Posted on 06/16/2008 3:33:43 PM PDT by forkinsocket
In a Funny Way, Satirical Takes Can Color Perceptions of the Presidential Contenders
The Onion newspaper jokingly dissects how Barack Obama calculates his every facial expression to convey the countenance of Inspirational Leadership. Jon Stewart jests that Obama strikes poses so evocative of the forefathers on our currency, he's not campaigning merely for president but rather is "running for coin." And comic Lewis Black kvetches during a recent Washington performance that Obama exudes such off-the-charts optimism in these trying times, "even his nipples are filled with hope!"
Yes, nation, our sharpest satirists are ramping up. As they chip-chip-chip away at presumptive nominees Obama and John McCain to get laughs, they're also sculpting handy-dandy political caricatures that begin to take hold in the public chatosphere. Pointed campaign humor has more prominent platforms in this historic presidential election than ever before, from YouTube to Onion.com videos to the continued growth of satiric cable comedy.
Not that most satirists are quick to claim singular credit for our perceptions of the candidates; many humorists, in fact, insist they have no phone-booth costume changes to lend them cultural kapow. But some satirists, such as James Downey -- the veteran "Saturday Night Live" writer who coined the classic Bush malapropism "strategery" -- believe a chorus of comic monologues can move the political needle with viewers, voters and a not-so-infallible media. "Satire has a role in the democratic process," he says, adding: "The right sketch can be worth more than 1,000 words in Foreign Affairs quarterly."
Could this new class of video-splicing entertainers be joining the great American club that editorial cartoonist Thomas Nast first founded with a pen more than a century ago?
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...
A Bush malapropism that someone else coined? How does that work?
Maybe he never said it, but someone said he did.
***
I happen to think the "Black man asking people for change" thing in The Onion was a hoot. And I'm not really a fan of The Onion.
Some humor will be good in these depressing times...
Particularly because the young former community organizer's ego is, insofar as he is in far over his tender head, too brittle to have much of a sense of humor, I suspect.
A good, long laugh at his expense -- several of them -- might just be the undoing of this goofball flight of fancy he's taking America on.
(especially when delivered in humor)
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