Fey Saves the Day

Tina Fey made a return to Saturday Night Live the other night for the first time since she left it to go on an actually funny show. The AP called it a “viral hit,” the internet being something SNL has to embrace if it wants to survive. People don’t want to see Michael Phelps read off a teleprompter. They want to get right to the good stuff, and luckily Tina Fey brought it. With the direction SNL has been going in, I thought we were going to be stuck with Kenan Thompson playing Palin, but fortunately the show realized the uncanny resemblance between her and Fey.

Content-wise, the skit definitely was far harsher on Palin than Hillary Clinton, played by Amy Poehler. I am quite alright with that because right now, Palin is the relevant one and is going to have to get used to being scrutinized and lampooned. Hillary has gotten her fair share in the past year. They really emphasized her complete lack of experience, which I was happy to see because her sudden rise to prominence probably overshadows this. Saturday Night Live, being a more mainstream show, is a good venue for this criticism that is not obvious to all. And that Fargo accent…

Highlights:

“And I can see Russia from my house”

Clinton: “I don’t agree with the Bush doctrine”

Palin: (Between Laughs) “I don’t know what that is”

“I was a small-town mayor of Alaska’s crystal-meth capital.”

9/11 Political Cartoons Are Nonpartisan

One type of political satire that has been around since the 1720’s is the political cartoon. They are often telling and offer much insight into what’s going on in the world around them. Their influence has undoubtedly diminished over time with a much wider array of competition, but they often still make a point that can incite public opinion.

I have browsed through Slate magazine, a current events magazine owned by the Washington Post, in a section they do compiling the day’s political cartoons. I chose to do this on the seventh anniversary of the September 11th attacks to see what artists did on this day.

There were attacks on Bush, reminders of Osama, and simple, poignant tributes.

But, I chose to focus on the election. In this tense of a political climate, when a stutter can be considered a gaffe, the sad events of 9/11 can be used as just another political stepping stone to the White House.

Some of the comics simply state that sentiment:

Others show these ugly ways, including my favorite which points out the absurdity of the events going on in such a climactic time for the United States:

As the pictures continue, you can see that 9/11 is a time when mockery is nonpartisan:

When it comes down to it, these politicians know there is way more to 9/11 than to point fingers at the other side. They know that now is the time to point fingers at both sides.