Stop smirking

One doesn't know whether to laugh or cry anymore. Ever since 2004, when I bet my Democratic mates that the president would win handily (and didn't have to buy my own meals for weeks afterward), I have been incapable of mustering much laughter at the expense of Mr. Bush's IQ. Still, if your goal is to get a quick laugh, you could start in with some confidence poking fun at just that fact. \nFor those who consider cocktail hour sacred, it is an insufferable hardship at the bar to suffer fools gladly. I'm no good at it. I wish I were. Upon returning to Bloomington, I found myself hunched over a drink in the corner, but not yet royally drunk, while unconsciously eavesdropping on a very old such "joke." The punch line was predictably feeble. My unimpressed reaction must have captured the attention of the clown because he wore a face that suggested the joke had been intended for my consumption. Of course, a joke is not really a joke if it has to be explained, but I couldn't resist inquiring anyway.\nI conceded that a joke about the president being no intellectual would be funny, except that no joke can be witty forever -- and this one has been done to death. But, excuse me, I commented, doesn't it take skills not generally associated with cognitive deficiency to be not only accepted to, but to graduate from, Yale and Harvard? And if Mr. Bush is such an unscrupulous dolt as his defeated detractors allege, what exactly does that make them for being continually outwitted by the irreducible man? Perhaps in this light, I suggested, the chap might consider composing a new joke.\nSocial life can often be hellish for people who are serious about our sense of humor, and after rehearsing this list, I rounded off the argument by berating these people who will laugh at anything, often precisely because it is -- or they are -- among other things, exceedingly stupid.\nMy argument doesn't say that there are no decent gags to be made at the expense of that fodder for comedians, Mr. Bush. But it suffices to say they've been cashing in this chip without noticing that it's subject to sharply diminishing returns. In all the thousands of jokes to have made the rounds, do you recall even one being fresh in the least? I thought as much. And it has not merely lost its taste, but it was never extremely humorous. How could it be? Were it true, Mr. Bush's moron status would not, or should not, be followed by a good, hearty laugh. \nFor too long, the name of George W. Bush has stunk in the nostrils of the pseudo-intellectual. Following suit will congest your style very badly. I take pleasure in advance in the discovery that my acquaintances at the bar will have to make, namely that le style c'est l'homme, or "the style is the man." When they do, they may not find the decay of their prized originality to be so riotously amusing.