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WASHINGTON (AP) -- Leading Democrats accused President Bush on Friday of making inappropriate and ill-timed jokes about the hunt for weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. At the annual dinner of Radio and Television News Correspondents Association on Wednesday, Bush showed photographs of himself in awkward poses as he looked behind furniture in the Oval Office. 'Those weapons of mass destruction have got to be somewhere ... nope, no weapons over there ... maybe under here?' Bush joked. Laughter erupted from the crowd of journalists, politicians and their guests during Bush's remarks. For years the dinner has featured political and topical humor, most of it playful and barbed at times. 'This is a very serious issue,' Democratic National Committee Chairman Terry McAuliffe said Friday on ABC television. 'We've lost hundreds of troops, as you know, over there. Let's not be laughing about not being able to find weapons of mass destruction. They're not there. That is the issue. We should not take it to a new step to make fun of the situation,' McAuliffe said. Democrat House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi told reporters Thursday she has treated the subject with respect and doesn't find it funny. 'I had thought that that was a little casual about a serious subject, but now the president has made it open season,' said Pelosi, who attended the dinner. The White House and Republicans said Bush was merely poking fun at himself. 'The Democrats will go after anything,' Republican National Committee Chairman Ed Gillespie told ABC. 'The fact is that this is the custom in these things. Presidents have made jokes about very serious matters at these dinners. You can hear the laughter, the people in the room obviously saw the humor in it at that moment, and to play it back now in a different context is unfair.' White House spokeswoman Claire Buchan said Thursday the president's comments were meant to be light. 'It's traditional at events like this dinner for the president
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