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Power, pop, and probings from ABC News Senior White House Correspondent Jake Tapper

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Smackdown at the WH Dinner!

April 23, 2007 9:55 AM

As Hollywood producer Laurie David and singer Sheryl Crow blog about ON THE HUFFINGTON POST TODAY, the two Tinseltown activists got into a skirmish with White House big macher Karl Rove Saturday night at the White House Correspondents Association Dinner.

"Mr. Rove exploded with even more venom," the women write. "Like a spoiled child throwing a tantrum, Mr. Rove launched into a series of illogical arguments regarding China not doing enough thus neither should we. (Since when do we follow China's lead?)"

Said White House spokesman Tony Fratto, "It would be better to set aside Hollywood histrionics and try to help with the problem instead of this baseless, and tasteless, finger pointing.”
It may have been the only entertainment of the night. Responding to last year's edgy performance by Stephen Colbert (watch it HERE) the esteemed Correspondents Association may have leaned too far in the other direction by hiring Rich Little, whose performance was truly awful.

I mean, horrendous. A cloying chorus, moldy schtick…his impression of George W. Bush was weak.
Judge for yourself HERE.

A gifted impressionist of long-departed superstars like Ronald Reagan and Johnny Carson, Little doesn't seem to have worked too hard on his mimicry of anyone born after 1940, i.e. anyone relevant to the world today.

The audience for this dinner isn't necessarily the right one for cutting-edge comedy. This isn't the Second City. More like the 11th.

And yet…this was abysmal.

I await next year's booking of Slappy White.
-- jpt

April 23, 2007 | Permalink | User Comments (3)

User Comments

I like where he joked about how the poor lost the "War on Poverty." Oh, hoo hoo.. haha.. that's really funny. More caviar, please.
I love where they pan the audience and nobody is laughing, and they all look like they just want to get some cake and then go home.
Other than that, i have no idea what "Scott" up there is referring to.

Posted by: Nina Nealon | Apr 24, 2007 7:21:42 PM

Its funny to me how the left always seems to become obsessed with republican boogy men.

It's as if they get their kicks out of inventing vast-right-wing-conspiritor straw men .. and then make a name for themselves by taking some pointless and inappropriate cheap shot in drive-by fashion.

After that .. they can just sit and watch as the lefties fawn over their seemingly masterful conquest.

Posted by: Scott | Apr 24, 2007 3:56:29 AM

My mother used to say, "Save your breath to cool your soup," whenever I'd tell her of situations where I'd try to convince others who were equally adamant in their viewpoints of the correctness of my way of looking at things. As much as I agree with Ms. David and Ms. Crow, did they really think they'd convince Karl ("Rasputin, Jr.") Rove of anything in just a few minutes? Instead, they discovered that he's a rude, egotistical, moralistic, sanctimonious bore, which isn't exactly news to almost anyone else. They should've saved their breath to cool their soup, too.

I agree with you that Mr. Little's comedy went out of fashion probably around 1975, so I can just imagine the "festivities" you endured. But I would like to point out that, according to the IMDB, Mr. White died in 1995 of a heart attack. It's not likely he'll be appearing at next year's dinner, unless by seance.

Posted by: chuck | Apr 23, 2007 10:13:03 AM

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