Tuesday, September 14, 2004 :::
Jeff Jacoby has written recently about some of Kerry's attempts at humor:"A little more than 5,000 years ago, Moses said, 'Hitch up your camel, lift up your shovel, mount your ass. I will lead you to the promised land.' Five thousand years later, Franklin Roosevelt said, 'Light up a Camel, lay down your shovel, sit on your ass. This is the promised land.' Today, George Bush will outsource your camel, tax your shovel, kick your ass, and tell you there is no promised land."
No doubt there are some grouches who would regard this as excruciatingly unfunny, not to mention an insult to FDR. ("Lay down your shovel, sit on your ass" was not exactly the motto of the Works Progress Administration.) But as any connoisseur of good humor will attest, you can't hear jokes like this even in the best comedy clubs. Precisely correct.
Now, the punch line has some factual problems -- Bush has been cutting taxes on small business owners, and Kerry wants to raise them -- but the part that was seared -- seared -- into my memory was the line "George Bush will outsource your camel."
I'm all for nonsense humor, but this is more along the lines of dadaism, which is similar to nonsense humor, but without the humor. Nonetheless, as I roll around this phrase in my head, I'm increasingly taken by its beauty and mystery, or at least its mystery. If you get sick of me threatening to outsource people's camels, blame John Kerry.
::: posted by Steven at 1:14 AM
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