Late-night hosts pile on as Bush's ratings drop

[Mark E. Smith]

Study shows sharp rise in number of jokes, most jabs about his intelligence.

NEW YORK - Perhaps sensing vulnerability, the late-night comics have been piling on President Bush.

During the first three months of the year, Bush has been the punch line of 307 monologue jokes by Jay Leno, David Letterman and Conan O'Brien, according to the Center for Media and Public Affairs, which studies this sort of thing. That compares to 197 jokes during the same period last year. For all of 2005, the center's statisticians counted 544 Bush jokes.

"Bush's numbers in public approval polls may be sinking consistently, but he's never been more popular with the late-night hosts," said Robert Lichter, the center's president.

Most of the jokes are about Bush's intelligence, rather than his policies, the center said.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/12614285

Perhaps it is the stupidity of his policies that make these comedians mock Bush's intelligence?

[xultar]

1. * is WAY WAY worse off than Clenis.

[SteppingRazor]

2. Maybe they finally ran out of Clinton jokes?

:shrug:

[MaineDem]

3. This is so pre-9/11

I remember his (lack of) intelligence was the fodder for these comedians back then. Wanda Sykes made a comment once to the effect "remember before 9/11 when Bush was stupid?"

[Lerkfish]

4. "pike on"?, how about "finally waking up"?

"piling on" attempts to elicit sympathy for someone unfairly targeted.

semantics is everything.

[gratuitous]

5. And it only took 'em six years

Brave, brave, brave, brave Sir Jay and Sir David. Now that it's safe, and the ground has been prepared by the likes of Cindy Sheehan, Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert, Jay and David feel secure enough to go down to the smoking battlefield and courageously shoot the wounded.

[sendero]

6. Exactly..

... the only good thing is that once the tipping point has been reached, even the most cowardly appeaser will come forth. It's not like Bush doesn't create more joke-opportunities-per-minute than any president in history...

[ShortnFiery]

7. As Jon Stewart once quipped, "The jokes almost write themselves." n/t