A few words about WHY yesterday was Presidential Joke Day: August 11 1984, President Reagan was testing a microphone before a scheduled
radio address. Most people simply repeat, “Testing, one, two, three” until the
sound technician tells them to stop. Some warm up with tongue twisters, like, “Around
the rugged rock the ragged rascal ran.” There are actually phrases designed to
test sound equipment. “Press the pants and sew a button on the vest” and “Her
purse was full of useless trash” are two. Instead, on this particular day, Reagan
led with, “My fellow Americans, I’m pleased to tell you today I’ve signed
legislation outlawing Russia forever. We begin bombing in five minutes.” The white
house press corps and aides chuckled, but not everyone was laughing. Some
called the joke in poor taste, in view of the strained relationship between our
country and Russia. Still, I’d rather have a president who cracks jokes than
one who doesn’t.
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