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Comedian in Chief

Some of the jokes Obama told at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner:

  • It’s been quite a year since I’ve spoken here last — lots of ups, lots of downs — except for my approval ratings, which have just gone down. But that’s politics. It doesn’t bother me. Beside I happen to know that my approval ratings are still very high in the country of my birth.
  • Obviously I’m most pleased that Michelle accompanied me. She doesn’t always go to these things. And there are few things in life that are harder to find and more important to keep than love — well, love and a birth certificate.
  • The Jonas Brothers are here. … Sasha and Malia are huge fans. But, boys, don’t get any ideas. I have two words for you — predator drones. You will never see it coming. You think I’m joking.
  • I saw Michael Steele backstage when we were taking pictures — AKA Notorious GOP. Michael, who knows what truly plagues America today — taxation without representin’. My brother.
  • I’ve learned this year politics can be a tough business, but there are times where you just can’t help but laugh. You know what really tickles me? Eric Massa. Apparently Massa claimed that Rahm came up to him one day in the House locker room, stark naked, started screaming obscenities at him. To which I say, welcome to my world.
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Spill, Baby Spill Syndrome


© Matt Davies

Alternative energy is fine, but what if it is the wrong alternative?

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Late Night Political Humor

“Arizona has passed the strictest immigration bill in American history. A hundred people have been stopped already — and that was just in one van.” – Jay Leno

“How many people are here just because you’re hiding from the Arizona police?” – David Letterman

“Stephen Hawking says he does believe in aliens but we shouldn’t try to contact them. I want nothing to do with aliens — I’m fine with Canadians though.” – Jimmy Kimmel

“An oil slick the size of Rhode Island is making its way across the Gulf of Mexico. An oil slick the size of Rhode Island — isn’t that called New Jersey?” – Jay Leno

“George W. Bush’s memoir is coming out in November. It’s called ‘Decision Points’ and it’s about big decisions in his life. I’ve already made a decision not to read it.” – David Letterman

“They asked him if he used a ghostwriter and he said, ‘No, the guy’s still alive.'” – David Letterman

“Congress has voted against giving itself a pay raise. They thought giving themselves a pay raise now would be unpopular. I think giving them any pay at all right now is unpopular.” – Jay Leno

“During a Goldman Sachs hearing yesterday, Sen. Carl Levin used the S-word 11 times on live television when quoting an e-mail. Which begs the question — if a guy swears on C-SPAN and there’s no one watching to hear it, does he really make a sound?” – Jimmy Fallon

“President Obama’s National Security Adviser James L. Jones apologized for telling an ethnic joke at a speech. Political insiders were shocked — someone said something stupid and inappropriate and it wasn’t Joe Biden?” – Jay Leno

“Gov. Rick Perry of Texas shot a coyote while he was jogging. Who carries a gun while jogging? I can barely manage my iPod.” – Jimmy Kimmel

“I like the idea of runners carrying guns. Think of how interesting the Boston Marathon will be.” – Jimmy Kimmel

“The International Olympic Committee stripped China of its bronze medal in the women’s team gymnastics event from the 2000 Olympics because they fielded an underage athlete. Ten years later, when she still hadn’t finished high school, they figured it out.” – Jimmy Kimmel

“Rolls-Royce is offering the Pentagon a special deal on engines for the Joint Strike Fighter jet. Not to be outdone, Toyota is offering a special deal on engines for kamikaze pilots.” – Jimmy Fallon

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The Real US Socialism


© Dan Wasserman

If the Tea Party wants to protest socialism, they should start with all the corporate welfare handed out by our government. Like federal subsidies to agribusiness and defense contractors, and local tax breaks to big businesses for “creating jobs” (when it is small businesses that create jobs).

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Late Night Political Humor

“As you know, Arizona recently passed the toughest anti-immigration bill in American history. The idea behind this bill is to drive illegal immigrants out of Arizona and back to their homeland of Los Angeles.” – Jay Leno

“Anybody here from Arizona? They have that new tough immigration law, and they say now because they’re getting a lot of reaction, they’re saying it isn’t targeted to Mexicans. The immigration law, they said, is not about keeping Mexicans south of the border. As a matter of fact, they had a crew out today of government agents looking for Dutch people.” – David Letterman

“I called the governor’s office in Arizona today, and the recorded message said press one for English, press two for English, press three for English.” – Jay Leno

“Senator John McCain supported Arizona’s new immigration bill. John McCain, also an immigrant. He came over on the Mayflower.” – David Letterman

“This new law is pretty strict. You can’t use the slogan ‘what can brown do for you?’ anymore. Can’t even use that.” –Jay Leno

“Ironically, after they passed this new law, you know how they celebrated at the statehouse? Shots of tequila.” – Jay Leno

“The famous scientist Stephen Hawking says in a new documentary not only does he believe aliens exist, he believes we should not make contact with aliens because they could be very angry beings, especially aliens from Arizona.” – Jay Leno

“Well, it was an announced today that President Bush’s book will be released Nov. 9. The book will be called ‘Decision Points.’ It will be centered on 14 decisions President Bush made during his presidency. See, this should silence the critics who claim Dick Cheney made all of the decisions. This book will prove Bush made at least 14 of them.” – Jay Leno

“Here, this is good. Going to be ready for you in November. Going to be in bookstores in November. It’s George W. Bush’s memoir. It’s about 14 key decisions that George W. Bush made in his life. For example, his decision to move Jay to 10 p.m. is covered in the book.” – David Letterman

“The book will be ready in November. Bush is making last-minute revisions right now. As a matter of fact, his computer screen is covered with whiteout.” – David Letterman

“And the publisher says that the book contains quite a discussion about all of the mistakes that he made and all of the problems and all of the trouble that he caused. Boy, that will be a long book.” – David Letterman

“And his wife, Laura Bush, also has written a book. They’re going to be published at the same time. Both have memoirs. Her story and his story. I was thinking, well, whose book would you rather read? The one by the librarian or the one by the guy who choked on a pretzel?” – David Letterman

“The Senate held hearings on what role Goldman Sachs played in the mortgage meltdown of 2008. They allegedly sold bad mortgages to their clients and then bet against them to make profits for themselves. I think that’s what the ‘American Idol’ judges are doing to us this season with these crappy singers.” – Jimmy Kimmel

“The top executive of Goldman Sachs testified before Congress today, which proves crooks always return to the scene of the crime.” – Jay Leno

“So today you had lawyers, congressmen and bankers in the same room. That’s like the trifecta of lying.” – Jay Leno

“After meeting with his deficit commission today, President Obama said that it’s a lot easier to spend a dollar than it is to save one. Even the deficit commission was like, ‘Who invited grandpa?'” – Jimmy Fallon

“And the cover story of this week’s Newsweek magazine is about Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and how President Obama sends her out to crack down on misbehaving world leaders. Gee, I wonder where she learned to do that?” – Jay Leno

“President Obama is now considering giving approval for the development of a hyper-supersonic missile that can reach anywhere in the world in an hour. It’s a joint venture between the U.S. military and Domino’s Pizza.” – Jay Leno

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Gulf Oil Safety Celebration Postponed

I have absolutely no idea why, but an annual luncheon scheduled for next week in Houston that celebrates the safety record of offshore oil drilling has been postponed. At last year’s luncheon, BP, the operator of the deep-water oil rig that exploded and sank in the gulf last week, causing one of the largest oil spills ever, won two awards. The awards are given to organizations “whose exceptional performance has raised the bar for safety achievement, improved environmental protection, enhanced resource recovery and conservation, or inspired innovation and outstanding performance by others.” No word yet if they are going to ask BP to give the awards back.


© Tom Toles

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We better hope that aliens aren’t monitoring our news broadcasts, because it will probably look like this to them


© Tom Tomorrow

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Late Night Political Humor

“Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer signed the nation’s toughest anti-immigration bill into law. It’s unbelievable. It makes it a crime as a state law to be in the country illegally. It lets police question anyone about their status. You know what this means? Rich people in Arizona may have to start raising their own children now.” – Jay Leno

“It’s an unbelievable law. And it’s already starting to backfire. Today, a group of Native Americans pulled over a bunch of white guys and said, ‘Let’s see your papers.'” – Jay Leno

“Arizona is the meth lab of democracy.” –Jon Stewart

“And the state of Arizona, has a new slogan: ‘get out.'” – Jay Leno

“Last week, President Obama gave a speech in New York City about his plan to reform these rules on Wall Street, you know? And one embarrassing moment. When the head of Goldman Sachs was going through security, he was asked to empty his pockets and five Republican senators fell out.” – Jay Leno

“During the economic meltdown, employees at the SEC were using government computers to watch pornography. Ironically, while they were watching porn, the other employees were watching Goldman Sachs screw the entire country.” – Jay Leno

“One SEC employee spent up to eight hours a day looking at porn. And the worst part is, he billed them for 10 hours.” – Jay Leno

“You probably heard about this. Both President Obama and Vice President Joe Biden took some heat for flying separately to New York City last week because it was Earth Day, and they got heat for flying on two separate planes. Though in fairness, they can’t fly together because of security reasons. Or at least that’s what Obama told Biden.” – Jay Leno

“The U.S. Treasury unveiled the new version of the $100 bill last week. They needed to come out with a new one because, apparently, China has all the old ones.” –Jay Leno

“China is now considering easing up on that policy one-child-per-family law they have down there. For years, they have only allowed one child per household. Now, a factory — well that can have as many children as they need.” – Jay Leno

“Former President Bush is writing his memoir. Writing his autobiography about his eight years in the White House. He’s not done with it yet, but he’s already put up the mission accomplished banner.” – David Letterman

“Crown Publishing has given a November release date for what they’re saying is an incredibly honest account of key decision in the President’s life. There’s a whole chapter dedicated to smooth vs. crunchy.” – Jimmy Kimmel

“George W. Bush’s memoir is coming out Nov. 9. On the cover, Bush is wearing a dark suit and holding a briefing book with his head slightly turned from the camera, or as Bush calls it, ‘posing all serious-like.'” – Jimmy Fallon

“Former President George W. Bush is working on his memoirs. I’m excited just to hear him pronounce the word ‘memoirs.'” – Jimmy Kimmel

“Is it really a good thing for President Bush to remind us of the decisions he made? I would have just let people forget.” – Jimmy Kimmel

“The publisher says that in the book, Bush writes honestly and directly about his flaws and mistakes. And I’m thinking, whew! Man, this is going to be a long book.” – David Letterman

“Actually, the book is called ‘Decision Points,’ and 1,000 signed, cloth-bound copies will be sold for $350 each. Each one will say: ‘Thanks for reading about my decisions. Sincerely, Dick Cheney.'” – Jimmy Fallon

“The title of Bush’s memoir is ‘Decision Points.” It narrowly edged out his original title, which was ‘My Bad.'” – Jimmy Kimmel

“Bush’s memoir is going to be titled ‘Decision Points.’ That sounds like the reward system that was used to get Bush to do things when he was in office, doesn’t it? ‘So, if I sign that paper with the law on it, how many decision points do I get? Like, five decision points, six? Last Wednesday, I got a silver star and a smiley face.'” – Jimmy Fallon

“He’s even working on his follow-up to Decision Points, which is supposed to be released next year – it’s called Decision Pants. It’s about all the tough decision he’s faced with every morning when he puts his clothes on.” – Jimmy Kimmel

“You know what happened today down in Washington, D.C.? The world champion New York Yankees visited the White House. Oh, you know who was not there from the championship team? Kate Hudson.” – David Letterman

“President Obama met with the Yankees to congratulate them on their World Series win. The New York Yankees’ Derek Jeter said, ‘You never get tired of meeting the president.’ And then John McCain said, ‘I’m pretty much over it.'” –Jimmy Fallon

“It was a beautiful day. President Obama charged them $25 for a hot dog and a warm beer.” – David Letterman

“It was quite a change for the New York Yankees, going from ‘The House That Ruth Built’ to ‘The House That Bush Wrecked.'” – David Letterman

“Here in New York City, the Yankees, they’re champions. In Arizona, they would be deported.” – David Letterman

“Here’s a nice story. President Barack Obama and his wife, Michelle, took the weekend off. They went hiking in North Carolina. Had a great time. And so he wouldn’t get lost, Obama left behind a trail of cigarette butts.” – David Letterman

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Arizona Immigration Law Loophole


© Dana Summers

Why, they don’t look reasonably suspicious at all!

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Late Night Political Humor

“This week Arizona signed the toughest illegal immigration law in the country, which would allow the police to demand identification papers from anyone they suspect is in the country illegally. I know there are some people in Arizona worried that Obama is acting like Hitler, but can we all agree that there’s nothing more Nazi than saying, `Show me your papers?’ There’s never been a WWII movie that didn’t include the line, `Show me your papers.’ It’s their catchphrase. Every time someone says `Show me your papers,’ Hitler’s family gets a residual check. So heads up Arizona, that’s fascism. I know, I know, it’s a dry fascism, but it’s still fascism.” – Seth Meyers

“Arizona’s Governor had been stalling, you know, on signing this. She said it did not reflect any ambivalence about the bill. She just wanted to make sure her pool was clean and her lawn was mowed before she signed.” – Bill Maher

“The problem with the Tea Party movement, besides their almost universal rejection of dentistry, is that they want money for nothing and chicks for free. They want a deregulated free market and their jobs to stay here in the US; they want guaranteed health coverage regardless of preexisting conditions without a big government mandate; they want to call themselves teabaggers and people to keep a straight face. And of course they want big tax cuts along with deficit reduction. I can’t even think of a suitable analogy for that disconnect – it’s like thinking getting a handjob will clean your garage.” – Bill Maher

“One good thing came out of this volcano in Iceland. Economists say consumers can expect a huge drop in the price of lava lamps.” – Jay Leno

“New Rule: Since the Icelandic volcano obviously needs a virgin sacrifice and the Catholic Church obviously needs new leadership the Pope must volunteer to jump in the volcano. Pontiff, don’t think of it as endorsing paganism, think of it as supersizing Ash Wednesday.” – Bill Maher

“President Obama gave a speech in New York about his plans to reform the rules for Wall St. A lot of Wall St. executives were shaking in their boots when the president showed up. The bad news is, they were $800 Italian leather boots that were bought with our bailout money.” – Jay Leno

“Obama is getting his mojo back. Apparently, he’s going to get this financial package. That’s right, the financial package is going through. He got healthcare. He got that nuclear weapons treaty … He’s on a roll and he’s taunting his critics. His new slogan is, ‘Change You Can Suck On.'” – Bill Maher

“Justice John Paul Stevens is retiring. Don’t worry, he’s getting his own show on TBS.” – David Letterman

“New Rule: If the water in your river makes the male fish grow vaginas, stay thirsty. 90% of Washington D.C.’s drinking water comes from the Potomac, a river so polluted with hormones it makes fish change sex. If I wanted to drink something that makes me grow a vagina, I’d order a wine cooler.” – Bill Maher

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AriZona, not Arizona!

I don’t know if this is funny or sad, but the AriZona Iced Tea company has been caught in the backlash against the state of Arizona for their racist new anti-illegal immigrant law.

The funny bit is that AriZona Iced Tea has absolutely no connections with the state of Arizona, being located in Long Island, New York (no connection to “long island iced tea”). The company was even forced to post something on their website, to try to avoid a potential boycott of their products.

The Arizona law requires immigrants to show their papers to prove that they are legal, so it is pretty ironic that the blowback has companies “showing their papers” to prove that they aren’t from Arizona.

As an added twist, the whole idea of a boycott against AriZona Iced Tea seems to have originated as a joke gone bad, made by a humorist and poet, but which was taken up by the media as serious.

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The Correct Response to ‘Show Us Your Papers’


© Lee Judge

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Arizona takes things into their own hands?

Arizona sure took things into their own hands to solve the illegal immigration problem! They definitely showed the rest of the nation that you don’t need the federal government to solve problems for you, didn’t they!

Well, except that the Arizona agency that is responsible for implementing the new law has asked federal authorities for help. The issue here is: how do police officers enforce a law that requires them to arrest illegal immigrants based on a “reasonable suspicion”, without racial profiling, which is prohibited by the law.

When I try to make a helpful list of the top signs that someone might be an illegal alien, all I can come up with are:

  • Their skin is a different color than white
  • They speak with a funny accent
  • They are standing on a street corner looking for work
  • The have jobs doing work that legal Arizona residents refuse to do

Can you do better?

Well, the Arizona police have to do better, which is why the Arizona Peace Officer Standards and Training Board requested the assistance, saying “Participation by federal authorities is critical in ascertaining how to implement a standard of enforcement.” But the federal government has not answered his request.

Luckily, the Daily Show has created a handy guide for determining whether there is reasonable suspicion of someone being illegal:

UPDATE:

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Late Night Political Humor

“Happy Earth Day. To demonstrate their commitment, environmentalists all across the country risked their lives driving Priuses.” – Jay Leno

“It’s the 40th Earth Day, which is bad news for Earth. Once you get in your forties, your equator expands, your poles start to melt — soon you’ll look as bad as Uranus.” – Craig Ferguson

“Happy Earth Day to everyone. An estimated one billion people celebrate Earth Day. Al Gore, in particular, is wasted right now. ” – Jimmy Kimmel

“Happy birthday to Jack Nicholson today, and also it’s Earth Day. Planet Earth and Jack Nicholson are different, of course — one is a giant object ravaged by years of abuse and we’re running out of time to save it, and the other one is Earth. ” – Craig Ferguson

“The movie ‘Avatar’ is out on DVD today. James Cameron wanted it to be released on Earth Day because nothing says ‘save the planet’ like millions of plastic DVD cases.” – Craig Ferguson

“President Obama is here to announce his peace initiative for Mr. and Mrs. Larry King.” – David Letterman

“To give you an idea how popular President Obama is around the world — he’s probably the most popular leader in the world — this is amazing. They opened a nightclub in China named after President Obama. It will be an Obama-themed nightclub. Here’s the amazing thing — hasn’t even opened yet and already $12 trillion in debt.” – Jay Leno

“A new poll found that a substantial number of Americans still aren’t convinced that President Obama was born in the United States. Only 58 percent believe that Obama was born here, and 20 percent think he was born in another country. I don’t believe Obama was born at all. ” – Jimmy Kimmel

“President Obama met with Wall Street executives today. He told them to stop fighting this financial reform. But the Wall Street executives are kind of copping an attitude with the president. You know, I got an idea. Forget financial reform. Let’s put them in prison. Call it prison reform. See how they like it then.” – Jay Leno

“Oh, yeah. They don’t want the government messing with their business unless it’s a bailout. Then, ‘Please!'” – Jay Leno

“Here is a story that is kind of perplexing: 221 years ago, George Washington went to the library here in New York, took out some books, never returned them. 221 years of overdue library fines. I tell you something, ladies and gentlemen, if you want to blame this economic crisis on a president, what about that guy?” – David Letterman

“You know, a lot of people were flying and got delayed by the Icelandic volcano, and everybody is upset. They lost billions of dollars in revenue. And I said, ‘O.K., it’s kind of their fault. I mean, to be flying during the volcano season, come on! Are you nuts? Really? Your own fault.'” – David Letterman

“Vice President Biden appeared on ‘The View.’ They were trying to set the Guinness Record for most Botox on one couch. And they did, so congratulations. ” – Jimmy Kimmel

“According to USA Today, 71 percent of American households have already filled out and returned their census. That’s the good news. The bad news — they filled it out in Spanish.” – Jay Leno

“Here’s news now from the Supreme Court. Justice John Paul Stevens is retiring. He’s in his 90s, Justice John Paul Stevens. Said he has had enough, wants to spend more time judging his family.” – David Letterman

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It’s Official: The Tea Party is Racist

The University of Washington has just published a multi-state study that offers convincing evidence that members of the Tea Party are far more likely to be racist than average Americans. Their results agree with a recent NY Times / CBS News survey that found similar racist attitudes. But Tea Partiers know they should not use overtly racist language, “so they use coded language”. Like about “taking our country back” … but from whom?

If you doubt this, here’s a simple exercise you can do. Imagine the Tea Party doing and saying the same things it does now, but its members are black (or Arabic, or Latino), and the president is white.

Imagine that white members of Congress, while walking to work, were surrounded by thousands of angry black people, one of whom proceeded to spit on one of those congressmen for not voting the way the black demonstrators desired.

Because Tea Partiers did that.

Imagine that hundreds of black protesters were to descend upon Washington DC and Northern Virginia, just a few miles from the Capitol and White House, armed with AK-47s, assorted handguns, and ammunition. And imagine that some of these protesters — the black protesters — spoke of the need for political revolution, and possibly even armed conflict in the event that laws they didn’t like were enforced by the government.

White gun enthusiasts and Tea Partiers did that.

Imagine that a black radio host were to suggest that the only way to get promoted in the administration of a white president is by “hating black people,” or that a prominent white person had only endorsed a white presidential candidate as an act of racial bonding, or blamed a white president for a fight on a school bus in which a black kid was jumped by two white kids, or said that he wouldn’t want to kill all conservatives, but rather, would like to leave just enough—“living fossils” as he called them—“so we will never forget what these people stood for.”

Yup, Rush Limbaugh said all that.

Imagine a black radio talk show host gleefully predicting a revolution by people of color if the government continues to be dominated by the rich white men who have been “destroying” the country, or if said radio personality were to call Christians or Jews non-humans, or say that when it came to conservatives, the best solution would be to “hang ‘em high.” And what would happen to any congressional representative who praised that commentator for “speaking common sense” and likened his hate talk to “American values?”

Michael Savage said those things, and Texas Congressman John Culberson praised him for it.

Imagine that a rap artist were to say, in reference to a white president: “He’s a piece of shit and I told him to suck on my machine gun.”

Rocker Ted Nugent said that about President Obama.

Tim Wise sums it up nicely:

This, my friends, is what white privilege is all about. The ability to threaten others, to engage in violent and incendiary rhetoric without consequence, to be viewed as patriotic and normal no matter what you do, and never to be feared and despised as people of color would be, if they tried to get away with half the shit we do, on a daily basis.

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