One Year After Colbert Flap: Are WH Correspondents Playing It Safe?

[CatWoman]

NEW YORK After last year's White House Correspondents Association dinner host Stephen Colbert drew mixed reactions to his sharp critiques of President Bush, event organizers appear to be going for a less-combative approach, choosing aging impersonator Rich Little for the pending April event.

Following recent dinners that boasted the likes Colbert, Cedric the Entertainer and Jon Stewart, choosing Little, whose career dates back decades and whose humor is often milder than Colbert or Stewart, indicates a change in approach.

"My approach is to try to make it a comfortable venue that is enjoyable, funny and interesting," said Steve Scully, president of the White House Correspondents Association, who chose Little. "But you don't want to offend anyone." He cited the slogan for the Washington Gridiron Dinner, which says, "singe, don't burn."

Ron Hutcheson, a McClatchy Newspapers reporter and former WHCA president who organized the 2005 dinner, said Colbert's impact might have sparked a calmer choice this year, which he supported. "It is certainly a safe choice, which might be nice," he said. "The single most difficult thing about the dinner is lining up entertainment. There is never much of a budget and I have found that coordinating their schedules with our schedules are difficult."

http://www.editorandpublisher.com/eandp/news/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1003532901

[Supersedeas]

1. laughable lil' twits...you are the entertainment--the Admin watches your puppet show every nite

[Fenris]

2. Jesus - Rich Little?

Impressions - how cutting-edge, WHCA! :boring:

[CrazyOrangeCat]

3. "But you don't want to offend anyone."

ain't that precious

[bbernardini]

4. Do you think he'll open or close with John Wayne?

Or maybe Johnny Carson?

[CatWoman]

6. *snort*

hahahahahahahahahahahaha

:rofl:

[SoCalDem]

10. or W.C. Fields or Gabby Hayes.. the "kids" all love those guys ..

[Missy M]

5. The White House Correspondents wouldn't want to ruffle....

Bush's feathers again. After all, there job seems to be to protect him. The Washington Gridiron Dinner's slogan is "singe don't burn", my how cute that is. Lots of people burning in Iraq doesn't seem to bother them.

[liberal renegade]

7. I wonder why he's the former WHCA president, Hutcheson that is.?

Watching Colbert brutalize Commander Cuckoo Bananas was priceless,imho.

[walldude]

8. Is there going to be a video of Bush looking under his desk

for troops to send to Iraq? "Oops no cannon fodder under here" :eyes:

[Kahuna]

9. Rich Little???? Steve Scully from CSPAN is the head of the

WHCD. What a wuss. :scared:

[Rex]

11. Playing it safe by picking Rich Little?

I expect Little to do his best Nixon and give Bush a verbal rimjob. He could do it.