Comics lose to Rumsfeld, Spears

From The Los Angeles Times:

IT'S BEEN A dark week for satire.

Within 48 hours, two of the world's great punch-line generators — Kevin Federline, alias "Mr. Britney Spears," and Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld — abruptly punched out.

Not since Oct. 10, 1973 — when Vice President Spiro T. Agnew resigned just hours after Elvis and Priscilla Presley unplugged their marriage — has topical humor received such a body blow.

Rumsfeld is the bigger loss. It's hard to imagine his prospective replacement, former CIA chief Robert Gates, ever drifting off in a future Iraq news conference to wax on about the days before air conditioning. It's more likely that Britney's next catch will be as dopey as her last. But the truth is, punch lines just don't grow on trees.

Never fear, some other bozo will take the spotlight. You can bet on that.