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Whoopi raises hackles at Kerry fundraiser Fri Jul 09 2004 09:14:45 ET The Democratic presidential ticket netted a cool 7.5 million dollars at a star-studded concert here but had to squirm through a wickedly irreverent monologue from comic Whoopi Goldberg to do it. Aides to presidential candidate John Kerry exulted that the gate from Thursday night's extravaganza at the historic Radio City Music Hall was the biggest single take ever for a Democratic event. But while the party was raising cash, Goldberg was clearly raising some hackles by repeatedly referring to Kerry's boyish vice-presidential running-mate John Edwards as "kid." "He is really youthful. He looks like he is about 18," said the comedian, one of a dozen headliners who turned out to boost the Democrats' drive to unseat Republican President George W. Bush in November. Such words were undoubtedly music to the ears of the Republicans who have wasted no time in attacking the 51-year-old Edwards, picked by Kerry for the ticket on Tuesday, as unready for the White House. The North Carolina senator's high-wattage smile seemed to fade a bit more each time Goldberg called out to him. When Kerry later spoke, he took pains to make it clear he had no kid on his team. "I have a man, Whoopi," the Massachusetts lawmaker said. Goldberg, a devout Democrat, did not spare Bush in her monologue: "Anybody who could wave to (blind singer) Stevie Wonder isn't fully there," she said to howls from the audience. But she also produced a few embarrassed grimaces with an unsubtle anatomical double-entendre enjoining voters to "keep Bush where it belongs and not in the White House." The performance, which overshadowed appearances by stars ranging from hip-hop idol Wyclef Jean to actor Paul Newman, highlighted the awkward mix of strait-laced politicians and the volatile artists they routinely court. The 54-year-old Goldberg was unapologetic to the crowd of some 6,200 people who paid up to 25,000 dollars a ticket for the gala. "This is what I try to explain to people," she said. "Why are you asking me to come if you don't want me to be me?" The comic said concert organizers had asked to see her material beforehand but she sent them a photocopied image of her behind with a kissmark on it. "I wasn't sure I was going to get the phone call," she said. Other stars were more orthodox in their Bush-bashing. Newman took off on his fiscal policies, saying, "I think that tax cuts for worried, wealthy thugs like me are borderline criminal," and the notion they produce trickle-down benefits for the poor is "rubbish." Actress Jessica Lange branded the Bush administration "a self-serving regime of deceit, hypocrisy and belligerence," while comic Chevy Chase heaped scorn on Bush's intellect: "This guy is as bright as an egg-timer." Kerry spokeswoman Allison Dobson said the concert brought in 7.5 million dollars, surpassing the 6.8 million dollars raked in with a similar event in Los Angeles two weeks ago. Approximately two million dollars of the receipts from the New York production will go to the White House campaign and the rest to the Edwards, relentlessly upbeat, made no reference to Goldberg's maternalistic mutterings to him. But the senator, who openly lobbied for the number two spot on the ticket, appreciated her remark about waiting for a phone call. ---AFP |
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