Posted on 05/04/2005 5:59:04 AM PDT by OESY
I'll get to First Lady Laura Bush's bawdy stand-up routine in a minute. But I want to highlight a related new book out about how young conservatives are shaking up the dominant liberal media culture. It's called "South Park Conservatives." My name is listed on the cover along with many other (mostly) right-leaning pundits, websites, and bloggers, but I must confess to having mixed feelings about the honor.
The best-selling book's author, Brian C. Anderson of the Manhattan Institute, writes a fun, breezy survey documenting the rise of talk radio, FOX News, the Internet, conservative publishing, and college Republican activism. Anderson's chapter on the success of conservative talk radio and the abysmal failure of liberal Air America to replicate it is incisive. Another chapter on the blogosphere (alone worth the price of the book) gives readers a useful history of the explosion of news, opinion, and political websites that have smashed the left-wing media monopoly.
But how did such a wide-ranging list of individuals and organizations -- Anderson's book cover includes the names of conservative-leaning Internet pioneer Matt Drudge and center-left journalist Mickey Kaus, the libertarian Tech Central Station, the culturally conservative WorldNetDaily, political upstart Arnold Schwarzenegger and political chameleon Andrew Sullivan, plus Ann Coulter, Laura Ingraham, and myself, along with a feature blurb from Jonah Goldberg -- all get lumped under the umbrella term "South Park Conservatives"?
Anderson argues that Comedy Central's cartoon series "South Park" embodies the "fiercely anti-liberal comedic spirit" of the "new media" from Kaus to Coulter. The cartoon, he writes, reflects a "post-liberal counterculture" that is "particularly appealing to the young, however much it might offend older conservatives."
Well, I'm 34 and no fan of "South Park." I have many good friends who are indeed huge boosters of the show, but I find that the characters' foul language overwhelms any entertainment I might otherwise derive from the show's occasional, right-leaning iconoclastic themes.
"South Park" may be "politically incorrect." But "politically incorrect" is not always a synonym for "conservative."
My discomfort with "South Park's" increasingly mainstream vulgarity is not a matter of nitpicking. We're not just talking about a stray curse word here or there. As liberal New York Times columnist Frank Rich points out, "South Park" "holds the record for the largest number of bleeped-out repetitions (162) of a single four-letter expletive in a single television half-hour." That's probably about the same number of profanities uttered at John Kerry's infamous New York City celebrity fundraiser last summer, which Republicans rightly condemned for its excessive obscenities.
Rich is wrong about most things, but he's painfully on target in noting the incongruous pandering now taking place by some in the cool-kids clique on the Right. Conservatives criticize Hollywood relentlessly, but as Rich notes, "the embarrassing reality is that they want to be hip, too."
Which brings me to Mrs. Bush. She demonstrated at the celebrity-studded White House Correspondents' Dinner this weekend that you can entertain without being profane. Most of her humor was just right: Edgy but not over the edge. But her off-color stripper and horse jokes crossed the line. Can you blame Howard Stern for feeling peeved and perplexed? And let's face it: If Teresa ("I'm cheeky!") Heinz Kerry had delivered Mrs. Bush's First Lady Gone Mildly Wild routine, social conservative pundits would be up in arms over her bad taste and lack of dignity.
The First Lady resorting to horse masturbation jokes is not much better than Whoopi Goldberg trafficking in dumb puns on the Bush family name. It was wholly unnecessary.
Self-censorship is a conservative value. In a brilliant commencement speech at Hillsdale College last year, Heritage Foundation president Ed Feulner called on his audience to resist the coarsened rhetoric of our time: "If we are to prevail as a free, self-governing people, we must first govern our tongues and our pens. Restoring civility to public discourse is not an option. It is a necessity."
Lighten up, you say? No thanks. I'd rather be a G-rated conservative who can only make my kids giggle than a "South Park"/"Desperate Housewives" conservative whose goal is getting Richard Gere and Jane Fonda to snicker. Giving the Hollyweird Left the last laugh is not my idea of success.
Ah - so because I think there is a time and place for such humor, and the presidental podium represents neither, I'm a prig.
Apparently, you've never read some of my other posts on FR, and it's just easier to generalize my opinion on this matter away as that of a prig - even though my prior posts clearly indicate otherwise - than actually debate the issue.
Yes, you did.
It's.. umm.. pretty bad.
I look either like I've been de-boned and am flopping around while miracuously vertical, or I've got an electrical connection powering my horrifically erratic movements.
Think I'll sit still, the Dilantin shot may be a possibility.
Will you show me where the post you sent me to called Laura Bush any names??
susie
LOL!
I'm going to sit till, as I may be zapped with Dilantin if I move too much.
The office of First Lady has never been occupied by a nun. They're real people, not religious figures. They have sex and make jokes, just like real people.
Would it be different for you if the same jokes were made in the same room at the same event by a paid comedian, where the first lady's role would have been to simply laugh and blush?
" sit till"
Woohoo!
Gimme the tiller!
*sigh*
Was supposed to be 'sit still'.
I don't waste my time "addressing" condescending pompous ponifications by people who think they're morally superior to the rest of us; that offended me when Hillary Clinton did it, and it sure as hell offends me when it's somebody talking about my party while claiming to be in the party.
Nah, you just flame them and move on. Which is my entire point.
Ya know, I think you're on to something with that statement.
Do you understand how this forum works? I'm free to post ANYTHING I want within the guidelines.
And you're free to comment on it.
Just because you don't LIKE or AGREE with what I say, doesn't make ME wrong.
I figured out what you meant.
I think we are going to start a charity for People With Darksheare's Syndrome.
(Henseforth known as "DS")
We can have banquets, and fundraisers, and sell rubber bracelets. (What's your favorite color?) YOU can be our poster-boy.
You just have to look waifish and type badly.
No, I just don't see where you get off thinking your morally superior than everyone else.
Ya think?
:-)
You know, you really have been a surprise to a lot of people in this discussion, me included.
In your 35,000 posts on this forum, you've certainly given as good as you've gotten, but for some reason you're really on your highhorse about this one, acting all indignant. You certainly have flamed your share along the way.
I guess this case is different because YOU brought YOUR WIFE into it and didn't like the reaction it got, huh?
Actually, yes, you are free to post whatever. And I'm free to point out that calling people names, even if it makes your buddies laugh and high five you, doesn't a debate make. It's difficult to take the rest of what you say seriously.
It has nothing to do with whether I agree or disagree with your premise. If, on the other hand you are just venting, carry on.
susie
Thank you for that....I get so tired of seeing the trashing and bashing around here just because someone disagrees with you.
MM wrote an OPINION piece...it is okay to disagree with her but keep it civil. No need for name calling, snide remarks, etc.... (Not that you did that, of course).
Uh. Yeah. Thanks for stating the obvious. Do you think you're teaching me something here? We're talking about public behavior.
Would it be different for you if the same jokes were made in the same room at the same event by a paid comedian, where the first lady's role would have been to simply laugh and blush?
Mmmm. That's a toughie. (Not.) That would unquestionably be "different."
>>the produce aisle of the local grocery was a "hot spot" for cruising in the 80's.<<
No wonder, the staff gives it a cold shower once in a while!
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