DAY OF TASTELESS JOKES

Jewish Dems don’t love Huckabee (JTA) Jewish Democrats slammed Arkansas' governor for joking that he lost weight at a concentration camp. Mike Huckabee, a Republican, has advertised his diet as a health model for obese Americans, and he bantered Thursday with radio talk show host Don Imus about his weight loss. Imus chided Huckabee that he looked "emaciated." "I have just come from six weeks at a concentration camp held by the Democrat Party of Arkansas in an undisclosed location, making a hostage tape," Huckabee replied. "That's why I look that way." The National Jewish Democratic Council said Huckabee, a likely contender for the 2008 Republican presidential nomination, "ought to think about the people who he might offend with such insensitive words. At the very least, he owes all of us an apology and explanation for his tasteless comments." Putin Jokes About Israeli Sex Scandal (AP) President Vladimir Putin made joking references to the sexual assault accusations against Israeli President Moshe Katsav during a meeting with the visiting Israeli prime minister in remarks that shocked longtime Kremlin-watchers. A Kremlin spokesman said Friday that Putin's meaning had been lost in translation from Russian to English. As Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert met with the Russian leader in an ornate reception room in the Kremlin on Wednesday, reporters overheard Putin tell him: "Say hello to your president. He really surprised us." The microphones were then cut off, but a member of the Israeli delegation told The Associated Press that Putin went on to say of Katsav: "I met him. He didn't look like a guy who could be with 10 women." The Israeli ambassador quipped, "It seems like he's envious of him," and Olmert told his host: "I wouldn't envy him," said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak with the press. Russia's Kommersant daily conveyed a more graphic version of the conversation, quoting Putin as saying: "He turns out to be a really powerful guy! He raped 10 women!" It also quoted Putin himself as saying "We all envy him."