Symmetry required it: 2012 american general election thread #2

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=l2J61379sEs

d'oh

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l2J61379sEs&feature=plcp

That's a few weeks old. Had ZERO traction afaict.

It's a shame, it's just a shame, that some people are too lazy to go that last 5%...

(I know the zing is that they're using slave labour, but the rest of that video has been capitalism's post-No Logo get-out, that even slave labour improves the local conditions, if only we could give them more jobs we would be the true heroes here)

assuming/godwilling the math for mitt is still bad in a month, what is there to fall back on?

Hoping that the debates involve putting Barack Obama in front of a mike and his numbers going down, despite all historical precedent.

Or, waiting for him to say anything that you can whip up into some bullshit and put on tv 24 hours a day in five key states.

*mic

Well, yes.

http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2012/09/15/santorum-smart-people-will-never-be-on-our-side/

Without the church and the family, there is no conservative movement, there is no basic values of America there is no basic values of America there is no basic values of America there is no basic values of America there is no basic values of America.

Known unknowns etc.

Mitt Romney’s Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Campaign.

However, they're reading a racial component into it that dates back for generations rooted in silly white superstitions about rubbing black baby's heads for good luck and so on. I can see how this is connected to that.

what connection do you see?

acting all silly when you meet a celebrity (potus or not) is a far cry from some antiquated ritual of rubbing a baby's head for luck.

how come no one ever hugged Taft like that

http://911review.org/humor/shrubrub/0001.jpg
http://911review.org/humor/shrubrub/skull.jpg
http://911review.org/humor/shrubrub/readn.JPG

I realized as I posted those that they all come from a URL entitled 911review.org/humor.

The Twins used to rub Kirby Puckett's head for luck:

http://www.startribune.com/templates/Print_This_Story?sid=11708871

I've watched the Van Duzer clip a few times, and even though I can see where JF's Facebook friends would take notice of something like that, I think the guy was just tremendously excited.

http://static.flickr.com/97/247882094_e666b03ed8.jpg

what connection do you see?

I can see how they would see it.

I think Van Duzer was just excited, yeah, though it apparently wasn't as spontaneous as everyone's letting on (he ran it by Secret Service or staff first, but POTUS didn't know). I think maybe a Prez deserves a little more formality than being bear hugged, but I don't personally think there was a racial component to it.

http://imgc.artprintimages.com/images/art-print/paul-schutzer-vice-president-richard-m-nixon-receiving-a-hug-from-an-indian-woman_i-G-27-2704-IVFND00Z.jpg

http://www.corbisimages.com/images/Corbis-U1370194.jpg?size=67&uid=b7f736e3-3431-4c87-96c6-7e45f6c058b7

http://t1.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcQ2TlYFeEdT2XJ0-mPvgeEaIkBn8zeuqgPe06HX5pD3Nv_S8WWG6A5-Y-UFXg

Morbs calls for Tarantino to be executed on the regular, but I don't think he's a fanatic

T gets commuted for making 3 good films in the '90s. Let's talk Apat*w.

he definitely not religious

come to church w/ me sometime.

http://www.shamelessmag.com/media/content/2008/10/obama-hug.jpg

do you like hugs? feel like we got so much in common now, right about now baby

presidents get hugged all the time--this guy was a little over-enthusiastic & a Republican, but the fact that he cleared it with SS shows that he wasn't trying to disrespect. this is where i give the f up on humans figuring each other out

Yeah, people hug presidents all the time. I know, but I kind of want to be sympathetic to her perception of it:

"there's a tiny bit more going on than just "picking up the president" that rankles, and i'm reluctant to mention it. but beyond the basic disrespect of PICKING UP THE PRESIDENT, whether or not it's campaign season, there's a racial aspect. seeing this story reminded me of my mother telling me how she refused to let people rub my head when i was an infant. apparently, rubbing a black baby's head was considered good luck in some circles. we're not magical beings, we're not children, we're not the stump on the apollo theater stage, we're people. and this particular person is the president of the united states. show some goddamn respect."

Maybe if we'd already had a few black presidents or if Obama had asked to be picked up, it would be different. I dunno. It was just something I hadn't thought about at all until I saw several people agreeing that it struck them as shady.

deserves no more respect than any other President especially if he kills innocents in drone strikes

cynicism + respect in all the rong places

http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_Js5wBPGe3lc/SnOVz-yDD4I/AAAAAAAAFvg/mLnmNWDkb5M/s320/richard-nixon-sammy-davis-jr.jpg

presidents need hugs too

Symmetry...

http://iconicphotos.files.wordpress.com/2010/01/scan-4.jpeg?w=700

Poor Ike.

http://www.cpsd.us/tobin/directory/Dahill/08_09projects/HelenKellerpics/Helen-Keller_1.jpg

I liked Jay Pharoah last night--huge improvement on Fred Armisen. (Easily the worst SNL president, although from what I remember, whoever did Reagan was pretty generic. Everything else dating back to Ackroyd's Carter was various degrees of excellent, and they even had two great Clintons.) Probably the most succinct overview of the election you could ask for, too: this is bad, this hasn't gone great, and this is iffy too, but take a look at this guy ("What's that you say? Oh, sorry, you don't have arms").

how succinct

Phil Hartman did Reagan, and outside of the classic cast and Ayckroyd's Nixon, did probably the greatest president sketch SNL ever ran!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fWCyi70Foi4

Didn't they have another guy do Reagan before that? That's who I was thinking of. I saw the sketch above on a rerun once, and yes, that's good. Truthfully, I tuned out of both politics and SNL during Reagan's two terms, which I why I didn't remember their Reagan(s) very well.

obama look like hes hanging w/the choom gang http://www.hulu.com/watch/401527?playlist_id=1106

Rich Hall played Reagan, on?

*no

I found a page that says they had seven different Reagans; they list five out of the seven (not Rich Hall, who could have been one of the other two), and I think it's Piscopo I'm remembering.

Didn't Harry Shearer do Reagan at one point? It's weird, I remember a lot about the '84-'85 season, but can't think of a single Reagan sketch they did that season.

didn't Reagan play Reagan iirc

I remember Randy Quaid doing the worst imitation of Reagan. Terry Sweeney was fantastic though as Nancy.

Interesting when Funny Or Die reunited the SNL presidents, they got Jim Carrey to do Reagan. Eight years and they couldn't get one guy to do an iconic impression like Carvey/Bush or Farrell/Bush.

Shearer was one of the five listed, yes--him, Hartman, Piscopo, Quaid, and Robin Williams.

http://www.saturday-night-live.com/snl/miscellaneousstuff/documents/top50impressions.html

From 2000, could use some updating--no Fey/Palin.

Interesting when Funny Or Die reunited the SNL presidents, they got Jim Carrey to do Reagan. Eight years and they couldn't get one guy to do an iconic impression like Carvey/Bush or Farrell/Bush.

more like the guy who got closest is dead

That Reagan sketch is really funny conceptually, but in all honesty, I don't find Hartman's dumb-Reagan especially funny. He does Reagan much like everyone else does--it's good as mimicry, but I don't find it that inventive. The thing with Carvey's Bush and Hammond's Clinton and Ackroyd's Carter (and Fey's Palin) is that they were all able to seize on one or two particular tics (even if they had to make some of them up--especially when they made something up), and that was what made the impression indelible: Hammond biting his lip and looking sorrowful, Fey's wink, etc. Sudeikis doesn't even try to sound like Romney, but he captures something essential about him, and that makes me laugh more than accurate mimicry.

yeah hartman's reagan was great - that mixture of folksy and sinister. his barbara bush wasn't bad either. iirc brad hall in the shales book said that during the ebersol years political humor was pretty much off limits, they could maybe show a picture of the president wearing a funny hat and then make fun of the hat but that was it really.

Hartman's Reagan was great, but I especially remember Piscopo's for some reason, constantly mispronouncing "Grenada".

May start a poll in a moment. I think a "worst portrayal" might be more interesting than watching the two Bushes duke it out.

Barbara and Nancy having tea:

http://www.nbc.com/saturday-night-live/video/barbara-and-nancy/1354174