, a bigot, insert negative adjective here…

Here’s a thought: if one party had all of the ideas to run this country effectively, then there would only be one party. We have, however, several parties and at times more than just the Democrats and Republicans get to voice their views and opinions. Martin Luther King said that the man who has not found something for which he will give his life for is not fit to live. Crispus Attucks was the first American to die for the right to speak freely; among other freedoms we as Americans now enjoy and most often take for granted. This is not about Crispus Attucks. It is not really even about Wanda Sykes or Rush Limbaugh. Not, even, about President Obama. No, this is more about, well, freedom. Mr. Limbaugh is free to make a living espousing his opinions about current events. Ms. Sykes is free to make a living making comments in the form of political satire or jokes or simply her opinion of Mr. Limbaugh’s comments, however one chooses see them(because in this country, that is supposed to be one’s freedom). Citizenship 101, as a fictional president once put it, is the right to express your views at the top of your lungs while your opponent excercises, equally, his right to do the same. The first terrorists this country has ever known were the first to be called Americans. We choose to call ourselves revolutionaries.

What about Kathy Griffin and Lisa Lampanelli? Both are very controversial comics who say what’s on their mind as well. Wanda is a talented comedienne not a reporter or a politician. She did what she’s been doing for the past 15 years…tell jokes and make people laugh. If the WHCA wanted serious commentary they would have chosen someone else. Overall I think this is being blown way out of proportion. It’s comedy!!!!!!!!!

Namer:
You Democrats shouldn’t talk about the
KKK without knowing this important
fact:
One of the most respected and
admired Democrats(by Democrats)in the country is Senator Robert C Byrd, a former member of the KKK!
How do you lose that hatred and become
a “former member”?
The irony is that an African-American
Democrat has been elected President
of this country and we have not heard
a word of criticism directed at
Mr Byrd from President Obama.
I guess the president forgives Byrd
for his hateful past. UGH!

Why is this news? Wanda Sykes tells horrible “jokes” all the time. This is nothing new. Everybody has the right to free speech in this country.

Rush had ther shoe put on the other foot for a change and it is about time someone did it, shame it was not someone of more importance either way it does not make a difference because of his attitude it went over his head any way.

People blow things way out of proportion nowadays. How come he isnt being scrutinized for saying I hope this administration fails? She is right by saying that his statement is like saying he hopes this country fails. And the rest of it was just comedy. I am sure she doesnt want him to be tortured or his kidney’s to fail and anyone who takes it that way is just ignorant. People need to lighten up because this is not that serious, in fact, it’s comedy.

Why would they choose a filthy mouthed woman (pardon me, comediane) up at the podium at the White House dinner? Why would you expect anything better from her. When she’s on late night TV, she starts out funny and ends up filthy & bleeped. What idiot thought she might add a touch of class at a White House affair? Her comments about Palin were REALLY disgusting.

If he is the best the GOP has ,Democrats will be incharge along time

Steve: You said it better than I could have. And if a conservative commentator had said the same things about Olberdorf or Maddog, it would have been called HATE SPEECH. Why isn’t this? Of COURSE it wasn’t funny. When has Wanda Sykes ever said anything funny?

Rush Limbaugh has never spared a feeling
in his career. If he can dish but not take it then he needs to shut up!

Its not only laughing at the kidney joke. Did anybody else see the smirk on his face when he was talkng about the plane flying over New York City. The guy is plain stupid. Sorry I voted for him.

Just an excuse for right-wing Republican nut jobs to salivate and do the other thing that ends in “…ate.”
Its a non issue. Quick, CNN or Fox, grab it, put music to it, give it a logo and turn it into special coverage.

Where have we gone as a nation and as a group of people?, that when someone who by all accounts is a comic, tells a joke and it then turns into a polical debate. a joke that was ment to be taken as a joke, should be taken as a joke….lord forbid that we lose our first amendment rights in fear of offending or saying something that would otherwise be considered funny by others

Humor is another form of opinion. What some find humorous, some find hurtful. All you can do it try to say things without meaning to attack anybody unless they don’t mind being roasted and that the jokes go both ways. It’s not a huge deal, all sides joke and attack each other sometimes.
Have a nice day people

There is still mental hospitals, they aren’t sanitariums that isolate people and put everybody in straight jackets. They calm people down and have talks with them. People usually go in for a week or so unless they are schizophrenic or have another mental illness. Those take time to handle

I usually don’t wiste my time on blogs, but this one is real interesting.
I love having the ability to “speak my mind” no matter how warped you may think it is. This is what make America the greatest country.
Now, with government executives now calling for the review of people and parties that don’t agree with the official government policies or political views bother me. When we allow the government to pass regulations to stiffle speech and thought, well, that’s the beginning of the end. Rush Limbaugh makes me laugh and so does Ms. Sykes. They all spin the facts.
For Pete’s sake, Al Gore won the Nobel Prize for spinning. You guys wake up.
I too am nervous. Bush and the SEC sat on their thumbs while Wall Street ran wild with our money! Now Obama is spending it likes it’s water paying off campain promises.
Funny, people said that someone should kill Bush and nothing is said. Then, a couple college kids hang a black dummy from a tree and they go to prison?
I feel we have lost the vision of why and how we became this great country. Everyone wants control of the government checkbook spending us “out of business” and supporting lazy useless policies.
Y’all keep your head screwed on and stay focused. They all use “slight of hand” movements.

Rush Limbaugh is a big fat idiot. Period.

Joe Klein’s comments are very interesting, comedy is supposed to be offensive, that is not what he said when Don Imus made his famous remark about Black women basketball players. Double standard.
Wanda Sykes is Wanda Sykes though and whoever booked her knew pretty much what she would say. That person should be fired, not Wanda.

As far as I’m concerned, both political parties are flawed. They have both equally contributed to the economic decay we are now faced with. The entire system reaks with the wretched smell of corruption. It is destined to fail. And furthermore, the country is bound for destruction as well. When you look down to the heart of the matter, there are just too many people with too many opinions in this country. The melting pot that makes up this country is going to boil over. I think that we could be in for a lot of uprising, rioting, and widespread chaos in the near future. I hope I am wrong but it just seems inevitable to me. I guess it may need to happen in order to get this country straightened out again. Anyways, I will try to do my part to promote peace and goodwill nomatter the outcome!!!!!

The fact of the matter is that Wanda crossed the line with comments about death.
I think that Limbaugh’s comments regarding the state of the economy AND the mess that Obama is creating is his way of trying to WAKE UP America.
Our freedoms are being taken away little by little and one day, soon, you will wake up and say “What the hell happened, why am I paying for these programs when these people are capable of paying for it them selves if they would get off their butt”
The day is coming…….very soon!

this is a dumb, Dumb, DUMB woman….not a lady, just a woman. Who would you trust with your last dollar? who would you trust in a foxhole….who would you want to take care of you family in a crisis??? how this woamn got on this event is beyond normal perception……she isnt a good person…….Rush is.

The jokes were hilarious and harmless. Sorry, but this is a new era of politics. Conservatives should stop trying to prevent change and instead figure out a way to adapt and appeal to a new generation. Oh, and Rush should go choke on his Oxycontin.

Freedom of speech baby! I,m sure Rush would not want to stop Wanda from her right to free speech. With that said it was in very poor taste and the PRESBO should have also seen this as poor taste. That just goes to show what kind of character he is. I am embarrassed to have Barrack as our leader. We are being led right down the road to socialism – or worse.

wanda sykes is my new hero. the palin joke is my favorite part!
are there really millions of you who hope obama’s policies fail? if you have our country so much, why don’t you just leave?

Comedy. Wanda’s great – she pulled her punches. Very appropriate for the event. (search: Bill Hicks Rush Limbaugh) Reassuring that Obama laughed – she was FUNNY. I laugh at Rush everyday. Well, synopses of his shows sent from mediamatters.org

Typical Right Wing. They can dish it out but not take it.

There is such hypocracy on the left it is beyond explanation. Rush wants Obama’s POLICIES to fail, not America. If Obama fails, America survives. If Obama gets his way, we are a socialist nation, hopelessly in debt and dependent on the nanny state to survive. Then he will declare himself King, and rule with an iron fist, shutting down all dissent. America will be worse than Russia if Obama succeeds.