Thought
Remember when everyone was so upset because Stephen Colbert's WH press dinner speech was "too controversial?"
"You've had your fair share of critics. ... Rush Limbaugh said this administration fails. ... He just wants the country to fail. To me that's treason. He's not saying anything different than what Osama Bin Laden is saying. You might want to look into this, sir, because I think Rush Limbaugh was the 20th hijacker but he was just so strung out on Oxycontin he missed his flight. ... Rush Limbaugh, I hope the country fails, I hope his kidneys fail, how about that? He needs a good waterboarding, that's what he needs.".
posted by mikevotes at
6:37 AM
4 Comments:
Yeah, I'm sure FNC will be howling soon enough.
I don't bloody care. For years, Republicans have laughed off every outrageous, sick, and vicious remark that Beck/Coulter/Hannity, etc. have made by saying, "It's humour! Lighten up!". Failing that, they say that Beck/Coulter/Hannity, etc. do not represent the Party.
On the one hand, you have a (putative) "analyst" like Coulter go on a (putative) news programme for a (putatively) serious interview and everyone is supposed to automatically think "humour". Huh?
On the other hand, you have a professional comedienne at a clearly humorous event, filling the role of a stand-up comic...and you are supposed to view her remarks as some kind of policy statement from the Administration and indicative of the Party's views.
Personally, Sykes' routine was a bit too mean-spirited for my tastes, but that makes it something that Republicans should be able to appreciate, unless they have double standards. She also was self-aware enough to realise that she was treading the line, which Coulter never is.
It all comes down to the ridiculous notion that "riling up the libs" is perfectly acceptable political speech, but that taking shots at the wingnuts is uncalled for and divisive.
The GOP is turning itself into a bloody punchline anyway. They had better get used to people laughing at them.
By
Todd Dugdale , at 9:18 AM
I definitely get where your coming from, and agree to some extent.
But there's also a matter of venue, and historically wishing someone dead is out of normal tone.
(Maybe they'll have to bring Rich Little back.)
And, if anybody ever finds a funny Republican comic....
By
mikevotes, at 11:35 AM
"But there's also a matter of venue, and historically wishing someone dead is out of normal tone.I don't get what you mean by "venue".
Traditionally, it's like a "roast". It's not the State of the Union address.
Technically, Sykes didn't wish anyone was dead. Kidney failure isn't death, especially in this day and age. It was spiteful, but it was framed in the context of Limbaugh's spiteful remark. It was like, "if you say that is okay, then you have to accept this as okay".
Look, if someone says that anyone who disagrees with them should be shot, and I say by that logic I should be able to shoot them, I would not be advocating murder - merely pointing out the logical ramification of their statement.
Contrast that with wingnut "humour" over Obama being assassinated, for example.
We saw this same idiocy in MN with the Republicans and Franken.
A comedian doing a stand-up act is by definition not serious.
Show me one person who looks to Wanda Sykes for political or policy insight, or who claims that she is a "pundit" like Coulter.
Coulter wrote an entire book explaining how all Democrats are guilty of treason, which is a capital crime. It's "okay" when she says that various political and media figures should have been "aborted", though. Everyone "knows" that she isn't to be taken seriously, of course.
Wanda Sykes? She is known for being dead serious, isn't she? Who doesn't take a professional comedienne seriously? Because when I think of policy wonks who have their finger on the crucial issues of the nation, Wanda Sykes is the first name that springs to mind.
By
Todd Dugdale , at 12:20 PM
Look. I don't want to argue about this. I don't care enough about it.
By
mikevotes, at 1:43 PM
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