Washington Can't Take a Joke

(NEWSER) - Press Secretary Robert Gibbs today distanced the administration from 9/11-related comments made by comedian Wanda Sykes at the White House Correspondents dinner, Politico reports. Some things “are better left for serious reflection,” Gibbs said. “There's no doubt 9/11 is part of that.” Sykes suggested that “Rush Limbaugh was the 20th hijacker, but he was just so strung out on Oxycontin he missed his flight.” More»

White House correspondents' dinner comics' 'most feared' show

(NEWSER) - Wanda Sykes is getting ready for what could be the toughest gig of her life: the White House Correspondents’ Association dinner, attended by the president. Not particularly political, Sykes will be roasting a president who’s posed a challenge for her fellow comedians in front of an audience Bill Maher calls “the worst, most uptight crowd in the world,” the Wall Street Journal reports. More»

Won't comment on apology but reiterates that insult was out of bounds

(NEWSER) - Rush Limbaugh's "slut" attack on law student Sandra Fluke has no "place in public discourse," says President Obama. At his news conference today, Obama explained that he called Fluke after the incident because he wants people to be able to speak their minds about policy, noting that he wouldn't want his daughters "attacked or called horrible names" for voicing their opinions, the AP reports. As for Limbaugh's apology , Obama said he's not sure "what's in Rush Limbaugh's heart, so I'm not going to comment on the sincerity" of it. See the transcript of the exchange at USA Today . For more on the news conference itself, click here . More»

Press corps miffed by quiet social life, he suggests

(NEWSER) - President Obama isn't aloof, he says—it's just that he and Michelle don't tend to paint the town red. "My suspicion is that this whole critique has to do with the fact that I don’t go to a lot of Washington parties and, as a consequence, the Washington press corps maybe just doesn’t feel like I’m in the mix enough with them," he tells Time in an interview, noted by Politico . "And they figure, well, if I’m not spending time with them, I must be cold and aloof." More»

Rush doesn't believe 'ideal Republican' will turn his back on Obama

(NEWSER) - Colin Powell said this weekend that he wasn't all that sure about voting for President Obama this election, but Rush Limbaugh says that's a load of hooey, reports ThinkProgress . When it comes down to it, the "titular head of the Republican party, the ideal model Republican" will vote for the Democrat, says Limbaugh, because "melanin is thicker than water, folks. And that's what'll happen." More»