Althouse: "Oh my God, it's Black Me!"

October 14, 2018

"Oh my God, it's Black Me!"

182 comments:

Mark said...: Tediously boring.; 10/14/18, 9:12 AM
Mark said...: More interestingly is why the Washington Post this morning essentially reports on a TV sketch like it is real news.; 10/14/18, 9:13 AM
Big Mike said...: You realize that that’s an hour out of your life you can never get back?; 10/14/18, 9:14 AM
Jaq said...: More interestingly is why the Washington Post this morning essentially reports on a TV sketch like it is real news.

Is that really interesting to you these days? The WaPo is full time anti-Republican propaganda these days, just like SNL. It's like being surprised when a receiver catches the ball thrown by the QB.; 10/14/18, 9:18 AM
Ann Althouse said...: Every time I put up the SNL cold open, commenters say it's boring. That's boring. Don't be what you purport to hate. Say something specific about this sketch!; 10/14/18, 9:20 AM
robother said...: I'm coming around to the SJW view of "That's Not Funny!"; 10/14/18, 9:20 AM
Chuck said...: tim in Vermont: What about that SNL cold open sketch was "anti-Republican"?; 10/14/18, 9:20 AM
Mary Beth said...: If Kanye is black Trump, that means Trump is white Kanye. Is that really the message they want to put out there?

Kanye fans know that he said the hat makes him feel like Superman. He didn't say it was Superman's hat. When they changed Palin's quotes, people who liked Palin noticed, but that wasn't a big part of their audience. I think more of their audience will be saying, "but that's not what he really said" this time.; 10/14/18, 9:21 AM
chuck said...: > Say something specific about this sketch!

Life is short. Does SNL actually matter anymore?; 10/14/18, 9:23 AM
rhhardin said...: I lasted 30 seconds. Brush to be cleared away with no promise of game.; 10/14/18, 9:27 AM
Michael Fitzgerald said...: Gawd, does Alec Baldwin suck ass, and the rest sucks dick. Ssssssucks...; 10/14/18, 9:28 AM
rhhardin said...: Without the laugh track it might do better. Laughing at something not funny means they're trying to be funny and that's the limit they'll reach. You'd have to run it cold and leave people wondering what the message was. Maybe ironic funny or something, they'll think.; 10/14/18, 9:29 AM
Mark said...: Is that really interesting to you these days?

Perhaps I should have said -- more worthy of discussion. But, of course, that is implied when my second comment is read in combination with my first.; 10/14/18, 9:30 AM
Michael Fitzgerald said...: Baldwin's Trump is like an anchor holding the sketch firmly in a pile of lame shit.; 10/14/18, 9:31 AM
The Crack Emcee said...: I was interested at the beginning, when the C-SPAN announcer said "topics covered included alternate universes, Superman, and flying cars" but then didn't laugh until Jim Brown said there's a few things he'd like to subtract from Kanye's rant. And that was more of a grunt than a laugh.

Someone, here, predicted SNL would do this - and suck at it. I wish I remembered who said it, so I could give them a Thumb's Up.; 10/14/18, 9:31 AM
Etienne said...: Bottom line: they need better writers if they want to succeed with limited range actors.; 10/14/18, 9:32 AM
Narayanan said...: Isn't the sketch qualify as minstrelsy minstrel show; 10/14/18, 9:34 AM
tcrosse said...: Dy-no-mite!; 10/14/18, 9:35 AM
Chuck said...: Mary Beth said...
If Kanye is black Trump, that means Trump is white Kanye. Is that really the message they want to put out there?

I thought "white Kanye" was Eminem. And that Trump was "white Al Sharpton."; 10/14/18, 9:36 AM
Mark said...: I gave up watching SNL long ago. Not going to start now -- or even start watching clips, the very description of which is tedious and boring. The topic is tedious and boring. The presumption that real people care -- or worse, that it is hip and cool and reflective of American thought generally -- is tedious and boring.

We get it -- we got it about ten thousand instances before. Certain sections of the culture -- especially the media and entertainment -- hate Trump. And that hate has been remarked upon ad nauseum.; 10/14/18, 9:36 AM
Mark said...: The more interesting question is why people and news outlets keep promoting SNL as if it has any real significance.; 10/14/18, 9:38 AM
Wince said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; 10/14/18, 9:45 AM
Narayanan said...: Isn't SNL white man with token negros?
Do those actors show any ownership? provide any of their own inputs?; 10/14/18, 9:47 AM
Wince said...: The original MSM coverage was intended to punish West and intimidate any other black celebrities from breaking with the Democrat narrative.

Faced with the potential backlash of that strategy, this comedy sketch had to normalize Trump at the expense of Kanye to superimpose over it a second narrative of the exploitation of a hapless black victim.; 10/14/18, 9:47 AM
Matt Sablan said...: So I listened to it all the way through.

The problem is is that this was all really surface level, ha ha, laugh at the people we don't like. It was like mean girls doing impersonations of their teachers. Kanye is crazy, Trump is self infatuated -- also secretly racist.

The problem was that the piece didn't really get into what was funny about the situation. Having Trump joke about the sneakers being wide and white; reaching to check for his wallet, etc., didn't do anything to capture the weirdness of what really happened, and took the focus off what was supposed to be comedy.

I'm not a good comedy writer; it is hard. But SNL again failed because they went to the same well: "People who like Trump are dumb/crazy, and Trump is evil and stupid."; 10/14/18, 9:47 AM
Ann Althouse said...: One problem with taking on this subject for satire is that the original event was already everything you needed to laugh.; 10/14/18, 9:47 AM
Matt Sablan said...: "Without the laugh track it might do better."

-- I think that about a lot of sitcoms; I think though isn't that an actual audience laughing at SNL?; 10/14/18, 9:48 AM
Dear corrupt left, go F yourselves said...: Matthew Sablan @ 9:47.

!; 10/14/18, 9:51 AM
Matt Sablan said...: Althouse: I think it COULD have been funny, if instead of the original stuff Kanye talked about mixed with Trump quotes, have it be something patently ridiculous. Like:

"We should move back to to the Gold Standard so we can get some new Oz books. I liked the Wizard of Oz; who didn't? Gold Standard: Gold Road. Crushing witches, Emerald Cities. That's what we need to make America Great Again. Gold Standard. I got the idea for an album; have'em hang you and me on either side of Jesus on a Cross of Gold."

The point being to get at why we found the Kanye West monologue odd. Is that it was some weird, free association we just don't get. Or, if you were going to do that, have the actual complete West dialogue, but have him instead, present it using Power Point with charts, graphs and the like, and have him interrupt it by citing to official sounding journals. Put him in a lab coat.

Just, do something to highlight the weirdness besides having Trump act stupid and racist and saving about 30 seconds for Jim Brown to act like a straight man before completely forgetting he exists for the entirety of the sketch.; 10/14/18, 9:53 AM
Dear corrupt left, go F yourselves said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; 10/14/18, 9:55 AM
Bay Area Guy said...: Bring back Eddie Murphy and Joe Piscopo!; 10/14/18, 9:57 AM
Dear corrupt left, go F yourselves said...: Almost all mainstream television is an ad for democrats and against the evil! boogieman! they build and distort to create that fear-mongering emotion within the hivemind that "OMG! the evil R party are going to force you into slavery, put you in chains, and force you to keep your baby!"

Lowering your taxes a bit and creating an environment of economic freedom and inspiring the individual entrepreneurial spirit - nah. That cannot be it. That's normal and the left cannot abide by that reality. Must create the constant hate-inspired frenzy that the "other" is going to force you into Christian slavery baby-making hell. Forget that Bill is a rapist.; 10/14/18, 9:57 AM
JackWayne said...: I didn’t watch the clip because I didn’t read about, view or pay any attention to the meeting. I found the topic a waste of time the first time around. But then I have always thought that too many people really believe Marx’s aphorism.; 10/14/18, 9:58 AM
Dear corrupt left, go F yourselves said...: Corruptocrat Night Live; 10/14/18, 9:58 AM
Mark said...: why we found the Kanye West monologue odd

Was it really any odder than the rantings of Andrew Sullivan or Lisa Ko or any other person of left, most of which are incomprehensible gibberish to the normal human being?; 10/14/18, 9:59 AM
Bleach Drinkers Curing Coronavirus Together said...: Every time I put up the SNL cold open, commenters say it's boring. That's boring. Don't be what you purport to hate.

Since when are conservatives interesting or exciting? BY definition, they have a knee-jerk fear response to anything new.

If you're to ever understand your commenters clearly you must learn to accept this.; 10/14/18, 9:59 AM
Mr. D said...: It's interesting only because SNL presents the talking points that frame the narrative going forward. Ask Sarah Palin how that works.; 10/14/18, 10:00 AM
Matt Sablan said...: Wait. Hold on! If you're GOING to make fun of him, do it fair and square. The "this is Superman's hat thing" is how I remembered it too, but I went back and read the transcript Althouse posted. Kanye said:

"You know, people expect that if you’re black you have to be Democrat... You know they tried to scare me to not wear this hat, my own friends, but this hat, it gives me power in a way.... [W]hen I put this hat on, it made me feel like Superman. "

That's not the same thing!; 10/14/18, 10:01 AM
DKWalser said...: The bits SNL did on Palin were funny. They were also mean, slanted, and they distorted her views, but they contained an element of truth that allowed them to be funny. Most of SNL's bits on Trump are just mean, slanted, and distort Trump's views. They entirely lack the element of truth, leaving them to be nothing but a humorless hit job.

This particular bit was remarkable in that it sank lower than its predecessors by trying to make fun of Kanye's bi-pollar issues. I'm sure talented writers and actors could have pulled that off. This crew didn't. Again, their rendition was so far from the truth that it just came off as mean spirited, which isn't funny (unless you hate the target or are sadistic).; 10/14/18, 10:01 AM
rcocean said...: I thought Alec Baldwin was THE Trump impersonator? He's terrible.

Trump can get in front of people and talk for 2 hours - and make people laugh. If Baldwin tried to get up and *seriously* impersonate a Trump speech - you'd turn it off in 5 minutes, because he's so boring.

He talks too slow.

And I'll say it again, there's not one good Comedian in that group. Who in that group on SNL comedians could you see becoming a movie star? Its like the old SNL with Charlie Rocket.; 10/14/18, 10:01 AM
Narayanan said...: "Oh my God, it's Black Me!"

I don't understand the title ...

Did they reverse colors on the actors?; 10/14/18, 10:02 AM
Matt Sablan said...: Sure, he goes on to say: "You made us Superman, that’s my favorite superhero, and you made a Superman cape for me.... So, I had the balls, because I have enough balls to put on this hat.... I was diagnosed with bipolar disorder."

But, that's clearly in the context of the analogy he used earlier. Also, remembering and seeing that he's admitted to being diagnosed with a mental disorder, all the jokes and comments about his mental instability is a whole lot less even marginally funny.; 10/14/18, 10:02 AM
wild chicken said...: Didn't seem as hatey as usual.
SNL warming up to Trump, or trying to warm its audience up to Trump?

They can't do any really good comedy without being more even-handed, like they were with Bush-Gore.; 10/14/18, 10:03 AM
Matt Sablan said...: "I don't understand the title ..."

-- If you watch it, you'll see it is Trump speaking about Kanye.; 10/14/18, 10:03 AM
rcocean said...: Liberals like SNL because like crap. Go look at Network TV, the late night shows, and SNL, you need an IQ under 100 to enjoy it.

Witless and moronic.; 10/14/18, 10:04 AM
Bleach Drinkers Curing Coronavirus Together said...: I'm not a good comedy writer; it is hard.

Or a humor appreciator.

They threw in Trump's stereotypes of blacks because his first experience with government was getting sued by it to let the black people he refused entry into his developments to rent from him. OH, that and Charlottesville. The first time since WWII that an American president reminded us that Nazis aren't all that bad.

Conservatives don't go into entertainment because they think it's wrong to empathize with and act to do much about the human condition. Those who try eventually seem to make their way into politics instead, where it's easier to blame a person's circumstances entirely on that person - and even profit off doing that.; 10/14/18, 10:04 AM
rcocean said...: SNL is having a problem with Trump and its the same problem they had with Reagan.

Both men are/were extremely funny when they wanted to be and they were both tall and good looking and knew how to act on TV.

That makes it hard for SNL to satirize, they need an obvious hook (fat, dumb, humorless, weird looking, falls down, accent, whatever).; 10/14/18, 10:08 AM
rcocean said...: Maybe Al Franken can write some better material for them.

I hear he's unemployed.; 10/14/18, 10:08 AM
Matt Sablan said...: "The first time since WWII that an American president reminded us that Nazis aren't all that bad."

-- Again, it is important to look at what Trump ACTUALLY SAID and not what you were told he said:

REPORTER: You said there was hatred and violence on both sides?

TRUMP: I do think there is blame – yes, I think there is blame on both sides. You look at, you look at both sides. I think there’s blame on both sides, and I have no doubt about it, and you don't have any doubt about it either. And, and, and, and if you reported it accurately, you would say.

REPORTER: The neo-Nazis started this thing. They showed up in Charlottesville.

TRUMP: Excuse me, they didn't put themselves down as neo-Nazis, and you had some very bad people in that group. But you also had people that were very fine people on both sides.

Trump is clearly unpacking the loaded question he was given. He was trying to separate out the Neo-Nazis from the other protesters who didn't want to tear down a bunch of statues, just like he was trying to pull out the violent antifa protesters from the people who were there for the other side. The reporter deliberately tried to lump everyone into "peaceful protester and violent neo-Nazi" narrative when that wasn't happened. If you don't get the context, you think Trump is saying: "There's some fine neo Nazis out there!" When, in context, it is clear he's saying the simplified narrative over these statues is wrong, and there are people who think the statues shouldn't come down who AREN'T neo-Nazis.

So, it's OK that you didn't know this, or maybe had forgotten what was actually said, but now that you have the full context, hopefully you'll stop repeating things the media lied to you about; 10/14/18, 10:08 AM
Curious George said...: Jim Brown didn't play with a leather helmet.; 10/14/18, 10:08 AM
Chuck said...: Althouse I think that many of your Trump-supporting readers think that this post needs your tag for "The Era of That's Not Funny."

It's funny, what some people find funny. Or Not Funny.; 10/14/18, 10:09 AM
The Crack Emcee said...: Ann Althouse said...

"One problem with taking on this subject for satire is that the original event was already everything you needed to laugh."

Another problem with taking on this subject for satire is - if you take Kanye's illness seriously - what's so funny about it?; 10/14/18, 10:09 AM
BUMBLE BEE said...: Like the Three Stooges on the ED Sullivan Show. Flaccid!; 10/14/18, 10:11 AM
Matt Sablan said...: "Conservatives don't go into entertainment because they think it's wrong to empathize with and act to do much about the human condition."

-- You realize that when it comes to charity, conservatives tend to give more than liberals? There's a recent 2017 study that asserts it is roughly equal, but they look at it by state, not by political affiliation (substituting states for political affiliation.) So, it is possible charitable giving has balanced out since then, but I haven't seen anything more up to date since the 2013 or 2014 study.; 10/14/18, 10:12 AM
Bleach Drinkers Curing Coronavirus Together said...: But generally speaking, people don't pay to be told (usually wrongly or inaccurately) that all their problems, shortcomings, circumstances - or just plain averageness are entirely of their own doing. Unless of course they're conservative. Then they pay the government a whole lot of money just to be told that.

It's the culpability gospel. Self-deprecation and flagellation.

I think they like Trump because he goes a step further and says that you can live a fantasy where nothing bad ever happened. You can be 3-years old, receiving $200,000 a year from papa, and still make other people believe that you deserve even more.; 10/14/18, 10:14 AM
Matt Sablan said...: "Althouse I think that many of your Trump-supporting readers think that this post needs your tag for "The Era of That's Not Funny.""

-- I mean, it is surface level amusing. But, compared to actual, good comedy sketches it is lacking, a lot. The "It's Black Me!" line for example should have either been the crescendo or the final punchline. Instead after that, we get an elongated denouement.

If the It's Black Me! line is what they were going for, they should have done a Twilight Zone-esque introduction to play on the weirdness of the event. And end it with Trump and Kanye somehow switching places at the desk, and then have Melania come on stage and treat Kanye like Trump, then have the dramatic zoom in with Trump and Kanye looking at each other, and Trump saying "It's Black Me!"

Have it be played as a horrific realization to Trump, and go all in with the theme.

But, instead, we get this kind of mealy mouthed, unsure of what it wants to be, sketch.; 10/14/18, 10:14 AM
Laslo Spatula said...: "Every time I put up the SNL cold open, commenters say it's boring. That's boring. Don't be what you purport to hate. Say something specific about this sketch!"...

When Althouse posted the Kavanaugh SNL opening she wrote in the comments:

"If you want a comedy sketch that mocks a woman who reports an attempted rape, start your own comedy sketch show. I'm sure it will be a blast."

I then commented a quick skit showing how it could be approached without being overtly venomous. One could easily argue whether it was funny or not, but at least I was taking the challenge rather than just saying SNL was "boring." Things like this DO happen in the comments, too.

...One problem with taking on this subject for satire is that the original event was already everything you needed to laugh.

There are a few ways this could be approached. More than the event having "already everything you needed to laugh" I would counter the opposite: the President and an Artist talking off-the-cuff -- but with heart -- about ideas and dreams, rather than cynical bitching; the cynical bitching was predictably done done by the CNN talking heads, Don Lemon and the like.

So: "Mr. West Goes To Washington", perhaps. With Trump and Kanye in the White House afterward, drinking diet colas and bantering -- best buddies! -- while watching the CNN reporting. Turn the cynical Kanye-is-like-Trump on it's head as they dream bigger and bigger -- positivity is beautiful, positivity is HUGE -- and are feeding off each other as the talking heads get more desperate and bitter.

With that said, I did find the SNL skit boring.

I am Laslo.; 10/14/18, 10:15 AM
Matt Sablan said...: (Also: "It's Black Me!" has a lot of potential to actually be delivered well and funny. Like the scene in Frasier when Niles sees "Black Niles," it is kind of amusing. But, they knew better than to drag out the gag.); 10/14/18, 10:16 AM
Narayanan said...: *The first time since WWII that an American president reminded us that Nazis aren't all that bad.*

Good on you to stick the qualifier "since"

Let's talk about before when it was just socialismus, and Eugenics; 10/14/18, 10:16 AM
Bleach Drinkers Curing Coronavirus Together said...: That's a lot of words you take at 10:08 Sablan to deny Trump's implication that there were some "very fine people" either demonstrating alongside neo-Nazis or aligning themselves with them. In my world (and that of most Americans) "very fine people" don't do this. Whether they're neo-Confederate (which is the movement that inspired HItler) or whatever.; 10/14/18, 10:16 AM
Matt Sablan said...: Hah. Laslo goes with two buddies drinking angle of reinterpreting it, I go with Twilight Zone horror body switching. Point is: There were better approaches that SNL could have used instead of this surface level "Here's a thing you read about in the news. Laugh at it!"; 10/14/18, 10:17 AM
chickelit said...: “Every time I put up the SNL cold open, commenters say it's boring. That's boring. Don't be what you purport to hate. Say something specific about this sketch!”

But your reaction to the commenters’ reaction is also boring and predictable! In fact, I predicted yesterday (12:21 PM) in another thread that SNL would parody West/Trump. That too was boring and predictable. It’s easy to mock anything so predictable as SNL these days. Why don’t we deserve better?; 10/14/18, 10:19 AM
Bleach Drinkers Curing Coronavirus Together said...: -- You realize that when it comes to charity, conservatives tend to give more than liberals?

Well I guess it's their denial of outcomes research (or basic reality in general) that prevents them from understanding that this doesn't stop the country from its abysmal ranking among 1st-world nations when it comes poverty, homelessness, health outcomes or any other sane way to measure effectiveness.

But I guess conservatives just like futility in general. The way they keep throwing more and more money at the already-wealthy to chase the ever-ineffective "trickle down" theory. I guess it's good that they finally revealed their true colors to admit that it's not whether it works that matters, just that an aristocracy (and an aristocratic president) get more of their spoils and "tribute."; 10/14/18, 10:20 AM
Matt Sablan said...: PPPT: It isn't my fault that you assume anything bad people touch is tainted. Just because Neo Nazis and antifa eat ice cream doesn't make ice cream bad. The point of those words was for you to read them and realize that the quote you were relying on was not in context. Trump ISN'T talking about neo-Nazis. He's talking about other people who think the statues shouldn't have been torn down who the media was deliberately lumping in with neo-Nazis. He's also talking about peaceful Democrat protesters that were getting lumped in with violent antifa. But, go ahead. Get your five minute hate in.; 10/14/18, 10:21 AM
Andrew said...: "Since when are conservatives interesting or exciting? BY definition, they have a knee-jerk fear response to anything new."

Wow, talk about projection. President Trump is a very "new" phenomenon, a genuine populist, anti-establishment, non-politician as President. Almost everything he's done is "new" - how he's handled one issue after another. Compare him to the Clintons or Obama. Compare him to all the Republicans he ran against. Do you think Jeb Bush would be brokering peace in Korea, or pulling out of international treaties, or imposing trade tariffs, or holding constant political rallies, or confronting the news media's falsehoods, or standing by embattered nominees? Even if you don't like him, Trump is a truly revolutionary figure.

Now, which side is reacting to all of this with knee-jerk fear?; 10/14/18, 10:21 AM
Gahrie said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; 10/14/18, 10:22 AM
Gahrie said...: "If you want a comedy sketch that mocks a woman who reports an attempted rape, start your own comedy sketch show. I'm sure it will be a blast."

I then commented a quick skit showing how it could be approached without being overtly venomous.

I simply reminded her that her woke buddies at SNL used to mock women who reported rapes and sexual assaults...they just did so when the women were accusing Democrats.

Besides being unfunny, SNL is boringly predictable. Image the impact if they had opened with a skit supportive of Trump and attacking the identity politics of the Left. That would have been transgressive.; 10/14/18, 10:23 AM
Bleach Drinkers Curing Coronavirus Together said...: Trump ISN'T talking about neo-Nazis. He's talking about other people who think the statues shouldn't have been torn down who the media was deliberately lumping in with neo-Nazis.

...anything bad people touch is tainted?

Here's what der Fuehrer himself said about those people with their inordinate love of the statues:

This is the last disgusting death-rattle of a corrupt and outworn system which is a blot on the history of this people. Since the civil war, in which the southern states were conquered, against all historical logic and sound sense, the American people have been in a condition of political and popular decay. In that war, it was not the Southern States, but the American people themselves who were conquered. In this spurious blossoming of economic progress and power politics, America has ever since been drawn deeper into the mire of progressive self-destruction. The beginnings of a great new social order based on the principle of slavery and inequality were destroyed by that war, and with them also the embryo of a future truly great America that would not have been ruled by a corrupt caste of tradesmen, but by a real Herren-class that would have swept away all the falsities of liberty and equality.

Confederacy defenders: Hitler's kind of people. From his own mouth.

Those statues weren't something that even Robert E. Lee wanted, because he knew what reconciliation would require: Accommodation to Union victory and a relegation of those statues and their veneration to history books, not monuments to civic pride. They were erected decades after the war for the "Lost Cause" patrons, who wanted to change/alter/whitewash the history of what they were about and pretend that the war was about something else entirely and that their cause was a righteous and just one.

But even Hitler knew better.

Swallow that.; 10/14/18, 10:27 AM
Seeing Red said...: But I guess conservatives just like futility in general. The way they keep throwing more and more money at the already-wealthy to chase the ever-ineffective "trickle down" theory.

Your making a lot of assumptions there. Who says conservatives throw money at the already wealthy?; 10/14/18, 10:27 AM
Narayanan said...: There is humor which is reductio absurdum ... Try that with Trump's ideas.

There's mocking humor ... Exaggerated mannerisms ... But Trump is already eleventy on that.; 10/14/18, 10:28 AM
I'm Full of Soup said...: I enjoyed that - made me laugh at times even with its Predictable Trump bashing.; 10/14/18, 10:28 AM
Seeing Red said...: Now we do have to pay taxes to the USG and they certainly throw money at things that don’t work after trillions spent.; 10/14/18, 10:29 AM
Andrew said...: @President PPT,
Did you know that more than 40% of African-Americans in Virginia wanted the statues to stay up? Are they Hitler's kind of people?; 10/14/18, 10:30 AM
Matt Sablan said...: That was a lot of words to go Godwin.; 10/14/18, 10:32 AM
Bleach Drinkers Curing Coronavirus Together said...: President Trump is a very "new" phenomenon, a genuine populist, anti-establishment, non-politician as President.

That's funny. I suppose you think a self-wealth worshipper pretending to be a billionaire is a populist because of what he says and the fact that he changed the tax code to remove deductions for all oligarchs except real estate developers like himself who can claim losses to avoid paying taxes even when their property values increase.

People who live in cities have words for people like this: Slumlords. Slumlords with gold gild. That's why NYC voted against him something like 80%. They were familiar with that blonde-orange cockroach and knew better.

But yeah right, go on about your alleged "billionaire populist." He doesn't like his class because his class knows a fellow phony when they see one, and most people who get to know Trump for about 20 minutes know that he's a scumbag.

FDR was the true populist, a real "class traitor," one with the creds to prove it. He didn't just talk the talk. And you people (and now Trump) have been wrecking that legacy for 40 years. The result is how far America's rankings have fallen in every social welfare index imaginable. They won't get better under Trump, either. His whole life he's done nothing but take, just like Republican policies in general.; 10/14/18, 10:32 AM
Bleach Drinkers Curing Coronavirus Together said...: That was a lot of words to go Godwin.

You're the one who believes very fine people march with torches in the night yapping about not being "replaced" by Jews.; 10/14/18, 10:34 AM
cronus titan said...: Althouse posted:

Every time I put up the SNL cold open, commenters say it's boring. That's boring. Don't be what you purport to hate. Say something specific about this sketch
____________

Thank you for posting. I have lost interest in propaganda. SNL has gone full SJW, and their audience is an echo chamber. THey have every right to use their position to advocate for the politics of their choice, and it is our right to point out what they are doing. Like MASH before it, SNL long ago stopped being comedy. Since it is so utterly predictable, it is kinda . . . boring (would you prefer dull? tired?).

It is also an example of why "cruel neutrality" fails. Althouse credits SNL for its anti-Trump sketches grounded in racist tropes. Althouse dismisses the other side that finds it all predictable. Cruel nuetrality requires an open mind toward all positions. Interesting that ALthouse applies cruel neutrality, but only when it is convenient. When it irritates her, it goes right out the window.; 10/14/18, 10:36 AM
Matt Sablan said...: "You're the one who believes very fine people march with torches in the night yapping about not being "replaced" by Jews."

-- No I don't, and did I not say that. It's one thing to be wrong or misled about what Trump has said, or to simply not care to put in the effort to read or listen in context. But if we're going to have a public conversation, at least have the courtesy to scroll up.; 10/14/18, 10:40 AM
Howard said...: Sketch comedy is nearly impossible to do successfully. Even the classic SNL shows were 90% clunkers. It's an example of "better than nothing is a high standard"; 10/14/18, 10:40 AM
Bleach Drinkers Curing Coronavirus Together said...: Godwin

Hey, I can't help who agrees with your opinion of those statues and all the civic pride you feel that some "very fine people" think they should represent.

If you say something that you later learn that Hitler, or Charles Manson, or whatever, agreed with - especially at length and in a political context, then maybe you'd want to rethink your position.

Or maybe I just ask too much in assuming that you might actually be a decent person.; 10/14/18, 10:41 AM
Matt Sablan said...: PPPT is right.

I now hate animals.; 10/14/18, 10:44 AM
Bleach Drinkers Curing Coronavirus Together said...: -- No I don't, and did I not say that. It's one thing to be wrong or misled about what Trump has said, or to simply not care to put in the effort to read or listen in context. But if we're going to have a public conversation, at least have the courtesy to scroll up.

Trump's own words "on the topic" are garbled, incoherent, and make no sense. But feel free to find anything sensible in them.

Let's refine your position: You want the record in our discussion here to more accurately reflect the fact that Trump thought "very fine people" were either confederates or marched alongside Nazis in supporting their cause that night, but not that they actually were Nazis. Is that correct?

Yeah, I see a huge difference there.

They supported the Nazis instead of identifying with them.

Interesting distinction. What a leader. And what a defender he has in you.; 10/14/18, 10:44 AM
Matt Sablan said...: There, there. You've made your point. Animals are terrible. I no longer love them, as bad people did before. Go on! Spread the word about how terrible animals are.; 10/14/18, 10:46 AM
Bleach Drinkers Curing Coronavirus Together said...: I now hate animals.

We're not talking about smoking, or vegetarianism. But about a simple history from centuries ago deliberately made complex and convoluted by its exponents, but not to a guy who was very interested in how their politics actually worked in practice.

Yes, I do think Hitler's historical and political sympathies are more pertinent than his views on personal health and hygiene.

Anyway, there was another point there too that I notice you're avoiding. His whole initial experiences with government involved being successfully sued by it so that he could no longer refuse housing to black Americans. I guess you've got no comment on that one -- too busy defending his abominable post-Charlottesville performance.

That's okay. I get the picture.; 10/14/18, 10:48 AM
Matt Sablan said...: You're not a serious person, but I'm one of the few people here who at least gives you a few chances to have a serious conversation. You never do. Don't worry; next thread or so, I'll try again!; 10/14/18, 10:49 AM
The Crack Emcee said...: "You're the one who believes very fine people march with torches in the night yapping about not being "replaced" by Jews."

I can argue that, just as I argued Michael Brown didn't deserve to die at the hands of a white police officer. Life offers ample opportunity for us all to fuck up, good or bad, in time.

I once heard it's what makes us human.; 10/14/18, 10:52 AM
Bleach Drinkers Curing Coronavirus Together said...: You're not a serious person, but I'm one of the few people here who at least gives you a few chances to have a serious conversation. You never do. Don't worry; next thread or so, I'll try again!

So no serious comment from you on Trump's discriminatory anti-black housing practices, being successfully sued because of them, just because you think he made a Clintonian parsing distinction in defending the sorts of people admired by Hitler, but not the Hitler-admirers themselves?

Yep, your dodge is about as worth taking seriously as... well, it's not. You're just a coward who runs away from the point and can't admit when you don't have one.; 10/14/18, 10:52 AM
Chuck said...: Althouse, I remember a time when you joined President Obama in calling Kanye West "a jackass."

(You asked a rather good question at the time; what business is it, of the President's, to be calling entertainers jackasses? I don't think I have a good answer to your very good question. But of course I wonder what business is it of the President's, to host an entertainer who is -- your term -- a jackass in the Oval Office? To discuss prison reform? Crime in Chicago? Fox and Friends asked Trump about the agenda for the meeting and the first and last words out of Trump's mouth were about his support among black voters, and polls.); 10/14/18, 10:53 AM
Bleach Drinkers Curing Coronavirus Together said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; 10/14/18, 10:55 AM
Bleach Drinkers Curing Coronavirus Together said...: I once heard it's what makes us human.

Nazis (and confederates) aren't remembered for their humanness, but for dehumanizing systems that they deliberately wanted to conquer the world with. For good reason; that's primarily how they sought to define and remember themselves.

So, it's not like we humans can help not really feeling all that much sympathy for those who sympathize with those systems.; 10/14/18, 10:55 AM
Inga...Allie Oop said...: What’s funny is that the folks who always say liberals yell “That’s not funny!” have become the “That’s not funny!” group on steroids, or were they always humorless dolts? Or maybe they only understood Trump’s “humor”.; 10/14/18, 10:56 AM
Matt Sablan said...: No. I'm not going to play whack a mole as you can't decide what you want to focus on. I don't think he made a Clintonian parsing. He was asked a loaded question; if someone asks you, "When did you stop beating your wife," and you say, "Hold on a moment, I've never beaten anyone," that's not parsing. That is rightly taking a question apart. The point was that not everyone there admired Hitler, just like not everyone who was protesting against them believed the same as antifa -- which is, that violently attacking people like Jewish academics and conservative homosexuals is perfectly acceptable. The problem is when you can't understand that, you start throwing up whatever new novel argument you think you have, and ignore the point you first put forward.

The entire point of the initial conversation was to show you that you had been given an incorrect understanding of Trump's comments. I'm not even assuming that you're deliberately lying about what was said. I'm giving you the benefit of the doubt that you just don't know. But, you're steadfastly refusing to read and understand the context. Trump wasn't talking about only neo-Nazis and only antifa. He was specifically talking about the larger groups.

It's the same rhetorical trap you try and draw people into every time, and it is tiresome. This really is for your benefit; if you want more people to actually try and engage with you, you need to learn to focus and listen, not lash out and assume.; 10/14/18, 10:57 AM
Matt Sablan said...: I really wish people wouldn't delete comments while I was responding to them, because now, my entire comment to PPPT's deleted comment makes no sense.; 10/14/18, 10:58 AM
Inga...Allie Oop said...: “Althouse, I remember a time when you joined President Obama in calling Kanye West "a jackass."”

And Obama was right.; 10/14/18, 10:58 AM
Rosalyn C. said...: SNL is the stupid white version of attacking Kanye (mocking mental illness), as opposed to the very nasty black version by Kanye's fellow rapper and competitor, T.I. @TIP. He posted a video on Twitter of himself in the Oval Office getting sexy with a naked Melania. I wondered if Crack saw that and how he reacted to that, i.e., "black kulture."; 10/14/18, 10:59 AM
Howard said...: Nazi's and slaveowners were human... all too human. Their systems were the pinnacle of human depravity. In some ways, they were more true to our humanness than most people. That, of course, doesn't make it right. It also doesn't mean that other humans with white hats and well nourished children shouldn't go full "Bakersfield Chimp" in an attempt to genocide Nazi's and slaveowners.; 10/14/18, 11:02 AM
Anne in Rockwall, TX said...: Bi-polar is the "in" diagnosis these days. It replaced ADHD, depression and anxiety.; 10/14/18, 11:03 AM
Bleach Drinkers Curing Coronavirus Together said...: The point was that not everyone there admired Hitler,

And I'm telling you that's a bullshit point.

I'm even doing you the charitable favor of explaining why that's a bullshit point.

Just because confederates are so embarrassed by their real history that they've promoted the Lost Cause narrative (supported by these statues) for more than a hundred years, doesn't make their cause any more defensible.

And that's why it's not illogical to find them in common cause with the people you are uncomfortable mentioning or hearing about because of Godwin. When they're confronted desperately enough, that is.

Which for them counts as removing the artificial claims to veneration they have in those stupid statues in the first place. When you put them in the museums, it's a little harder to pretend that there's anything proud to feel about them any longer now, isn't it?

It's about confronting reality. Just because you don't want to confront reality and just because your confederate friends don't want to confront reality doesn't mean reality doesn't exist.

Guess who else was pretty shady about what they were really up to? (Uh-oh! Oh no, Godwin!) But history doesn't forget. It records. And it takes notes of your insane contradictions, logical backflips and rhetorical pretzels. Yes, I know you have a hard time confronting history. Just like all conservatives have a hard time confronting reality. But don't blame that on me.; 10/14/18, 11:03 AM
Inga...Allie Oop said...: “SNL is the stupid white version of attacking Kanye (mocking mental illness)...”

I think is SNL mocking people who are taking Kanye serioulsy as it’s evident that he is suffering from some sort of mental illness. They aren’t mocking mental illness. His behavior was spot on for a manic phase of a bipolar person. I suspect his first diagnosis was correct, not the sleep deprivation nonsense. He was manic.; 10/14/18, 11:05 AM
Matt Sablan said...: That was a long way to keep beating the dead horse.; 10/14/18, 11:05 AM
Bleach Drinkers Curing Coronavirus Together said...: I didn't delete any comment.; 10/14/18, 11:06 AM
Matt Sablan said...: Inga: If SNL wanted to mock people who took Kanye seriously... they'd have mocked people who were taking Kanye seriously. Their targets were Trump and Kanye. You can tell this because the sketch is about Trump and Kanye. ... I don't know why Kanye is Kanye and Trump is Trump instead of West and Donald.; 10/14/18, 11:06 AM
Matt Sablan said...: Maybe it isn't loading; who knows?; 10/14/18, 11:07 AM
Bleach Drinkers Curing Coronavirus Together said...: That was a long way to keep beating the dead horse.

The one that's living in your bed.

You can't contend with the truth about who was marching there and why. What for. What to prove.

So you run behind the skirt of Trump's clumsily defensive supportive and entirely ineffective comments about them instead.

Cowardly.; 10/14/18, 11:08 AM
Matt Sablan said...: "That was a long way to keep beating the dead horse.

The one that's living in your bed."; 10/14/18, 11:09 AM
Mark said...: Don't worry; next thread or so, I'll try again!

Please don't.

Or if you do, get a room.; 10/14/18, 11:09 AM
Inga...Allie Oop said...: “Inga: If SNL wanted to mock people who took Kanye seriously... they'd have mocked people who were taking Kanye seriously.”

Apparently you don’t recognize it when you are being mocked, maybe because you are so overeager to argue your point that you aren’t picking up on people signals.; 10/14/18, 11:10 AM
Bleach Drinkers Curing Coronavirus Together said...: Or if you do, get a room.

Like the room booked between the confederates you love so much and their later German admirers, Mark?; 10/14/18, 11:11 AM
Mark said...: President Pee-Pee Tape said...
I didn't delete any comment.
10/14/18, 11:06 AM

President Pee-Pee Tape said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
10/14/18, 10:55 AM; 10/14/18, 11:14 AM
Matt Sablan said...: I'm not a fan of Kanye, and I've made it clear there are lots of points I disagree with Trump on, so that is a swing and miss Inga. You could make a sketch that mocked people for listening to them. You could have people quoting Kanye or walking around in Superman capes and MAGA hats; you could point out the ridiculousness of the message. But the focus of the entire set is how Trump is like Kanye ("It's Black Me!") The target is clearly the two men in the room; that's why the straight man in the set attacks Kanye, and doesn't use his snark on other people or the people who might believe them. The entire construction of the piece (from the way it is shot, to the voice over of Trump, to the deliberate echoing of "stable genius,") says the focus of the piece is the Kanye-Trump connection.

Which there's room for comedy there (and this weak attempt is probably the best that could be done under pressure and a deadline with the rest of a show to do), but this isn't a commentary on people believing hucksters or the rubbernecking of watching Kanye self-destruct (again) on the national stage. It's purely a character commentary on the two of them.; 10/14/18, 11:14 AM
Bleach Drinkers Curing Coronavirus Together said...: If so then it was just an edit, Confederate Mark.

No need to get your lederhosen in a bunch.; 10/14/18, 11:15 AM
Mark said...: She plays fast and loose with the facts -- and attacks and blames others when she gets caught and is proven to have done so.; 10/14/18, 11:18 AM
Bleach Drinkers Curing Coronavirus Together said...: Keep pulling those lederhosen back up, Mark.; 10/14/18, 11:19 AM
Dear corrupt left, go F yourselves said...: If Blasey Ford were a republican, she would be savaged by SNL.; 10/14/18, 11:20 AM
Inga...Allie Oop said...: “She plays fast and loose with the facts -- and attacks and blames others when she gets caught and is proven to have done so.”

Who is “she”?; 10/14/18, 11:21 AM
William said...: I think Kanye will have as much influence on the black vote as Taylor Swift has on the white vote. Put the double standards side by side and you get a square deal. Whatever that means. Anyway, can you imagine a SNL skit about a Republican voter changing his thinking because of Swift's endorsement?........Since when did Jim Brown become a revered elder statesman? That guy has more #metoo problems than Al Franken; 10/14/18, 11:28 AM
MadisonMan said...: It seems to me like SNL is willfully making content to be forwarded around on Social Media -- and they lack the know-how and humor to make these things viral. So they're left with videos that are mean-spirited that make you think "This should have been a lot funnier" -- unless you hate Trump, in which case they're great because they mock the object of your hatred.

This is not sustainable in the long-term. Because even the local paper is running columns that laud things like Trump's Honesty (this morning's one by Marc Thiessen) and listing his accomplishments.; 10/14/18, 11:44 AM
MadisonMan said...: If Blasey Ford were a republican, she would be savaged by SNL.

Amen. Recall John Goodman as Linda Tripp.; 10/14/18, 11:45 AM
chickelit said...: @Mark (and others keeping score): PPPT deleted his 10:55 in order to add an “s” to “systems.”; 10/14/18, 11:46 AM
FullMoon said...: The rest is HERE
Alec Baldwin is among the worst of the political celebrity class. An angry, entitled, homophobic, racist, emotionally abusive actor with a long history of being hostile toward women, and, apparently, considering a run for President, Baldwin is being warmly embraced by New Hampshire Democrats.

I actually find his SNL impersonations of President Trump quite amusing. He is good at what he does on the sketch show. But the very idea of Baldwin as a voice for society’s most vulnerable victims — those who the Democratic Party claims to represent — is ludicrous.

Baldwin’s history of physical assaults, racist and homophobic statements and emotionally abusive verbal attacks on women is well documented.

G. N. Miller, an African-American photographer, claimed in 2013 that Baldwin called him the n-word, a “coon,” a drug dealer and a crack head. In the same incident, Baldwin physically grabbed a female reporter and told her he wanted to choke her “to death.”; 10/14/18, 11:52 AM
BJM said...: Dear Progressives, Hollywood and MSM,

Please continue attacking a black man.

Yours truly,

The Red Wave
#walkaway; 10/14/18, 11:53 AM
Mark said...: @Mark (and others keeping score): PPPT deleted his 10:55

Thanks Mini-Me.; 10/14/18, 11:59 AM
chickelit said...: @Full Moon: I thought Baldwin was OK in that choo-choo movie.; 10/14/18, 12:03 PM
FullMoon said...: Liberal Hero Baldwin

In another incident, he is accused of shouting at a male reporter, “I know you got raped by a priest or something … you little girl.” He tweeted at another reporter that he was a “toxic little queen” and promised he was going to find the man and “f**k [him] up.” He was fired from his MSNBC show for a “foul-mouthed-homophobic rant” against a paparazzi, calling him a term I am unwilling to write here.

His ex-wife, Kim Basinger, has called him a bully, an understatement when you consider his most abusive verbal assault to date was directed at his own daughter. In 2007, when Ireland Baldwin was just 11 years old, her father left a now-infamous message on her voicemail.

“You don’t have the brains or the decency as a human being. I don’t give a damn that you’re 12 years old, or 11 years old, or that you’re a child, or that your mother is a thoughtless pain in the a** who doesn’t care about what you do as far as I’m concerned. Once again, I have made an a** of myself trying to get to a phone. You have humiliated me for the last time with this phone.”

He went on to call her a “rude, thoughtless little pig” and threatened her bodily harm when he said he would fly to LA to “straighten her ass out.” Last year, he complained to “Good Morning America” that people still hold that violent verbal assault on his own daughter against him. Can you imagine?; 10/14/18, 12:04 PM
Dear corrupt left, go F yourselves said...: Amen. Recall John Goodman as Linda Tripp.

Bill Clinton can be as big of a sexual abuser as needed. The left yawns and attacks his accusers.

Up next - the left's Clinton heart throbs go on tour. Will Corruptocrat Night Live mock?

Doubtful.; 10/14/18, 12:05 PM
chickelit said...: Blogger President Pee-Pee Tape said...”Keep pulling those lederhosen back up, Mark.”

Any idea who the last American politician to be photographed in lederhosen was?; 10/14/18, 12:06 PM
chickelit said...: Dickin’ wrote: “Up next - the left's Clinton heart throbs go on tour. Will Corruptocrat Night Live mock?”

Bill sporting lederhosen while leering at bosoms in tight dirndlkleide while Hillary quaffs liters of beer.

Coulda shoulda woulda comedy gold.; 10/14/18, 12:13 PM
FullMoon said...: President Pee-Pee Tape said...
I didn't delete any comment.
10/14/18, 11:06 AM

you lie!; 10/14/18, 12:21 PM
chickelit said...: Inga asks: ‘Who is “she”?’

Ask not for whom the bell trolls; it trolls for thee.; 10/14/18, 12:26 PM
William said...: Many here are Trump voters and, like most Trump voters, wish to rape and abuse women. I'm sorry to inform you that you're doing it all wrong. The best way to get away with molesting and raping women is to become a revered elder figure with liberal credentials. It's like how being a priest used to be to those who had a thing for choirboys. You can get away with it for decades. If, on the other hand, you're a Republican, you can't so much as drink beer in high school without having the morality police coming down on you like a wall of bricks........I'd like to see a SNL skit where Al Franken, as a cast member, and Donald Trump, as a guest host, are on SNL together and Taylor Swift is the musical guest. Both Franken and Trump compete to see who can pinch the most fannies, but they're utterly stymied by Taylor Swift for obvious reasons.; 10/14/18, 12:38 PM
Dear corrupt left, go F yourselves said...: AMEN - William.; 10/14/18, 1:25 PM
The Crack Emcee said...: Chuck said...

"Althouse, I remember a time when you joined President Obama in calling Kanye West "a jackass.""

I can't speak for Ann but I don't think his condition was as up-front then, as it is now, so (I think) everybody could be cut some slack for how we took Kanye in the early days. But now, how we behave is almost more important than what he's saying, because we know.

Lastly, the president can be friends with who he wants, last time I checked. And he just happens to want to be friends with really talented, world famous rappers, and has done so for a very long time - almost from the very beginning of Rap, even going so far as loaning Russel Simmons his plane to get Def Jam on solid financial footing . And even when it didn't fit the tonier image the president normally tried to convey. Now one of them is bi-polar.

I don't know how anyone can find something wrong with it.; 10/14/18, 1:51 PM
The Crack Emcee said...: President Pee-Pee Tape said...

"Nazis (and confederates) aren't remembered for their humanness, but for dehumanizing systems that they deliberately wanted to conquer the world with."

Yeah, but, at some point, we grow up and accept history on it's terms, and not ours, and then guess what? Robert E. Lee does become a good guy. Not perfect, but neither are you or I, and there you go. I've met Nazis I like. My foster brother is a gangsta and I love him. To not figure this out is to become like the things you hate.

"So, it's not like we humans can help not really feeling all that much sympathy for those who sympathize with those systems."

Yeah, it is like you can help it, because life is hard and, like a plant, it needs more light than heat to grow correctly., so cut it out.

Is no one going to learn from Hillary's "deplorables" moment?; 10/14/18, 2:06 PM
The Crack Emcee said...: Inga...Allie Oop said...

"What’s funny is that the folks who always say liberals yell “That’s not funny!” have become the “That’s not funny!” group on steroids, or were they always humorless dolts?"

Whoa, wait - that really wasn't funny. The only people tone deaf about it are at SNL.

"Or maybe they only understood Trump’s “humor”."

Trump is a kind of stand-up, but what's revealing is how there's no truly dangerous conservative stand-up comic emerging to forge a new direction in the Trump era. Is it because (as you hint about Trump) at it's core is something repulsive? Can't say until we see it.; 10/14/18, 2:14 PM
The Crack Emcee said...: R.J. Chatt said...

"SNL is the stupid white version of attacking Kanye (mocking mental illness), as opposed to the very nasty black version by Kanye's fellow rapper and competitor, T.I. @TIP. He posted a video on Twitter of himself in the Oval Office getting sexy with a naked Melania. I wondered if Crack saw that and how he reacted to that, i.e., "black kulture.""

I separate those who know what they're doing (like politicians and activists) from those who don't, and I see T.I. as merely clowning himself, as a lot of people are right now, and I can only feel for them. Everything a black person does doesn't have to be "black kulture." either, but - sometimes - is just what it looks like: bad art.; 10/14/18, 2:24 PM
Guildofcannonballs said...: "@Full Moon: I thought Baldwin was OK in that choo-choo movie."

http://justified.wikia.com/wiki/Choo-Choo

He's no Duke Davis Roberts.

Or Fred Carson:
1978 The Rockford Files (TV Series) Choo Choo- A Fast Count (1978) ... Choo Choo (uncredited)

But maybe it's Mike Mazurki instead: The Rockford Files – episode – A Fast Count (1978) as Choo-Choo (uncredited); 10/14/18, 2:44 PM
Chuck said...: Hey, Crack;

Straight questions here. Is Kanye West mentally ill? I couldn't figure that out, from his Oval Office appearance. Does Kanye say that he is bipolar, and has been mis-treated for it in the past? Or does Kanye say that he was badly misdiagnosed as "bipolar" when in fact he is not bipolar?

Apart from Bipolar Disorder, does Kanye say that he experiences any other form of mental illness?

There was certainly a time in the recent past where Kanye stated that he had been diagnosed with Bipolar Disorder, and that he was taking medication for it. Was that a mistake? Is there any expert/medical support for the notion that Kanye was misdiagnosed?

Not for Crack, but for the Trump fans; if indeed Kanye West is bipolar, has been prescribed medication but now refuses to take it, is it a good idea for such a person to be invited into the Oval Office to meet with the President and be allowed to physically embrace the President?; 10/14/18, 2:44 PM
Birkel said...: Notorious racist Chuck, fopdoodle extraordinaire, is concern trolling.
That's quaint.

Also, HIPPA makes your question about misdiagnosis irrelevant.
And beside that it is unsavory in the extreme.
It's nunya.; 10/14/18, 3:00 PM
Qwinn said...: "Trump is a kind of stand-up, but what's revealing is how there's no truly dangerous conservative stand-up comic emerging to forge a new direction in the Trump era."

Well, Tim Allen is funny and conservative and about as non-dangerous as you can get, and he still had his show canceled despite top ratings. (Yeah, he's getting it back, but still.)

That might explain to you why some unknown "dangerous" conservative standup isn't getting any press, even if he is hilarious. There could be a thousand of them out there, and the Left would make sure their careers went nowhere.; 10/14/18, 3:13 PM
wholelottasplainin said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; 10/14/18, 3:15 PM
Gunner said...: Why are you guys still trying to talk to PPPT as an honest person? He is deliberately lying about Trump calling Neo Nazis “fine people” when anyone with five brain cells can tell he just meant the people who wanted the statue to not be torn down.; 10/14/18, 3:17 PM
wholelottasplainin said...: PPPT said:

"Guess who else was pretty shady about what they were really up to? (Uh-oh! Oh no, Godwin!)

>>>>Huh. My first thought was "Obama", who told us we could keep our plans and doctors. Who whispered he would have more flexibility after his re-election...who were you thinking of?

"But history doesn't forget. It records. And it takes notes of your insane contradictions, logical backflips and rhetorical pretzels."

>>> Yes, we all have taken note of your insistence that Hitler was a "conservative", desperately trying to "conserve" idyllic Weimar Germany, and "conservatively" making war and invading half of Europe. Snort!

>>>Ditto his insistence that conservatives aren't funny and aren't into "entertainment. (A few generations back, most of Hollywood was conservative. Remember Bob Hope, Jack Benny, Jimmy Stewart, Audie Murphy, John Wayne, Ronald Reagan, Hedy Lamarr?? Maybe, just maybe, conservatives no longer control TV and Hollywood, so maybe, just maybe, they are no longer given stages to perform on?

PPPT's problem---and it's a bad one---is that he always tries to shoehorn ten pounds of shit into a five pound bag.; 10/14/18, 3:20 PM
Gk1 said...: It always amazes me that Baldwin is the liberals liberal after being known for calling his own daughter a “rude, thoughtless little pig”. He only has latitude to do certain things as trump. As much as SNL likes riding the "Metoo" train it chose a lousy conductor. It's in the background of every Baldwin sketch.; 10/14/18, 3:34 PM
George Grady said...: Ann Althouse said...

Every time I put up the SNL cold open, commenters say it's boring. That's boring. Don't be what you purport to hate. Say something specific about this sketch!

Well, let's see what specific, non-boring thing our hostess had to say about this sketch...

Oh. Maybe it was boring.; 10/14/18, 3:34 PM
stevew said...: This is a very good example of why I stopped watching SNL. It was at one time, early on, edgy, venturing into areas that polite people avoided. The writers were creative with the way in which they mocked or highlighted a person or issue. They made their point without coming across as vindictive and mean. No more. This latest cold open is just bad - no creativity, entirely predictable, and rather derivative of all that has been already been said about the Kanye visit to the White House. Not boring, just poor comedy & commentary.

-sw; 10/14/18, 3:45 PM
Chuck said...: Birkel said...
Notorious racist Chuck, fopdoodle extraordinaire, is concern trolling.
That's quaint.

Also, HIPPA makes your question about misdiagnosis irrelevant.
And beside that it is unsavory in the extreme.
It's nunya.

I've never made a racist statement on these comments pages.

And, it is "HIPAA," you moron. Health Insurance Portability and Affordability Act.

I only asked about Kanye's mental health because (a) He has made a number of public statements about being diagnosed as bipolar; (b) His family members have made similar statements, including reported indications that Kanye is no longer taking prescribed medications and they were concerned about that fact; (c) Kanye brought up the fact that he somehow thinks he was misdiagnosed, although it is not clear how; (d) He did it in the presence of the President of the United States in the Oval Office, and; (e) Crack seems to think that ridiculing Kanye at this time is tantamount to ridiculing mental health treatment and the sufferers of mental illness.

I am not a health care provider, or insurer, and neither is Crack, and your boneheaded reference to "HIPPA", or even HIPAA, has no bearing on any of us.; 10/14/18, 3:54 PM
Jaq said...: I think the main difference when a feminist says "that's not funny" it's because it contained some truth feminists don't wish to acknowledge. When a conservative says it, it's because it doesn't have any bite. I don't see any bite in that sketch.; 10/14/18, 4:13 PM
Jaq said...: thought "white Kanye" was Eminem. And that Trump was "white Al Sharpton."

Trump is the white Don King. He's Citizen Kane, except he didn't fail. He's a lot of things.; 10/14/18, 4:23 PM
Drago said...: LLR: "I've never made a racist statement on these comments pages."'

LOL

Yes you did. Then you attempted to blame it on Trump.

Then you made a homophobic comment, which you also tried to blame on someone else.

You have had quite an illustrious career on Althouse blog with those types of things, that is, when you weren't in full blown DemDefense/CNNDefense/LeftyNarrative mode.; 10/14/18, 4:44 PM
Drago said...: LLR Chuck: "I only asked about Kanye's mental health because..."

LOL

....because, once again, that is the big dem/lib/lunatic/left talking point narrative.

And you are always in perfect sync with whatever the lefty talking points of the day happen to be.

But only every single time and every single day.; 10/14/18, 4:45 PM
Drago said...: LLR Chuck: " Crack seems to think that ridiculing Kanye at this time is tantamount to ridiculing mental health treatment and the sufferers of mental illness."

Because Crack is right it is tantamount to that.

However, Chuck's lefty allies need rhetorical reinforcement so LLR Chuck, as always when his dem pals need it, is Johnny on the Spot with that support.

But again, only 100% of the time.; 10/14/18, 4:47 PM
Drago said...: GK1: "It always amazes me that Baldwin is the liberals liberal after being known for calling his own daughter a “rude, thoughtless little pig”."

Baldwin is Team Left, so it doesn't matter what he does or says.

Very much like how LLR Chuck has made racist and homophobic comments but the lefties on this board know an ally when they see one, so they give LLR Chuck a big time on-line wetkiss of a pass.; 10/14/18, 4:49 PM
Birkel said...: Chuck, fopdoodle extraordinaire, hates that people remember his numerous racist comments. Sorry, guy.

And nice catch on the typo. I try to avoid references to typos because the people who make references to typos make themselves read like ass holes. So, nice catch on the typo, ass hole.

HIPAA is important to the conversation because Kanye West controls access to his own records. We have to take his word for it, whatever it is. There is no access to better than West's own words. So asking the question above was another opportunity for you to look like an ass hole, ass hole.; 10/14/18, 4:50 PM
Jim at said...: Apparently you don’t recognize it when you are being mocked, maybe because you are so overeager to argue your point that you aren’t picking up on people signals. - Nurse Projection

Now that's funny.; 10/14/18, 5:00 PM
Robert Cook said...: I watched part of the skit: it was dreadfully obvious, unfunny and tedious. Baldwin, though a talented dramatic and (especially) comedic actor, is not the best portrayer of Trump--that would be Darrell Hammond--and, as a person, Baldwin is definitely an insufferable asshole and pig.; 10/14/18, 5:23 PM
Inga...Allie Oop said...: Ah I see the same idiots are back to bashing Chuck again, notwithstanding his support for Kavanuagh. Such fickle people.; 10/14/18, 5:27 PM
Inga...Allie Oop said...: “It always amazes me that Baldwin is the liberals liberal after being known for calling his own daughter a “rude, thoughtless little pig”. He only has latitude to do certain things as trump. As much as SNL likes riding the "Metoo" train it chose a lousy conductor. It's in the background of every Baldwin sketch.”

I can’t stand Baldwin, but he does do a good Trump, maybe a little less pouty mouth though.; 10/14/18, 5:32 PM
Birkel said...: Republicans, according to Real Clear Politics, have 50 Republican seats in the Senate locked up. Of the six states that are listed as toss-ups, five are trending Republican with polling outside the margin of error.

Earlier this year I asserted a final tally of 55-56 Republican Senators. That estimate now looks like the lower bound on Republican Senators. I have recently increased my prediction to 57-58 but I view the increased number as a 50/50 proposition.

I wonder how much pouty mouth Baldwin will be using when Susan Collins and Lisa Murkowski are rendered unimportant for judicial nominations.

What do you think, Royal ass Inga?; 10/14/18, 5:47 PM
Birkel said...: I think the appropriate Over-Under for Republican senators is 56.5 but no betting is legal and Althouse does not allow wagers on her website.

What do you think, Royal ass Inga.; 10/14/18, 6:00 PM
n.n said...: it's black me

SNL is known for its rabid diversity.; 10/14/18, 6:39 PM
Guildofcannonballs said...: "You want him slapped like a little girl, you do it. Alright, you ask me, he gets Amtraked."

(Choo-Choo to Seabass after punching Calhoun Schrier in the head and killing him in "Sounding") - http://justified.wikia.com/wiki/Choo-Choo; 10/14/18, 6:58 PM
Dear corrupt left, go F yourselves said...: Bill Clinton is massively overdue for a #MeToo reckoning

Somewhere now in Camp Clinton, expert communicators are curling the ribbons on the package of manure that Bill Clinton will offer as a prepared response to questions about #MeToo.

Corruptocrat Night Live won't get the memo.; 10/14/18, 7:09 PM
chickelit said...: @Guild: The choo choo movie was called “Thomas & Friends.” Baldwin played a train conductor. It was live action too, not animation. Watched it with my kids several times when they were little.; 10/14/18, 7:40 PM
Ken B said...: Ann demands that when she posts a video of paint drying we not call it boring. We should comment on the particular drying of the particular paint.; 10/14/18, 9:03 PM
Ken B said...: Inga, you are misunderstanding two similar sounding phrases. It's all in the contractions.
“That's not funny!” means it is funny but don’t you dare laugh at it.
“That isn’t funny” means it isn’t funny.; 10/14/18, 9:08 PM
Achilles said...: Birkel said...
I think the appropriate Over-Under for Republican senators is 56.5 but no betting is legal and Althouse does not allow wagers on her website.

59.5; 10/14/18, 9:20 PM
Achilles said...: Lets look at just what is wrong with Real Clear Politics for example. They use quinnipiac and NBC/Marist polls to tell us what is going on in Ohio.

Quinnipiac poll of Ohio voters.

They have Brown up double digits.

Trump won Ohio 52 to 43 in 2016 with the active republican governor endorsing his democrat opponent.

Since then Trump has become far more popular.

They have Trump approval at 41 approve 53 disapprove.

Any intelligent person can see the problem here.

Ohio is a tossup at best for dems and Real Clear Politics has this as Dark blue.

Have fun losing the ability to even filibuster.; 10/14/18, 9:35 PM
Bleach Drinkers Curing Coronavirus Together said...: Yeah, it is like you can help it, because life is hard and, like a plant, it needs more light than heat to grow correctly., so cut it out.

Uh, yeah. Finding Nazis and unrepentant neo-Confederates to love is not really high on my list of priorities. But by all means, feel free to see what they can do for you!

Lee changed, and so should the others.

They didn't though, they doubled down, and now their legacy is entire generations of Southern trash who think that fighting for the Confederacy is something to venerate. It's sick and damages the country. I see no need to sympathize with it. To do so is precisely the mindset that led to secession and would have accommodated its aims.; 10/14/18, 10:11 PM
Bleach Drinkers Curing Coronavirus Together said...: Ronald Reagan supported FDR. So yeah, if FDR was a conservative, go find me some Republican FDRs of yours to run.; 10/14/18, 10:14 PM
Bleach Drinkers Curing Coronavirus Together said...: Conservatives are pretty stupid. If Alec Baldwin is an insufferable jackass, that only makes his Trump impersonation more credible. DUH!

Fucking retards.; 10/14/18, 10:15 PM
Gahrie said...: Ronald Reagan supported FDR

Reagan has always admitted that when he was young and stupid, he was young and stupid...and a member of the Democratic Party.; 10/14/18, 10:45 PM
Known Unknown said...: "He posted a video on Twitter of himself in the Oval Office getting sexy with a naked Melania."

This is 1000% times funnier than anything happening at SNL re: politics.

Predictability is their downfall.; 10/14/18, 11:06 PM
Known Unknown said...: Also, on Kanye. I was listening to Manfred Mann's "You Are, I Am" earlier, thinking "this is a perfect Kayne sample track."

Of course, he already sampled it on "So Appalled" from My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy. I should've known.; 10/14/18, 11:09 PM
Known Unknown said...: "I watched part of the skit: it was dreadfully obvious, unfunny and tedious. Baldwin, though a talented dramatic and (especially) comedic actor, is not the best portrayer of Trump--that would be Darrell Hammond--and, as a person, Baldwin is definitely an insufferable asshole and pig."

Agreed for the most part, although Baldwin acquits himself quite well on Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee talking about his awkward childhood. You can see how he can be charming and interesting if he keeps his ego in check.; 10/14/18, 11:14 PM
Known Unknown said...: "Of course, he already sampled it on "So Appalled" from My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy. I should've known."

And to add, that is part of what makes Kanye amazing to me. Musically, he knows no bounds — and will work with almost anyone. Not many hip-hop artists are listening to late-70s Manfred Mann tracks.; 10/14/18, 11:19 PM
Qwinn said...: For the record and once again, I've been repeatedly calling 58 as the minimum for the Senate for over a year. And possibly as high as 63.; 10/15/18, 1:02 AM
Bad Lieutenant said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; 10/15/18, 2:05 AM
The Crack Emcee said...: Chuck said...

"Straight questions here. Is Kanye West mentally ill?"

He's, quite obviously, bi-polar. Practically a poster child for the disorder.

"if indeed Kanye West is bipolar, has been prescribed medication but now refuses to take it, is it a good idea for such a person to be invited into the Oval Office to meet with the President and be allowed to physically embrace the President?"

Yes. It's not contagious, and - despite appearances - I think there's a 50/50 chance the Marines stationed in the White House can handle any rapper in America.; 10/15/18, 6:35 AM
The Crack Emcee said...: Qwinn said...

"There could be a thousand of them out there, and the Left would make sure their careers went nowhere."

I think of this whenever someone, here, teases me about my own career after I left the Democrats. They pretend it's me, but I know I had to leave SF when I did, or I was a dead man - and that was back in 2007. Success in entertainment only has a few on-ramps, in this country, and Liberals are the gatekeepers for almost all of them.; 10/15/18, 6:46 AM
The Crack Emcee said...: President Pee-Pee Tape said...

"Finding Nazis and unrepentant neo-Confederates to love is not really high on my list of priorities."

I don't look for them, either. I usually find someone who's clueless, such as yourself, and then (since there's no real escaping the clueless) set about discovering how they're not hopeless.

"Lee changed, and so should the others."

Did he - or was it our perception of him?

"They didn't though, they doubled down, and now their legacy is entire generations of Southern trash who think that fighting for the Confederacy is something to venerate."

You do know I'm black, right, Mr. Preacherman?

"It's sick and damages the country."

A little blacker-than-black, right?

"I see no need to sympathize with it."

Yes, but how about those who fall under it's spell? Do you think they're gonna fall out by themselves or because you nagged 'em?

"To do so is precisely the mindset that led to secession and would have accommodated its aims."

Have you ever heard of Doctor King, or read any of Malcolm X's later writings and speeches? You think there's any chance they might be smarter than you are?

Leave that door open.; 10/15/18, 7:02 AM
The Crack Emcee said...: Known Unknown said...

"That is part of what makes Kanye amazing to me. Musically, he knows no bounds — and will work with almost anyone. Not many hip-hop artists are listening to late-70s Manfred Mann tracks."

Believe it or not, that's not true, but I did like the way Kanye flipped Steely Dan.; 10/15/18, 7:05 AM
HipsterVacuum said...: PPPT - "I didn't delete any comment."

It will be a great day when someone deletes you.; 10/15/18, 7:19 AM