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Obama Takes On Trump, Releases Birth Video At White House Correspondents Dinner
By
Ben Yakas
Published May 1, 2011
Modified May 1, 2011
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By
Ben Yakas
Published May 1, 2011
Modified May 1, 2011
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Last night's annual White House Correspondent's dinner was an evening of zings and birthing videos, with President Obama and host Seth Meyers both delivering pretty hilarious political one-liners. But most of all, it was a night to ream Donald Trump, who sat by awkwardly as both the President and Meyers skewered him repeatedly. You can watch the whole event here, but scroll down for lots of highlights and video clips:
You can read the whole transcript of President Obama's speech here, but among his best jokes was this Trump zinger:
Donald Trump is here tonight! Now, I know that he's taken some flak lately, but no one is happier, no one is prouder to put this birth certificate matter to rest than the Donald. And that's because he can finally get back to focusing on the issues that matter -- like, did we fake the moon landing? What really happened in Roswell? And where are Biggie and Tupac?
But all kidding aside, obviously, we all know about your credentials and breadth of experience. For example -- no, seriously, just recently, in an episode of Celebrity Apprentice at the steakhouse, the men's cooking team cooking did not impress the judges from Omaha Steaks. And there was a lot of blame to go around. But you, Mr. Trump, recognized that the real problem was a lack of leadership. And so ultimately, you didn't blame Lil' Jon or Meatloaf. You fired Gary Busey. And these are the kind of decisions that would keep me up at night. Well handled, sir. Well handled.
Before he spoke, the President showed a parody video of The King's Speech, which you can watch online here. He also addressed concerns about his birth certificate by showing his "birth video":
Seth Meyers got in one great line mocking Sarah Palin ("Donald Trump owns the Miss USA Pageant, which is great for Republicans because it will streamline their search for a Vice President"), but unleashed a series of jokes at Trump's expense: "Donald Trump often appears on Fox, which is ironic, because a fox often appears on Donald Trump's head."
As the cameras centered on him during much of the ribbing, Trump did not look like a man who was having much fun; as Mat Johnson tweeted: "Note to Trump- when roasted, laugh. Don't stare with an expression that says, 'When I am King, I will behead you on live TV.'"
Meyers also poked fun at the President, noting how much he's aged since coming to the White House: “Mr. President, look at your hair. If your hair gets any whiter the tea party is going to endorse it. Ooooh, I’m going to get an angry voicemail from Ginni Thomas in 19 years.” He also pointed out Obama's most dangerous enemy: “I’ll tell you who could definitely beat you [in 2012], Mr. President: 2008 Barack Obama. You would have loved him.”
Meyers also got in good jokes about Will.i.Am (“I’ll bet it’s hard getting back in campaign mode again, but you know who is really dreading it? Will.i.am. He’s writing down words that rhyme with ‘debt-ceiling’.”), and The Huffington Post: “The New York times [after] party used to be free, but tonight, apparently there’s a cover. So, like everyone else, I’ll probably just go to the Huffington Post party. And the Huffington Post party is asking people to go to other parties first and just steal food and drinks and bring it from there.”
There were several after-parties, and it seems that Sarah Palin hit them all up: she was spotted at the MSNBC party, where most people went to hear Cee Lo, and Rachel Maddow was serving drinks. But the "hot" party was the Vanity Fair/Bloomberg affair, with fancy embroidered pillows and all; Palin was so excited about it, she was reportedly 25 minutes early for that one.
Tagged
donald trump
election 2012
president obama
seth meyers
white house correspondent's dinner
Ben Yakas
Ben Yakas is a former Gothamist reporter.
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