Top Ten Funniest Political Moments Of 2006
December 7, 2006 at 9:36 am
Try to name the funniest moments in politics this year, and you’ll immediately think of violent assaults with deadly, hilarious weapons. Yes, this was the year that politics met broad physical humor. And crime. Lots and lots of crime. Face it: Crime pays — with huge belly laughs.
Here then the list of the top ten funniest political moments of 2006 — a year experts will surely call the funniest ever for politics. Warning — don’t read further without first donning your body armor.
1) The year opens with a bang. The opening of lawyer hunting season is ceremoniously marked when Dick Cheney shoots Harry Whittington.
2) Cynthia McKinney hurls a cell phone at a Capitol Police officer. The cell phone is swiftly wrestled to the floor and detained for questioning.
3) Jack Abramoff wears black hat, black coat to court. The disguise doesn’t help. Everyone notices him except for a traveling band of Chasidim.
4) Court documents show Rep. William Jefferson kept $90,000 in bribe money in his freezer. Federal investigators still poring over boxes and boxes of frozen pizzas.
5) Wonkette puts this one best: “The front page of Tom DeLay’s legal defense fund website. The featured clip is Stephen Colbert’s interview with Robert Greenwald, director of an anti-DeLay documentary. The DeLay team, in a mass email, claims that Colbert ‘cracks the story on real motivations behind the movie,’ presumably with questions like ‘Who hates America more, you or Michael Moore?’ which really get to the heart of Greenwald’s nefarious secret agenda. Stephen Colbert? Very probably funny. Tom DeLay? Hysterical.”
6) Valerie Plame and Joe Wilson sue for “gross invasion of privacy.” Makes sense. After all, a cornerstone of the Wilson-Plame family is the sacrosanct value of privacy. They really hate publicity.
7) Katherine Harris runs for Senate. Her campaign highlight is one perfectly-positioned blanket.
8) Borat make benefit glorious press conference in Washington outside Kazakhstan embassy — then leads two dozen reporters on pied piper-style march to glorious White House benefit.
9) President Bush — both of them — gets big laughs at the White House Correspondents Association dinner.
10) Fights breaking out in other countries’ parliaments are always hilarious. This year we were treated to an actual food fight — or at least one legislator in Taiwain chewing over a proposal on opening direct transport links with China.
Clearly a Taipei personality.
Stay tuned for Extreme Mortman’s next year-enders: Top Ten Funniest Political Quotes in 2006 … and Top Ten Funniest Things Celebrites Said About Politics in 2006.
All of which made 2006 the funniest year ever for politics.
David Sherman said,
December 7, 2006 @ 1:50 pm
I don’t know Mortman. I thought this October quote from the president was pretty funny :
“Absolutely, we’re winning.”
TexasRainmaker said,
December 7, 2006 @ 2:46 pm
You forgot the annual event: a Kennedy getting hammered.
Del Davis said,
December 7, 2006 @ 2:48 pm
What about John Kerry’s hilarious botched joke?
Surely the entire sorry chain of events–stupid comment, resulting furor, definant press conference, furious backpeddling–was the most humorous moment of 2006.
Bilwick said,
December 7, 2006 @ 3:17 pm
Is that Katherine Harris herself in the saddle? If so, I’m impressed. Nice rack. I mean, “Nice tack.”
Webutante said,
December 7, 2006 @ 3:26 pm
Wonderful post! Heaven knows we need humor now, more than ever. Please do lots more thiscause there’s a lot not to laugh at out there these days. And when we lose our sense of humor, well you know the rest…
Webutante
Mister Snitch! said,
December 7, 2006 @ 3:28 pm
Nice job.
R C Dean said,
December 7, 2006 @ 4:04 pm
Is that Katherine Harris herself in the saddle?
Yes it is.
Kat said,
December 7, 2006 @ 4:08 pm
I laughed so hard at “Taipei personality” that my husband thought I was having an asthma attack.
I’m with Del Davis. Kerry’s “joke” deserves to make some top ten list or other. Maybe the Top Ten Funniest Political Quotes in 2006?
Bilwick said,
December 7, 2006 @ 4:14 pm
Thanks, R. C. I had heard Ms. Harris called “Cruella DeVille” but I don’t recall Cruella having that good a body. Something about those conservative Christian females with hot bods and a willingness to show them off that this lapsed Catholic boy finds especially yum-mee, in a “forbidden fruit” sort of way. .
darcy_lane said,
December 7, 2006 @ 4:32 pm
“4) Court documents show Rep. William Jefferson kept $90,000 in bribe money in his freezer. Federal investigators still pouring over boxes and boxes of frozen pizzas.”
What are they “pouring” over them, more sauce? Pore, not pour.
Also, where is “Jon Carry”’s fabulous funny joke? (or at least the soldier’s sign response: HALP US JON CARRY!)
Extreme Mortman said,
December 7, 2006 @ 4:45 pm
Extreme Mortman here — Thanks darcy_lane for pointing out the typo. Now fixed. And for everyone wondering where John Kerry’s Iraq joke is, stay tuned for the next installment: Top Ten Funniest Political Quotes of 2006.
Paul A'Barge said,
December 7, 2006 @ 5:01 pm
By the way, Katharine Harris on the horse? … You know how you can tell it’s purely a photo op?
Take a look at her boots in the stirrups. They don’t fit. No way she’s riding that horse with those stirrups about 3 inches too low.
Bilwick said,
December 7, 2006 @ 5:07 pm
I admit I wasn’t looking at the stirrups, but just some thoughts: Maybe Ms. Harris was just sitting on the horse when the photo was taken? Then began riding after the stirrups were adjusted? Or maybe she didn’t ride the horse at all that day, but just posed in the saddle? .
The False God said,
December 7, 2006 @ 5:16 pm
Where have you been, and why isn’t this in the list:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Series_of_tubes
Ted Stevens should be appearing on that list.
Honestly, how could you forget him?
Michael said,
December 7, 2006 @ 5:41 pm
>>Ted Stevens should be appearing on that list.
Honestly, how could you forget him? Oh, yes, yes yes.
Jon said,
December 7, 2006 @ 5:44 pm
What a great list !!!! Thanks.
Tom said,
December 7, 2006 @ 6:57 pm
Paul - you’re looking at the stirrups?
Bobby McGee said,
December 7, 2006 @ 7:36 pm
Somehow you missed the actual funniest moment of the year. Colbert at the White House Press dinner?
Billll said,
December 7, 2006 @ 8:21 pm
How bout the MWF inaugeral.
(Mexican Wrestleing Federation)
Even Ahnold was impressed with the action.
tom swift said,
December 8, 2006 @ 3:35 am
Of course Katherine Harris on a horse is a photo op. Heck, she’s not a Texan. If I was in whatever that state is that she’s from, I’d have voted for her. Does that make me a Republican? No, it makes me predictable. And I’m sticking with it.
brent said,
December 8, 2006 @ 6:37 am
hahahaha a taipei personality. excellent.
and yes, ted stevens is a must.
Chapy said,
December 8, 2006 @ 8:30 am
>>Is that Katherine Harris herself in the saddle?
>>Yes it is.
i’d hit it.
Jesse said,
December 8, 2006 @ 10:14 am
What about Steven Colbert’s performance at the White House Press Corps Dinner?
George A. Gelish said,
December 8, 2006 @ 12:29 pm
Guys,
I can’t believe you left out the FUNNIEST moment of the whole year, when they brought Steven Colbert in to perform at the White House Press Corps dinner. He ripped the Prez and Cheney while they sat there, smoldering!
Second place: when somebody had the bright idea to send Cheney out on the field at a Nationals game and he was soundly booed.
Third place: Dumbass at the NAACP dinner, seething in his chair while he is roundly dissed. He thinks he was mistreated but they were actually pretty civil… much more than I would have been to a man who has set race relations back thirty years!
Honorable mention: Yesterday when Dumbya said, “I want you to understand that I understand that things are hard in Iraq.” You were almost waiting for the punchline, “…But I’m staying the course anyway!”
Bilwick said,
December 8, 2006 @ 12:38 pm
I’m not a Bush fan, but have you ever noticed that the people most likely to make jokes about him being stupid (like callying him “Dumbya”–there’s Menckenesque wit for you) are usually the same people who believe all kinds of collectivist superstition even the banjo-playing kid from DELIVERANCE wouldn’t be retarded enough to believe? I have.
Pete Bogs said,
December 8, 2006 @ 12:54 pm
I had forgotten some of these! thanks for the review… looking forward (with dread) to 2007…
shieldvulf at playful said,
December 8, 2006 @ 1:48 pm
The year ain’t over yet! Just yesterday, Tony Blair said to President Bush, vis avis Iraq, “Thank you for your clarity of vision.” Apart from the dead, hysterical!
I also vote for Colbert’s shakedown of the Beltway Bores. The incomprehension of the talking heads to their hilarious comeuppance was priceless, too.
And what about Duke Cunningham crying for the cameras? There’s no crying in bribery!
Some of your readers are apparently not aware of the old Microsoft matching game, Taipei, whose punny name tells you who would want to play the thing. But don’t get me wrong, I like old jokes, too!
Cheers!
Allen said,
December 8, 2006 @ 2:29 pm
Yes that was Katherine Harris. You probably didn’t recognize her without her trademark Dalmation-puppy skin coat.
Bush=doy said,
December 8, 2006 @ 3:33 pm
The Bush impersonator performance was capital L Lame!!!! Only blowhards like Chris Matthews and Russert found that funny.
Stephen Colbert’s performance was infinitely better. Unless you were one of the stiffs in the room being verbally bitch-slapped who hasn’t gotten over it.
RTL said,
December 8, 2006 @ 4:16 pm
If Colbert had told a single orignal joke it may have been funny. Otherwise he just rehashed the usual hatespeech….ER….political discourse we’ve come to expect from lefties. The funniest thing about it is they really beleive that Bush/Cheney lost sleep over it. Personally, I found #4 to be the most funny.
logipundit said,
December 10, 2006 @ 10:14 am
Dude GREAT list…
Katherine Harris looks pretty damn hot…wow.
I really can’t believe Tom Delay put a Colbert clip on his defense fund website. How insanely hilarious.
Pervy Grin said,
December 12, 2006 @ 4:28 pm
Katherine Harris–wow! A hot bod, and even her face looks good without all the make up. But I confess I don’t get the “perfectly-positioned blanket” joke. It’s not the blanket that’s perfectly positioned in that photo op, IMHO.
Momus said,
December 12, 2006 @ 7:29 pm
I’m amazed you include that incredibly weak, approved-by-committee Bush impersonation from the White House Correspondents Association dinner, but not the far more daring and funny Colbert speech. One was just a lame piece of image-manufacturing designed to make the president look good by showing he could take a kidding, while the Colbert speech basically catapulted Stephen Colbert and his show into the national spotlight.
the REAL SLIM SHADY said,
December 13, 2006 @ 10:19 pm
Screw Kathrine…….we all did
kevin f said,
December 26, 2006 @ 2:10 pm
replace the dueling bushes with colbert’s speech!
Howard said,
December 30, 2006 @ 12:02 pm
Katherine Harris obviosly has a hot body….as to the sterrups….I have seen women keep the left sterrup lower so they can get on board easier. Many ppl just barely keep their feet in the sterrups riding..Mostly use for mounting the horse…..