At Correspondents Dinner: Brian Williams Belches 'Battle Hymn of the Republic'

Newsbusters.org ^ | 3/29/07 | Scott Whitlock

[Killborn]

Good Lord.

Colin Mochrie or Brad Sherwood picked a song out of thin air. That song was the Battle Hymn. It could be I'ts Raining Men, Imagine, or any other freaking song in the world.

Take a chill pill. X7 dosage.

[Killborn]

One more thing, this sacred song has already been "blasphemed" by brave British and US paratroopers.

http://www.west-point.org/users/usma1981/38405/west_point/songs/bloodontherisers.htm

Prior to that it was remade into "John Brown's Body."

Geez Louise. FR can be so ridiculous sometimes.

[Let's Roll]

Oh, how cute.

[Jokelahoma]

When I was in grade school, we used the tune to sing a song about our teachers that today would get us arrested for threats of firearms violence. I'm probably going to hell for that one, too. :-)

[Killborn]

OOH! OHH! I'M ALL EARS!

[Sundog]

I like your mountain. You ought to go look at Mount Rushmore sometime. You would like to see what a real mountain looks like.

You know full well what I mean about losing the country. Nobody feels like defending it anymore. Or paying for it. Or taking care of all the sick people in it.

Is anyone supposed to take Brian Williams seriously anymore?

[1rudeboy]

You know full well what I mean about losing the country.

Trust me, I feel I'm losing my country also. To people who are telling me where to park my car, where to smoke my cigarettes, where to walk my dog, and yes, whether or not I can belch.

[Sundog]

OK.

I'll lighten it up a bit.

There is probably hope for Monical Lewinski.

Prior to his broadcasting career, Williams worked in the White House during the Carter administration, beginning as a White House intern.

[Fiji Hill]

As he died to make men holy, let us live to make men free;

This is a "politically correct" version. It should read, "as he died to make men holy, let us die to make men free."

Nonetheless, kudos to you for including the third verse, which is absent from the hymnals of some of our more liberal denominations.

[Fiji Hill]

In the 1960's, Roger Dewey recorded a Vietnam War version of the tune, which incorporates elements of John Brown's Body :

The bodies of the commies are a-moldering in the dew;
We shall frighten big Red China till she trembles through and through;
They call us the aggressor, but themselves the aggressor crew;
As we go marching on.

[Killborn]

That is most good. :)

[Kimmers]

IMO that is one of the most powerful hymns ever....I have trouble singing it however because it makes me cry every time.

[Neenah]

I said it before, I think these correspondents dinners are disgraceful. People whose sole concern it is to ruin people's lives..and then they all come together to laugh and drink while men and women are dying overseas. It makes me ill.

None, however, showed the video footage of the distinguished Brian Williams, anchor of the "NBC Nightly News," burping the "Battle Hymn of the Republic."

Thank you Hildy !!! I just said after reading this..." O.K. Now I can die ! I have finally SEEN AND HEARD IT ALL ! " .

Throw them ALL out ! Not funny! Then come on the t.v. the next day, after reading and seeing these clowns do and say what they did, and watch them PERFORM how serious they are about the troops !

BELCH THE BATTLE HYMN....WHAT? ...THE BATTLE....HYMN !

Walk into WALTER REED HOSPITAL and do that, Bryan ! And if the Pres. laughed at that....GO WITH HIM ! and do your thing there in front of the boys with no legs and arms..or half their head gone.

[Plains Drifter]

What you wrote was very well said and I agree with you 100%. I can't understand how a conservative administration would go to that dinner and make fools of themselves especially to a bunch of a$$ clowns whose sole purpose in life is to bring this country down. Especially any conservative government.

[RetSignman]

Personally, if I want funny I'll watch reruns of "Seinfeld" or "Everyone loves Raymond', they don't hold the future of the country in their hands and don't march men off the battlefield.

I also don't find it 'funny' when people in our party don't realize when they are being laughed AT to the delight of all the MSM.

Just take another look at that clip with Rove through the eyes of the media and you'll see a performing monkey.

[Dolphy]

These men are responsible for serious things. They need to act like serious people.

And that includes taking part in various "traditional" events. The President closed with somber remarks...and appropriately put it all in perspective.

[bonfire]

No wonder they want to kill us.

[Jokelahoma]

Yes, it's called self-deprecation. When you're called upon to take part in what is, for all practical purposes, a comedy show, you can bet the comedians aren't going to place you on a pedestal and make you look like some scholar. It takes a tremendous amount of self confidence to allow oneself to act silly like that in public.

Humor is perhaps the most personal of emotions. What's funny to some isn't to others. The problem arises when those who don't attempt to chastise those who do for having the audacity to laugh, especially when one is laughing at themselves. I found the Rove thing funny, as well as the burping. Others can disagree, but I won't listen to those who want to make those of us who laugh out to be somehow wrong.

[swmobuffalo]

Ya'll are aware of the background for this "hymn" aren't you?

I refuse to sing it, listen to it and certainly have no problem with letting people know it's rather specious origins.

[Killborn]

Talkin' 'bout "John Brown's Body"?