Brilliant from across the pond: How satire changed the course of history

[Horse with no Name]

Maybe laughter IS the best medicine. :wow:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2008/nov/04/uselections2008-comedy
>>>snip
In polls conducted immediately after the Republican national convention in September, John McCain finally overtook Barack Obama and seemed poised to win a trip to the White House this month. He had rallied the party base. He had invigorated the independents. He had won the kudos of the Great Unwashed. And he had firmly established himself in the consciousness of his countrymen as that quintessential American icon: the lone wolf, he who marches to the beat of a different drummer, the maverick.

Then, something truly astonishing occurred. Tina Fey, the lantern-jawed alumnus of Saturday Night Live, and creator of the critically esteemed sitcom 30 Rock, made a return visit to Saturday Night Live and began doing a dead-on impersonation of McCain's gee-whiz, aw-shucks running mate, Sarah Palin. Her send-up of the intellectually anaemic Alaskan was seen by countless millions on YouTube and soon became the No1 topic of conversation in America. Almost overnight, McCain's poll numbers began to drop precipitously, as the arrayed forces of electronically transmitted satire rained down on the GOP ticket. Before you knew it, Palin was viewed as a clown, a dolt, a joke, and McCain was condemned as a nitwit for selecting her as his running mate. For the first time in American history, a presidential candidate had seen all his hopes and dreams undone by the sheer emotive power of naked, unalloyed satire.

Obviously, Ms Fey did not accomplish this all by herself. Clearly, the savage nightly attacks by Stephen Colbert and Jon Stewart played an important role in softening up the target. Surely the satirical tabloid The Onion should get some credit here. Without a doubt, the withering contempt of Bill Maher and Michael Moore played a vital role in causing the Republican colossus to come crashing to earth.

But the truth is, Moore and Maher and Stewart and Colbert had been flaying the Republican party for years without any notable effect. Not until Tina Fey stepped into the ring and began eviscerating the hapless Palin did the tide truly begin to turn. Like Horatius at the bridge, like William Tell versus the Austrian invaders, like George Washington at Valley Forge, Ms Fey had come to the aid of her country at the moment her country needed her most. She serviced it with a smile.

[snot]

1. Hooray, Tina! Also Jon Stewart & Stephen Colbert --

our best tv sources for news during the last 8 years (or more).

[Gabi Hayes]

2. excellent points.....Fey was on Fresh Air the other day, and said that,

in all her years on SNL, she rarely, if ever, was recognized in public

when she did Palin, however, she was immediately stopped constantly

she said the change was remarkable

[KT2000]

3. Tina Fey lantern-jawed??

Don't see that but...
the satire and humor was the message that got through. Strident messages sure did not.
Kudos to all of them - they showed real courage when there was not much of that around.

[Oddball]

4. Tina Fey is a Genius because she made Satire...

...out of someone, Like Sarah Palin, who one would think is impossible to satirize.

[glitch]

6. Satirizing satire, an exercise in recursion. Chaos in the margins! :)

Edit: I thank Stephen Colbert for starting it.

[Hissyspit]

5. Fey's was sudden and obvious. Moore and Maher and Stewart and Colbert have been chipping away

slowly but surely and in some ways are more important.

[ColbertWatcher]

12. Her delivery was what made it work.

Anyone could have said "I can see Russia from my house!"

But, Fey brought a joyous stupidity to it that put it over the top.

[morningglory]

7. You are correct, all the posters are correct, but in a sense Sarah Palin

stepped into the ring and became a satire beyond comedy-writers' ability to create. She is an Onion character. She is beyond belief, as a serious national candidate for anything. She is Rush Limp Balls, Sean Hannity, Ann Coulter, and Bill-O all rolled into one. And I hope their days are numbered as well as hers, but no telling the way our citizens think.

[TexasObserver]

8. She captured the vacuous, adolescent nature of Palin.

[BanTheGOP]

9. UNFORTUNATELY, Palin...

...is still the Governor of Alaska. We must NOW work on ensuring that she LOSES her next election.

Her so called 80% rating was based on the fact they outed OTHER republicans, not that she was republican herself. But we should EASILY be able to find an opponent that will take her out in 2010.

We must START by ensuring that NO DRILLING is EVER done ANYWHERE in her state, so we can bankrupt it, and get the democrats to look better, just as Obama did in the rest of the country.

Let's DESTROY HER POLITICAL CAREER NOW!

[pokerfan]

10. I saw that and as important as our comedians were

I think it was Palin that doomed Palin.

Couric: You've said, quote, "John McCain will reform the way Wall Street does business." Other than supporting stricter regulations of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac two years ago, can you give us any more example of his leading the charge for more oversight?

Palin: I think that the example that you just cited, with his warnings two years ago about Fannie and Freddie - that, that's paramount. That's more than a heck of a lot of other senators and representatives did for us.

Couric: But he's been in Congress for 26 years. He's been chairman of the powerful Commerce Committee. And he has almost always sided with less regulation, not more.

Palin: He's also known as the maverick though, taking shots from his own party, and certainly taking shots from the other party. Trying to get people to understand what he's been talking about - the need to reform government.

Couric: But can you give me any other concrete examples? Because I know you've said Barack Obama is a lot of talk and no action. Can you give me any other examples in his 26 years of John McCain truly taking a stand on this?

Palin: I can give you examples of things that John McCain has done, that has shown his foresight, his pragmatism, and his leadership abilities. And that is what America needs today.

Couric: I'm just going to ask you one more time - not to belabor the point. Specific examples in his 26 years of pushing for more regulation.

Palin: I'll try to find you some and I'll bring them to you.

While that might read like an SNL sketch, it's actually a word-for-word transcript.

[ColbertWatcher]

11. "Those whom the gods would destroy they first make ridiculous."

Best. Quote. Ever.

Thank you for posting this!