Yuk-yuk-abee

Sure, the world still guffaws at the footage of JFK’s head snapping back as he paraded down Main Street, and James Brady still chuckles softly every time he pats his dead legs, but what would really clinch presidential assassination as the stuff of immortal comedy is an African-American candidate as the victim. Thankfully, Mike “I’ll Settle for Running Mate” Huckabee didn’t miss a beat when an off-stage noise interrupted his speech at the 137th annual National Rifle Association group hug in Louisville, Kentucky. With impeccable timing, Huck offered this impromptu knee-slapper:

“That was Barack Obama…. He just tripped off a chair…. Somebody aimed a gun at him and he... he dove for the floor.” Despite being the second-best audience to test this material on, after the Klan, the 6,000 gun-toters in attendance offered little more than uncomfortable chuckles.

With the topic of how long a black man would be left living if elected president of the United States not far down the list of voter issues, Huckabee quickly found himself posting yet another apology on his Web site. Huck later commented that the kill-Obama crack “wasn’t the first dumb thing I’d ever said” and assured people that “it won’t be the last.”

by SCOTT SAXON