By “first” I mean 2001.
Reading comprehension fail on my part.
1 Like
What a bunch of butthurt special snoflakes.
If you don’t have a thick skin you have no business being in politics. Or really having adult responsibility generally.
5 Likes
It also instantly became the most-viewed video in the entire history of C-SPAN and signaled the beginning of the end of anyone taking Bush seriously on anything. It was most incredible “the Emperor has no clothes” moment I’d ever seen. Maybe still is.
9 Likes
And I cherished every. single. frame.
9 Likes
I think Andrew Jackson probably was crueler than trump. Mainly because at the time society wasn’t so uptight about genocide.
3 Likes
This is my actual first-grade report card. Up top, it says, “George W. Bush.” And then notice the final grades on the right: Writing, A; Reading, A; Spelling, A; Arithmetic, A; Music, A; Art, A. So my advice is, don’t peak too early. [Laughter]
Here, I am with my fifth-grade science project. [Laughter] Built it myself. And it’s still meeting our energy needs. [Laughter]
I went on to college and graduate school, but somehow, the press has gotten the wrong idea, that I was a smart aleck party guy. [Laughter] This is an unfair perception. See, in college, I actually did a lot of independent reading. [Laughter]
After graduation I joined the Texas Air National Guard. I’m the one who committed the State of Texas to defend Taiwan from attack. [Laughter]
So, yeah, everyone – even the president – was in on the joke in April 2001 that GW Bush was a medicore guy, sort of a fuck-up who stumbled into the presidency. Of course, at that point, we assumed we’d be dealing with an amiably dumb Don Knotts type for only four years. Democrats were still fuming over the election, but outside of that, the pundit class’s biggest concern was that Bush was going to waste the Clinton surplus on a dumb tax cut (which he did that summer).
On the issue of comedy, one thing I don’t think Frank Rich mentions is that comedy criticizes authority – but conservatism is, by its nature, reverent or respectful of authority. Take that away and a conservative comedian is left to either criticize liberal comedians (or other liberals) or “punch down.” The former isn’t entertaining because it’s usually not done well – although Team America: World Police was funny, Roger Ebert properly noted that it seemed to have no satiric norm (the character or argument that you’re supposed to emulate), and by criticizing everyone, the movie just ends up in nihilism. And that’s not very satisfying. The latter isn’t entertaining either, because who wants to watch a powerful person hit a powerless person? That’s just cruel – not because of the hitting, because of who’s doing the hitting.
The media do have a slightly liberal slant, at least in terms of what it thinks is acceptable and unacceptable, and therefore, when a liberal person is in power, the media do go a little easier on him. Jon Stewart did his best to claim that he criticized both sides, but truthfully, once Obama came into office, The Daily Show switched from criticizing Bush to criticizing Fox News.
9 Likes
True fact. I stand corrected.
Jackson was able to directly engage in more outright cruelty because of the time he lived in, but I still think Trump is probably a greater outlier from the moral standards of his day than Jackson was.
14 Likes
Most of the commenters on Breirbart didn’t seem to know that it wasn’t held at the White House.
“Trump should kick them out!”
“Out of the DC Hilton? How does that work?”
6 Likes
The coverage IS the punchline.
This was top quality work.
2 Likes
Much of her piece was about his underlings. And they and we were taken along for the ride where she said offensive things that were, to the piece, less personal, less degrading, and less obnoxious than their own boss is to them, in public, on any given Tuesday.
What she said offends them ONLY because it is punching up, but since it hit, it just HAS to have been punching down during a serious policy confab by a senior D party official and fund raising bundler who shares an email account with putin and who is… coincidentally…
a woman.
and we all remember from congress how bullying a woman’s sigh or eyeroll can be to this set.
3 Likes
There are 2 parts that were difficult to hear;
- The bad Roseanne impersonation
2.The Jokes.
Don Rickles she aint.
2 Likes
5 Likes
Fucking A. Michelle Wolf transformed herself from relative obscurity to a household name overnight. Well played.
6 Likes
6 Likes
Every time a conservative snowflake melts it leaves a little brown shit stain.
12 Likes
5 Likes
Wow, even across the muffled VHS soundtrack, mist of 22 years, and the Pacific ocean, I heard a lot of bite in that.
But OTOH, as folks have mentioned, the Republicans, particularly the current crop of utter wackjobs, most definitely provide a hell of a lot more ammo.
1 Like
