October 19, 2007
The Comedic Stylings Of Your Elected Officials
Even in the grimmest of times there's plenty to laugh about in Washington, and a number of lawmakers proved that the case this week at the Funniest Celebrity in Washington contest.
Politicians and the reporters who cover them get to be funny on purpose for one night a year with proceeds going to a worthy cause. This year's beneficiaries were VH1's Save The Music Foundation and the Institute of Musical Traditions, and contestants included The Nation's David Corn, the Washington Post's Eugene Robinson and Rep. Loretta Sanchez, sister of 2006 champion Rep. Linda Sanchez.
Wednesday night's winner was Joseph Randazzo of The Onion. No fair, we say, because -- hello -- The Onion. (Also, he lives in New York!) We prefer to think of the first runner-up as the rightful champion: the senior senator from Pennsylvania, Arlen Specter.
The five-term Republican's dry wit occasionally peeks through when he's on the Hill, but his waggish, dare we say bawdy humor was on full-frontal. Specter's hometown paper, the Philadelphia Inquirer, has video of his performance; watch to learn more than you ever wanted to know about Bob and Liddy Dole's sex life. We can't bring ourselves to type out the words.
Also doing his part to keep politics fun this week was Illinois Sen. Barack Obama, who appeared on "The Tonight Show." Host Jay Leno barely had to do any work here, since on Tuesday, Lynn Cheney publicly revealed that her husband, Vice President Dick Cheney, was distantly related to the anti-war Democrat.
Obama said he'd already known that Cheney was a cousin. Like most people he'd hoped to find "kings and great leaders" in his family tree, but he insisted he wasn't disappointed about ending up with Darth Vader instead.
"Now," he continued, adding a caveat, "I don't want to be invited to the family hunting party." Wah-wah.
Obama didn't exactly kill 'em like Specter did, according to the Chicago Tribune's Swamp blog, which complained that the White House candidate "used some old material in his comedy appearance, trotting out a slightly less funny variation of a quote he gave to the Tribune in July."
We counted one very amusing, Cheney-related anecdote, though. Showing a photo of the vice president presiding over Obama's mock swearing-in ceremony in 2004, Obama said, "Cheney shakes hands with me and Michelle and our older daughter, and my youngest daughter decides to give him five. So she was like trying to get him accustomed to his peeps."
Hee. If Obama doesn't win the Democratic nod, maybe he should just talk the vice president into pitching a sitcom to the TV networks. We're thinking remake.
We'd also like to see an update, perhaps, of a certain 1982 Paul McCartney/Stevie Wonder duet that Blender voted the 10th worst song in history.
The worst song ever, in case you were wondering, was Starship's "We Built This City," which has special meaning here at Gate HQ. Watch, reminisce, and try not to lose your lunch.
Photo Illustrations: Reuben Dalke
Posted at 5:00 PM
Posted to:
Arlen Specter, Barack Obama, Bush Administration, Campaigns, Congress, Democrats, Dick Cheney, John Kerry, Senate, WH 2008
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