While the congress and senate have changed their stripes the White house press corps is still gutless when it comes to controversy. This year Rich Litte has been signed up to entertain the guests. If you are under 40 then you probably don't know or don't care who Rich Little is. It's hard to get excited about an ancient comedian who's main claim to fame has been impersonating long dead celebrities and presidents. This is sad news for the blogosphere as there will be little to blog over from this years event. White bread dull.
Smarting from last years Stephen Colbert broadside the press corps has tucked its tail and run for the nearest in-offensive corner it can find.
From the Washington post;"Yet after Colbert made waves -- he compared the Bush administration to the Hindenburg disaster, among other things -- some wondered whether choosing Little indicated that the rough, tough White House press corps was going soft, ensuring that its honored guests from the White House would suffer not even the slightest slight." More...
Keith Olbermann nominated the entire white house correspondents' association as his "Worst Person in the World" on his program last week.
Cudos go ot to David Letterman, Jay Leno, Billy Crystal and Martin Short - all of whom turned down the job.
Lewis Black, comedian and "Daily Show" regular wasn't impressed; "What they want at those events are [politically correct] jokes, and P.C. jokes just aren't funny. You spend the rest of the year making fun of these people, and when you come to Washington, you have to turn your act into a series of innocuous knock-knock jokes. It's just painful."
As for Little, Black said: "It's like going from Jackson Pollock to paint-by-numbers. God love Rich Little, but he's not in this decade. He's in no position to pose any threat to anyone. He makes Bob Hope look like Lenny Bruce. It's sad that we've reached this point"
Given the selection some have called for an end to this dinner altogether. Rem Rieder, editor of the American Journalism Review comments this reflects the "smugness" and arrogance of the news media, suggesting that they are "part of a wealthy elite, completely out of touch with ordinary Americans. Do we really need a neon sign to proclaim the coziness of the White House press corps and the White House's occupant? It's really hard for me to understand making a decision like this, particularly so close to the WMD debacle. The dinner must go."
Bush must be relieved...
Stephen Colbert
