And the joke’s on us

LITTLE ROCK — “Politics is the art of looking for trouble, finding it everywhere, diagnosing it incorrectly, and applying the wrong remedies.”

-Groucho Marx SOME DAYS it’s hard to keep from laughing at the absurdity of it all. The talented Robert DeNiro-think Godfather II and The Deer Hunter-tells a joke at a fundraiser for President Obama, and Newt Gingrich is shocked, shocked. And offended, offended. The oh-so-shameful utterance: The actor asked his fellow travelers if they thought America was really ready for . . . a white first lady. (Ba-dump-pa! I’ll be here all week, folks! Try the veal.)

So the joke wasn’t terribly funny. This is the guy from Taxi Driver. He’s not known for stand-up. Give him a break.

But that was too much to expect from the former speaker of the House. The Newt girded his substantial loins and demanded that, yes, President Obama apologize for his supporter’s comments.

Huh?

We thought it was the Left that didn’t have a sense of humor.

Word is that The Newt’s campaign for the Republican nomination is getting low on money. It’s also low on laughs. Then again, Mr. Gingrich has never been known as a great kidder. He’s more of a college professor who makes unfunny jokes because he knows the kids are going to laugh anyway. Or better.

Add money problems to his hard driving personality and unending volubility, and you get his asking for air time to discuss a “joke” by one of the goodfellas. Has it come to this? Yes, it has.

THEN THE Right’s best gift, the Hon. Joe Biden, was heard from. He’s always good for a laugh. Which is not the best thing to be known for when you’re a heartbeat away from the nuclear codes. At yet another fundraiser, the vice president praised his boss’ decision to order that raid on a compound in Pakistan where one Osama bin Laden was said to have been residing. Turns out, he was. Whereupon the Special Forces did their job. And very well, too.

Yes, yes, and triple yes, that was a good day for Americans-and everybody else who fights against terrorism. The president, the vice president, and anybody else is right to cite OBL’s demise as a victory for the president, the country, and freedom everywhere. But, as is his specialty, Mr. Biden went over the top:

“You can go back 500 years,” the Veep told the crowd. “You cannot find a more audacious plan. Never knowing for certain. We never had a more than a 48 percent probability that he was there.”

A 48-percent probability? Not 45 or 46 percent? Whose job is it to figure that one out to the nearest tenth of a percent? Lieutenant, do you have a PowerPoint that explains that? And here we thought Mitt Romney was the numbers man.

The most audacious plan in 500years? Oh, we don’t know, but the American Revolution was a pretty audacious plan in general. Not to mention Operation Overlord. What about General Mac-Arthur’s landing at Inchon, behind enemy lines on beaches bordered by natural and man-made obstacles, and tides that were uncertain but dramatic? That little plan involved 40,000 naturally blabby grunts. And the strangest thing about it is that it worked beautifully. Now there was hope, change and audacity for you. The real things.

The most audacious plan in 500 years? Heck, why not in a thousand? Or just say the most audacious plan in human history and call it a day.

Mr. Vice President, you’re a real card. Please do keep it up. With gasoline prices topping out at $3.70 in these parts, we need all the laughs we can get.

THEN something strange happened in Michigan with the delegate counts and some of Rick Santorum’s people lost their minds.

Somehow, a delegate who was counted for Mr. Santorum had now been placed in the Mitt Romney column. It doesn’t change the math much. Mr. Romney still has more delegates for the Republican nomination than all his opponents combined.

But PR types aren’t paid to let such things slide. Here’s a comment from one Hogan Gidley, communications director for the Santorum campaign: “To go back and try to change the game after it’s over . . . It’s the worst of the worst in politics. That’s the kind of thing that happens in Iran. It doesn’t happen here.”

Stealing votes doesn’t happen here? Do you think Mr. Gidley has ever been to Chicago?

Just like Iran? Let us tell ya how it works in Iran: If you find yourself in the opposition, you might also find yourself a head shorter. You certainly won’t find your name on the ballot. Something called the Guardian Council has to approve candidates for national office.After the incumbent is re-elected-fair contest or no-and the public erupts in anger at the rigged election, the government responds . . . by arresting the protesters. And if the crowds don’t disperse, snipers open up from rooftops. See the death of Neda Agha-Solton. It’s all over YouTube.

The loss of a delegate isn’t likely to make or break an American presidential campaign. Though it might cause a campaign flack to lose it for 30 seconds. Quite a difference. For which we are grateful.

The silly season is in full swing, folks. A bad joke is liable to send a candidate into a hissy. A politician with Vice President in front of his name overdoses on hyperbole. There’s a bump in the campaign road and a PR type compares the opposition to the mullahs in Iran. (What, not Hitler and the Nazis?)

But even while we’re laughing at mod American politics, we can’t help but wonder if the joke’s on us.

As Groucho would say, and did, we’ve had a perfectly wonderful time-but this wasn’t it.