Newsflash: White House doesn't get jokes.

New York Post Online Edition: gossip YESTERDAY, to lighten everyone's load, I shoved this joke in the column: "The White House is now concentrating on the economy. Vice President Dick Cheney has told subordinates: " 'The way to lick this recession is to get all those deadbeats out of the soup kitchens.' " From sea to shining sea, America the Beautiful has a sense of humor. It stops at the Potomac. Washington-types wanted to know the source of my item. The Vice President's office called to deny he'd ever said it. I said, "Of course, he never said it. It's a joke." They wanted me to take it back. I said I don't know how you take back a joke.