Monday, July 14, 2008

Will the Government Rescue Bernie Mac?

Now that the government has unveiled plans to bail out mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, will they do the same for comedy giant Bernie Mac?

After he opened for Barack Obama at a $2300 a plate fundraiser, and performed his menstruation and prostitution bits, Bernie Mac could use an infusion of good judgement.

Whenever a comedian bombs with inappropriate material(like Whoopie Goldberg at an Al Gore fundraiser at Radio City Music Hall in 2000), it makes it unlikely that real political comedians like myself, will get the chance to perform in front of Obama.

At McCain fundraisers, McCain is the one doing the inappropriate material. “Maybe that’s a way of killing them,” McCain told reporters about the export of some $158 million in cigarettes to Iran in recent years. McCain then added, "I meant that as a joke", which the unquestioning, drooling news media actually believed, and probably laughed at too. Maybe that's why McCain's vicious, mean-spirited not even close to a joke, barely got a mention in the mainstream press.

And yet this week's New Yorker cover depicting Obama in Muslim garb and his wife Michelle dressed as a terrorist is getting lots of outraged comments. The cover was satirizing the ignorance of people(like certain Fox News anchors) who compare fist jabs to terrorist behavior, and spread unfounded rumors about Obama's past.

Apparently these days, political satire is more offensive than joking about "hos", and killing Iranians.

And with all of the offensive things going on around the world, the purchase of Budweiser by the Belgian company InBev is seen by some beer-guzzling Americans as the coming of the apocalypse. To them, Budweiser is not just a beverage with lots of carbs-it's patriotic! Maybe Obama and McCain should wear little Budweiser bottle flag pins too.

It reminds me of that old Miller beer slogan. "Miller. Made The American Way".
Is that what America stands for? Feeling sluggish and urinating frequently?

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