Guiltlessy Picking on McCain

LOL Cats are the worst of the Internet. The concept of lolcats is taking (sometimes) funny pictures of cats and adding a first person narrative of what the cat is doing, peppered with grammar and spelling errors. I know I sound like a crabby old man hearing a T.I. song for the first time, but lolcats make me feel 400 years old.

When I saw that there was an lolcat political humor site, well, I just didn’t go. Why up my blood pressure like that? But eventually I stumbled upon Pundit Kitchen, and you know, it’s not half bad. Yes it’s left winged but what else is new? They pick on John McCain too much, though at no fault of their own. Everybody picks on John McCain these days but that’s just everybody’s way of coping with how disturbingly poor his campaign has been run. So far I’ve been looking at satire and constantly monitoring my own even-handedness. But these two campaigns are getting difficult to even compare anymore. That being said, here are a bunch of Pundit Kitchen pictures that make fun of McCain:

I like how this captures the perfect facial expressions.

...But this may do an even better job catching a magical expression.

He just can't seem to get away.

Is this even funny or just intensely creepy?

This is a site that proves political opinions can be voiced in all different ways. It’s not all “The New Yorker,” and intelligent discourse is in the eye of the beholder.

Speaking of intelligent discourse…

You’e seen Dramatic Maverick. You’ve seen Fun With McCain. I give you…

Presidential Danceoff. And it’s the greatest thing ever.

Count Barackula

Yes, ladies and gentlemen Barack Obama is not a vampire hunter, but rather a vampire. This disturbing news was broken by Ashley Todd, a McCain supporter who was attacked by a minion of Barakula. This minion could not see the scar he was searing into her skin because of the vampire race’s difficulties with mirrors. This caused him to haphazardly etch the mark of Count Obama into her face backwards.

But seriously…

News outlets were quick to jump on the controversial story in which Todd claimed a large, black man attacked her with a knife at an ATM machine, and robbed her. This stupid, racist garbage is so absurd because of, not only how dumb it is for her to write the letter B backwards, but because of how the media ate it up. Yes, maybe it seemed like it could be an attack by an equally stupid Obama supporter. But there was not enough here to be reported so extensively. Drudge Report has it in big red letters for most of the day and Fox News pushed the story to the forefront. Todd’s history of mental health makes it distasteful to rag on her too bad for this but the media needs to take accountabilty. CNN gets credit here:

CNN, at risk of coming off cocky, proved its journalistic chops that it has been struggling to emphasize this election season. They came off smart though, and were able to prevail over the McCain camp’s accusations of shoddy journalism. Fox News did not.

Satirical site, 23/6 makes a good point. Wouldn’t he sketch an ‘O?’

Checking in With the Most Relevant Satire This Election

I would like to point out some of my favorite stuff to come from The Onion recently. I think The Onion has won this election as far as satire goes. Yes, I know it seems like I may be neglecting the beloved Stewart/Colbert combo, and even Tina Fey. (Fey won in terms of mainstream success by far). There is not enough that can be said about the relevance of Stewart and Colbert in these times and they have been observant enough to call out a candidate. The amount of time The Daily Show’s interns must spend just sitting, watching speeches, and seeing if the candidate’s already said that, must be phenomenal. These shows deserve every bit of praise we give them, but The Onion has managed to make fun of this election in a variety of ways much more vast than anything else, meaning they laughed at Obama too.

So, as I said, there are some obvious front runners, and I would like to look at some of their work lately. Here, The Daily Show sends a reporter to Wasilla, Alaska and get to know the values of the small town.

Highlight: “The Math Capital of America”

Colbert also has done some fine reporting. Here he looks at the craze over ‘Joe the Plumber.’

Highlight: “McCain has drastically reduced the problems in the middle class, by reducing the middle class to characters in a Richard Scarry book.”

Finally, we should see what’s going on in the Tina Fey/Palin sideshow of the election. Palin appeared on SNL the other night and was later interviewed about the experience. In the interview, Sarah Palin says that she plays Tina Fey “bubble-headed” when she imitates her too.

Um, okay Sarah. If Tina Fey is “bubble headed,” then you’re doing a knockout job with the word “nuclear.”

SNL Week 4: Palin is No Tina Fey

Sarah Palin made her SNL premiere, and underwhelmed. I don’t know that it was even her fault but the performance was lackluster and I’d rather watch Obama and McCain make jokes at a charity dinner any day of the week. And that’s kind of painful.

Fey got the laughs. Baldwin got the laughs. Lorne got the laughs. Hell, even Wahlberg got the laughs. Palin got whatever was left. She appeared to be uncomfortable, but she is probably the most widely criticized public figure going right now and must be squirming. She is standing there among people who have openly expressed their contempt for her and that’s never a fun party to be at. But does this have an effect on the campaign? It is probably apparent that I think satire does matter in the political machine, but Huffington Post Blogger Alec Baldwin sees this particular instance differently.

Baldwin who cameoed in the skit, makes the argument that there is virtually no significance in this appearance for Palin and this is just the political gears turning. It would be stupid for her not to do it. She does it. It would be stupid for her to do anything outrageous. She doesn’t. Palin, who of course has a spectacular record with not doing stupid things, played it safe. She made some flat, semi-jokes with Michaels. Mark Wahlberg pops up to promote Max Payne through some moronic fake beef with Andy Samberg. Baldwin pops up to be the “Oh my, what’s he gonna do” moment. Palin avoids looking like a grumpy old woman who cannot take a joke by just casually walking by Fey. It seems like Baldwin has a legitimate point here.

Her other appearance was weirder. She comes onto Weekend Update to do a Sarah Palin rapbut decides, and explains to the anchors and audience, that she didn’t feel the rap was appropriate for her to do. Don’t worry, those kind of whizzbangers keep coming…

But seriously, was that joke just too over my head? If Palin was going to do the rap, that would have some stupid political backlash. True. But why even mention that you were going to do it? For comedic value? Because I just didn’t see it. The rap was pretty funny and the way Palin dances is a dance you have probably seen. It is the same dance shared by every mom dancing to an Usher song. It could have been worse though. MC Rove anyone?

And oh yeah. The Grabdominal Core is finally read to endorse.

Joe Biden’s Teeth in ‘08.

Shepard Fairey Variations

Shepard Fairey has created a symbol for a generation. He is the guerrilla artist responsible for Barack Obama’s most popular signage, the red, white and blue prints of an inquisitive Obama staring, seemingly into the future, with a different Obama catchphrase inserted at the bottom: Progress, Hope, or Change. The posters have become a revolutionary piece of propaganda, fetching as much as $5,900 on eBay (original price: $45), much to the chagrin of Fairey. They are the most effective pieces of political promotion I have seen in my lifetime and that’s not just because I’m 20. Fairey took the “Change We Can Believe In ‘O,’” and made it everything the graphic designers behind it wanted it to be.

But as we have learned, imitation is the most sincere form of flattery, and Fairey’s poster has certainly been imitated. Here is a site that compiled these posters from all over the web to create an online database of the parodies. They seem to get dumber as you scroll, but what you can take from it is how popular the poster is. In the world of parody, success necessitates popularity. There aren’t any Weird Al B-sides, because nobody gets take-offs on obscure things.

Here are two negative parodies for each of the candidates. In the realm of satire, does this really facilitate fits of laughing on the ground? No, but these posters are not made to bring tears to the eyes of most. Just like the original, the parodies do their job of putting a word to a face. It would be interesting to see how many more people relate Hope, Progress and Change to “That One” because of these posters.

Here’s another personal favorite:

Finally, I will point you in the direction of The Obama Art Report. The blogger does a  nice job of covering the sweeping political movement among artists for Obama. Here is a clip he had up of an interview with Shepard Fairey.

Are We Getting Funnier?

There are now 26 days left until the election and one side clearly has the upper hand: the Democrats. The differences between running a political race that is within two or three points and one that is a five or six point contest are vast. Experience has become far less of an issue than the economy and some may argue is working against McCain. People are now noticing the economy’s plummet and this election, satirists have been far larger game changers than ever before.

The New York Times published a piece the other day about how humor is so popular in this contest. SNL’s ratings have gone up 50 PERCENT. That kind of figure change doesn’t come along every day. Lorne Michaels is thankful of Sarah Palin’s sheer existence.

“I think the gods smiled on us with the Palin thing,” Mr. Michaels said. “Like if he’d chosen Romney, I think it would be completely different. As exciting as a Romney-Biden debate would have been, it just would have been politics as usual.”

So is this really not politics as usual? Granted, Palin brings something different to the campaign but maybe all credit for satirists current success should go to the Internet. Granted, this has been a ridiculous election with a Hillary Clinton battle, lipstick on pigs, and the rise of “Joe Six-Pack,” but the reason so many people are laughing at Tina Fey is that everyone sees her forwarded to their Inbox on Sunday.

Maybe this is not a year that’s revolutionary for political humor because of its quality, but rather because of its legs. People are now seeing these skits while going out on Saturday nights and this creates more water cooler fodder. This election has made many stars including Sarah Palin and Tina Fey but the real winner is the Internet. We are not really getting any funnier, but when there is an audience for a good joke it always seems funnier

I’d like to end by pointing you over to this very interesting article on humor site, cracked.com.

snl week 4 review

SNL’s big political sketch this week was, as expected, a take on the vice presidential debate. Tina Fey reprises her role as Sarah Palin, and cast member Jason Sudeikis as Joe Biden. Queen Latifah cameoed as moderator Genn Ifill. I did like the skit and not even just because of Fey’s Palin impression. Finally, Republican satire has shone through in the form of Jason Sudeikis’s Joe Biden. His portrayal of Biden is ridiculous but picks out all Biden’s idiosyncrasies, the stretched-out (possibly Botox-ed) face, the quavery, booming voice, and all the phony praise he lavishes upon John McCain. “You should see the way my face lights up when he enters the room.”

Tina Fey had a much harder job this week than last. Critics agree that Palin “held her own” or at least “didn’t completely screw over the GOP.” But Fey’s hard job was still easier than most of our easy ones. Fey observed Palin’s ignoring of Ifill’s questions and that Sarah Palin’s sentence structure was still painful. I did like how, in Fey’s muttering confused Palin the sentence ended with Ronald Reagan.

This is going to have to be a short post because the right half of my keyboard decided to only function under 1,000 pounds of force and a world with no backspace key is not a world for me. One final note: It sees Palin might make an appearance on this Thursday’s new Weekend Update exclusive show as Tina Fey. It’s a funny concept, but I think it’s flawed. Tina Fey is not somebody I would be able to do an impression of, because she’s not odd enough. I’m looking forward to seeing how they tackle this.

Potpourri

I’d like to start things off with this article, which upon reading the headline, I thought was going to be satire. IT wasn’t. It was quite creepy though, especially the fact that his daughter was the model…

Annnyways,

I renamed the blog after sitting down and thinking up very corny words I could modify to include Grab (my last name). Candidates included Grabitat for Humanity, The Graboratory, Taxi Grab Confessions, Grab-Libs, but a winner rose to the top. Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to The Grabdominal Core. I know it’s pretty awful but that’s where I’m at right now. Maybe I’ll think of one that makes sense sometime.

This week I tried to delve deeper into the world of political satire blogging. I just googled a lot (how’s that for linking?) and was able to come up with some stuff in surprisingly sparse field. I find it odd that in the age of the Internet and the age of what Entertainment Weekly has called “the most entertaining election ever,” I wasn’t launched into a bevvy of sites. Here are three that stood out. I’m sure there are more to come and hope I am just dipping my toes into the world of Internet political satire.

The Garlic is a site with obvious respect or hatred for The Onion. The title could mean either. I loved this site because it is so well informed. It’s definitely pro-Obama (probama anyone?), but most satirists seem to be. It is also spectacular how they refer to McCain as “Stumblin’ Bumblin’ John.“

Pros: Backed Up Sources. You can see from that list, it’s funny, but not moronic at all. All those links are backed up sources, unlike myself who links to things like this.

Cons: Definitely not for the casual election follower.

Freaking News is quite the bizarre page. It’s central focus is Photoshop contests where people are given a theme and photshop to their heart’s content for cash prizes. Though I don’t know how people are getting paid for this type of thing in this time of terrifying economic crisis (somebody’s gotta do it), their politically themed entries had some good stuff. For example, here is an entry about what was found in Sarah Palin’s hacked e-mail account.

Pros: This is a different kind of satire, one of the newest kinds out there which makes it kind of innovative.

Cons: Mouth Eyes. So scary.

Finally, we have News Groper, my favorite new find. This is a site that keeps fake blogs on Sarah Palin, John McCain, and Barack Obama. Yes, Barack Obama is finally getting made fun of…. well.

In this post, News Groper gives Obama a really funny character and makes a point somehwat akin to accusations of elitism.

Pros: More bipartisan than most things you’ll get in the satire world.

Cons: Yet to find them.

I’ll finish this post off with a great voting PSA and College Humor has it right, Jonah Hill and Sarah Silverman kill it. And Forest Whitaker but I just love that guy.