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.
Mrs. Bush needs to apologize and resign! /s
You don't seem to understand that all humor doesen't have to be obscene. Because she doesen't share the outhouse mentality of some here on FR doesen't mean she has no sense of humor.
Well, if it makes you feel good to come in in the middle of a discussion, completely misrepresent what's going on in order to make your point, you carry on.
And, frankly, I'm not really interested in whether you take me seriously or not. I've had quite enough of the morally superior around here.
They shoot horses, don't they?
Oh oh! If we have a telethon....
How about the Island where they are filming "Lost"...
I really think Sawyer is soooo cute...
Erm,
ah,
nevermind.
Nice try .. But the President didn't invite her
Lehrer did
With a screen name of by melancholy,Rule 1218 states "you cannot post on a thread about humor"
That being said, I would not consider ANYTHING the First Lady said in her comments at the Correspondent's Dinner comparable to the average South Park episode. She did some innuendo-filled humor, but let's be real folks, she was talking to adults, not children, and did not stoop to obscenities, even if some of her jokes tended toward the bawdy. She was not making an address to the nation, or the nation's schoolchildren; she was gearing her comments to the audience, who, once they got past the fact that it was Laura Bush making the comments, thought they were pretty harmless. That's because they'd heard SO much worse at previous dinners, that Mrs. Bush's were tame by comparison.
No kidding. It really is discouraging, isn't it? Nasty, nasty posts about a gifted, infulential conservative writer. I'll take one Michelle Malkin to twenty-five Tray Parkers. Or 125, for that matter.
Dan
ROFL!!
I haven't seen that show.
Really hot?
You know, I thought you were trying to show me a post about people trashing Mrs. Bush, or disparaging her. I didn't see condenscention mentioned in your first post. Maybe I'm stupid, but I didn't see anything in the post you sent me to, talking about South Park Libertines that spoke about Mrs. Bush. And honestly THAT'S what I thought you were referring to. To call that a dishonest debating tactic is a little over the top.
But, I'm done. I really do have a life. I have posted what I think. No one has posted anything that has changed my mind. You are welcome to your opinion, and welcome to try to get people to agree with you however you want.
Have a nice day, and I'm sure somewhere along the line there will be a thread where you and I are in delerious agreement.
susie
Excellent post. Thank you. I get sick and tired of hearing a few say FR is less than it used to be because they are in the minority on a few opinions.
People who thought Laura's routine was a little over-the-top, (I am not one of them) do not deserve to be attacked and called names, have their marriages questioned, their mental health questioned, etc...those people are good conservatives also. If you dont' like their opinion, move on!
Funniest thing he does is that head shake thingy. The "yes", "no" one. Hard to explain, but you know what I mean!
FOTFL!
Good one.
Howlin isn't acting holier then thou and making more then there is out of OLD joke, like some around here
My daughter and I watch "Whose Line" on a regular basis.
And she loves both the "Dead Parrot" and "The Cheese Shoppe".
Considering that the media can invite anyone they like, Jane Fonda was Jim Lehrer's invited guest. Cedric The Entertainer was the invited guest of the White House.
Thank you for your opinion. I strongly disagree. The venue was appropriate. I think you realize that the President is just a man and is capable of showing a lighter side. He and his do not always have to be 'on'. Did you ever see or hear about Nancy Reagan doing a song and dance routine entitled "Second Hand Clothes" during a similar event? I was a sapling at the time, but I recall hearing it was quite a hoot.
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