Stuff Conservatives Should Actually Like, Part I
Today I begin a randomly intermittent Klavan on the Culture feature entitled “Stuff Conservatives Should Actually Like” (SCSAL). This is an attempt in the spirit of bright goodwill to make the argument in favor of cultural endeavors – books, say, or TV shows or films – that I’ve heard conservatives complain about but that I think they should actually enjoy.
Those who continue to disagree with me will be hunted down.
Today’s stuff is Tina Fey. And okay, she’s not stuff. She’s a living, breathing human being with hopes and dreams like the rest of us. But let’s put all that nonsense aside for a moment.
Tina Fey frequently comes under attack by conservatives for her impersonation of Sarah Palin on Saturday Night Live. This strikes me as unfair. Sarah Palin is a public figure and what’s more, a public political figure. She should be subject to ridicule like the rest of them. What is, of course, deeply irritating is the fact that the rest of them are not all subject to ridicule. Specifically, lefties get off lightly throughout the entertainment world, and King Lefty Barack is treated by most mainstream comedians like some sort of handicapped child who has to have his self-esteem bolstered.
Adorable as only smart, neurotic girls can be!
What is doubly irritating is that the blithering idiots who are supposed to report the news have now conflated Fey’s imitation with the real Palin. This, of course, tells us nothing about either Fey or Palin, but only tells us that our journalists are, in very large degree, blithering idiots. But maybe I already said that.
Although Fey herself is an outspoken liberal, conservatives should actually like her for a couple of reasons. First, I personally find her physically attractive and my fantasy life is very important to me so leave her alone. But perhaps of more interest to the public at large, Fey is not only amusing, she’s a lot more fair in her political humor than almost anyone else out there. In its early episodes at least (I haven’t reached the later ones yet) her TV series 30 Rock makes no more fun of conservative boss Jack Donaghy (played by good actor/crappy person Alec Baldwin) than it does of the liberal Liz Lemon, played by Fey herself. In fact, to Lemon’s annoyance, Baldwin’s Donaghy usually turns out to be right about everything he says, and is obviously more of an adult than the neurotic libs around him.
Making fun of liberals and conservatives equally is not only fair, it’s deeply humane. We’re all pretty goofy when it comes down to it, and that’s why we have comediennes in the first place: to make us laugh at our own silliness. Unlike The Daily Show, which arrogantly conceives of itself as superior to the conservatives it relentlessly attacks, 30 Rock is a funny and good-natured show that does an excellent job of skewering everyone.
That’s something conservatives should support, even if we can’t see Russia from our house.
When one is being used as a club to beat someone to death, one would think that one has some degree of obligation to let-off, just a bit. If Tina Fey wants forgiveness, she’ll have to earn it herself. Sorry.
I feel ya, but remember nobody is above reproach. Progs are like lil kids. they dont have facts on their side, or logic. like kids their power comes from our reaction to their ‘nah nah nah boo boo” type arguments and attacks. I actually like it. because its SO very easy to proove the proggies wrong on their statements and send them storming off in a tantrum. its like winning an azzkickin contest against a 1 legged man.
You’re right, but it’s also unfair because you’re having a battle of wits with an unarmed person. The prog’s mantra is, “My mind’s made up, don’t confuse me with the facts”.
But is she being used as a club or is her material?
Andy, Tina Fey is part of my fantasy life too, so I won’t say anything bad about her.
Tina Fey is awfully cute, almost adorable really.
But Alec Baldwin is a human pustule. Having Alec Baldwin play a non-leftist is like having Richard Simmons play a Chicago Bears middle linebacker.
The notion is so preposterous it destroys everything around it, no matter how well scripted, acted, directed and edited.
It’s also the supreme insult. Sean Penn as an American soldier, Janeane Garofalo as a Tea party activist, Danny Glover as a patriot and Timothy Robbins as a free market corporate executive…are insults before the first scene is shot, the first word is uttered, before the stage is erected.
This is an intended slap in the face to a non-leftist audience.
No matter how much I may think Tina Fey is adorable, it cannot overcome how much I think Alec Baldwin is deplorable. His presence makes the whole show, 30 Crock.
Agree 100%. You don’t hear liberals say that “(conservative)” is adorable and therefore they should support her/him. They go for the kill each and every time. The damage that Tina Fey did and continues to do to all conservatives puts her in my list of effective enemies of conservatism. I watch 30 Rock for some of the jokes and because conservatives have not figured out how to take over television so there would be nothing left to watch. Especially now that Friday Night Lights is over. But, to say we should give her a break. NEVER!
Tina Fey is awfully cute, almost adorable really.
IOW, she has a resemblance to Sarah Palin
Exactly!
Yes, she’s cute. I had a crush on her back in her early SNL years. But that news show became so smugly anti-Bush, anti-Red State that I couldn’t take it any more. On top of that, she oversaw SNL’s decline across the board. So I had a grudge against her (and specifically her liberalism) before I’d heard of Sarah Palin.
No thanks. I quit my allergist because he’s a liberal. I can do without Fey and Baldwin and NBC. Liberalism isn’t okay. And it isn’t funny anymore.
Exactly.
This is war, people.
They made it that way.
Andrew as usual you nailed it. She’s cute and bright just full of dumb personal opinions but 30 Rock is great. Leftest have actually complained about its conservative tilt. One of my favorites moments in the show is the episode where Liz indulges in her fantasy of fighting “the man” by quitting her job to hook up with a down and out 60′s radical comedy writer. Within 5 mins of walking into her apartment in “little Chechnya” she realizes she got more than she bargained for and rushes back to Jack’s tutelage and cushy cooperate job. Jack drops a pearl of wisdom “Never follow a hippie to a secondary location”
Laughter is the best medicine, even in politics. Alec Baldwin is an idiot, but how can you take him seriously after seeing him in ‘Team America’?
The people I hang with, every time they see Matt Damon on TV, they say, “MMMAAAATTT DAAAAMON!”
Sometimes you have to separate the art from the artist. I know the musician called “Moby”. He’s a politically naive, and sometimes shills for Move On. I point this out to him on a regular basis, most of the time he doesn’t listen. But the man makes good music.
Personally, I think Alec Baldwin should have been grateful for his depiction in “Team America”. I thought his puppet was quite flattering. He’s never looked so good…
Why?
How does that help….
….anything?
Maybe I’ll have more respect for Saturday Night Live if they actually made more fun of Obama’s lies, like “shovel-ready jobs” or how the “stimulus” created 2 million jobs or how all of this massive debt is still Bush’s fault. Naaaa, that would be way too much to hope fore. Well, if we ever really want a good laugh out of the Democrats, we could always just listen to a speech made by Joe Biden. Now there’s a guy who never fails to crack me up!
SNL has satirized Obama on a number of occasions. Even the way that the mainstream media went out of their way to boost Obama.
There are a number of clips on YouTube about this.
Well, despite her feminine charms, it is also very difficult to ridicule Tina Fey – she does not have any children to make jokes about relentlessly. Even the best humorist finds it difficult to get a good guffaw without using the children as targets.
Russia, as seen from Alaska
http://www.facebook.com/note.php?note_id=449392518434
Nobody ever said you couldn’t see Russia from Alaska. It’s just a stupid thing to say when someone asks about your foreign policy experience.
For one, Sarah Palin did not say, “I can see Russia from my house!” that was Tina Fey in a satirical skit.
For another, no it’s actually not a dumb thing to say in response to a foreign policy question. Any Eastern European (or someone such as myself who lived in Eastern Europe for 13 years) would understand the meaning behind that statement: “I pay attention to this, because I can’t afford not to.”
You’re right. Tina Fey is hot… I mean, funny. And she’s willing to laugh at herself.
The first season of 30 Rock is great. It continues to be periodically funny at least through the third season, but it becomes increasingly liberal with each season. I stopped watching when the scenes between Liz Lemon and Jack Donaghy were no longer worth enduring the rest of the show. That’s the problem with 30 Rock — it constantly alternates between different kinds of humor that don’t work well together. Half the time, it’s hilarious. The rest of time, it’s worse than boring… it’s annoying.
Alec Baldwin plays a great mock conservative. The first episode includes one of my favorite 30 Rock scenes…
Jack: “Do we own Kmart?”
Liz: “No…”
Jack: “Then why are you dressed like we do?”
Date Night and Baby Mama were also pretty funny.
Fey is not a typical impersonator when she plays Palin. Unlike most impersonators, she doesn’t need any makeup, clothes or wig to look like her target. That means Palin has an opportunity to impersonate Fey as well.
Give me a break. All you need is some glasses, a beehive and a red jacket. Fey couldn’t even get the accent.
Go ahead and like her. Also, Sean Penn was great in FAST TIMES AT RIDGEMONT HIGH.
Sean Penn was good in “Fast Times” and “Falcon and the Snowman” because he was basically playing himself…a FUBAR druggie.
“So what this “jefferson” dude was saying, was…
We left this “england” place because it was BOGUS
and if we dont get some cool rules…PRONTO…we’ll just be bogus too…
Yay?”
Which is to say – Sean Penn CANNOT ACT!
Thanks for confirming that.
I don’t feel the need to provide “outreach” to tools of the left. “She’s cute enough that we should overlook her faults” has a certain “innocent until proven guilty” sound to it….until you consider that these faults provide aid and comfort to those who would destroy us.
I’ve been defending Tina Fey for a while now, despite her loopy politics, and of course, being a cutie cuts much ice with me. (Don’t even get me started on the sublime Julia Louis-Dreyfuss, who from what I can tell, is both hotter and loopier.)
But, and do correct me if I am wrong, even Sarah Palin never epressed any sentiment that Tina Fey was ever even remotely out-of-line. The only reason it was damaging, and I suppose it was, was because the entire media/culture was pre-disposed to sticking it to Palin, and I clearly remember the “meme’ getting out that Fey would be a perfect dead-ringer, so many tuned in just to see that, and then cute things like “I can see Russia from my house” got spread around as truth. But that’s the relentless, inevitable, earth is round and media is biasd media / academia / culture axis doing it’s thing — Fey was only doing what SNL has done for decades, and I think Palin was always really clear on that.
May I share a post I wrote and saved from elsewhere? I think it goes very far in explaing the dynamic at work….
–
“Sarah Palin is stupid!”
“Why do you say that?”
“Because she says stupid things!”
“Like what?”
“Like, ‘I can see Russia from my house.’ What an idiot.”
“But she never said anything of the sort. Why would you believe something so lame?”
“Well, it’s plausible, because she is so stupid.”
“But why do you say she is stupid?”
“Because she says stupid things!”
“Like what?”
“Like ‘Christine Aguilera should be deported!’ What an idiot!”
“But she never said anything of the sort. Why would you believe something so lame?”
“Well, it’s plausible, because she is so stupid.”
“But why do you say she is stupid?”
“Because she says stupid things!”
“Like what?”
“Like ‘we should invade Egypt to protect Christians’. What an idiot!”
“But she never said anything of the sort. Why would you believe something so lame?”
“Well, it’s plausible, because she is so stupid.”
“But why do you say she is stupid?”
“Because she says stupid things!”
“Like what?”
“Well like the Paul Revere thing!”
“But she was right about that!”
“Well, yeah, but she meant to be wrong!”
“How on earth would you come to believe that?”
“Well, it’s plausible, because she is so stupid.”
“But why do you say she is stupid?”
“Because she says stupid things!”
“Like what?……………”
“Like the revolution was in 1773! What an idiot.”
* sigh *
Continue ad nauseum….
Gosh, that media / culture is slick, eh?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S0VZW0wuH04
GIBSON: What insight into Russian actions particularly in the last couple of weeks, does the proximity of this state give you?
PALIN: They’re our next door neighbors. And you can actually see Russia from land here in Alaska.
Brian—you can.
Indeed you can Brian. Google ‘Diomede Islands’. And I still see no mention of “my house”.
Oh, also by the way, the ACTUAL TEA PARTY took place in 1773, just like Palin said.
Drop her an email, I’m sure she would be glad to share more examples of her decidedly superior itellect to the people who keep pointing out her mistakes….. and making abject fools of themselves in doing so.
Sarah Palin is far better looking. Sorry Tina – I’m not seeing the adorable. I’m looking at plain.
Alec Baldwin – human pustule.
Yeah, that’s as good a description as any.
Tina Fey is an exceptionally talented writer, add her production and acting skills, quite an Individual. She made a name for herself in a highly competitive and unforgiving world, good for her.
Why dont the bitter people write satire, or a movie script, break into the entertainment industry and make a name for yourselves. Then you can make fun of Liberal leaders, or whomever you choose.
Of course, you need to have Talent in order to achieve her level of success
You say that as if talent is all it takes to be able to produce your own shows and have them aired. I’d say any conservative who tried to produce and air a conservative show would have a major uphill battle to get the financing for the show. The guys with the money – at least the ones in Hollywood – need to like your political point of view and there just aren’t a lot of Hollywood money men who like a conservative point of view. Or have you figured out a way to produce shows without using money?
Why? We can do it for free and without much effort here as long as people like you flit in…
Why don’t you just break into the entertainment world period? Good luck with that.
PS I have a little experience with that and some success. There is definite prejudice toward conservatives, no matter how tolerant, talented and open-minded you are.
theoretically, talent is a necessary ingredient, supposing, of course, that all other things being equal it will be the measure of talent that secures a job in the entertainment industry
however, the reality in hollywood requires a significant sacrifice at the altar of liberalism in order to cement one’s bona fides
I think we’ll have to settle for a stalemate on the culture front as long as men continue to “think” with their dicks.
Agreed.
And that’s precisely what Andrew is doing here.
Well said. To sum up we need to be bigger and better than the progressives. Nobody is above reproach and we all have our gaffs. We should have a sense of humor about it. Now down right mean like bill maher he is just an ahole who is wrong and a jerk. so he can be pretty much ignored. Remember libs are the ones who love to make fun of others but cant take it themselves. we cant let ourselves become them.
Fame is a double-edged sword, and Tina Fey’s parody will be the only thing anyone remembers about Tina Fey. She may write or perform brilliantly in the future, but it won’t matter. The first sentence in her biography will include the words “Sarah Palin.” So be it.
That reminds me of a Seth Meyers joke during the White House Correspondents Dinner. He lamented that throughout Katie Couric’s distinguished career, with all the hard-hitting interviews she has conducted, the question she will best be remembered by is, “What newspapers do you read?”
Well, being female and straight, I don’t care how cute she is.
I did like her impersonation of Palin. Thought it was funny and she was perfect in it. But I didn’t like the fact that my idiot liberal friends thereafter thought Palin really DID say she could see Russia from her house.
(Yes, I had the same sort of conversation with those friends Andrew X described.)
Like TL said, it’s not funny anymore.
Maybe I’m just getting old or something, but I don’t cut any liberals any slack anymore, no matter how cute they are or what appealing traits they may have. I won’t spend money to help line the pockets of any liberal/leftist movie star or director or anyone who will take our money and then loudly denigrate and ridicule us politically. (No more Martha Stewart products for me.)
If they want to continue mouthing off to show what snide, superior snots they are, well then, they can do it without any financial contribution from me. And I’m not laughing.
You gotta hand it to Mr. K; he’s upfront about his fantasies, which is all we really need from a cool author and consistently funny YouTube professor! I, too, think Tina’s sort of the girl in high school (and college) everyone liked and wanted to hang out with …. but who was, even back then, sufficiently neurotic enough to make you wonder at times. And, cute? Yeah, sure! But her brand of liberalism doesn’t bother me much – she’s a flawed human being just like I am, and even though she’s a liberal (which automatically makes me question her sanity) I do the one thing conservatives consistently and honorably do liberals don’t; I don’t immediately dismiss her out of hand. She could have, as creator and writer of “30 Rock,” turned that show into a constant slam on conservatives, like her boss Jack. BUT, she does an intriguing – and rare – thing, for a liberal: she skewers herself and her beliefs on the show as much as she does those of her boss – and, like Mr. K says, isn’t afraid to show Jack as being right a significant part of the time.
It’s one of the things I like about that show, and I respect her for it. She’s certainly a lot easier to take than Whoopi Goldberg, or Janeane Garofalo – two liberals who have NOWHERE near Tina’s smarts and comedic talents.
So, keep it up, Tina … and, oh, by the way – let’s get a sandwich sometime. I know you like sandwiches.
My dislike of Fey was never based on her politics or impersonations. It has always been based on the fact that she’s not funny – or, rather, that she’s “funny” and “clever” in the way only unfunny, dim people who are full of themselves find “funny” and “clever”.
Her movie – Mean Girls – was tepid and boring. She had some good lines at SNL on the anchor desk, but not enough presence to be truly memorable. And ’30 Rock’ is excruciating. It’s nothing but mediocre, obvious punchlines delivered quickly, a pale imitation of the much more funny (but less offensive, and thus less appreciated) show ‘Community’. I find people who like ’30 Rock’ about as irritating as people who like ‘Arrested Development’.
I always thought Amy Poehler was funnier than Fey, and I’m not sure why Fey is the bigger star. Probably because she looks the part – studious, brunette, glasses, semi-serious, somewhat attractive in a bizarrely mannish way … I don’t hate her, I’m just bemused by her. She’s not funny or interesting enough to be as famous as she is. She’s the Zombieland of female comedians: might get a chuckle or two, but mostly boring garbage that people have for some reason convinced themselves is funny.
Best sentence of this post:
“First, I personally find her physically attractive and my fantasy life is very important to me…”
I might have to check 30 Rock out…
Sorry, but Tina Fey is another one who has crossed the line from comedy into character assassination.
Comedy driven by malice is no longer comedy in my mind. It is malice. And the fact that so many seem unable to discern the difference is why I find so much of Hollywood so abhorrent and repulsive these days.
Ayn Rand said two things that might be relevant here. In the following substitute “liberal” for “Soviet” and see what happens.
There is only one form of protest open to the men of goodwill in the semi-free world: do not sanction the Soviet jailers [of the dissidents]- do not help them to pretend that they are morally acceptable leaders of a civilized country. Do not patronize or support the evil pretense of the so-called “cultural exchanges” – any Soviet sponsored scientists, professors, writers, artists, musicians, dancers (who are either vicious bootlickers or doomed, tortured victims). Do not patronize, support or deal with any Soviet supporters and apologists in this country: THEY are the guiltiest men of all.”
However, she also said the following:
Music and/or literature are the base of the performing arts and of the large-scale combinations of all the arts, such as opera or motion pictures. The base, in this context means that primary art which provides the metaphysical element and enables the performance to become a concretization of an abstract view of man.
Without this base, a performance may be entertaining, in such fields as vaudeville or the circus, but it has nothing to do with art. The performance of an aerialist, for instance, demands an enormous physical skill – greater, perhaps, and harder to acquire than the skill demanded of a ballet dancer – but what it offers is merely an exhibition of that skill, with no further meaning, i.e., a concrete, not a concretization of anything.
So, you Fey Fans, are either the “guiltiest men of all” or harmless circus goers who enjoy the meaningless.
Wow, those are some really fascinating insights.
Q: How many objectivists does it take to screw in a lightbulb?
A: That’s not funny!
Ever see photos of Tina Fey and Sarah Palin side-by-side?
Gov. Palin is MUCH better-looking than the frail Tina Fey.
If that’s her only criteria for acceptance….epic loss.
Was expecting Klavan to propose that Fey is a closet conservative.
There’s at least one interview out there in which she discusses how she finds it nauseating that amongst certain people, one is expected to hate one’s parents. Then she goes on about how much she loves her parents.
You should look it up.
I dont think there exists in the leftist blogosphere a discussion about a political opponent as decent as this one.
I’m proud of you guys, but I don’t know if it bodes well.
Her treatment of Palin on SNL and off was cheap. I would never support her or watch her show.
Alright Andrew, I could bring myself to watch Fey’s show. Her skits on Palin were funny and it’s not her fault that Lefty journalists can tell the difference between commedy and reality. She’s good egg.
But I would have to wash my eyes out with soap after gazing upon Alec Baldwin. Remember that funny joke he made about getting a commie mob together to stone Henry Hyde and his family to death? That was so funny, I still forgot to laugh.
My problem with Tina Fey is that she truly hates Gov Palin, and does her with malignance. Did you watch SNL when Gov Palin appeared? Fey walked past her without saying anything or even looking at her. Contrast that to Hilary Clinton and Amy Poehler appearing together and trading quips about Hilary’s laugh.
PS- Tina Fey pins her ears back in order to look more like Gov Palin.
So here’s the question: do actors have ANY responsibility for the lines they become famous for?
At what point, if any, does the real person step out from a truly sleazy, deliberately nasty, ignorant fool?
We knew what Red Skelton really believed. He took the trouble to let us know.
Take Meryl Streep, who used to play quality characters. She is now playing whorish roles.
Or Gwyneth Paltrow. Good grief. What a bunch of low-life sleazoids.
The only thing I can tolerate these days is full-length cartoons.
For myself, I think the whole lousy gang is one undifferentiated cesspit.
But then I have a DIFFERENT fantasy life…
I gave up television a long, long time ago. Fey doesn’t even exit in my world.
Oh please, don’t try to make it like it was the media that acted as the filter between Tina Fey’s comedy and the new wrought ignorance of the public’s knowledge about a certain Sarah Palin quote. The public learned directly from miss Fey that Sarah Palin can apparently see Russia from her house. Talk to people, this most stupid contention is why they are squimish or outright hostile to Sarah Palin – an actual virtuous woman. Say what you will of such people in the populace, but Fey was the intitiator. For undermining the public’s perception and initiating folly against an innocent person she will get my coldest sympathy.
In your next installment will you argue that Conservatives should like Karl Marx because he had an interesting 19th century beard, or Franklin Roosevelt because he exercised his freedom to smoke cigarettes? May I propose renaming the series to the following:
Silly Reasons For Stuff Conservatives Should Actually Like If They Weren’t Really Conservatives (SRFSCSALITWRC).
I agree, Andrew. Funny is Funny, no matter whose ox is being gored.
From Tina Fey’s speech on winning the Mark Twain award:
“And, you know, politics aside, the success of Sarah Palin and women like her is good for all women — except, of course, those who will end up, you know, like, paying for their own rape kit ‘n’ stuff. But for everybody else, it’s a win-win. Unless you’re a gay woman who wants to marry your partner of 20 years — whatever. But for most women, the success of conservative women is good for all of us. Unless you believe in evolution. You know what? Actually, I take it back. The whole thing’s a disaster.”
Yeah I don’t think conservatives should like this or find it amusing at all. Reportedly the audience wasn’t too amused either.
“In its early episodes at least (I haven’t reached the later ones yet)”
Yes, in its first season when it was a series of scripts written to be sold. Like everything else, from Harry Potter to the Office, the actors take more reign of the character’s dialogue and personality based on the feedback they got from the first vehicle and thusly change the character to be a bloated personal projection instead of the original written character anymore.
Sorry to rain on your parade, but although Ms. Fey is attractive, I do not find her funny. Like Will Ferrell and many of the SNL cast members of the last 10-15-20 years, their comedy is forced, stilted, and just too inane and banal to catch my interest.
Give me Chevy Chase, Dan Akroyd, Gilda Radner, Jane Curtin, Dennis Miller, etc. Their comedy was fresh, funny and appeared effortless.
Today’s crop of them, not so much.
But maybe that’s just me.
NO. This is the problem. Conservatives keep giving liberals the benefit of the doubt and excusing their partisan, vicious, nihilistic attitudes and giving their actions a pass in the name of ‘civility’ or being gentlemanly.
Bull**** on all that.
Klavan:
Liberals believe in a ideology that is inimical to liberty and the US and the majority of the people in the US.
Whether they fully embrace all the socialist/communist/atheist/anti-americanism or only a small part, they are participating in it and aiding and abetting it and that participation advances an agenda that has an ultimate endpoint of killing/enslaving human beings. They don’t see that because they want to believe they’re good people but history shows us time and again where those beliefs wind up … in a graveyard or a prison camp.
You’re letting your d**k do your thinking for you or you genuinely are a genial moron who wants to show his liberal friends how compassionate he his. Save your compassion for your firing squad. If you think being nice will put you further down their list of who to destroy, take a look at their past history.
Sarah Palin proved she was a good sport when she went on SNL herself. Everyone involved with the show said she was a delightful person who handled herself with grace and professionalism.
Here is what was not cool about Tina Fey’s characterization of Sarah Palin, and why many women, not just conservatives, no longer find her funny. Sarah Palin was a sitting governor at the time, but she was also The First Woman On a National Ticket Since Geraldine Ferraro, as well as the first woman nominated as a Republican vice presidential candidate. When SNL lampooned politicians before, they were in office already. They were not seeking to sway public opinion or tarnish a reputation while an election was taking place.
This was a problem when media sources were linking to SNL skits instead of video footage of the actual candidate. It was also problematic that many of Tina Fey’s impressions of Sarah Palin were sexist and offensive stereotypes that many women have experienced — “diva” “bimbo” “slut” “gold-digger” “airhead” “unfit mother”. SNL covered them all.
Tina Fey has been feted and celebrated by her peers with a Mark Twain award for political satire or something with a ceremony at the Kennedy Center For the Performing Arts, a Vanity Fair cover, rave reviews for her book Bossypants, etc. Do we really need to shrug off the hatchet job she performed on a conservative woman?
Here is an idea for your next installment of Stuff Conservatives Should Actually Like. Read through Andrew Ferguson’s “Rethinking the Thinking Man’s Candidate” for The Weekly Standard. It bristles with indignation and inept pop references. I will even lead you through it.
1. Money and/or People Who Have Earned It, aka Those Darned Elitists!
“The skyline of lower Manhattan and, more symbolically, the Statue of Liberty rose just beyond, through a scrim of early morning haze. By my rough estimation, newsfolk outnumbered normal people, who in turn narrowly outnumbered the political consultants, low-level politicians and other hangers-on that always attend the launch of a presidential campaign, when the breezes still carry the springtime scent of fresh, unspent money.”
2. Irony
“I see that the 2012 Political Reporter’s Stylebook requires that upon first reference Davis must be called “unconventional,” although “maverick” is allowed as a substitute under some circumstances. True to form, the scene Davis staged for Huntsman’s announcement was unconventional in the conventional manner.”
3. Independent Filmmakers of the 70′s
“The event had the feel of an unsubtle satire dreamed up by some snotty 1970s aging-hippie movie director—Robert Altman, say—to prove that political candidates are just pretty-boy airheads engaged in a show-biz sham.”
4. JFK and RFK
“In addition to the lifted lamp of Lady Liberty and the overdone backdrop, there was the handsome candidate and his excellent hair, tossed Kennedily by a gentle wind off the river.”
5. The Beatles while we’re at it.
6.Civility? Them’s fightin’ words!
“If the announcement speech had a notable theme, it was that Huntsman would run a campaign based on civility.”
7. Hobbies
“This isn’t just any Mormon! He rides Harleys and likes to eat at greasy spoon restaurants. He attends motocross events and listens to the Foo Fighters with sincere enthusiasm. He dropped out of high school, though he quickly earned his GED, and played keyboards in a rock band that specialized in playing REO Speedwagon songs (some colorful facts you’d think the handlers would want to keep quiet).”
8. Owning up to your freak side
“He’s a throwback to a golden era—that moment when the world was young, in late 2008 and early 2009. Obama had been elected and the Republican party had been repudiated.”
Rasmussen recently released a poll that in a Three Way Race: Democrat 40% Republican 21% Tea Party 18%. The GOP is up by .5% on a generic ballot. This is a time when the party should be more inclusive, not less. They are misreading the tea party, which is unhappiness with GOP leadership, not just President Obama.
9. Inclusiveness and Tolerance
“The euphemisms here require translation: The “old ethos world view” meant conservative positions on various questions, and “rethinking” meant abandoning the conservative positions and adopting positions more congenial to Democrats, especially on immigration reform, global warming, environmental regulation, and gay marriage, to “broaden the party’s base.”
Let’s take Jon Huntsman, Jr. as an example. Governors have had to deal with the consequences of the federal government’s failure to secure our borders and regulate immigration. We now have a large illegal immigrant population living in the US, and they have families. What do you do with a child who shows up for school? When that child attends school and graduates, do you penalize them to deter them from continuing their education and becoming productive members of society? Rick Perry just executed an illegal immigrant guilty of a violent crime in Texas. He and Huntsman share similar positions on immigration, just as Sarah Palin and Jon Huntsman shares similar views on cap and trade, yet these two conservative darlings are not singled out as heretics for their views. Why is that? On the issue of civil unions, while Rick Santorum, Michele Bachmann and Herman Cain score points with certain segments of the base by attacking gays, Dick Cheney’s daughter is an open lesbian. You may not have to support civil unions like Huntsman, but isn’t it a bit insulting to write someone off as unsuitable before they have had a chance to speak directly to voters. As for Iowa, they threw down the gauntlet. The Iowa GOP chairman’s brother works for Santorum and drafted the letter on the party letterhead declaring Huntsman was “Not ready for the big dance.”
10. Competitiveness
There seems to be a lot of the establishment GOP picking the candidates, much like they accuse the legacy media of doing. When Michele Bachmann is asked to expound on how the founders worked tirelessly to eradicate slavery, when a child could tell you many of them owned slaves, that is not “savaging” her. Sarah Palin has as much right to run as Jon Huntsman, and both should be evaluated by their records. If Gary Johnson can come up with the filing fees to join in a debate, he should be included. Ron Paul is there, after all, and he isn’t saying anything new. Then Republicans wonder why nobody is excited about the field or the election. It’s like watching old white men play with dolls.
To be clear, I have no idea whether Huntsman would have executed that guy, though I doubt it. The crime he was found guilty of and confessed to was deplorable. But many illegal immigrants are persuaded to commit crimes, because they see their lawful options limited. Of course, they’re always free to go home. But we can’t even have that discussion right now.
How’s that again? He raped and murdered a child because his legal options were limited? What the hell does that mean?
You hit all the liberal talking points, from the poor victimized illegal immigrants through the evil slave-owning founders, and you even managed a contemptuous reference to old white men. I wonder whether you have the self-awareness to realise how brainwashed you are?
You missed my point. At no time did I defend or excuse his crime or condemn Govern Perry’s decision. I said that even if you support the death penalty, executing another human being is never easy, especially with the heated politics involved. Immigration has been turned into a third rail issue, when we need to figure how to process the illegal immigrants already here in a way that is fair for everyone involved and how to unclog bureaucracy. Furthermore, penalizing a child brought to the US by their parents provides incentive for them to become criminals. Then conservatives complain when they game the entitlement system, crowd our emergency rooms and don’t speak English.
There is nothing wrong with admitting that the founders kept slaves. That pledge that Bachmann and other conservatives signed was offensive, and they were right to apologize for it.
“Slavery had a disastrous impact on African-American families, yet sadly a child born into slavery in 1860 was more likely to be raised by his mother and father in a two-parent household than was an African-American baby born after the election of the USA’s first African-American President,” the pledge’s preamble began.
That is pure, revisionist claptrap and disgusting to say that blacks were happier as slaves than as Democrats with voting rights, something that Herman Cain has also implied. If Republicans want to make inroads with black voters, they need to back off this kind of rhetoric and return to their roots as the party of Lincoln, not the neo-Birchers. If you disagree with this, then you’re the one who is brainwashed.
“First, I personally find her physically attractive and my fantasy life is very important to me so leave her alone. ”
Uh…Andrew…I am disappointed in you. You are wiser than that.
When I was a sophomore in college I had a poster in my dorm room that was classic. An extremely attractive young blonde wearing the shortest cut-offs you ever saw, a bikini top the size of a band-aid, and rollerskates is skating directly into the camera lens. She is sweaty, glisteny, and nipply. A glance at the photo and any man under 90 would be squirming and rearranging his pants inside of a few minutes.
Across the bottom of the poster in big letters it read:
SOMEWHERE, SOMEONE IS SICK OF HER S***