“No One Told Me What To Say Or Not Say” At Clinton Correspondents’ Dinner…

[CatWoman]

Elayne Boosler

And therein lies the difference in character of administrations. Whatever you think of this White House, you can now add "weenies" to the list. They control the press (you know what Al Jazeera means in English? Fox News), the message, the congress (until now, hopefully), the legal system (Guantanamo, military tribunals, whom lawyers can and cannot defend), the "artistic interpretation" of the Constitution (what is it, Swan Lake?) the bills passed by congress (illegal signing statements, or singeing statements, hey, maybe that's why they said singe), appointments (John Bolton, reactionary right wing judges, all appointed by executive decree while congress was in recess), the limiting of young girls' lives and opportunity (gutting Title IX by executive decree, no access to birth control, abstinence only teaching that doesn't work), etc. etc. But now they've just gone too far!!! Telling a comedian what he can and cannot say?


When Bill Clinton was elected president, I was the first comedian chosen to entertain at the White House Press Correspondents' Dinner. It was May, 1993, one hundred days into his first term, and there was enough kindling in those three months to burn down Washington. Janet Reno had just blown the hostage situation in Waco, Texas, and 74 members of the Branch Davidians, men, women, and children, were dead. The Tailhook scandal had just come to light; U.S. Navy pilots were accused of drunken sexual abuse of their female comrades, and civilians, at their Las Vegas convention. Clinton had announced that to bring down the deficit he was, yes, raising taxes. The Republican congress was already dead set against any progress on his watch; he got no cooperation on his proposed health care, budget, or economic policy reforms.

These were raw, sensitive, explosive issues. There was a private cocktail party before the dinner. I thought that meant about a thousand people stuffed into a room, so I went down late. I walked into the room. It was a dozen people. Bill Clinton and a handful of young guys... and me. The president saw me. "Elayne's here! Get Jim. You have to see this!! This guy does the greatest Ross Perot!!" And over came Jim, and did his Ross Perot, and it was perfect, and we all laughed a lot. And we told jokes. And laughed some more. Hillary came in from giving a graduation speech in Washington. She was in a long gold gown, with long gold hair swept up in an intricate, beautiful do. In came Al Gore and Tipper. We talked, we laughed. The head of the White House Press Association entered, told us how to line up to enter and go to the dais where we would all be eating dinner before the speeches started. (I ate dinner with them first. On the dais. It was Bill, Hillary, Al Gore, Tipper, and me. I felt like the SAT sample question. What does not belong at this table?)

So here's my point. With the most combustible confluence of events ever to befall a new president, not once, ever, did anyone say to me, "Go easy. Don't burn". No one told me what to say or not say. In all that pre-dinner opportunity for someone to attempt to censor me, it never came up.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/elayne-boosler/my-dinner-with-clinton_b_39093.html

[mohinoaklawnillinois]

1. Thanks for posting this link Catwoman.

Elayne makes a valid point. Since when in this country did any comedian or comedienne need to be told to "go easy" on any political figure.

Disgusting, absolutely disgusting.

[Bolo Boffin]

2. Meanwhile, Rich is testing the waters:

http://www.newyorker.com/talk/content/articles/070129ta_talk_goldberg

Talking about the dinner, Little posed a question: “Do you think I could do a little sexual material?” He explained, “Sometimes I get a little too sexual.”

Asked for an example, he offered this joke: “Bill Clinton and his pal George Bush senior were sitting around, and Clinton says”—here he switches to Clinton’s voice—“ ‘George, have you ever tried Viagra?’

“ ‘I can’t say,’ ” Little’s George H. W. Bush answers. “ ‘I don’t even know what the hell it is.’

“ ‘Mr. President,’ Clinton says, ‘it gives you great staying power.’

“ ‘Really?’ Bush says. ‘Can I get it over the counter?’

“Clinton answers, ‘I suppose you can, if you take two or three of them.’

“That’s a funny joke,” Little said.

I'm glad he pointed that out. :eyes:

[enigmatic]

4. I think even the geriatric crowd would find that one lame

I remember Rich Little had a sex scandal of his own about 10 years ago involving a female magician in Las Vegas that he had a relationship with; does anybody recall that?

[JohnnyRingo]

6. The last paragraph explains why nobody told him "what to say...

..or what not to say", as per the original post":

Little paused, and said, “That’s funny. But, believe me, you won’t hear the word ‘Iraq’ out of my mouth the whole evening. They know I’m a safe bet over there at the White House.”

They don't have to tell him not to insult his favorite president.
Dennis Miller would have been a more logical choice, but I guess they were looking for a comedian.

[enigmatic]

7. you know, I'm shocked they didn't ask him

Miller would have probably grovelled for that bone and said whatever they wanted him to say, too...

[enigmatic]

3. Elayne is hilarious

And a helluva singer, too.

[Bucky]

5. Elayne Boosler is SO hot!

Okay, that's not what's important about this article. I get that. You don't have to yell at me.

But still....

Can you blame me for being so shallow?

[eppur_se_muova]

8. Aargh, too late to rec ... So, I once sat behind someone who sat next to Bill ...

just not at the same time. I went to a rally for Kerry in Maine, and Boozler did a lot of the talking. She had her hair cut totally different, so I didn't recognize her, and had been sitting behind her waiting for things to get started. Then they introduced her, and to my surprise, the woman in front of me got up and ran to the podium! My little brush with greatness.