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Over the Line!

May 11th, 2009 · 9 Comments

Re: Wanda Sykes’ nerdprom routine about Rush Limbaugh as traitor and potential 20th hijacker whose kidneys should fail: I assumed this offered as a bit of self-conscious table-turning, given the penchant of Limbaugh & co. for slinging accusations of treason at their ideological opponents. In general, “they do it too” is a lame justification for any political behavior, but I took this to be a kind of tongue-in-cheek exercise in turning an enemy’s own favorite rhetoical tropes against them. That said, I tend to think it’s classier to save the sharpest jabs for one’s own side at events like these.

Tags: Journalism & the Media


       

 

9 responses so far ↓

  • 1 Lester Hunt // May 11, 2009 at 7:09 pm

    The most shocking thing about this Wanda person’s speech was how un-funny it is. I have to admit I am so far out of the loop that I didn’t know who she is, but I did know she is some sort of professional comedian. Whew! You coulda fooled me!

  • 2 Julian Sanchez // May 11, 2009 at 7:34 pm

    Yeah, I have to say, I’ve never been a huge fan, but I’ve seen some of her other stuff, and it was at least better than that. For all the opening joking about nervousness… she seemed nervous, and most of the material was pretty uninspired. Not a great combination.

  • 3 Jon // May 11, 2009 at 9:40 pm

    They should have retired the dinner after Colbert a couple years ago. Nothing will ever come close, and his speech explained why the media are close to useless.

  • 4 Quiddity // May 12, 2009 at 4:21 am

    Not funny. And even if Limbaugh (or Savage or Hannity or Beck) said something similar, I don’t think that makes it right to engage in that kind of humor. People (like me) were disgusted when O’Reilly fantasized about shooting Al Franken. We surrender much moral standing when we applaud Sykes’ jokes about kidney disease.

    I dislike right-wing radio intensely and see their extreme ad hominem statements as evidence of a callous (and mendacious) nature. I don’t want to be a part of that kind of noisy debate.

  • 5 Barry // May 12, 2009 at 8:52 am

    It was an ethical breach, but worse, it wasn’t funny.

  • 6 Joe R. // May 13, 2009 at 4:42 am

    N0t funny. And as Julian pointed out, directed at the wrong side.

    They should get Lisa Lampanelli next year.

  • 7 Jesse Walker // May 13, 2009 at 10:47 am

    Maybe she was doing the same thing Colbert did, but she did it SO subtly that everyone took her literally!

  • 8 djw // May 16, 2009 at 7:15 pm

    a kind of tongue-in-cheek exercise in turning an enemy’s own favorite rhetoical tropes against them

    Well, obviously, but you’re not a movement conservative or a moron so of course you’d say that.

  • 9 djw // May 16, 2009 at 7:16 pm

    (that said, I agree with everyone that it wasn’t funny. But funny stuff could follow from her basic premise–the problem was in execution)