Word: humors
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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...expert on everything, but I'm able to understand most things once I get the information." The freshman Congressman from Missouri's Fifth District, which embraces most of Kansas City, is unduly modest. His colleagues laud him as bright and able. His sense of humor is self-deprecatory, but Wheat, 31, a member of the powerful Rules Committee, takes his job seriously. Says an aide to House Speaker Tip O'Neill: "He worries about things like industrial policy...
...others need all the help they can get. At last spring's annual Gridiron Club dinner in Washington, Glenn was one of the main speakers, and he surely would have bombed if not for the work of a volunteer humor commando team: Buchwald, Shields, veteran Democratic Political Manager Frank Mankiewicz and CBS News Consultant Richard Drayne. Glenn was a hit. He pretended to praise Walter Mondale for not being "afraid to be sharply critical of the President's policies. Fortunately," Glenn added, "President Carter hasn't taken it personally...
Most politicians' humor, however, tends to be safe rather than biting. Dole's thrust-and-cut jokes in 1976, when he was the G.O.P. vice-presidential nominee, were said to have alienated voters. Several realms are off-limits: ethnic and racial jokes, anything remotely smutty. While Reagan can repeat punch lines about his age, it would be unseemly for a Democrat to joke about the President's advanced years. Topicality is crucial. For instance, Rollings' allusion to Carter's seven-year-old, lust-in-my-heart Playboy interview (Hollings: "I'm lusting...
...outsiders contribute jokes-the White House solicits from Bob Hope's stable, and Tonight Show Writer Ray Siller feeds gags to Vice President George Bush-but inoffensive insiders seem to have the real knack. "Some Hollywood gagwriters are good with political humor," says Shrum, "but most are not. The people here know the limits...
...court jesters believe jokes are being overused. "I think it's a mistake for [Reagan] to use humor as much as he does," says Orben, who worked full time for Gerald Ford. "Humor is great, but people now want solutions." Yet they also like to laugh. "Whatever else an American believes or disbelieves about himself," E.B. White wrote, "he is absolutely sure he has a sense of humor." So why shouldn't the Commander in Chief have one too? Says Drayne: "Presidents without a sense of humor make me nervous...