Speeches by Barack Obama and Jimmy Kimmel at the White House Correspondents' Dinner 2012 - PLUS: Shockwaves go through Alaska - The "Juneau Empire" makes fun of Sarah Palin!

By Patrick

The White House Correspondents' Dinner is one of these events which is missing in all other countries of the world, as far as I can see - which is a real shame, as such an event should be mandatory for every head of government. Being forced to joke about yourself as well as about your opponents and the media is very revealing. Such a speech can go disastrously wrong, as for example George W. Bush poved when he joked about not finding WMD several years ago. However, if you are a head of government with a great sense of humour, and if you also come across as authentic, intelligent and confident, then such a speech can be a really good one and can also reveal a lot of good things about yourself. President Obama demonstrated this again last night with a very witty speech.

The pitbull joke was genius. There is one thing that Sarah Palin, the has-been GOP-starlett, really hates: Somebody joking about her in public, and her being unable to go on Fox and deliver a long rant about it. The pitbull joke tied in extremely nicely with the satire anti-Obama spot, which was also hilarious. President Obama was absolutely right: Last time, the kids were "off limits", but this time, dogs are not. This was so good, it could have been a segment on the "Daily Show." All the jabs at Romney in Obama's speech were great and well deserved.

Here is Obama's complete speech:

Here is Jimmy Kimmel's performance:

 

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BONUS:

Oh boy, some journalist in Alaska is going to get fired once the combined Palin-clan has started to turn on him and his paper! 

An Alaskan journalist named Geoff Kirsch apparently publishes a satire column called "slack tide" at the "Juneau Empire" on a regular basis. Nearly three years after Sarah Palin stepped back from the Governorship, it seems that the Alaskan media is finally "ready" to make Sarah Palin the subject of home-grown satire. 

So today Geoff Kirsch wrote a really funny and stingy column about Sarah Palin - and he should be happy if he doesn't receive any death threats and will only be expelled for life from Alaska as a punishment. ;-)

Big h/t to our reader KatieAnnieOakley!

Excerpt from the column at the Juneau Empire:

Sarah Louise Heath Palin (born Feb. 11, 1964) is a politician and political commentator — also known as a “pundititian” — a tabloid mainstay, a television personality and what some people might call an “author.”

Palin is currently Alaska’s second-largest export and, unlike its first, just when you think she’s past peak production, she drills down and hosts the “Today” show or something.

Sarah Palin also enjoys naming her children after inanimate objects.

As Republican nominee for Vice President of the United States in the 2008 presidential election, Palin was the first and probably last Alaskan to appear on a major party’s national ticket. She was also the first Republican woman nominated for the vice presidency, though the title of the first female VP nominee in general belongs to Geraldine Ferraro. But she never got a series on TLC.

Sarah Palin’s first book sold more than two million copies, doing so well, in fact, she released a companion video game: “Going Rogue,” a first-person shooter (mostly at wolves, from inside a helicopter).

Millions also tuned in to her Alaska-based TV show, the creatively titled “Sarah Palin’s Alaska,” a program intended to highlight “the wonder and majesty of Alaska,” by which she meant the wonder and majesty accessible to someone traveling with a film crew, a phalanx of assistants and her own hair and makeup team, in addition to Kate Gosselin. Plus eight.

(...)

On Aug. 29, 2008, Republican presidential candidate John McCain named Sarah Palin as his running mate, forever changing the fortune of rimless eyeglass manufacturers everywhere.

Reactions to Palin’s nomination were mixed, mostly centered on her lack of experience — or surplus of experience, depending on which cable news network you were watching. Regardless, Sarah Palin demonstrated an ability to read off a teleprompter. When push comes to shove, that’s all she really needed to be able to do.

Even though she and McCain lost the election, Sarah Palin set herself up for four years of will she/won’t she tension that makes for great television, ultimately deciding not to seek the Republican presidential nomination for 2012. But not before starting a political action committee, embarking on a high-profile cross-country bus tour and writing two books, “Going Rogue: An American Life” and its sequel “Going Rogue 2: Electric Boogaloo.” (Note: she later changed this title to “America by Heart.”)

A lifelong registered Republican, Palin has also been associated with the Tea Party and the Tea Party Express, which is like the Tea Party, only with a more limited menu and no seating area.

In August 2009, Sarah Palin caused a stir by coining the phrase “death panel,” to describe health care reform. This is not to be confused with “death paneling,” which is what a goth kid uses to finish the walls in his rumpus room.

Palin again made news in June 2011, when the state of Alaska released more than 24,000 pages of emails from her gubernatorial tenure. Most of these turned out to be forwards of “lolcats” between her and Levi Johnston.