AP – Democrats raise 7.5 million dollars; Whoopi raises hackles
The Democratic presidential ticket netted a cool 7.5 million dollars at a star-studded concert here but had to squirm through a wickedly irreverent monologue from comic Whoopi Goldberg to do it. Aides to presidential candidate John Kerry exulted that the gate from Thursday night’s extravaganza at the historic Radio City Music Hall was the biggest single take ever for a Democratic event.
But while the party was raising cash, Goldberg was clearly raising some hackles by repeatedly referring to Kerry’s boyish vice-presidential running-mate John Edwards as “kid.” “He is really youthful. He looks like he is about 18,” said the comedian, one of a dozen headliners who turned out to boost the Democrats’ drive to unseat Republican President George W. Bush (news – web sites) in November. Such words were undoubtedly music to the ears of the Republicans who have wasted no time in attacking the 51-year-old Edwards, picked by Kerry for the ticket on Tuesday, as unready for the White House. The North Carolina senator’s high-wattage smile seemed to fade a bit more each time Goldberg called out to him. When Kerry later spoke, he took pains to make it clear he had no kid on his team. “I have a man, Whoopi,” the Massachusetts lawmaker said. [You’re just asking for another Drudge montage with that one, Senator. -ed.]
Goldberg, a devout Democrat, did not spare Bush in her monologue: “Anybody who could wave to (blind singer) Stevie Wonder isn’t fully there,” she said to howls from the audience. But she also produced a few embarrassed grimaces with an unsubtle anatomical double-entendre enjoining voters to “keep Bush where it belongs and not in the White House.”
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“This is what I try to explain to people,” she said. “Why are you asking me to come if you don’t want me to be me?” The comic said concert organizers had asked to see her material beforehand but she sent them a photocopied image of her behind with a kissmark on it. “I wasn’t sure I was going to get the phone call,” she said.
Goldberg has always been rather vulgar. She’s exactly right: the organizers knew what they were getting. If you invite Whoopi Goldberg, Andrew Dice Clay, or Howard Stern to be your MC, you’re going to get potty humor.
One wonders what would prompt event organizers to make this move when their presidential candidate is the guest of honor? One would think they’d have learned their lesson from the Don Imus fiasco a few years back.
