During yesterday’s live broadcast, co-hosts Kenny Smith and Charles Barkley handed 30 Rock‘s Morgan a microphone and asked him to settle a bet: Tina Fey or Sarah Palin? “Me and him have this argument all the time, ” crowed Smith, referring to Barkley. “[Morgan's] the only one who can settle it. Tina Fey or Sarah Palin?”I'm going to defend Morgan. He did exactly what a great comedian should do. He called bullshit on Kenny Smith and Charles Barkley. They were doing their little show and keeping it light with fully deniable sexual innuendo. The question "Tina Fey or Sarah Palin?" implied sex. What Tracy Morgan did was not to bring sex up out of nowhere. It was seeing the sex that was already being talked about — in TV-friendly maybe-we're-not-really-talking-about-it style — and to surprise with a sudden jab of straight talk as if Kenny and Charles were already openly talking about masturbation. He called bullshit on their innuendo. Now, TNT prissily withdraws. Ha. I'm offended by their prissy withdrawal. They want the benefit of Smith and Barkley's roundabout references but they don't like the comedian undercutting the deniability.
January 29, 2011
I defend Tracy Morgan for what he said about Sarah Palin and masturbation.
"It’s unfortunate Mr. Morgan showed a lack of judgment on our air with his inappropriate comments. We apologize for any embarrassment or offense it may have caused," says TNT, apologizing in nonapology form — Sorry if you were offended — for what Tracy Morgan said on "Inside the NBA."
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56 comments:
Shorter Ritmo:
Please don't bring up the fact that the right's babes are so much hotter than the left's! Talk about serious stuff!
Sure, Smith and Barkley were talking about sex, but they were doing it using manners that are well known and acceptable in the situation. Like the manners you demand in the little paragraph about this box. If someone defies you demand for certain manners they probably feel they are "calling bullshit" on Oppressive Althouse. But in fact, they are just being an asshole. Morgan knows the standard manners of network TV. I think he made a very careful calculation that Inside the NBA audience would respond to a bluer, more vulgar set of manners. TNT isn't doing any prissy withdrawal. It's say that the traditional network TV way of talking about sex using innuendo and misdirection is what the way it will continue to go.
What happened to the indignation of "Nutting-on-gate"?
I'm sure there's some fine distinction that I'm missing. Apart from the Ewok vs. actual human being angle.
I just watched the trailer for Miss Representation and noticed that Sarah Palin wasn't in it at all. I don't suppose the omission was deliberate. I wonder if the movie discusses her as a woman of power.
(The Crypto Jew)
Ah the old "THIS is what you choose to write about?" trope...
Here’s two suggestions,
1) Leave, this is two sub-variants. A) You don’t like the topic selection wander on somewhere else or B) Start your own blog where you CAN talk about Egypt, or Todd as user of prostitutes, or the down-grading of the US Bond Rating.
2) The internet is vast; mayhap this blog isn’t about the things you like. Wander on over to Kos, HuffPo, Hotair, Ace of Spades HQ. There you can talk about this issue and many others. If all you want is news, try Drudge or Google News.
But whatever you do please this little gem at home. It’s whiny and small.
The criticism must have been unsettling for some reason or another because I notice the comment has been deleted.
Again, how many front-page posts are there at Althouse on the downfall of the Egyptian government?
Answer: 0.
And how many posts are there on Sarah Palin's ability to inspire masturbation?
Answer: 2.
I take that fact as a comment on how seriously Althouse understands politics.
(The Crypto Jew)
I didn't realize that was "Ritmo"...I am so goofy.
Where did he go? His/her posting seemed to go away...
Who knows, Joe? It's possible that Blogger ate it, as Der Recht-Wing Hostess rarely deletes my posts - as annoying as the rest of you seem to find them from time to time. But I did think it was an issue worth raising. If Althouse wants to focus on trivia and aesthetics, I think she could make that clear. All Things Beautiful is (or was - no new posts since 2009) a very aesthetically oriented, (and somewhat right wing) political blog, but it didn't fluff over serious issues. I think if Althouse wants to be the inattentive kid in the back of the pundit class, she could at least make her posts more meaningful.
Trash talk is trash talk, and if you talk trash, trash is what you are.
(The Crypto Jew)
What I find is that there are folks who want to talk about what THEY want to talk about at your house, often in order to prevent a discussion of something they’d rather not hear…
I’m not sure but I think that’s happening now. So, if anyone would care to talk about an issue related to or on-spot with the topic advanced I’m open.
But I don’t see the value of discussing something unrelated, on a trivial topic, designed to shift the focus FROM Leftist misogyny or comedic license to soothe the ego of someone who desperately craves attention.
I say this obliquely because I simply don’t care to acknowledge or even grant much beyond the minimum necessary to the sad personage seeking attention.
I'm with you on this one - which is the first time that you and I are on the same side against Taranto:
So, James, we've got each other - what say you now?
Fey or Palin? Both, at once. On this issue I feel bipartisanship would be best.
If Fey falls off the bed, does she claim she was just imitating Palin?
Innendo makes it attractive; it's a concealment operation.
That's the feminine operation.
Which is dispelled by saying cunt, which is why that is profanity.
That sure was convoluted Joe. But whatever you need to do.
I haven't checked in here for a few days, and am glad I haven't. If I saw or walked by a house party, or was invited to one, or was with someone who was invited to one, where all they talked about was masturbation, I might say or think, "Hmmm. It's interesting (charitable description) that with all that's going on in life and in the world, that's what they choose to focus on. Are there other parties you want to go to next time?"
But that situation is different from a single, 10-second comment that uses the word "masturbation".
Of course, I'm sure you won't see the difference.
For me, there is a distinction between what benefits me and what just lowers someone else to depths that I find a bit pathetic. I think recognizing that sentiment might be what the guys on your side long ago used to call "honorable".
But it's your choice: Talk about whatever you like.
Some people believe that women are merely objects to satisfy the sexual desires of men.
Actually let me clarify that: some people believe that conservative women are merely objects to satisfy the sexual desires of any man, or that any women is merely a sexual object to satisfy the sexual desires of left leaning men.
Sara Palin? Conservative woman. So it's OK for any man to denigrate her and turn her into a sexual object?
Bill Clinton? Left leaning man. So its OK for him to denigrate and turn any woman into a sexual object.
Oh, and by 'some people' I mean feminists.
News: what sex you are is always important.
In any event, I'd take Althouse's side in what she's arguing in her post - as I'm against prudery and think the network made a typically ridiculous decision and think it's worth calling out the others involved as none of them would have been in a position to have sex with either one. (And why do people do that anyway? Pontificate on who they would have sex with? Can you not at least pontificate on likely choices? Editor's comment). Tracy was right if he indeed, as Althouse may be suggesting, that the co-hosts are just a bunch of masturbators. Not that there's anything wrong with that, but why advertise how much psychological, er, supplementation you require in addition to your real sex life...?
I apologize for reading into Althouse's choice of posting topic a political decision. It obviously wasn't.
As you were, gentlemen.
The post above on "Gender Relations Theory" (or whatever you call it) as re-defined by "Quayle" is an interesting one.
And by interesting I mean, whatever.
There is probably some truth to the idea that by talking about a powerful woman in sexual terms, one can undermine that power, but Palin, for all her many faults, has changed things by owning her sexuality, including its most powerful aspect, reproduction.
It would be nice if Palin responded with a tweet along the lines of "Only in your wettest dreams Tracy -- I'd rather do Tina".
Otherwise, there's not much point to this whole exercise.
but Palin, for all her many faults, has changed things by owning her sexuality
To the exclusion of all other attributes.
As I said, not a pretty direction for the right to take. When it comes to what you're capable of finding admirable about Palin, I'd really try to, er, widen that tent, so to speak.
I find it similarly ridiculous when women speak of how alluring they find/found JFK, Bill Clinton, etc.
But by all means, go ahead and emulate that masturbatory political mindset on the right, and with the genders switched. Doesn't bother me in the slightest, but I sure hope it does for you what you seem to want it to do.
I love Palin, and think she would make a perfect wife, but I'm not sexually attracted to her. I have a hard time imagining her being horny. That's a requirement for me. Nothing is sexier than desire in an attractive woman.
It would be nice if Palin responded with a tweet along the lines of "Only in your wettest dreams Tracy -- I'd rather do Tina".
Talk about masterbation fodder......
That's probably a good thing, Bag. Especially for all those of us out here not tempted by the prospect of rape.
Ideas & events & people are said to be the topics by which a conversation's interest level can be measured.
Libruls are the party of people..it's all about the people. The right is more about events and a tad about ideas.
We could use two parties that focused on ideas.
Ritmo, My guess is that due to marriage, maybe half of the sex going on involves only one partner who really wants it, sometimes less than that. Now they want you to do it for your health. Turning sex into a spoonful of castor oil. I refuse to have sex until it's dangerous and bad for me again.
I hear ya, Bag.
OTOH, how's this for dangerous sex?
Oh well. Too bad it's stuff like that is what's required to capture the sexual attention of America.
;-)
He's a great comedian? Who knew?
Thanks for that Ritmo. Now I have to rethink my women-with-desire thing. I'm sure some might get off on it, but I think a woman with a knife is just terribly unsexy, despite that woman's tempting pillow talk.
5 will get you 10 Ritmo practices what Morgan preaches.
Masturbation disproves the axiom "Practice makes perfect". It's all downhill after the first time.
Charles Barkely is the biggest piece of shit to be found on television today. He makes Keith Olberman look like Winston Churchill and Snookie look like Albert Einstien. He is a stone cold racist who should not have the platform he holds and brings a foul stench to everything he touches.
And that has nothing to do with Sarah Palin.
Ask this cocksucker what he thinks about white players and white people in general and you will get a big surprise. He has said a lot worse than this on a lot of subjects and gets a pass because he is great at putting on a politically correct minstrel act.
I thought Barkley and Rush Limbaugh were big buddies, maybe not.
Barkley is a liar and a fraud and adjusts his opinions to the company he is with.
He is a snake and I would not turn my back on him.
Does some of this come from the fact he once played for (gasp!) Philadelphia?
WV "repip" When one must pip again.
He is a stone cold racist who should not have the platform he holds and brings a foul stench to everything he touches.
Trooper, you've got to give up on this one. Black racists are given a bye.
Spike Lee made what I think is the most offensive racist movie I've ever seen, Do the Right Thing.
It was filmed in my old neighborhood, Ft. Greene in Brooklyn.
The thesis of the movie is that the white shop owners (who I knew) were racist interlopers in a community that belonged by all rights to black people. In reality, these shop owners managed to do business only behind one inch thick bullet proof glass.
Lee's hero trashes and burns a white owned shop to the ground in an act of racial revenge. The audience is prepped throughout the movie to applaud this racist act of violence.
This piece of shit racist diatribe of a film was thought to be quite edgy, and it launched Lee's mainstream movie career.
Lee is the black version of Klansman.
edutcher said...
Does some of this come from the fact he once played for (gasp!) Philadelphia?
No, listen nobody cares about Philly especailly in basketball. I remember when Barkley was on the Suns and he jumped over the scorers table and almost killed a little kid in the audience when the chairs went flying. He didn't applogize even though the kid got hurt. Then there was the time he spit in the crowd. He is just a piece of shit.
Philly as nothing to do with it.
I saw Do The Right Thing as an even handed exploration of all racism. Whether it be white on black, black on white, black on Korean, Korean on black Mexican on Korean.
Some people just dig the minstrel act that Charles Barkley and Tracy Morgan dish up. Go figure
I loved the way AA push C4BDH button on this. I assume he share the hate of his fellow liberal for an intelligent pretty woman. Sarah commit the crime against liberals for being smarter than they are.
I thank AA for pointing out the sexist attidude of TNT and the announcers. I missed that and was thinking of Fey mocking Palin on SNL and all the liberals who confuse Fey with Palin. I have low appraisal of liberal's intelligence and honesty. I should realize how many think with their gonads and realize that how jealouse women and Andrew Sullivan are of Palin
Over the course of a lifetime I have spent more time masturbating than thinking about politics, although it all comes down to the same thing. At any rate, I wouldn't rate either Tina Fey or Sarah Palin very high on the masturable female index. Both women are attractive, but both tip towards the Madonna end of the scale. Their sexual attraction is more as the mother of your children than as writhing, moaning, begging, squirming bed partners. That part of the spectrum is more successfully fulfilled by public figures such as Penelope Cruz, Scarlet Johanssen, and Madame Albright. I am surpised that such jerk off artists as Tracy Morgan and Charles Barkley do not see this key difference.
William said.....
That part of the spectrum is more successfully fulfilled by public figures such as Penelope Cruz, Scarlet Johanssen, and Madame Albright."
DUDE YOU ARE A FREAK!!!!!
Anybody that rubs one out thinking of Madeline Albright is a stone freak verging on Rex Ryan territory!
You're scaring me man!
Although the question was sexually suggestive and Tracy Morgan did what he does best, it's in my opinion that he absolutely abused the freedoms that he has when he says things like this! http://www.lynnaluvers.com
I say Palin.
Ann: "It was seeing the sex that was already being talked about — in TV-friendly maybe-we're-not-really-talking-about-it style — and to surprise with a sudden jab of straight talk as if Kenny and Charles were already openly talking about masturbation. He called bullshit on their innuendo. Now, TNT prissily withdraws. Ha. I'm offended by their prissy withdrawal. They want the benefit of Smith and Barkley's roundabout references but they don't like the comedian undercutting the deniability."
Spot on.
Bob: Smith and Barkley were talking about sex, but they were doing it using manners that are well known and acceptable in the situation.
No, they were being cowards.
In the discipline of tantric sex, there is no higher level of enlightenment than the ability to rub one out with Madame Albright. Some claim that the ability to rub one out while watching The View is the highest level of erotic awareness. LOL. While a useful exercise for beginners, this is not the pinnacle for a true tantric master. Madame Albright remains the mountain which every pilgrim must climb in order to obtain erotic mastery. Once you reach that level you can understand not just the beauty of rainbows, but the sublimity of oil slicks and dog pee in two day old NYC snow.
Well I would rather put my pecker in a pencil sharpener.
But to each his own.
Those who have carnally enjoyed Madame Albright have attained a piece that surpasses all understanding.
That's a requirement for me. Nothing is sexier than desire in an attractive woman.
Amen. Most women have no idea how important this is. If they did, they'd be faking insatiable horniness up front to get the ball rolling, and not that transparent, pathetic drama-queen moaning at the end of the act.
In fact, I think it is certain that if they FAKE desire to initiate things, they will end up getting more REAL climaxes.
Denial is a river in Egypt say Kenny and Charles, but Morgan calls out a flood of fertile earthy humor. More of that Saxon humor this week.
Tracy is just full of earthy humor because his daddy took his momma out and got her pregnant behind the middle school.
Allegdedly.
I agree, it was a joke. I did not think joking about it during a NBA game was appropriate, but it would not have raised an eyebrow in a more adult oriented setting.
I doubt a joke like that would ever be made about Michelle Obama, however. And she is very upset about it!
I call Bullshit on Morgan. If he was really full of "earthy humor" he'd talk about his mother's cunt.
Now that's funny.
Is it OK to trot out the old black men and white women jokes? Maybe Morgan just can't help himself. He's a credit to his race would probably be too much, right?
I am deliberately being offensive. Just like Tracy Morgan was.
That's why we ought to exercise a little self censorship. I apologize, sincerely, to anyone I offended. It's wrong, but the only way I could express my point.
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