Laughter and Lots of Angry Republicans After Wanda Sykes's Jokes Blast Limbaugh and Palin

Stand-up comic Wanda Sykes went for Rush Limbaugh's jugular at Barack Obama's first White House Correspondents' Association dinner on Saturday night.

"Rush Limbaugh said he hopes this administration fails," Sykes began. "So you're saying, 'I hope America fails', you're, like, 'I don't care about people losing their homes, their jobs, our soldiers in Iraq'. He just wants the country to fail.

"To me, that's treason. He's not saying anything differently than what Osama bin Laden is saying. You know, you might want to look into this, sir, because I think Rush Limbaugh was the 20th hijacker. But he was just so strung out on OxyContin he missed his flight. Rush Limbaugh, I hope the country fails, I hope his kidneys fail, how about that? He needs a good waterboarding, that's what he needs."

From the Huffington Post:

Wanda Sykes ...took shots at Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, and former VP candidate Sarah Palin. She speculated that Limbaugh was actually the 20th hijacker on 9/11, derided Hannity for not living up to his pledge to be waterboarded for the troops, and made a fabulous off-color joke about Sarah Palin pulling out at the last minute.

Sykes became the first African-American women and the first openly gay person to ever perform jokes at the White House Correspondents' Dinner. In 1993, HuffPost's own Elayne Boosler became the first woman to do so, and in 2005 Cedric the Entertainer became the first African-American to do so. They have both been unique in that record up until now.

Right-wingers like Pat Buchanan were quick to go after Sykes. Buchanan said her jokes will "hurt" the public impression of the dinner event. And the Washington Times' Amana Carpenter argued "went over the line." And pro-GOP bloggers launched their own attacks.

Meanwhile the rest of us laughed. Will Rush Limbaugh respond to Sykes's stand-up routine? If he does, he risks resurfacing the controversy over his addiction to Oxycontin -- something Limbaugh took great pains to keep hush-hush.

Watch part I:

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/v/7m2ubJYJXUo&hl=en&fs=1 expand=1]

Watch part II: