May 4, 2010

"So Obama, Pelosi, and Reid are in a row boat, and it springs a leak and starts to sink. Who gets saved? The American people."

Senator Kyl tells a poor joke and gets "a big laugh" at the National Republican Senatorial Committee retreat.

Kyl's joke is...
... terrible because it envisions the death of real human beings.
... terrible because it's either old or it sounds like it's old.
... okay because who cares what dumb verbiage was used to loosen up a crowd.
... okay because it conveys a core truth that justifies a little sadism.
  
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57 comments:

Original Mike said...

okay because it conveys a core truth and anybody who thinks it's a real wish for people to die is too stupid to argue with.

Where was this option?

Andrea said...

You want terrible? Here you go:

Q: What do you call ten thousand lawyers at the bottom of the ocean?

A: A good start.

Okay! Here's another:

Q: Why won't sharks attack lawyers?

A: Professional courtesy.

I'll be here all night, folks. Hey! You in the back! I hope that's organic tomatoes you're preparing to throw at me!

Lem the artificially intelligent said...

A rehash on who wanted who dead first bla bla bla.. in 4, 3, 2

holdfast said...

I vote for "Dumb (as in Jim Jones or Joe Biden dumb), because it will be used again him and the GOP, even though we all know that he doesn't really want them dead or harmed."

-Now exiled in moderate comfort for the next decade, I could get behind that....

Hoosier Daddy said...

Why was that terrible? Is the truth too terrible to contemplate now?

MadisonMan said...

Why the assumption that no one knows how to swim?

Anonymous said...

It's a terrible joke because the morons in the boat aren't set afire before it sinks.

Now THAT would have been funny.

Darcy said...

I vote for Original Mike's option.

John said...

No worse than President Obama joking about sending predator drones after the Jonas brothers.

Original Mike said...

Hi Darcy!

MaggotAtBroad&Wall said...

Silly -- because he should know the only politician who can pretend to be a comedian and not be scrutinized for it is Obama.

Anonymous said...

"Why the assumption that no one knows how to swim?"

MSNBC reports that 60% of black children cannot swim. (Ever seen Obama in the water? He's the only Kenyan, er ... wait, no ... Hawaiian ... to have never swam in the Ocean.)

MSNBC are racists - of course - for pointing out that black people can't swim ... almost as if they're suggesting there might be a genetic pre-disposition.

MSNBC is the all-white channel though, so that's probably why they study black people like this to find deficiencies with which to disgrace them.

Darcy said...

Hi Mike! You crack me up, as usual. :)

Original Mike said...

@MM: Because then we would not have been saved.

Joe Biden, America's Putin said...

Kyl will have to grovel at the media's feet and beg for forgiveness.


Remember when "you lie!" almost brought down the entire government?
Oh the humanity!

Alex said...

Come on if this was Pelosi saying the same thing about Republicans, ya'll be screaming bloody murder.

Original Mike said...

{blushes}

David said...

Who was the last funny politician?

Original Mike said...

"Come on if this was Pelosi saying the same thing about Republicans, ya'll be screaming bloody murder."

Too stupid to argue with.

Ann Althouse said...

@Andrea I've blogged about that.

@holdfast Good option. I'd have included it if I'd thought of it.

MadisonMan said...

I think if you had stopped the purchase, and left the store, with or without talking to the Manager -- preferably with -- that the clueless clerk might have gotten an appropriate message.

Mr. D said...

It's a very old joke -- first version I heard of it had Margaret Thatcher and Arthur Scargill in the boat. If Neil Kinnock had been in the boat, Biden would have told the joke, I think.

sarainitaly said...

Anyone who tries to make this an issue is a complete dolt. It's an old joke. This partisan crap is getting so completely out of hand.

Obama jokes about sending predator drones to wipe out the Jonas Brothers (who took offense to being called pedophiles) and people want to get their panties in a twist about this stupid old joke?

ugh. silly season is in full bloom.

Hoosier Daddy said...

Who was the last funny politician?

Oh come on Darcy! Everytime Biden opens his mouth I have to remind myself that he isn't imitating Norton from the Honeymooners!

Superdad said...

"Kyl will have to grovel at the media's feet and beg for forgiveness."

BS - if the media ask about it he should respond: It is called a joke you moron lighten the heck up. Next question.

Synova said...

Heh.

I just noticed the guy's last name.

Anyone know how it is pronounced?

former law student said...

In previous incarnations of this joke, the occupants were

George Bush, Dick Cheney, and Karl Rove

Newt Gingrich, Pat Buchanan, and George Bush

Bill Clinton, Al Gore, Tipper, and Hillary

Kyl leaves out the vital "there's only one life preserver" element.

Balfegor said...

It's not terribly, but it's not okay either. I think it falls in the "inappropriate" range -- inconsistent with the dignity of his office.

DADvocate said...

Not such a bad joke in my book. Unless you believe that this is a call for people to poke holes in row boats every where in the hope that a liberal will drown.

What's the difference between a lawyer and catfish?

One is a slimy, yellow-bellied, scum sucking, bottom feeder and the other is a fish.

Revenant said...

Kyl's joke is...

My vote goes for "funny".

Unknown said...

Alex said...

Come on if this was Pelosi saying the same thing about Republicans, ya'll be screaming bloody murder.

Take your y'all and stick it someplace. Republicans and Conservatives took a lot worse than this for 8 years.

The usual suspects seem to be staying away because they probably know any objection will be met with a catalog of their Dubya assassination wet dreams.

Kyl probably should have kept his mouth shut due to the all-consuming Double Standard. That said, when the Chief Executive refers to a mass movement of the American people exercising their First Amendment right to peaceful assembly and to petition the government for redress of grievance with a sexual slur, Kyl's witticism is small potatoes.

Bob Ellison said...

Jon Kyl usually sets an example of honorable comportment. This joke would be funny at a bar, but is inappropriate coming from the Senate minority whip, just as it's inappropriate for Obama to joke about sending predator drones after the Jonas Brothers.

Neither offense is large, though.

DADvocate said...

I kind of like the idea of predator drones going after the Jonas brothers. To bad drones weren't as sophisticated when Hanson was around.

I'm Full of Soup said...

Will Obama re-enact his Cambridge comment by saying "The Philadelphia police acted stupidly" in tasering a baseball fan who ran on the field. Heh.

Phil 314 said...

For Alex;

I'm shocked and appalled at that joke. This is just disgusting and suggestive how of how low and mean our political discourse has become

We now return to our regularly scheduled programming.

Unknown said...

I should point out that this joke was told during World War II with Hitler, Goering and Goebbels in a plane.

It was told during the Cold War with Stalin and the Politburo in a plane.

It was told during the VietNam War with Nixon and Agnew in a plane.

I am sure that it was told about the Kaiser in a ship during World War I, but I have not seen it.

Notice that in this case, it is not a plane so there is a lower carbon footprint.

I'm Full of Soup said...

Btw the joke makes no sense because everyone knows Obama can walk on water.

JAL said...

Hi Darcy.

Where ya been?

wv mumpses
What Gollum had when he was a hobbit kid.

lemondog said...

does botox float?

Dark Eden said...

Call me crazy but in this hyperpartisan time when everyone is either a nazi racist teabagger or a marxist socialist moonbat, I don't like either side making jokes about murdering each other. I'd rather try to defuse rather then build up the rhetoric.

Opus One Media said...

Actually its a funny little joke and so much better than the typical right wing "pull my finger haha" stuff.

Freeman Hunt said...

My vote goes for "funny".

Yes, where was that option?

Perhaps not an ideal joke for a senator to tell, but if telling a silly joke is Kyl's biggest sin as opposed to oh, say abusing your office like the three others, then he's still in good shape.

Freeman Hunt said...

I suppose I would have preferred, at least, that the President had been left out of it. He's an exceptionally terrible President, but somehow even jokes that involve the President dying seem unbecoming.

But maybe that's just my socially ingrained and sometimes irrational speech codes writing.

damikesc said...

Alex, if Pelosi said, my opinion would be the same:

Its a really old and bad joke

I'm Full of Soup said...

There is an old Joe Paterno joke that goes something like this:

Joe is fishing with another head coach whose team Paterno beats like a drum year after year. Well, Joe falls overboard and the other coach fishes him out and saves his life.

Paterno thanks him and says "but please don't tell anyone about this because people think I can walk on water".

The other coach says "I promise but just don't tell my team's fans that I saved you".

lemondog said...

..but somehow even jokes that involve the President dying seem unbecoming.

Death theme in the NJ teachers union 'prayer-joke.'

NJ Teachers Union jokes about Gov. Christie’s death

“Dear Lord this year you have taken away my favorite actor, Patrick Swayze, my favorite actress, Farrah Fawcett, my favorite singer, Michael Jackson, and my favorite salesman, Billy Mays. I just wanted to let you know that Chris Christie is my favorite governor.”

David said...

The dignity of his office? He's a senator. If he was restricted to jokes commensurate with the dignity of his office, he'd always be telling The Aristocrats.

Dustin said...

I love how the nuts assert that Boehner would automatically be as much trouble as Pelosi.

OK, whatever. We were freaking about Bush's 400 billion dollar deficit, but it's hardly the kind of trouble the democrats got us in.

They have obviously and dramatically made things worse than if the GOP was running things, and perhaps it's not fashionable to admit that the GOP would be a huge damn improvement and probably even lengthen the lifetime of the Republic.

jeff said...

ancient ancient joke. And harmless. And to be repeated with a different cast when the Republicans are in power. I got my first "Then in 2008, Obama said, "Throw away your shovel, sit on your ass, light up a Camel; this is the promised land.
Then in 2010, Obama takes your shovel, sells your camel, kicks your ass, and says there is no promised land." in email just a week ago.
I remember this being passed around as a chain letter with Carter in it back in the day. If I was older, I'm sure I would remember previous presidents in it.

"“Dear Lord this year you have taken away my favorite actor, Patrick Swayze, my favorite actress, Farrah Fawcett, my favorite singer, Michael Jackson, and my favorite salesman, Billy Mays. I just wanted to let you know that Chris Christie is my favorite governor.”

There is now a facebook group where they swapped out Christie for Obama as a favorite president and people are OUTRAGED that people are praying for the presidents death. While I find the Jonas brother joke funny I think I will create a facebook page tonight condemning the POTUS for calling private citizens pedophiles and threatening them with death by way of predator drones. Which is factually true, and factually ridiculous. Just like the uproar over this joke.

former law student said...

I love how the nuts assert that Boehner would automatically be as much trouble as Pelosi.

Boehner was one of Newt's Nuts, so we're right to be suspicious. But Boehner seems harmless enough. Here are the big accomplishments of his time as House Majority Leader:



8. [109th] H.RES.957 : Directing the Sergeant at Arms of the House of Representatives to deliver the mace of the House of Representatives to the Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution for necessary repairs.
Sponsor: Rep Boehner, John A. [OH-8] (introduced 7/27/2006) Cosponsors (None)
Latest Major Action: 7/27/2006 Passed/agreed to in House. Status: On agreeing to the resolution Agreed to without objection.


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

13. [109th] H.R.4 : To provide economic security for all Americans, and for other purposes.
Sponsor: Rep Boehner, John A. [OH-8] (introduced 7/28/2006) Cosponsors (4)
Committees: House Ways and Means; House Education and the Workforce
Latest Major Action: Became Public Law No: 109-280 [GPO: Text, PDF]


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

19. [109th] H.R.3784 : To temporarily extend the programs under the Higher Education Act of 1965, and for other purposes.
Sponsor: Rep Boehner, John A. [OH-8] (introduced 9/15/2005) Cosponsors (5)
Committees: House Education and the Workforce; Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions
Latest Major Action: Became Public Law No: 109-81 [GPO: Text, PDF]


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------


23. [109th] H.R.4525 : To temporarily extend the programs under the Higher Education Act of 1965, and for other purposes.
Sponsor: Rep Boehner, John A. [OH-8] (introduced 12/14/2005) Cosponsors (5)
Committees: House Education and the Workforce
Latest Major Action: Became Public Law No: 109-150 [GPO: Text, PDF]


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

24. [109th] H.R.4579 : To amend title I of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974, title XXVII of the Public Health Service Act, and the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to extend by one year provisions requiring parity in the application of certain limits to mental health benefits.
Sponsor: Rep Boehner, John A. [OH-8] (introduced 12/16/2005) Cosponsors (None)
Committees: House Education and the Workforce; House Energy and Commerce; House Ways and Means
Latest Major Action: Became Public Law No: 109-151 [GPO: Text, PDF]


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

25. [109th] H.R.5684 : To implement the United States-Oman Free Trade Agreement.
Sponsor: Rep Boehner, John A. [OH-8] (by request) (introduced 6/26/2006) Cosponsors (1)
Committees: House Ways and Means
House Reports: 109-574
Latest Major Action: Became Public Law No: 109-283 [GPO: Text, PDF]


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

One of Boehner's failures:


26. [109th] H.R.5827 : To make Celina, Ohio, eligible for certain rural development loans and grants.
Sponsor: Rep Boehner, John A. [OH-8] (introduced 7/18/2006) Cosponsors (None)
Committees: House Agriculture
Latest Major Action: 8/3/2006 Referred to House subcommittee. Status: Referred to the Subcommittee on Conservation, Credit, Rural Development, and Research.

jeff said...

fls, cool. Now lets see the cherry picked bills from Senator Obama. Yes, I know Boehner is in the house. Oh, and what non biased source determined those where "the big accomplishments of his time as House Majority Leader"?

Nora said...

"... terrible because it envisions the death of real human beings."

What a sad comment on the current state of our over Politically Correct humorless society, when even a joke can't use a hyperbole.

EnigmatiCore said...

How about "Terrible, because it just plain isn't funny?"

vw: amelint. Which is also not funny. Camelint would have been somewhat more humorous. But not as much as Cameltoelint would have been.

As my whimsy leads me.. said...

Some jokes don't work just because the situation is impossible to imagine. Obama and Pelosi in a rowboat? Are you kidding? Reid--maybe. But the other two??? No way!

Toy

mariner said...

Jeff:

I got my first "Then in 2008, Obama said, "Throw away your shovel, sit on your ass, light up a Camel; this is the promised land.

You're right.

I first saw that one in the mid-60s, about LBJ.

Anonymous said...

I like the 4 choices in the poll. The scope of the questions probably allow for one good choice for most of us.

I chose "whatever to loosen up a crowd" because while the joke is lame and old and has been retold over the years in various forms and is thus ultimately not very funny or surprising, these crowds need to have their shell cracked with a joke in order to wake them up.

The joke would have been unacceptable if it had adapted the verbiage to include a bomb.

former law student said...

what non biased source determined those where "the big accomplishments of his time as House Majority Leader"?

1. Bills
2. Sponsored by Boehner
3. While he was House Majority Leader
4. That were signed into law.

Except for the mace repair. The President didn't need to sign that one; I just threw it in.

Jeff, the Camel joke goes back to FDR and the New Deal. I believe I read this in a book written by the late Berkeley folklorist Alan Dundes.