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Comedians: The Left's political power players
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More and more the left in the United States is relying on comedians and entertainers to carry their political water. Comedians deliver catchy talking points, they bring up issues that politicians don't want to touch and when the heat is on, comedians attack. They will always claim it is satire, but the satire has been traveling in one direction for over a decade. In fact, not since Bill Clinton fired the shot heard 'round the world has the left endured much in the way of comedic attention.
Real Time with Bill Maher and The Daily Show with Jon Stewart are the pinnacle, they are the tip of the spear. Quite literally, Stewart and Maher are the good cop/ bad cop of the political comedy world. One show will make sarcastic or ironic comments while the host acts impish and cutesy, the next show will have partisans cursing you out and the host declaring you are a douchebag. Thanks and please come back again.
The class of Johnny Carson is extinct. Now comedians are often shrill partisans who lend weight to arguments that are impossible to make in a sober conversation. Try explaining away Bill Clinton's exploits in front of your wife and her friends without making a joke. They will wonder who the hell you have in mind other than your wife.
Comedians carried the day for former President Clinton. They talked about this work ethic as he "worked through the blow job" and constantly framed serious issues against cigars and sex acts that seemed small in comparison. This could have never been done in the well of the Senate, as much as I would want to see them try it. It was the ultimate damage control and it saved the Clintons.
Today we hear a constant barrage of attacks coming against any politician who is not left of center. Sarah Palin has taken the brunt of this assault for the last year, usually with good humor. The entire liberal argument against her was the quoting of Tina Fey's lines on Saturday Night Live. Not until David Letterman joked about her fourteen year-old daughter having sex with Alex Rodriguez did Palin fire back. While the debacle brought Letterman some ratings, it put him in an awkward position of trying to explain the joke away. The media on both television and print rushed to Letterman's aid. They accused Palin of attacking Letterman and exploiting her daughter. The charge was ridiculous and it was only able to be considered in light of Letterman being a "comedian."
The Colbert Report is another program on Comedy Central that skillfully lampoons conservative and libertarian issues every night. The character of Steven Colbert is based almost solely on Bill O'Reilly, so much so that these guys should owe the Fox News Channel some money, as their entire existence depends upon Fox. It is literally a show that, like Countdown on MSNBC, lives off of another channel the way one blog might draw off of a bigger blog. Colbert's entire shtick is to call people cowards and puff his chest out in cartoonish displays of Patriotism. He is paranoid with redscare and he is constantly making ridiculous accusations and predictions. It is a show comprised almost entirely of liberal affirmations. They can tune in, and say "Yeah, that's how they really are." Then they get on the Internet and say how Fox news in entirely made up.
The most offensive seem to be the down and out comedians. Perhaps they don't care because they are not carrying a show or hustling books, but it seems that the likes of Janeane Garofalo have no problems calling any resistance to President Obama racist. She was first out of the box with this attack letting MSNBC and some bloggers run with it, and now they are bringing her back on the talk show circuit for round 2.
A few have dared to make fun of the other side like Comedy Central's South Park, which attacks everybody and everything. Dave Chappelle also was unafraid to tackle the left once in awhile. His Howard Dean skit is one of the best political skewers of all time.
The formula of the comedian attack dog has been so successful, that now actual politicians are getting in on the act. Rep. Alan Grayson took to the House Floor recently and had a ludicrous display of the Republican health plan is a scene we would have expected from Senator Al Franken, an actual comedian. Seeing a representative spend taxpayers time and money in this way seems like a huge political risk. Sure he got his fifteen minutes and many donations, but watching him fly around the country to talk about this stunt while the actual issue of reform is in chaos? He said people were dying, remember? I guess they can wait while he flies around and talks about his cutesy pranks.
For now, it seems the country is held hostage not only by it's traditional left-right split, but by this added snarky cabal of pseudo analysts, who are unfortunately the primary news source for millions of Americans.
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