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The Gridiron Club roasts national leadersThe club motto, "singe, but never burn"
WASHINGTON (AP) -- On a night full of laughs and lampooning, thoughts of a looming war were not straying far from center stage for much of official Washington. In white tie and tails, President Bush and other political leaders convened Saturday for the 118th annual Gridiron dinner, a ritual songfest that features journalists with outlandish costumes and untrained voices lampooning the leaders and topics of the day. The topics these days do not easily lend themselves to levity. "We had some concerns about writing humor in the face of war, threatened terrorism and economic woes," Walter Mears, retired Associated Press special correspondent and vice president, noted in opening the show. Thankfully, Mears said, the Bush administration and Congress provided the script: "I mean, no satirist could have dreamed up the duct tape caper." In the final speech of the evening, Bush was planning to trade in the traditional comedic monologue for a brief but somber address, "reflecting the seriousness of the times that we're in," White House spokesman Taylor Gross said. The show itself was mining serious subjects for humor set to familiar tunes. One skit portrayed Secretary of State Colin Powell crooning that North Korea's president "has a nuclear bomba ... what if he sells it to Osama?" Another had a jazzy Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Gen. Richard Myers singing "Yakety yak, attack Iraq." In contrast to the lightheartedness, the traditional performance by the U.S. Marine Band, including a medley of armed forces anthems, took on increased emotion with war in Iraq seemingly imminent. The Gridiron Club, consisting of 60 Washington newspaper bureau chiefs, columnists, reporters, cartoonists and editors, exists only for the annual roasting of politicos. Their production also relies on a few talented singers brought on board as "limited members." The club motto, "singe, but never burn," helps assure an audience of Cabinet secretaries, Supreme Court justices, Congress members, ambassadors, military brass and other muckety-mucks. Since the Gridiron was founded in 1885, every president, save Grover Cleveland, has shown up for a ribbing. Cleveland felt the press had burned him already. For Bush, there was a skit portraying political adviser Karl Rove as a harmonica-playing riverboat gambler: "I got to mind W's grammar and massage W's feelings, I can't be revealing that the real boss is me." To prove that Republicans and Democrats can take a joke, and even make a few, Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, R-Tennessee, and North Carolina Sen. John Edwards, a Democratic presidential contender, prepared their parties' official responses. Copyright 2003 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
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