A recurring joke [at the Radio & Television Correspondents’ Association dinner] involved photos of the president in awkward positions — bent over as if he’s looking under a table, leaning to look out a window — accompanied by remarks such as “Those weapons of mass destruction must be somewhere!” and “Nope, no weapons over there!” and “Maybe under here?” — Washington Post

Not very funny at all. After sending 588 American soldiers to their deaths for his political war, after having lied to the American people about the reasons for that war (knowing full well they never would have agreed if told the truth), he has the unmitigated gall to joke about it. “Oh, isn’t it funny? I just started a war, killed more than half a thousand Americans, destabilized the Middle East, and sent us to the poorhouse! Oops! Let’s joke about it!” Already there are people writing in to TV shows complaining about his crass indifference, and more protest is certain to come soon.

After Richard Clarke put on a class act and begged for the forgiveness of the 9/11 families, family representatives marked their respect for his sensitivity. And just hours later, the president was making jokes that were sure to offend so many. And the scary thing is, just as it was with Bush using the video of a flag-draped corpse being pulled out of the WTC rubble in a campaign commercial, Bush and his people truly seem to think there is nothing wrong with this sort of thing. It’s as if they have zero empathy, no true sense for the feelings of people.

It is utterly amazing that this pathetic excuse for a president has either been revealed as a liar and a hack, or has shot himself in the foot, regularly, practically every other day for a few months now, and the press still gives him a wide berth. It is a wonder that his numbers are as high as 50%, even with the press laying off him so much. But I will return to my mantra: turnout, turnout, turnout. It doesn’t show up in polls. It sneaks up on you. And I think it will have a major effect, not only on the presidential election, but on the congressional elections as well. And: look at the third chart down at RealClear polls, and look at the numbers for Congress. The Democrats have consistently polled ahead, an average of 4% above Republicans. Maybe it’s just wishful thinking, and yes, it is way to early to tell. But: turnout, turnout, turnout. Repeat after me.

Another note in the “not funny” column. I heard a new expression in a report on the recent assassinations of Hamas leaders by Israel. The expression: “extra-judicial killings.” Is that what they call assassinations now? Ones that take out a target, and all too often a whole bunch of people–excuse me, “collateral damage”–with that target? Frankly, this is more scary than the Reaganspeak terminology (e.g., “freedom fighters” vs. “terrorists” to denote thugs we like and ones we don’t like). Now, direct from Israel, we have “extra-judicial killings” versus “homicide bombers” to denote Israel killing Palestinians and Palestinians killing Israelis. The Sharon government has been taking lessons from the GOP, it seems. News flash, folks: they’re all murders.