Sigh. You really have to wonder about those elite inside-the-Beltway types and their sense of humor.
Last night, at the weird ritual known as the Annual Alfalfa Club Dinner, outgoing club President Joe Lieberman decided it was a good time to test out some new material that involved that goldmine of comedy material known as torture.
Once inside the banquet hall, which is always off-limits to the media, the Alfalfans took turns trying to crack each other up. Sen. Joseph I. Lieberman (I-Conn.) -- the club's outgoing president -- noted that former vice president Richard B. Cheney injured himself while moving into his new home, according to a source inside the dinner.
"I had no idea waterboards were so heavy," Lieberman quipped.
Now, Joe. You really, really, really should know better. But hey, this is Washington, so what they find as funny inside the Beltway pretty much disgusts the world as a whole.
Joe's attempted crack at Dick Cheney should be tempered with his own defense of waterboarding in which he didn't think it was torture or anything, because, y'know, it doesn't really hurt you physically:
"It is not like putting burning coals on people’s bodies. The person is in no real danger. The impact is psychological."
As bad as Bush's search for the weapons of mass destruction in the Oval Office was in bad taste, Lieberman's "joke" is just plain disgusting. I recommend heavy doses of The Daily Show for the beltway crowd for an understanding of what humor actually is.