President George Bush’s press conference yesterday contained some wisecracks to a reporter, using some laugh lines about seniors — and there has been a mini-stink about it raised by some critics.
The transcript of the press conference is here. Soxblog has an account of the moment that has raised a fuss in some quarters.
Basically, Bush was using a joke many people use about seniors. But the PC Police — who have members belonging to BOTH parties when it suits their political interests to enforce PC laws — want to rub out all vestiges of humor that could a)possibly offend someone b)were mouthed by people they oppose and can be twisted into representing something outrageous (and again we are saying this about people on both sides).
We had someone make a statement EXACTLY like Bush’s last week.
The Moderate Voice in his other incarnation did a show for a seniors group. The director of the facility called two weeks later and said: "They want you back next month." TMV said: "I’d love to do it, but I have to warn you I don’t change the show each month. A lot of the jokes will be the same." And she replied: "That won’t make any difference. They won’t remember any of them anyhow."
Should I have gasped and turned down the booking because she dared to make that joke (which she said seriously so it must be grounded in some truth)?
People need to pick and choose their battles; this one is not worth fighting, let alone mentioning with any assertion of indignity.
It was a joke, folks…A joke many people have made…A stock laugh line that always works.
Joe Gandelman is a former fulltime journalist who freelanced in India, Spain, Bangladesh and Cypress writing for publications such as the Christian Science Monitor and Newsweek. He also did radio reports from Madrid for NPR’s All Things Considered. He has worked on two U.S. newspapers and quit the news biz in 1990 to go into entertainment. He also has written for The Week and several online publications, did a column for Cagle Cartoons Syndicate and has appeared on CNN.