The latest topic of analysis around the blogosphere (including here at Race) is the new “Romney Unleashed” sketch on SNL — how it differed compared to caricatures of other candidates, what it means to Romney’s electability, and other such issues. Why? Because in all good humor lies a kernel of truth. Oftentimes, humor is a powerful way to get a point across.
I follow comedian Andy Borowitz on Twitter. He is liberal. Waaay liberal, as a matter of fact. I don’t line up with his politics at all. But when it comes to humor, the guy’s got a gift. He’s not only funny, he’s influential – clocking in at over 133,000 followers and constantly on the Top Tweets board… which is why I find it interesting to watch how he jokes about the current crop of GOP candidates.
Here’s a sampling of the jokes he’s tweeted throughout this campaign:
Rick Perry
- BREAKING: Rick Perry requests that future debates be multiple choice
- Rick Perry: If I’m elected, China will not steal my intellectual property because I don’t have any.
- CIA says indecipherable chatter appears to be Rick Perry
- Rick Perry is a Texas governor for people who found Bush too cerebral.
- #GOPDebate Trivia: Tonight at the Reagan Library is Rick Perry’s first debate, and also his first visit to a library.
- POLL: Rick Perry Leading Among Voters Who Describe Themselves as Unable to Tie Shoes
Michele Bachmann
- #GOPDebate Preview – Michele Bachmann: “It’s great to be in New Hampshire, home of the Boston Tea Party.”
- Obama: “This isn’t class warfare, it’s math.” Bachmann: “Those are fighting words – I mean the math part.”
- As we go from Palin to Bachmann to Perry, I now understand why the Republicans don’t believe in evolution.
- #GOPDebate: Bachmann will announce that if elected she will cancel the agreement between nouns and verbs.
- Asked if she would recognize Palestine, Michele Bachmann said, “You mean like on a map?”
Herman Cain
- Most people put more thought into Facebook status updates than Herman Cain has put into running for President.
- Herman Cain has prepared less to be President than the average person prepares to be interviewed for a job at Kinko’s.
- God has told both Michele Bachman and Herman Cain to run for President, which proves that God loves comedians.
- Cain: “I have never heard of Fannie Mae and did not touch her inappropriately.”
- BREAKING: Cain Announces New Economic Plan; Would Pay Every Woman in Country to Keep Quiet
It is quite revealing, then, that the best he could come up with for Mitt Romney were these:
- Romney: “As President I would tap into the massive reserves of oil currently stored in my hair.”
- Mitt Romney is totally qualified to be President, which in Tea Party logic totally disqualifies him.
- Mitt Romney is like when there’s nothing on TV and you just watch the Weather Channel.
- Every day, Mitt Romney must wake up smiling with this thought: “My main opponent is a pizza guy named Herman.”
- Romney: “I’m not worried about poor people. They have cardboard boxes to live in.”
Again, just as we saw with the SNL sketches, there is a measurable difference in the flaws of all the other candidates in comparison to Mitt Romney. Romney gets attacked as dull, and with class warfare lines. And that’s about it. Even a liberal comedian like Andy Borowitz who takes joy in how unqualified all the GOP candidates are stops to take note that Romney is “totally qualified” to be President.
Romney gives no fodder to the comedians, which must drive them nuts. But from my perspective – I started following politics in 1999 – I’m looking forward to having someone lead and represent the GOP who doesn’t make me wince every time they open their mouth.
November 21st, 2011 at 5:10 pm
Will you update when the Newt jokes start coming in?
November 21st, 2011 at 5:11 pm
agreed – mitt is the most legit candidate. not because hes awesome, but because most of the awesome guys decided not to run.
November 21st, 2011 at 5:14 pm
Apparently Matt Coulter hasn’t broken the code yet.
Yes, liberals paint conservatives as dumb or stupid…perhaps you’re too young to remember Reagan (what a dunce! oh a knee slapper than is!)
Yet they don’t fine Romney particularly unintelligent. hmmmmmm Perhaps this doesn’t mean what you think it does…
There is comedy gold all right…I’m afraid you are not seeing it however
November 21st, 2011 at 5:14 pm
More material…..but this isn’t The Onion:
http://www.politico.com/news/stories/1111/68861.html
November 21st, 2011 at 5:26 pm
Eventually SNL and others will follow the path of the last Romney bulletpoint and paint him as a rich snob.
November 21st, 2011 at 5:26 pm
3 YAWN…
November 21st, 2011 at 5:31 pm
Honestly, I didn’t find much of that too funny. I loved the SNL political skits though.
November 21st, 2011 at 5:39 pm
I’m wanting to see a “mean mitt” SNL skit:
little devil mitt character on Romney’s shoulder that whispers in his ear the response he wants to say before Romney answers diplomatically. Instead of Romney putting a hand on Perry’s shoulder in an attempt to get him to stop talking over him, he throws a left cross. Unlike many of the others, there are a lot of different twists that could be applied to Romney as he doesn’t fall into one type-cast.
November 21st, 2011 at 6:04 pm
“Rick Perry Leading Among Voters Who Describe Themselves as Unable to Tie Shoes”
He’s from Texas, they wear Cowboy boots down there.
“GOPDebate: Bachmann will announce that if elected she will cancel the agreement between nouns and verbs.”
Once again, the poor adjectives are getting discriminated against.
“Mitt Romney is like when there’s nothing on TV and you just watch the Weather Channel”.
Hey, those tornadoes and storms are exciting to watch.
So, this guy doesn’t mock Pinky & The Brain, err, I mean Santorum & Gingrich.
November 21st, 2011 at 6:46 pm
5 They’ll portray him as a rich, successful, smart, overly nice, family orientated country club republican. Which isn’t so bad.
November 21st, 2011 at 7:12 pm
So the liberals make nice jokes about Obama and Obama-lite, Romney. Wow! What a surprise!
November 21st, 2011 at 8:36 pm
I’ll tell you what’s comedy gold. See if you know Russian sign language as you watch this news clip about Barrrrack Obama.
http://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2011/11/woah-russian-news-anchor-flips-the-bird-at-obama-video/#comment-504514
November 21st, 2011 at 8:40 pm
So much for making the world love us, eh hopey-changey?
November 21st, 2011 at 8:40 pm
Maybe that’s like blowing a kiss in Russian.
November 21st, 2011 at 8:42 pm
You know, this jewel along with the 200 lb. crap pile left by Obama’s occupy crowd kind of sums it all up for Americans. Is November 2012 a fixed date, or can exigent circumstances move that date up to, say, tomorrow?
November 22nd, 2011 at 12:05 am
I think those jokes are pretty funny Matt. Some people just have no sense of humor. Would love to see his take on Newt.
Some of these candidates get more cartoonish by the day, especially Cain. His speech the other day in NH, literally came out of the Simpsons, when he stated we need “a leader, not a reader.”
I am still waiting for the Romney SNL skit when they actually play the song “who led the dogs out” and have Romney do something with it.
November 22nd, 2011 at 10:26 am
“Who led the dogs out?” Haven’t heard that one.
November 22nd, 2011 at 10:34 am
“It is quite revealing, then, that the best he could come up with for Mitt Romney were these:”
Contrasting Romney to Cain, Perry, Bachmann? That is a very, very low bar.
I’m guessing the liberal media/comedians are taking it easy on Mitt because they view him as the second most liberal candidate (after Obama) in the 2012 race.
November 22nd, 2011 at 12:52 pm
Andy Borowitz is now up to 133,598 followers on Twitter, as I decided to follow him after reading this small selection of his material.
November 22nd, 2011 at 5:42 pm
#17
The reason SNL should do “a who let the dogs out” skit, is because of a video clip of Romney campaigning during the ’08 cycle. He approached some Black youths for pictures during a stop, and started barking and saying “who let the dogs out”.Those are the lyrics and name of a popular pop song from ’00/’01, sung by the Baha Men. I kid you not, Romney actually barked and repeated the lyrics out of nowhere.
November 22nd, 2011 at 5:46 pm
With all his craziness lately, Newt Gingrich is setting himself up perfectly for a whole load of “the Grinch stole Christmas” parodies and jokes in the coming weeks. It’s going to be hilarious.