Apparently liberals think no joke is tasteless, said Shannon Bell in Right Pundits, as long as it targets Rush Limbaugh. Comic and actress Wanda Sykes' performance at the White House Correspondents dinner over the weekend was a prime example. Sykes said the conservative talk radio powerhouse may have been the 20th hijacker on Sept. 11 but missed his flight because he was "strung out on Oxycontin," and that Limbaugh hoped Obama fails, so she hoped Limbaugh's kidneys fail. "Real classy." (watch Wanda Sykes' performance at the White House Correspondents dinner)
Conservatives are just mad because Sykes hit the "bull's-eye," said Gordon Marino in The Huffington Post. Sykes really hit the mark in a joke about former Vice President Dick Cheney's claim that waterboarding was okay because it helped get information out of terrorists. That, Sykes said, was like saying, "Yeah, I robbed the bank, but look at all the bills I paid." Sykes was merely demonstrating how devastating it can be to wrap the truth in a joke.
Wanda Sykes' schtick wasn't about the truth, said Jonah Goldberg in National Review. It was "a cliché wrapped in a lefty talking point." And it also failed the basic requirement for biting humor—it wasn't funny. She made nothing but "harmless cutesy jokes" about President Obama, "but calling Limbaugh a traitor and a terrorist and hoping he dies is hilarious?"
Sykes should have anticipated the complaints from Limbaugh-loving cry-baby conservatives, said Yael T. Abouhalkah in the Kansas City Star. But Sykes didn't spare President Obama in her jokes. The bottom line is that these affairs are made for "sharp-elbowed humor." Sykes may have been a little over the top, but she was funny, so get over it.