Abstract

Laughing With Bush

The author comments on the reactions of U.S. journalists to a joke made by George W. Bush about the search for weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. When George W. Bush appeared before the annual Radio & Television Correspondents' Association dinner and joked about his failure to find weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, it was a challenging--and illuminating--moment for the Washington media. As Bush flashed photographs of himself looking about the Oval Office and quipped, "Those weapons of mass destruction have got to be somewhere," the betuxed and begowned audience generally laughed. Perhaps it was not surprising that Bush was so insensitive. By turning his prewar misinformation--or disinformation--into material for yuks, he was downgrading a controversy. Suspicious minds can wonder if that was the strategic intent of the bit. But did the media have to go along? An extensive though unscientific review of the subsequent coverage suggests that many, if not most, in the Washington press corps saw Bush's shtick as no big deal. Much of the media approached the story as just another tussle between Democrats and Republicans. Not all Washington journalists and commentators went with the just-a-joke or it's-all-politics lines. Overall, there was more excuse and explanation than outrage and examination.