Can you propagandize with all the colors of the Red?

Have you ever heard the Stalinist cry to Bath & Beyond
Or asked the grinning Trotyskyite why he grinned?
Can you sing with all the voices of the Osmunds?
Can you propagandize with all the colors of the Red?
Can you propagandize with all the colors of the Red?
Come run the hidden pine nooks of Rocco's
Come taste the secret of Key Bridge Marriott
Come roll in all the cloaks all around you
And for once, never wonder what they're worth
The chekists and the mole are my brothers
The Pollard and the Ames are my friends
And we are all connected to each other
In a secret cell that never ends

Can you propagandize with all the colors of the Red? Amy Goodman can and when she can work in a fellow tourist, she gladly does so. Take gadfly and dried up 'writer' Alice Walker who decided she wanted to Sister Sledge it and talk 'family.' Goody was quick to jot it down and include it in her latest bad column: "Even when they were building it," slaves building the White House, "you know in chains or in desperation and in sadness, they were building it for him."

Him being the Christ-child Barack. The man whose roots do not trace back to slavery. Yeah, Alice Walker is that insane. She really, really is. Homophobic and insane, demented and crazed.

And while that does make Walker's remarks laughable, the kicker, the belly laugh, comes from the fact that Alice wants to talk 'family.'

Alice, you got one daughter.

Woman, you got only one grandchild.

And you've never seen him. Born in 2004, and you've refused to see him or have anything to do with your daughter Rebecca.

That would be your bi-racial daughter Rebecca and possibly you're refusal to call Barack what he is (bi-racial -- even Donna Brazile can and will make that call) is one more stab in the back to your daughter?

Rebecca's the daughter. Alice is the much applauded and lauded parent. So before she next tries to talk 'family' and 'bonds,' she needs to tell whatever reporter she's pontificating to, "I'll call you right back. Now I need to call my daughter. I am an old fool and a petty one for refusing to speak to her and refusing to see my own grandchild."

Call your daughter, Alice.

Don't bore us with another one of your pie-in-the-sky statements, don't expect any of us to fall for that crap. Call your daughter.

Take care of your business.

Clock is going tick-tock.

SNL? (Ava and C.I.)

"Amy Poehler has not left the show!" insisted Twyla in an e-mail last week that Ty grew tired of replying to. Twyla wanted it known that "Saturday Night Live is adding two women to the cast! I heard it on the radio! And Amy is still on the show, that's why she's on the credits!"

Amy is gone, Twyla. Amy was always leaving when she gave birth. And C4 of Thursday's New York Times quotes SNL exec producer Lorne Michaels stating, "I still hope Amy will come by and say goodbye."

Yes, she's still featured in the opening credits. She's even still named (first billed) at the start of Weekend Update. She's just no longer with the show.

Saturday Night Live did not add two women to the cast. The cast is the cast. Featured players are not the cast. SNL did add two women as featured players last week: Michaela Watkins and Abby Elliott. Why did they even bother?

Here's a breakdown of SNL last night.

Opened with "Joe Biden" bragging/warning about his blunders. No, they didn't do a Barack joke, they never have and they may never.

Paul Rudd, the host (and he did a solid job), did a monologue where he was briefly joined by Kristen Wiig (the only female in the cast) playing the Governor of Arizona.

In the next skit it's two college roommates (male) going home to meet one's kissy family. Four males, one female.

Scared straight skit featuring Keenan and homophobia ("You just transformed from man into bitch"; "You're going to have an excellent adventure in a communal shower"; "That's how many guys are going to fit inside of you" . . .). Keenan is one of five males in the skit. No women.

SNL digital short revolving around Paul and Andy painting each other nude (one to catch on YouTube). Fred's featured in a tiny role. Many are features as extras.

Four guys in a car singing along with Ricky Nelson.

Musical guest Beyonce "sings." There's an echo effect going on in her pre-recorded vocals and after Ashlee Simpson, you'd think SNL would refuse to allow any performer to use pre-recorded vocals. This was a slow song so Beyonce didn't even have the 'excuse' that she was dancing throughout the song.

"Weekend Update with Amy Poehlar and Seth Myers . . ." No Amy. Seth opens announcing who he is. As if the 'jokes' don't do that. Laura Bush gave Michelle Obama a private tour of the White House "without once taking her hand off her pocket book." There's never been any indication or suggestion that Laura Bush was a racist. That's just cheap-ass joke from a punk-ass Seth.

And "pocket book"? Is that Seth's name for it when he's dressed up in Mommy's clothes? First off, why would any woman carry one around in her own home? Second of all, "purse" -- that's the funny word, Seth.

"Friday Barack met with Hillary to see if she'd be interested in a role in his administration," Seth declared oozing his hatred of women. "'Of course,' said Hillary, 'I'll take president'." Yes, Barack offered Hillary Secretary of State. But to use that fact in the 'joke' wouldn't allow Seth to continue his sexist rants against Hillary. There's a reason women don't like Seth on screen or off.

Seth's joined by Snaggle Puss (male) and his male lover. Seth gets more gay jokes that really explain why the show is so damn homophobic. And, no, Seth, the stubble doesn't make you look masculine. It just makes you look like a pudgy trick too old to be a boy toy. An observation only made more obvious when Seth's staring at Justin Timberlake's dancing crotch. (Timberlake came on Weekend Update as himself. He sang "Sexy Back" as Weekend Update ended.)

Paul Rudd, Darrell Hammond and Justin Timberlake are among the five males in the dancing skit with Beyonce. Musical guest Beyonce is the only woman. Three males are dressed up as women.

Paul Rudd plays a jumper. Two men try to talk him down. No women.

Beyonce performs her dance number -- she's not singing again. This is obvious when she speaks into her microphone which apparently didn't have a sound check -- possibly due to the fact that pre-recorded vocals were being used?

Paul and Crazy Brows in a skit on gay marriage.

Paul and Crazy Brows in a skit about an ex-girlfriend (not seen) and Fred joins them.

And that's the show. So SNL female featured players or their sole female cast member (Wiig) really didn't even need to show up last night. They were only used in the monologue and the skit that followed. Women were AWOL after that except when the musical guest was given a role (that she bungled and came off looking homophobic in -- but, hey, when your her age and singing about wanting a ring on your finger, you already look damn pathetic, ask Oprah where that road leads).

What SNL and USA Today critics don't get is that women make up over 50% of the US population. SNL's original cast of seven included three women. Today they offer one and expect no one to complain.

Amy had her baby the weekend before the election. She did not get pregnant in August. Lorne knew she was pregnant and knew she was planning to stay with the show up to the birth and then leave. There was plenty of time to prepare for that reality.

In other e-mail news, Ty asks that we note Octogalore and encourage you to check out the website.

Highlights

This piece is written by Rebecca of Sex and Politics and Screeds and Attitude, Cedric of Cedric's Big Mix, Kat of Kat's Korner, Betty of Thomas Friedman is a Great Man, Mike of Mikey Likes It!, Elaine of Like Maria Said Paz, Ruth of Ruth's Report, Marcia of SICKOFITRADLZ, Stan of Oh Boy It Never Ends and Wally of The Daily Jot. Unless otherwise noted, we picked all highlights.


"I Hate The War" -- Most requested post, C.I.'s "I Hate The War."

"Tuna Pasta Bake in the Kitchen" -- Trina tells us she finds the economy so depressing it's hard to blog.

"Not a chapter" -- Betty's latest, as the title notes, is "not a chapter." She can wrap up Betinna's story in two more chapters but community member Kayla pieced all the clues together and grasped how dark the ending was. So Betty's offering her readers the ending or the option of it stopping now and them writing their own ending for Betinna. Betty is transitioning the site over to a blog anyway so she has no preference -- no strong one. ("I'd like for Betinna to have a happy ending as well. I don't have time to write it and I wouldn't know how to.")


"Iraq" -- Ruth continues to hope she can use her Friday night post to update C.I.'s "Iraq snapshot"; however, that may not be possible. As Ruth points out, there's so little interest in Iraq that even waiting until after ten at night did not provide her with any news of Friday's violence because no one -- not even the wires -- had bothered to report any.

"No that wasn't part of the peace movement" -- Elaine makes clear what the media obscures.

"heroes" -- Rebecca offers her thoughts on NBC's Heroes.

Isaiah's The World Today Just Nuts "Bitchy Tina Fey" -- Isaiah capturing the Tina Fey we've all grown to loathe.

"America dodged a close one!" and "THIS JUST IN! DISAPPOINTMENTS SET IN!" -- Wally and Cedric got a hate e-mail over this one. A how-dare-you! :D This is pretty funny. And our attitude these days is we'll treat you the way you treat others. Like teachers in a classrom, we can't treat everyone the same. We have to cater to individuals. So we will adapt for individuals.


"Fancy Nancy goes up against the Bully Boy" and "No to the bailout" -- All last week, Kat covered the potential auto bailout and we were happy to highlight all of those posts but she said "No, no, no." So here are our two favorites.

"Get Smart not that bad," "Homophobia," "Dan Savage," "Read Terrance D.C." and "Isaiah and some quick thoughts" -- We will however note all of Stan's post. Last week was Stan's first full week of blogging.

" Shut up Sherry Wolf, shut the hell up" -- Marcia's important post. Read it. Immediately.

"Jeff Cohen the Damned Liar" -- Mike on Jeffy Cohen aka Maximum Sell Out.



"Same-sex marriage starts in my state" -- Ruth's thoughtful post.


"aids breakthrough?" -- Rebecca: "Sometimes you find a story that interests you and it may be beyond what you're able to expound upon at that moment but you can still highlight. I think this is an important story and wish that scientists were commenting on the American dismissal."

"Debra Sweet, Third, Isaiah" -- Mike breaks down last week's edition.

"Faux pets for faux prez" and "THIS JUST IN! MORE PROPS FOR BARACK!" -- Cedric and Wally on the pet-less First Family.

"Volcker, Leopold" and "picking through maureen dowd's garbage" and "Tim Wise, Condi Rice" and "Crazy Marjorie Cohn and Condi gets an award" -- Media critiques from Mike, Rebecca, Marcia and Elaine.

Truest statement of the week

The new era of voting for the lesser of the two evils has penetrated the core of America's critical intellectual community, and some of the biggest voices for change have endorsed Obama. In effect, what has taken place is the union between those opposed to imperial ideology and those endorsing it. Although this serious event has gone largely unnoticed, American intellectuals will need to reflect on its consequences seriously if they are to contribute to the building of a stable future for humanity as a whole, and in particular to mending the tarnished corrupt fabric of American society.
One American intellectual, James Petras, has been able to identify the direct social consequences of such a paradigm shift and prior to the elections has publicly expressed his views in an article titled "The Elections and the Responsibility of the Intellectual to Speak Truth to Power: Twelve Reasons to Reject Obama and Support Nader/McKinney."
As the title of the article clearly states, Petras voices the reasons why intellectuals have the responsibility of voting against Obama just like they should vote against McCain.



-- Pablo Ouziel's "A Paradigm Shift in America’s Intellectual Community" (Dissident Voice).

Truest statement of the week II

Some ardent feminists are such fishes in water that they can't really tell they're in the tank. Gloria Steinem was on post-election Oprah, and the gist was: Palin had no content, wasn't fit to be VP or President, and it's McCain’s fault for choosing her. Gloria said that the more people found out about Palin, the more they went away from her. (These days, I'm feeling that way about Gloria.) She pontificated that women's issues are about substance not form, it’s what you're for that matters, not just being a woman. It's not that she's wrong, I just don't like the holier than thou attitude. Hmmm, more tread marks from another feminist who's absolutely confident within herself, and elated that Obama's in.

-- Lady Boomer NYC, "Both Sides Now" (The Confluence)

A note to our readers

Hey --

Another Sunday.

First some house cleaning or taking garbage to the curb. A number of sites have asked us to link to various things in the past and we've been happy to. They've never linked back. A little irritating. But now that we know how backlinks work and know that not only was there not a link back but that we had to be deleted (community wide) to avoid showing up as having linked to the posts we were asked to link to, we're not interested in doing a damn thing for a number of people. If this applies to you, consider this your formal f**k off. And how bad is it? We told C.I. this was going on for awhile and C.I. (being more fair than the rest of us) would say, "Oh surely not." Oh surely yes.

This edition. Along with Dallas, here's who helped out this edition.


The Third Estate Sunday Review's Jim, Dona, Ty, Jess, and Ava,
Rebecca of Sex and Politics and Screeds and Attitude,
Betty of Thomas Friedman Is a Great Man,
C.I. of The Common Ills and The Third Estate Sunday Review,
Kat of Kat's Korner (of The Common Ills),
Cedric of Cedric's Big Mix,
Mike of Mikey Likes It!,
Elaine of Like Maria Said Paz,
Ruth of Ruth's Report,
Wally of The Daily Jot,
Marcia of SICKOFITRDLZ
and Stan of Oh Boy It Never Ends.

We thank them all. Stan is the newest community member to start a blog. We're glad he's started one. And the "linkback" Blogger/Blogspot option? The reason C.I. believes us now is because C.I. helped Stan set up his site and Stan wanted that option. So they both became experts quickly. And discovered that to prevent a link that was read*, you actually have to delete it by clicking on a garbage can. One guy in particular just lost a link from any community sites ever again. After Stan's blog went up, all other community sites added the link back feature, by the way.


So let's talk content. Here's what we've got.

Truest statement of the week -- We had eight strong nominees. (More than eight nominess, but eight strong ones.) We really feel this is the strongest and hope you agree.

Truest statement of the week II -- This was also a strong one and you should read the post its from if you haven't already.

Greens Gone Wild -- This is our editorial. If you want to be a political party, act like one. That does not include wall papering over what are supposed to be very real differences after an election. In fact, after an election is a good time for a political party to point out the differences. That way when the Dem or Republican elected disappoints, you can say, "We warned you during the campaign, we warned you after the election." Calling out Barack at a later date now leaves the Green Party looking scattered since they failed to call him out after the election. Besides, they keep pushing the meme that he's Black (he isn't) and that's amazing so if and when they criticize him, the question becomes, "Wait, Greens, you said what mattered was his race. Did his race change? No? Then why are you criticizing him?"

TV: The journalists deliver the belly laughs -- Ava and C.I. cover two entertainment programs and two public affairs programs. This accidentally went up before anything else. They were tired and hit "publis" and not "save now". Which allowed early readers to discover it. Gino says thank you for that gift and is among those who've already written to say it's wonderful and (Liza's words), "How's Jim going to screw up in his note this time?" Thanks, Liza. I'll move on.

Roundtable -- Our first roundtable with Stan. We were hoping for Trina joining us but that didn't work out. She is planning on participating during the holidays. We'll include her in a roundtable then. Ty's found one e-mail complaining about 'poor Alice Walker' and the way we treat her. The e-mailer writes, "Don't you know that her daughter has turned on her?" C.I. responds, "Yes, we do know that and we avoid bringing that into the discussion. We could have and some of Rebecca Walker's charges do fit in with the comments being made. That doesn't mean she's right or wrong, it just means we avoided the topic and you're the one raising it."

Barack revisions, hot off the presses! -- We couldhave put a really good photo with this. Why didn't we. Two hours ago we started uploading it to Flickr. It's still going. We have many uploads to Flickr still going on. Dona said, "Post it without it." And on two other things, she said, "Post them with what we do have." If she hadn't done that, you wouldn't be able to read this edition very, very early for us.

We're not buying it -- This was almost the editorial but time ran out. We made it a short piece instead.

Ty's Corner -- Where is Ty's Corner! When will Ty do another one! He does one here. It's brief but it's strong and on an important topic.

Rating the presidential campaign offices -- This is another one where we had better uploads planned but they're still uploading so we ran with what we had.

The 2008 presidential election is over -- Ditto this which was actually going to be a humor feature and include captions for photos. Those photos still load. Ay-yi-yi.

TV with honesty -- The Onion. It's scary because it's true.

Highlights -- Mike, Kat, Wally, Stan, Ruth, Marcia, Betty, Rebecca, Cedric and Elaine wrote this and we thank them for it.

That's it. We'll see you next week.



-- Jim, Dona, Ty, Jess, Ava and C.I.

Greens Gone Wild

The Green Party presidential ticket of Cynthia McKinney and Rosa Clemente did not win the White House and did not win 5% of the vote nationally. Some might rush to blame either or both candidates but the same attitudes and statements that hurt their run are already popping up, ready to destroy the Green Party. And that nonsense didn't come from their mouths while they were running and it's not coming out of their mouths now that the runs over. In other words, the problem is not the party's candidates.



At On The Wilder Side, Kimberly Wilder features Long Island's Steve Sloane who can't stop yammering. About his own party's ticket? Please, that wound indicate a sense of purpose and pride. Sloane voted for Nader so why can't he stop yacking about Barack?



Sloane writes, "I have been charmed by Obama and his family. They are lovely. I can feel the happiness that his election has instilled especially for Afro-Americans, but not just for them.
After I voted, I opened the curtain and there was my neighbor Drew, whom I have known all his life." And on and on. No need to worry about actual issues or free and fair elections when you can yammer on about being "charmed." Audrey Hepburn, your greatest fault was apparently in never running for Congress. Well maybe not. Steve Sloane explains, "It is Obama’s color that makes this victory great." Well strut that runway, Miss America. Toss those shoulders back and smile because all that matters is the outsides.



Sloane is only one of the many feel-good testimonials for Barack you can find at On The Wilder Side -- a site run by Green Kimberly Wilder. Yep, Green Party members.



The Greens lost the presidential election. This isn't some New Age Little League match up; everyone doesn't go home with a trophy. But that's how they choose to play it and how the Green Party itself chooses to play it. Take a look at this pathetic piece of crap the Green Party calls a press release:



The Green Party of the United States thanked Cynthia McKinney and Rosa Clemente, Green candidates for President and Vice President, for their strong national campaign in the 2008 election.

The party also congratulated Barack Obama on his election to the White House today, and celebrated the election of America's first African American President.

"Even though we competed with Sen. Obama for votes in the presidential race, we're thrilled that voters have elected an African American President, something unimaginable a generation ago. We're just as thrilled that our own presidential ticket -- Cynthia McKinney and Rosa Clemente are two women of African descent, and Ms. Clemente is Black Puerto Rican -- represented the voices of so many Americans who've been shut out of the system," said Clyde Shabazz, Green candidate for Congress in Michigan's 14th District.

Greens noted that voters expressed a mandate for change in the hope that President-elect Obama would follow through on his pledge of "Change We Can Believe In" and reverse the dangerous direction that the country has taken.

"Voters who were motivated by Barack Obama's message of change will now have to fight if they really want change to take place during the next four years," said Jill Bussiere, co-chair of the Green Party of the United States. "Rosa Clemente, our candidate for Vice President, talked about the Green Party's 'imperative' throughout the campaign. The Green Imperative will move forward during the Obama Administration, as people demand that change be more than a campaign slogan."





Do you see the problems?



If you don't you're probably either a Democrat or a member from the useless half of the Green Party. The party's candidate was Cynthia McKinney. The candidate outlined many differences between herself and the other presidential nominees including that she was the only one addressing the prison-industrial-complex. She could have added that she was the only one bringing up reproductive rights. She could have added many other issues she was the only candidate to bring up.





But apparently there are no real differences and, since there are no real differences, there's no reason to ever vote Green.



That is the message the party sends out and if it wants to remain a tiny and meaningless party (meaningless in terms of elected office), it can continue on this path where the only 'reward' is basking in their self-defined 'goodness.'



Earlier the Green Party issued a press release entitled "The Real Difference" which they still link to at the bottom of their home page:




Q. What's the difference between the Democrat and Republican parties?
Q. Do they represent your interests and values?

Democrats talk about the different policies, positions, and priorities we'd see from a Democrat in the White House versus a Republican.
Most Democrat and Republican politicians -- including Clinton, Gore, Kerry and Bush -- hold similar positions on major issues --- and that's why we need a real choice at the polls: a party that gives power to "We the People" instead of powerful corporations.
If you look at where the candidates and parties stand on the issues you can see that the Democrat and Republican parties are in basic agreement on most issues OR they agree to ignore important issues.

Judge for yourself -- and compare with Green positions:
Summary Issue Position Comparison
Detailed Version
Print Version
Alternate PDF Version
Alternate PDF (Smaller)



We're not disagreeing with the above but how do you reconcile that and the statements and 'coverage' the party and their online sites have been offering since Tuesday's vote?



Political positions and issues don't matter? It all comes down to skin color?

Well then the Democrats and Republicans should nominate a Latino, an Asian-American, an Arab-American, a Native American and every other possible first in order to ensure that the whole nation is on a feel-good vibe for the next few election cycles.



Remember, it's all about skin color!



Is there a difference between the Green Party and the Democratic Party? When the Greens act like they're acting, there's not a damn bit of difference.



And that message is sent and received far beyond the Green Party. That message becomes an impediment for the party in future elections and with the press (which laughed their asses off at the Green Party's press release last week). See the Democrats stand accused of never following up on their promises to the people. So when the Greens -- who allegedly stand for something -- waste their time (and the limited attention given to them) in order to sing the praises of a Democratic candidate, they're telling Americans that the Greens just offer words as well.



Are the Greens for expanding and continuing the Afghanistan War? Are they for keeping US troops on Iraqi soil? We kind of thought the answer to both questions was no. And yet, there's the Green Party and their members applauding a candidate who stands for just that and for so much more. We kind of thought the Greens believed in ballot access so it's amazing to see them issuing praise for a candidate who won his first race by eliminating all his opponents. We kind of thought the Greens believe fair and free elections came via public financing so it's strange to watch them applaud the candidate who has probably destroyed public financing.



After the election last week, the country should have heard the Green Party explaining why their party mattered and what it stood for. Instead they offered a lot of fluff that telegraphed the message, intentionally or not, "Green Party -- the party even members don't believe in."

TV: The journalists deliver the belly laughs

Last week the laughs never stopped coming, except when they were promised. The biggest belly laugh came from Newsweek's Evan Thomas declaring of Barack Obama, "There is a slightly creepy cult of personality about all this." Like most strong laugh getters, it's funny because it's true.



Before we could reach that comedic high, America had to suffer. Through the two-hour clip job. At a time when NBC has screwed themselves and their own schedules by refusing to air Heroes and Chuck in repeats over the summer, at a time when NBC is desperately attempting to make Monday must-see, both shows were benched last week so that Saturday Night Live could eat up time with their really bad clip-job.



We warned you in September:



You can't comedically cover a political race when you only hurl invective at one side. We have long made that point to friends currently with SNL. As they begin assembling a clip show of election coverage, a few have started to get our point. One admitted he was "dead wrong" about our criticism last year. There's no crime in being wrong. There's crime in not admitting it. We were wrong ourselves. We thought Tina Fey was a performer and not just a "Mean Girl" dashing off bitchy, little lines.



We'll get to Tina Fey, don't worry. But right now let's give the break down of SNL's Monday night special.



The special offered a smattering of clips from past decades. We found the eighties and nineties most illuminating. Take 1988 where George H.W. Bush and Michael Dukakis (the Republican and Democratic Party presidential nominees) could both be mocked, kidded and joshed. That's a stark contrast to today. So was a 1992 clip where Diane Sawyer (played by Jan Hooks) was questioning independent presidential H. Ross Perot. Carole Simpson. Remember that name? She moderated the town hall presidential debate (Bush, Bill Clinton and Perot). The presidential, not the vice-presidential. For two election cycles now, one woman has been allowed to moderate a debate and it's been the vice presidential debate. It's called regression, not progress. (Although this election cycle, in terms of number of viewers, the vice presidential debate was the one that delivered.)



And that reminded us of how women have been sidelined repeatedly and how (Democratic) Women's Media Center came along in 2004 and has really accomplished nothing. How it wanted to beg for questions to be included in one debate. How pathetic the begging was. How pathetic WMC is and how the pathetic women in charge had years to object to the rollbacks and never did. We remembered calling out the problems with women's role at the Democratic convention coverage PBS broadcast as well as the Republican convention and especially remembered this:



That point was driven home best on Thursday when the boys decided to again explore women. It was interesting to see so many speaking about women and notice that not one person speaking was, in fact, a woman. You had the three male 'historians' (will get back to them), you had Jim Lehrer, David Brooks and Mark Shields as 'analysts' and you had a man from PEW research plus Ray Suarez. Eight voices discussing women -- eight voices and all of the male. Don't count on the increasingly inept watchdogs to call it out. They didn't do a damn thing when women were sidelined by PBS in Denver and they're not going to do a damn thing now.

[. . .]

Listening to Peniel and the other boys slam women as "bitches" (being PBS, they went out of their way to avoid using that word) was really something to witness. "Even Nancy Reagan," gushed Jim, demonstrating that, in their minds, regardless of political party, every First Lady had been a 'ball buster.' Rosalyn Carter, Betty Ford, Barbara Bush, Hillary Clinton, Laura Bush, Pat Nixon . . . all 'ball busters.' It was an informative segment . . . only not in the way PBS might have hoped. What it informed was just how any woman with power (perceived or real) was a threat to these delicate male egos. It was unbelievable and hard to watch.



If you're wondering how you missed WMC calling this out, you didn't miss it. They never said a peep. They had time to tear down Governor Sarah Palin, they had time to beg a man to ask questions in a presidential debate but they didn't do a damn thing about women being marginalized by PBS at both the Democratic and Republican conventions. (We called it out here and privately. When it was time for the debates, PBS added a female presidential historian to the mix. We thanked PBS friends for that.)



Imagine what could have been done if the useless WMC had led a campaign on any of those issues? Oh, the little girls of WMC, cowardly, pathetic and so afraid to dream, let alone fight.



Which is why they could go into loony tune time (and include NOW's Kim Gandy) over a New Yorker magazine cover but never say one damn word about the damaging portrayals of women SNL offered. On Monday, you got the condensed version of that. You got Hillary (played by Amy Polar Bear), conniving, bitter, power-hungry. You saw that in the first skit (McCain did the cold opening -- John McCain playing himself) where Hillary explained she'd be running in 2012. This was followed by Amy playing Hillary while Fred played Barack in a single camera shot that used the right side of Fred's face and the left of Amy's while their characters spoke and Barack was all sugar and spice and everything nice while Hillary was truly a Bitches Brew all the way to the end when they declared they were running for . . . Barack: "Democracy." Hillary: "Because I deserve it."



Having bashed Hillary twice it was time for Palin so we got the bad sketch with Tina Fey as Palin (the last time she looked good on camera as Palin -- the crash diet that would emphasize her hook nose and the bad bangs would follow in the skits performed after this one) and Amy as Katie Couric. Sarah, in the skit, was dumb as a doornail. Oh, ha, ha, ha.



You got a skit mocking Biden and then it was back to trashing Hillary as Amy (playing Hillary) declared, "I am a sore loser." This clip fest faded into Amy as Hillary on the night before the election bitter about the way things turned out and snarling that "it's like a really bad dream."



Then it was time for Seth to question Bill Clinton (Darrell Hammond) about how his endorsement of Barack didn't sound like much of an endorsement. It slimed Bill including portraying him as a rapist at the end. It only underscored that Michelle Obama was never put through the SNL mill. They were never interested in sending up Michelle, were they?



The way they were never interested in being factual. Will Ferrell came back as Bush for one of the Thursday night specials last month and, of course, Monday's special had to include a clip of that as well. The joke was that Bush was finally endorsing McCain. Really? We remember that endorsement taking place before the press at the White House March 5th but, hey, maybe the audience isn't any smarter than the 'creative' 'geniuses' at work at SNL?



It was really something to watch that skit the first time and it never stops being illuminating. Tina Fey thinks it's funny to play a vice presidential nominee who lifts her skirt up for the camera. Funny, Palin never did that on the campaign trail but who said funny had to be true (a policy our own Isaiah intends to adopt from Tina Fey with hilarious results to come over the next few weeks)? There was Tina with the hawk nose, the saggy skin and the bad bangs, looking like death warmed over.



From there it was time to replay the sketch of the vice presidential debate and you really notice how when Joe Biden says something crazed, there's no double take or scowl from Queen Latifah playing Gwen Ifill though Queen offers it plenty when Fey's Palin says anything. She pulls out a flute at one point, Fey, and asks about the talent portion. Oh, that Palin, she's so stupid!



So it's real cute how SNL flips it from dumb Sarah Palin in their early skits to power hungry Palin. You know, the same bits they used against Hillary. The same bits they use against every woman. A mayor and governor of two years was picked to be the vice presidential nominee of a political party. She's power hungry? But the man who's been a US Senator for two years before running for the presidency isn't?



It was a really bad special. An awful clip job and they had nothing to offer on Barack. That's because they never did Barack jokes in 2007 or 2008. Hillary and Bill? You'd see 'em in bed together in skits. You'd have Bill call her a "witch" and more. Hillary's personal motives? Skits attempted to illustrate them (always negatively -- just by chance, you understand). Now SNL told us back in April that they intended to use Hillary as 'comedy gold' all the way up to the election, even if she didn't get the nomination. And damned if they didn't try to do so.



It must be wonderful to be a presidential nominee that no one ever tells a joke about or makes fun of or ridicules. It must be nice to be given a repeated pass while your opponents face character assassinations in sketch after sketch.





"He is very elusive," Newsweek's Jon Meacham maintained to Charlie Rose on the PBS show Wednesday, "Obama, which is fascinating for a man who has written two memoirs." Like SNL, the press refused to explore Barack but the press is a little more willing to admit it even if they do offer laughable excuses for their bad coverage.



Along with noting the "slightly creepy cult of personality, Newsweek's Evan Thomas would characterize Barack as "a deeply manipulative guy." That could have made for a funny skit and certainly would have matched SNL's attempts to peer into Hillary's brain repeatedly. But while you could laugh frequently at Wednesday's Charlie Rose (especially if you grasped that markers were being laid down by the establishment), you just couldn't laugh at what was billed as comedy.



Tina Fey. Yeah, we said we'd get back to her. Robert Bianco (USA Today) decided to offer up just how stupid The Water Cooler Set (and those desperately wanting in) can be:



No entertainer got a bigger boost from this election than Tina Fey. Her hilariously, witheringly precise SNL imitation of Sarah Palin set the Alaskan governor's public image before Palin had a chance to do it herself, while certifying Fey as a genuine TV-and-beyond star. Armisen's portrayal of Obama has gradually become more accurate, but it hasn't even begun to approach funny. Plus, it has only served to emphasize long-running problems of diversity at SNL, which is using a non-African-American to portray the first African-American president and has no one on staff who can play his wife. That's embarrassing at best, shameful at worst.



Bianco's an idiot, even for someone aspiring to the Water Cooler Crowd. Barack Obama is half White and half Black. There's no reason a Black castmate needs to play him. Fred isn't bi-racial. Fred is multi-racial. Maybe Bianco could try research before he writes? Fred has Asian and Latino roots. And we haven't heard Bianco express outrage that John McCain was played by the Asian-American cast member of Mad TV. Second, Fred's performance has not "gradually become more accurate," it's always been accurate. For it to be funny, however, Fred would have to be allowed to do something other than recite lines and -- pay attention, Bianco -- as we've noted since last January (over and over), they create no scenes for Barack, he exists in a vacuum.



As for Bobo Bianco's whine about the 'diversity,' how many African-Americans are in the cast Bobo? One. If 'diversity' matters to you, tell us how many women are in the SNL cast?



The answer is one. Kristen Wiig. Amy Polar Bear had her baby, she's gone from the cast -- as was known all along. There are nine cast members. One is an African-American male, one is a woman. It's amazing that you didn't notice that. It's amazing that you whine there's no one on 'staff' (do you think it's an employment agency?) who can play Michelle Obama while you didn't bother to object to the fact that they had to 'hire' Tina to play Palin. She's not in the cast.



Bobo is full of crap-crap. And it should be noted Keenan could play Michelle. Garrett Morris played Tina Turner (among other women) and, though we don't care for it, SNL has never tired of dressing men up as women (including on the most recent broadcast). Bobo tells you Tina Fey is a winner. Of what?



No one's watching her damn show still. Last week's show came in third for its time slot (losing to ABC and CBS) and, as we predicted, it was down in the ratings. 8.5 million (nothing to brag about) gave the show its record high two Thursdays ago. Dave Itkoff notes on C2 of yesterday's New York Times that Thursday's broadcast "was down slightly (8 million)". Down slightly? They lost a half-million viewers in one week. All it took was the bad debut and the threat of Oprah (and Fey doing bad Mad TV rip-offs) to send a half-million packing. The show's a bomb. It's never delivered ratings and to call Tina a "winner" requires that you define what she won.



All she appears to have won is awareness -- more people are aware of her and aware that they don't like her. (As females in comedy pointed out when Fey started doing Palin, bitchy is not a road to success for women.) Maybe someone could notice that her half-hour show has a cast of 13 and only three are women including the barely used Katrina Bowden. [Fey and Jane Krakowski are the other two.] Yeah, like Alias' Sydney, Tina Fey's Liz Lemmon works in a world of men. The difference is that Fey is actually responsible for 30 Rock. She created it, she writes it. And Fey would rather be surrounded by men and exclude women.



Maybe she thinks it will make her look prettier? Well now that actually is funny. But this is the woman who also thought pulling the waist line up to below breast level this season would make her look thinner. That didn't work out too well either.



At least she hasn't added a strawberry blonde rinse. Chris Matthews tried to get away with one not all that long ago. Matthews was providing more laughs on MSNBC last week. Along with laughs, he was demonstrating why NBC doesn't want him anywhere near Meet The Press. Chris showed up on Morning Joe to 'explain' journalism to Joe Scarborough who already demonstrated last March that he knows more about journalism than anyone else working at MSNBC. The madcap Matthews bored with the topic quickly and began declaring, "I want to do everything I can to make this thing work, this new presidency work, and I think that --" Scarborough cut him off asking, "Is that your job? You just talked about being a journalist!" The look on Chris' face is really priceless. And it reminds you of how accustomed Chris has grown to having his ass kissed daily. Matthews then responds, "Yeah, it is my job. My job is to help this country. . . . To make this work successfully. This country needs a successful presidency."



If it seemed so very familiar, you may have been thinking back to Dan Rather's appearance on Late Night With David Letterman back in 2001, when he declared, "George Bush is the President, he makes the decisions and you know, as just one American wherever he wants me to line up, just tell me where." It's not journalism, but it is a freak show. (Click here to see Scarborough attempt to educate Matthews and here for the Letterman clip via Bill Moyers Journal.)



On The Charlie Rose Show last Wednesday, Meacham could have been describing Chris Matthews when he declared Barack's "core believers have such faith in him that [it's quite possible] they'll forgive him his compromises". The fact that we agree with that call by Meacham doesn't make it any less frightening.