Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

Conservative Christians Not Laughing at First Lady's Comedy Act (BARF ALERT!)
The Swift Report ^ | 5/2/05

Posted on 05/02/2005 8:23:14 AM PDT by areafiftyone

First Lady Laura Bush may have stolen the show with her surprise comedy routine at this weekend's White House Correspondents' Association Dinner, but her jokes and one-liners have made her no new friends among conservative Christians. In an official statement, one 'pro-family' advocacy group warned that Mrs. Bush's jokes at the President's expense were in violation of the Biblical command that wives respect their husbands.

Some shocked by Mrs. Bush's reference to herself as a "desperate housewife"

WASHINGTON, DC—The First Lady may have stolen the show with her surprise comedy routine at the 91st White House Correspondents' Association Dinner, but not everyone appreciated her jokes and one-liners poking fun at President Bush. At least one organization of conservative Christians quickly lashed out at Mrs. Bush's performance, warning that her remarks at the President's expense were a public refutation of the Biblical command that wives should respect their husbands.

According to an official statement released over the weekend by the Coalition for Traditional Values, an organization that seeks a more flexible relationship between church and state, Mrs. Bush's jokes at her husband's expense amounted to a public emasculation of the President. Pastor Roy DeLong, the statement's author and chair of the group, warns that the First Lady's performance comes at a time when the Mr. Bush's "manliness is already under attack."

Laura: Meet Ephesians

As a believer, President Bush is no doubt familiar with the passage from Ephesians that says 'Wives, submit yourselves unto your husbands, as unto the Lord,'" says Mr. DeLong. "That means that just as Christ is the head of the church, the husband is the head of the wife. That is not the

Mrs. Bush interrupted a speech being given by her husband at the annual dinner, remarking that "I have a few things I want to say for a change." She then proceeded to mock his performance, both public ("if you really want to end tyranny in the world, you're going to have to stay up later") and private, noting that by nine o'clock, Mr. Bush, whom she referred to as "Mr. Excitement," is typically sound asleep.

"One of the Proverbs says that 'a virtuous woman is a crown to her husband, but she that maketh him ashamed is as rottenness in his bones," notes Mr. DeLong. "I bet President Bush is feeling pretty rotten today."

Manliness in question

The rebuke to the First Lady's stand-up act comes on the heels of mounting concern about the President's image. Last week, Mr. Bush was seen holding hands with Crown Prince Abdullah of Saudi Arabia. Then the President raised eyebrows anew when he asked a crowd of supporters in Galveston, TX if they celebrated Splash Day, an annual gay pride event in that state, best known for attracting tens of thousands of buff men, wearing little more than suntan oil.

Even some members of Mr. Bush's famously loyal party looked askance at his recommendation during a speech on the nation's energy needs last week, when he encouraged Americans to consider driving hybrid vehicles, widely believed to be 'gay' cars.

Depraved housewives?

While the Coalition for Traditional Values was the first conservative advocacy group to jump on the First Lady's comments, more criticism is expected. In her remarks, Mrs. Bush likened herself to a desperate housewife, a reference to the hit show on ABC, noting that she watches the show with Lynne Cheney, wife of the Vice President.

"Desperate Housewives" has come under heavy fire from pro-family groups, including the American Decency Association, which has called for a boycott of ABC for airing the "degraded" show. Last fall, Mrs. Cheney asked the federal government to step in to protect the nation's children from the "Desperate Housewives."


TOPICS: News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: articleissatire; laurabush; satire; whcadinner
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-2021-4041-6061-80 ... 161-175 next last
To: areafiftyone

"Desperate Housewives" has come under heavy fire from pro-family groups, including the American Decency Association, which has called for a boycott of ABC for airing the "degraded" show. Last fall, Mrs. Cheney asked the federal government to step in to protect the nation's children from the "Desperate Housewives."


You won't catch me watching THAT trash.


21 posted on 05/02/2005 8:31:37 AM PDT by nmh (Intelligent people recognize Intelligent Design (God).)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Bahbah

"In an official statement, one 'pro-family' advocacy group warned that Mrs. Bush's jokes at the President's expense were in violation of the Biblical command that wives respect their husbands."

One pro advocacy group eh...awfully unspecific, that could be anybody including some wacked out fringe group predciting the rapture this Friday. That is if the author didn't just plain make it up.


22 posted on 05/02/2005 8:31:39 AM PDT by traderrob6
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 9 | View Replies]

To: goldstategop

I guess the offensive part just went over my head.


23 posted on 05/02/2005 8:32:35 AM PDT by ClaireSolt (.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 13 | View Replies]

To: areafiftyone

This is a bunch of, well, you know. I'm a conservatice Christian and I thought she was very funny. Just something else to try and make the Christians look like a bunch of prudes. Sorry - we know better!


24 posted on 05/02/2005 8:33:22 AM PDT by mlc9852
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: areafiftyone

I only heard the "Mr. Excitement" comment and the "stay up later than 9 o'clock if you're going to rid the world of anarchy" comment but I didn't find anything offensive and I'd like to think I am a pretty conservative guy...to the contrary, I thought Laura Bush was very funny! She can certainly give "one liners" better than Leno!(of course that's not saying much...my cat gives better "one liners" LOL)


25 posted on 05/02/2005 8:34:37 AM PDT by kellynla (U.S.M.C. 1st Battalion,5th Marine Regiment, 1st Marine Div. Viet Nam 69&70 Semper Fi)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: traderrob6
That is if the author didn't just plain make it up.

And THAT is a distinct possibility.

26 posted on 05/02/2005 8:35:24 AM PDT by Bahbah (Something wicked this way comes)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 22 | View Replies]

To: areafiftyone

I have a feeling this article was written as a parody.


27 posted on 05/02/2005 8:35:24 AM PDT by Irish Queen
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: areafiftyone; rhema; AppyPappy
  1. I'm a religious right-wing extremist.
  2. I do not believe, as do many FReepers, that saying something was a joke excuses absolutely everything (cf. Proverbs 26:18-19).
  3. Though I like her and think she's a great first lady, I've never heard anything that makes me think that Laura Bush is a Christian.
  4. Therefore Ephesians 5, true as it is, wouldn't be the text I myself would share with her.
  5. Even if she were a Christian, kidding and spoofing like this within marriage isn't necessarily a problem at all.
  6. Having said that, I heard her whole routine, and thought it was funny, and harmless. Period.
Dan
Biblical Christianity BLOG
28 posted on 05/02/2005 8:36:00 AM PDT by BibChr ("...behold, they have rejected the word of the LORD, so what wisdom is in them?" [Jer. 8:9])
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

Part of the humor is the "irony" of the comments. It was great. G.W. is a very lucky man!


29 posted on 05/02/2005 8:36:17 AM PDT by Rocket1968 (No more Daschle - No more Daschle)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 22 | View Replies]

To: areafiftyone
I question the authenticity of the "official release".

The pdf linked says it was written by "Pastor Roy DeLong, Chairman, Coalition for Traditional Values". But Roy DeLong is not the Chairman of the TVC-- that is Rev. Lou Sheldon.

I know this all too well because somehow I got on their email list and get spammed with all of their press releases and fundraising appeals-- and I can't get off the list. And I get mail from Sheldon just about every day accordingly.

And I did not get any such release in my email.

A google Search of "Roy DeLong" and "Coalition for Traditional Values" yeilds only a few hits, none of which show any indication that DeLong is part of the TVC leadership. A search on "Roy DeLong" and "Traditional Values Coalition" yields nothing.

30 posted on 05/02/2005 8:36:34 AM PDT by Dales
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: traderrob6

There are a couple of links on the webpage to these websites and their quotes but I didn't want to post the links. If you go on the website you will see the links. These groups are a bunch of weenies!


31 posted on 05/02/2005 8:36:34 AM PDT by areafiftyone (Politicians Are Like Diapers, Both Need To Be Changed Often And For The Same Reason!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 22 | View Replies]

To: areafiftyone
I don't think it is "these people" as much as it is "that person." "Pastor Roy DeLong, the statement's author and chair of the group.."

The television show deserves criticism and I have read criticism from the left as well as the right. Laura's jokes were jokes and should not be taken seriously. This reminds me of the left and their tirade against Ann Coulter's humor, calling it "hate speech." What do you do with someone who has no sense of humor?

32 posted on 05/02/2005 8:36:38 AM PDT by The Ghost of FReepers Past (Legislatures are so outdated. If you want real political victory, take your issue to court.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 12 | View Replies]

To: areafiftyone

"I'm sorry, but these people need to lighten up they sound like nuts!"

They are nuts.


33 posted on 05/02/2005 8:36:50 AM PDT by don'tbedenied
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: areafiftyone
Oh, for the love of Pete! I am a pretty straight-laced, conservative Christian and I thought her comments were funny. I am sure there are legalists out there, they used to be known as Pharasis in biblical times.

Just another attempt to develop a wedge issue.

34 posted on 05/02/2005 8:37:13 AM PDT by Obadiah
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: BibChr

See above.


35 posted on 05/02/2005 8:37:46 AM PDT by Dales
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 28 | View Replies]

To: areafiftyone
In an official statement, one 'pro-family' advocacy group warned that Mrs. Bush's jokes at the President's expense were in violation of the Biblical command that wives respect their husbands.

Nobody can create a wedge issue like advocacy groups. IMHO Mrs. Bush only violated the command if the President had no idea what she was going to say and was embarassed by it. Knowing W. as little as I do, he probably howled.

Not the kinds of jokes I would have necessarily told, but no reason to bash the First Lady. However, the picture of Ruth Bader Ginsburg at Chippendales did leave me a little nausious (sp?).

Shalom.

36 posted on 05/02/2005 8:37:49 AM PDT by ArGee (Why do we let the abnormal tell us what's normal?)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: OrangeDaisy

Actually they could have asked me. I'm a conservative Christian and I didn't find them funny but rather crass and something I would have expected at a Clinton dinner.


37 posted on 05/02/2005 8:38:29 AM PDT by billbears (Deo Vindice)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 10 | View Replies]

To: goldstategop
Heck, the Democrats have said things in poor taste and there wasn't this kind of uproar.

Can't really use that one, the Dems don't claim to have any class. If you don't claim to have any, nobody gets upset if you don't.

However, I see no problem with what the First Lady did, as long as her husband was not ambushed by it. I am sure he howled during the practice sessions.

Shalom.

38 posted on 05/02/2005 8:39:57 AM PDT by ArGee (Why do we let the abnormal tell us what's normal?)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 13 | View Replies]

To: All
THE LETTER IS RIGHT HERE in PDF Format CLICK
39 posted on 05/02/2005 8:40:16 AM PDT by areafiftyone (Politicians Are Like Diapers, Both Need To Be Changed Often And For The Same Reason!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: areafiftyone
Mrs. Bush interrupted a speech being given by her husband at the annual dinner, remarking that "I have a few things I want to say for a change."

She then proceeded to mock his performance, both public ("if you really want to end tyranny in the world, you're going to have to stay up later") and private, noting that by nine o'clock, Mr. Bush, whom she referred to as "Mr. Excitement," is typically sound asleep.

Now that is some funny stuff!

Why can't these prudes find something really indecent to protest?

40 posted on 05/02/2005 8:40:18 AM PDT by ActionNewsBill ("In times of universal deceit, telling the truth is a revolutionary act")
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-2021-4041-6061-80 ... 161-175 next last

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson