What If It Came From SNL?

Oh No!

Here we go - again!

They're trying to manufacture another "Pastor" scandal for Barack Obama.

They're trying to say it's another unfair bashing of Hillary.

Father Michael Pfleger, in a guest slot, at the, now infamous, Obama-attended, Trinity United Church, in Chicago, did an over-the-top sermon, mocking Hillary Clinton (it's a matter of interpretation) that has had everyone in a buzz, lamenting that Obama has "another" pastor problem, etc, etc ...

Here the YouTube of it;

Obama's Church: Why Hillary Cried - Father Michael Pfleger



If you can't view it, Melissa, over on Shakesville, one of those in a tizzy over it (and, in general, the misogyny in the campaign) has a transcript;

Transcript from 1:58: I don't really want to make this political, 'cause you know I'm very unpolitical [laughter], but when Hillary was crying, and people said that was put on, I really don't believe it was put on. I really believe that she just always thought: "This is mine." [applause] "I'm Bill's wife; I'm white; and this is mine! I just gotta get up and step into [sic] the plate." And then outta nowhere came: "Hey, I'm Barack Obama." And she said, "Aww, damn! Where did you come from?! I'm white! I'm entitled! There's a black man stealing my show!" [cheers and applause] Waaaaaaaah! [pretends to weep and cry; wipes face with hankie] Waaaaaaaah! She wasn't the only one crying; there was a whole lotta white people crying!"

Okay, what's the problem?

Yeah, he's really into, on a roll, with nothing more than satire.

I speculate, strongly, if this was a Saturday Night Live skit, it would be getting equal play on the cable television programs, but in the manner of praising it, saying how hysterical it was, how sharply satirical it was, and, undoubtedly, leading into the discussions of how SNL was so on top of the campaign.

Here's an earlier example, with SNL veteran writer Jim Downey, on 'Hardball', discussing the "Debate" skit.

Is SNL pro-Hillary?

When the satire is aimed at, and against, Obama, that's okay.

But the Clintonistas, unless it's pure, straight-from-the-heart, adulation and Hillary-worship, it's Hillary Bashing, misogyny, revolting, disgusting, hatred, and dissing of her candidacy, of a woman running for office, blah, blah, blah ...

Obama did the perfunctory distancing and apology.

Yes, there have been low blows and cheap shots leveled at Hillary - and Obama - but everything isn't, and shouldn't be, "Man the Battle Stations".

The Father Pfleger rant was funny, appreciate it for that, just like the above-referenced SNL skit on the debate was funny.

Let funny be funny!

This Father Pfleger thing should be a non-story.

With the big Michigan-Florida resolution coming tomorrow, likely, the Clintonistas will be off, pissing-and-moaning about that, with their crocodile tears and gigantic hankies.


Bonus Hillary Bashing Riffs

Top Ten Cloves: If Hillary Clinton Is A Monster, The Movies That Would Be Made About Her

Tinkerbell Meets Norma Rae - The Daily Kos Strike

"Oh ... THAT Conspiracy ..."

She Was The One She Was Waiting For!

SNL - We Had To Endure Hillary, But Then Came The Obama Files

Last evening, on 'Saturday Night Live' they, yes, surprise, opened with another Hillary-Obama debate sketch.

This was followed by an "Editorial Response" from the 3AM Gal herself; After a rather stilted minute or so, bantering with similar-clothed Amy Poehler, she got to shout out the trademark opening phrase.

(Okay, they had to play on the volcanic publicity generated from the first skit last week, but it's now time to move on.)

What did work, and was hysterically funny, was Robert Smigel's TV Funhouse cartoon, 'The Obama Files'

In it, he has Obama distancing himself away from Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton, sending them off on study missions to non-existent countries, and more ...

It is raucously funny and The Raw Story has the video of it (it has already been removed for YouTube).

Check it out!

SNL TV FUNHOUSE CARTOON: The Obama Files

(If it ends up not there, you can go to the SNL site here to view it)


Bonus Links

Lynn Sweet: Clinton, Giuliani, surprise Saturday Night Live gig. Wicked SNL cartoon on Obama sidetracking Sharpton, Jackson. VIDEO

The Huffington Post: Live, From New York...It's Hillary Clinton!

Crooks and Liars - SNL: Live, From New York…It’s Hillary Clinton! Rudy shows up too

Patrick Healy/The Caucus: Clinton and Giuliani, Live From New York

The Day After ... Around The Debate-Go-Round

Well, it's the Day After, the, what should be, final Democratic debate of this campaign season (God, it better be!) and the sky hasn't fallen ...

Unless you happen to be Hillary Clinton.

No the sky hasn’t fallen, but the clouds are getting darker, getting bigger, almost shouting out that there ain't gonna be much, or any, sunshine for quite some time.

The Garlic weighed in on the debate last evening, shortly after it, and it was late evening, so links to other takes and reviews were sparse.

So, still dragging, with the ol' energy tank running low (and now, on top of other duties, dogsitting has been added to the list), we go with a look around the World Wide Web, a spin Around The Blogosphere, to offer you what else is being said, were the chips lie, if you will, as to the big finale last evening, between Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama

Grab a cup of coffee, or cocktail, and enjoy!

Allasandra Stanley, in the NYT, offers that "for the rest of the evening, the MSNBC debate did look a bit like the “S.N.L.” parody", while The Carpetbagger Report asks "Cleveland rocks? Clinton, Obama spar, but did they connect?" ...

Joe Gandelman, over on The Moderate Voice has a nice round-up of his own ...

As to the storm clouds referenced above, Maureen Dowd writes "By threatening to throw the kitchen sink at Obama, the Clinton campaign simply confirmed the fact that they might be going down the drain", and this;

"Actually it’s not forgotten. It’s a hard sell for Hillary to say that she is the only one capable of leading this country in a war when she helped in leading the country into that war. Or to paraphrase Obama from the debate here, the one who drives the bus into the ditch can’t drive it out."

Ouch!

Noam Scheiber, on The New Republic wasn't overly impressed either - "On the other hand, the whole rationale for Clinton is that she's uniquely ready to deal with whatever comes her way. She almost literally stated that tonight, but she didn't do a great job demonstrating it."

But, for you Hillary fans, fear not, Taylor Marsh, on The Huffington Post, has the Hillary Orchestra playing at full volume, in her post "Obama Blows his 'Sister Soujah' Moment";

"After a year in the primary season, Hillary Clinton has found her theme: I'm a fighter ... So the winner in political terms was Clinton, because she found her theme and it fits ... Take away of the night: Clinton, the fighter. That's for sure."

Yeah, The Garlic noticed the redundant "fighter" theme from Hillary, and this was our take-away;

"Hillary blathered on about being a "fighter" so much, so often, I half expected Burgess Meredith to come rambling out on the stage and grouch "Ya need a manager!" ... Then it's quick cut to Hillary running around Cleveland at dawn and punching sides of beef ..."

Ahhh, moving on ,,,

The Los Angeles Times, and also Jeralyn, on Firedoglake, focus in on the Obama-Farakhan, "was it enough" meme, which was one of the hotter items on the blogosphere ... It's almost played out that they have to dun Obama on something, so this is it ... It appears, anything short of going Yakuza, and cutting of a finger to prove his integrity, doesn't make it ...

Prairie Weather has, perhaps, the shortest post on the debate but it's on the money - "It's Al Gore's fault".

Another On-The-Money post comes from Brilliant at Breakfast;

"The kids and novices and bloggers of the Dean candidacy are now far more savvy about Washington and the media and the existing horserace infrastructure surrounding this exercise we go through every four years. Since 2004, they've helped to elect Senators and Congresspeople. This winter bloggers have helped topple a corporatist Congressman whom Nancy Pelosi and Steny Hoyer strongly supported, and now Donna Edwards is in all likelihood going to Congress in Maryland's 4th district.

The problem was never with building a war chest fifty bucks at a time and putting a bat up on your web site, it was sheer inexperience. Add to that maturity and experience a candidate to whom young voters relate, one who's intelligent, charismatic, and very much like the very same biracial people prevalent in their circles, and you have a campaign that may have to tap its donors multiple times, but that offers the kind of free foot soldiers that allow you to manage money more effectively. Mark Penn and Howard Wolfson can't BUY viral video like this"

And, lastly, Barry Crimmins hits us with a punishing, scolding piece of satire - Advise To Youth;

"Hey you kids, sit up straight and pay attention! I'm telling you this for your own good and not because I like the sound of my own voice. Get off the campaign trail! It's dangerous for children. So quit volunteering for Barack Obama! Stop joining hands with strangers at those giant events! You don't know where their hands have been But I do. They have been in dirty, dirty places. And stop turning out so many voters!"

Read it, it's hysterical!


A Few More Links

NYT Transcript - The Democratic Debate in Cleveland

Candidates go on the attack in Ohio showdown; Clinton seeks to slow Obama’s momentum in debate on MSNBC

Katharine Q. Seelye/The Caucus: The Last Waltz? The Democratic Debate in Cleveland

Marc Copper: Hillary's Ignominious Finale

Yes, Extra Pillows Will Be Needed ...

Long day and too tired to get into any intricately weaved narrative, about the 20th (or is it 200th) Democratic Debate ...

So, random musings ...

Just listening to the Keith Olbermann-led gang on MSNBC ... Gene Robinson laid down a good vibe, stating Barack Obama came off in the debate as presidential ... The former Nixon-speechwriter Pat Buchanan, essentially agreed with Robinson, going further with drooling over Obama's metaphor for Hillary Clinton, and Iraq, framing it as "driving the bus in the ditch" ...

Olbermann than throws it to Rachel Maddow, who we noted early on wears her Hillary on her sleeve, could offer no such praise, so she dissed the entire debate, calling it dull, how it will drag down what been going on, all the hyper-excitement generated on the Democratic side of these primaries (and the bulk of that delivered by Obama) ... If we ran with a rating system of sourpusses, Ms. Maddow with get four, fully-frowning faces ...

One telling moment - Hillary attempts to diss Obama on Pakistan, that he said he would go in and bomb the country, blah, blah, blah ... Obama, without breaking a sweat (in fact, I think he flashes a wry smile) batted to right back down Hillary's throat, stating (once again) exactly what he said, and then noting how the Bush Grindhouse just recently did exactly what Hillary was trying to score points on against the Big O ...

Tim Russert, in the end, had his little white board ... Only it was one you couldn’t write on, but between his legs, as he "got" Hillary to say she regretted her Iraq vote and wished she could take it back ,,, The MSNBC crew crowed about that, like Russert just discovered the cure for cancer, or figured out the Natalee Holloway case ... Backslapping all around, to the point of palm prints pressed into their suits ...

And Tweety, beating to death a Hemingway riff, of boating a marlin, showing a bit of miff, that nobody was patting him on the back, for making such a great, literary, reference ...

Andrea Mitchell ... I guess her role was to hang around, and when they go to her, she could just restate something someone else said, as if it was her own, and everyone acts impressed ...

Hillary blathered on about being a "fighter" so much, so often, I half expected Burgess Meredith to come rambling out on the stage and grouch "Ya need a manager!" ... Then it's quick cut to Hillary running around Cleveland at dawn and punching sides of beef ...

Obama, throughout the debate was as cool as a cucumber ... West Side Story cool... He went, not like a crazy school boy, he just played it coolly cool ...

Hillary, by all accounts, needed to hit a homerun and knock Obama out of the game with this one debate ... She never hit the ball out of the infield ...

And it didn't help Hillary, to come out, opening moments, right off the bat, whining.

First question of the night went to Hillary and she pounced on Brian Williams, whiningly complaining that why is it she always gets the first question (post-debate, David Shuster checked in with Olbermann and it's only been 6-of-the-last-10 debates), whine, whine, whine ...

Then, she hit herself over the head with her own bat ... She invoked SNL Debate skit from the other night, asking if "we should get Obama another pillow", to make sure he's comfortable ...

You could her booing coming from the audience ... And was it Hillary, or one of her staff consultants, that had her quoting a weekly television comedy show, as her do-or-die debate strategy? ...

Yes Hillary, extra pillows will be needed ... Order them for the evening of March 4th, so you can apply them as a cushion for the big fall coming ...