McCain Better Hope this is NEVER shown out of context
I was watching Saturday Night Live tonight and was surprised to see a skit featuring Senator McCain demeaning the United States’ homeland security efforts. Perhaps I’ve got the election too much on the brain, but as I watched all I could think about was how these clips would be viewed by the millions around the world who don’t understand SNL’s extreme use of satire (which usually hovers somewhere in the range of Borat-style mockery.)
I also got to wondering why a man of McCain’s stature would agree to participate in such a parody. Surely there were lots of other choices. For those of you unfamiliar with the skit selection process on SNL, essentially dozens of ideas are presented to the host and he gets to help choose them. One can picture the NBC writers high-fiving each other as they watched McCain make a buffoon of himself demeaning Ashcroft on an issue that he himself supports. Recall that McCain supported and defended the provisions of the Patriot Act in 2001 (which the skit is referencing). In fact, just a month after this skit aired, McCain said that he supported the creation of the department of homeland security in November 2002.
The setup is Chris Matthews (played by Darrell Hammond) interviewing a panel including John Ashcroft (played by John McCain) about homeland security – which of course is a huge joke to the guy that’s based his entire presidential campaign on his national defense credentials. Here’s the bits in which McCain appears:
HAMMOND: Also joining us: Attorney General of the United States, John Ashcroft!
McCAIN: Thanks for having me, Chris.
HAMMOND: I had to! I was afraid you’d arrest me and put me in a camp!
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HAMMOND: Attorney General, we’re gonna start with you! How do we make this country feel safe again?
McCAIN: Chris. Security starts with vigilence. As Americans, we will never truly be free. Until each and every one of us is afraid of being throw in a jail. But thanks to the Tips program, we’ve been able to detain tens of thousands of potential American terrorists for months at a time, for little or no reason. Just like the Founding Fathers dreamed!
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HAMMOND: Mr. Ashcroft, what plans does the Justice Department have to make our country safer?
McCAIN: We’ve got some real great stuff in the works. There’s one plan that would make the Arab language, or anything that sounds like it, illegal. In addition, we’ve gone back into ten years of old files to track down terrorist sleeper agents!
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HAMMOND: Final thoughts, Mr. Ashcroft! Whom in this country can truly be safe?
McCAIN: Every American citizen. Every man, woman and child has a bar code tattooed on their neck, and a chip in their head that responds to this remote control! [holds up remote control]
McCain’s decision here seems at the least like extreme poor taste and at the worst outright derision for what the administration is trying to do to keep us safe. If I were Arab I’d be stunned by such lines as, “there’s one plan that would make the Arab language, or anything that sounds like it, illegal” and “we’ve been able to detain tens of thousands of potential American terrorists for months at a time, for little or no reason.” Perhaps this stuff seems hilarious in New York, but around the world I’m not sure how our president saying these things will play.
Am I overanalyzing things here — comments?
January 20th, 2008 at 9:39 am
McCain mocks United States policies just like he mocks the republican party. He does not deserve to be the republican nominee.
The press is pumpung up McCains victory. I guess they believe that since he won South Carolina, he is the inevital republican nominee.
Florida will be everything to Romney. I hope all of those Floridians will recognize what a great President he would be and recognize how much America needs him.
McCain is on message. He adapted his message to fit everything the people want to hear. Then the press has the nerve to say Romney is pandering. This situation is becoming increasingly unfair.
As supporters of Romney we need to call them on it.
I heard on the Radio the other day that the year Romney took over the Olympics they made a profit and they have not done that in the years past. AMAZING. Also, he has never accepted a pay check while in public service.
I hope talk radio will start picking up for Mitt.
January 20th, 2008 at 6:03 pm
I found it unpleasant and low class at its mildest. Not to mention it wasn’t funny. But I have never been really interested in McCain for president.
January 20th, 2008 at 6:53 pm
I think you’re over analyzing it. Kind of like a solution in need of a problem.
It’s obviously a satire - even though it might not be funny. Though I’ve felt that the majority of stuff coming out of SNL for several years hasn’t been funny. It also shows that McCain might not have the best sense of humor. Of course, he has shown that he can be pretty sarcastic - and maybe he thought this skit was funny in a sarcastic way.
Let’s not also forget that he’s the guy who said “bomb, bomb, bomb Iran” (like Bar, bar, bar, baran).
Sure Arabs will take offense to it - but they have proven to be think skinned about this sort of stuff anyways - so that’s not big news. Will others around the world find this funny? Who knows. If they dislike the US - I’m sure they’ll find a reason to be offended. If they like the US - maybe, maybe not.
Will it show up in the MSM if he wins the nomination? You can be sure of that. McCain - if he ends up being the nominee - will be surprised how his “friends” in the MSM have turned on him. They like him because he continually pokes his finger in the eye of the GOP - but make no mistake, they’d take Hillary, Obama, or even Edwards any day over McCain.