Quotes of the Week

Seth Meyers on SNL's Weekend Update:

It's official, for the next four years, it will be pronounced nu-cle-ar.

Barack Obama met with Hillary Clinton on Friday to see if she would be interested in a role in his administration. "Of course," said Hillary. "I'll take president."

Kathleen Parker, in a column entitled "Giving Up on God.":

Simply put: Armband religion is killing the Republican Party. And, the truth -- as long as we're setting ourselves free -- is that if one were to eavesdrop on private conversations among the party intelligentsia, one would hear precisely that.

The choir has become absurdly off-key, and many Republicans know it.

But they need those votes!

So it has been for the Grand Old Party since the 1980s or so, as it has become increasingly beholden to an element that used to be relegated to wooden crates on street corners.

Short break as writer ties blindfold and smokes her last cigarette.

Conan O'Brien:

The Republican party is considering naming the first African-American chairman in their party's history. Isn't that incredible? That's big news. First African-American, yeah. Yeah, unfortunately, Republicans are having a hard time
finding an African-American who's white.

And since it's been a busy week towards the end of the semester, and I have spent more time reading my textbooks than the newspaper, here's a letter that I wrote to the Waco Trib:

One thing that this year’s election has proven is that the White House can be won without the South. With the exception of North Carolina, Virginia and Florida, southern states were largely irrelevant in the presidential race. Even without these southern battleground states, Barack Obama would have won the presidency hands down.

Some of us are quite eager to “join the Union,” as Dwight Allman, associate professor of political science at Baylor, put it. Others, judging from the blatant racism that has been apparent in Central Texas since the election, are clearly hell-bent on maintaining the world’s image of Texans as a bunch of reckless, arrogant rednecks.

Part of what makes our country so great is that we can disagree with each other and not have civil war break out in the streets. What we cannot do is continue to try to resuscitate the South as it was during the actual Civil War.

A co-worker told me the other day that the South would “rise again.” Without getting into the unspeakable violence that happened in the years following the Civil War, I wonder why there are some who insist on deepening the divide that has already split this nation.

Despite the chance for a fresh start, there are some seemingly “average” people who have chosen to participate in old-fashioned Southern racism rather than listening to reason. It is evident that we have not yet reached total racial equality. To move into the 21st century, along with the rest of the nation, we must let the Old South’s legacy of racism and hate die quietly and find a way to come together.

McCain Gets Picked On

According to the Center for Media and Public Affairs, Jay Leno and Dave Letterman have made fun of McCain or Palin 475 times since September 1, compared to 69 times for Obama and Biden. Some feel that this is unfair, and provides further evidence that the "liberal media" is a threat. They think that late-night TV hosts should pick on both candidates equally. McCain and Palin supporters really can't see what's so funny.

Really?

Just look at the way the candidates carry themselves. Obama seems to glide across a stage, and we all know how eloquent he is. McCain shuffles a bit, and appears disoriented at times. Let's just face it, he's old. Even McCain jokes about his age. I'm sorry, but old people are funny.

How about when McCain jokingly called that kid a "little jerk?" Am I the only person who envisions him on his front porch, in his robe, shaking his fist, screaming at kids to get the hell off his damn lawn?

What about the fact that he skipped past many seemingly qualified candidates to select Sarah Palin, a caricature of a real person, as his running mate?

Speaking of Sarah Palin, I could literally go on all day, but I'll just give you a few reasons why she is such a great target. Let's start with the whole being able to see Russia from her house thing.

Then there's the accent. One common fact that we have learned from both the Clinton and Bush presidencies, it's that regional accents get a lot of play on Saturday Night Live.

The interviews. Sure, she's done better recently, but those first two interviews with Charlie Gibson and Katie Couric were priceless.

The Bridge to Nowhere. "I said 'thanks, but no thanks' to the bridge to nowhere." No, you didn't! Even after this Palin claim was widely accepted to be false, she hammered it home. That kind of cluelessness, or outright deceitfulness, is pretty funny, although she probably could have taught Bill Clinton a thing or two about sticking to his lie.

The guns. There's a reason that all of the animals in Wasilla, Alaska run like the wind when Palin comes home: because she will hunt them down and kill them. Check out Betty White calling Palin "one crazy bitch," after noting that Palin is shooting down all of McCain's messenger pigeons, thus disrupting campaign communications.

There are many more things that I could list, but you get the idea. Most of these jokes are all in good fun, of course, but I think comedy is an outlet. I think a lot of people feel that the country has been run by a gang of bullies for the last eight years, so why not pick on those who have picked on us? Maybe the Republican Party has been targeted as the primary butt of the joke for a reason: they deserve it.

I don't think I have heard a better explanation of this as the one Wanda Sykes gave on the Tonight Show when describing the differences in the Democratic and Republican conventions. Here's what she said:

"Well, you know, I watched the convention. You know, watching
the Democratic Convention, it felt like America. You know, it
looked like America. It was hopeful and it was positive and, you know, everybody
holding hands. And then I watched the Republican Convention. It was like
watching a meeting in Dr. Evil's lair."

I think the argument here is that the Republicans are out of touch with the people, and for this, they have been laughed at...continually. I, for one, do not feel guilty about this at all, and if by some chance, the fact that McCain and Palin have been picked on more is what causes them to lose, so be it. They brought it upon themselves.