And the joke part of that is ... what?

In his book Lies and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them, Al Franken describes how right-wing blowhard Sean Hannity claims that fellow traveler Rush Limbaugh never made personal, ad hominem attacks against anyone, to which Franken replied, well, what about Chelsea Clinton?

What Franken is referring to is a famous incident during which Limbaugh, on his (mercifully and wholly deservedly) short-lived TV show in 1993, first said that there was a White House cat and put up a photo of the Clintons' cat Socks. He then added, "... they also have a White House dog," and on the screen appeared a picture of 13-year-old Chelsea. Ha ha! What a knee-slapper! It's such a howler when right-wing, bloviating drug addicts make fun of 13-year-old girls, isn't it? That Rush -- always the charmer.

The angry reaction to that incident forced Limbaugh to backpedal, claiming that it was all a technical mistake, and Hannity tried the same dodge, saying, "That was a mistake. A technician accidentally put up the wrong picture." At which point we have the following delightful excerpt from Franken's book, starting with Franken:

"Really? Okay, then tell me, what was the joke? 'The Clintons not only have a White House cat' -- picture of Socks -- 'they also have a White House dog.' What's the joke? What picture was supposed to come up?"

[Hannity's left-wing sock puppet co-host] Alan Colmes was standing nearby. "You know, he's got a point, Sean. There's no joke without the picture of Chelsea."

Exactly. Without that classless dig at Chelsea, where's the joke?

Which brings us to this Media Matters piece, which is pretty much self-explanatory:

In a May 20 article on the controversy surrounding Kenneth Y. Tomlinson, Republican chairman of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB), Washington Post reporter Paul Farhi furthered the baseless claim that Tomlinson has appointed both a liberal and a conservative to act as the agency's ombudsmen. In fact, both ombudsmen have conservative ties. Farhi also reported without challenge two claims by Tomlinson that earlier reports in the Post and The New York Times contradict: that a White House adviser Tomlinson hired did not begin working for CPB until after leaving the White House, and that Tomlinson never said that PBS should reflect the country's rightward political shift...

Farhi also noted allegations that in November 2004, Tomlinson "told a gathering of PBS and station executives in Baltimore that the country had moved rightward and that public broadcasting should reflect that," further stating that "in the interview Tomlinson denied saying it, even in jest." But that contradicts two previously published statements attributed to Tomlinson. A May 12 Post article asserted that Tomlinson had admitted making the comment, albeit in jest. "Tomlinson has said his comment was in jest," the Post reported. In addition, the May 2 Times article reported: "Mr. Tomlinson said that his comment was in jest and that he couldn't imagine how remarks at 'a fun occasion' were taken the wrong way."

So those comments were made "in jest"? As Franken would ask, where's the joke? How exactly do you suggest that public broadcasting should reflect the country's (alleged) rightward shift, and say it in fun?

Where's the joke, Ken?