Expect to see a similar nasty portrayal by Julianne Moore in HBO’s “Game Change.” Moore confesses that it was hard to find a good side to Palin, and the miniseries is candid that her ambition outstrips her capacity. Hollywood knows well that you only get one opportunity to introduce these figures of national or international import, and they intend to make it bad impression on their behalf.

So it is with Lady Thatcher in “The Iron Lady,” whose creators have ridiculously compared Meryl Streep’s Thatcher to a modern-day King Lear in their disgusting attempt to dance on Thatcherism’s memory.

“Iron Lady” producer Harvey Weinstein, director Phyllida Lloyd and screenwriter Abi Morgan are engaged in a caricature of conservatism, through a caricature of Lady Thatcher and all those around her. Weinstein has even claimed that Thatcher is a “social progressive,” as if being pro-choice, pro-gay, and pro-national health service were all there were to Thatcherism.

Alas Weinstein and Streep never show us Thatcher’s considerable economic and political successes, preferring to spend two-thirds of the film luxuriating on her old age. This is as fictional as it is slanderous. We simply do not know how Lady Thatcher is doing because she has lived a life far removed from the press.

This is a subtle project, but a thorough one. Here are but a few problems with the film:

• Thatcher’s cabinet is portrayed as a bunch of Tory grandees, when, in fact, Thatcher appointed a record number of Jews to help bolster the meritocracy that her policies made possible. She also included homosexuals, too, though not in the ostentatious way that the professional homosexual left would like.
• Her husband, Denis Thatcher, is portrayed an oafish figure played by Jim Broadbent, rather than the rogue, debonair former Artillery man who lamented that he did not see action in World War II. Thatcher loved him because he was a remarkable man, “with a certain style and dash.” When he died Thatcher eulogized him thusly: “Being PM is a lonely job. In a sense, it ought to be – you cannot lead from a crowd. But with Denis there I was never alone. What a man. What a husband. What a friend.”
• Never once is anyone else given credit for inspiring her. F.A. Hayek, the inspirer of Thatcherism, ever discussed. Nor is Keith Joseph, who coached her. Nor is Enoch Powell who had a sort of Thatcherism avant la lettre. Nor is the Centre for Policy Studies, which, like a Heritage Foundation or Cato Institute of its day provided the theoretical heft for her free-market ideas.
• Thatcher is portrayed as the only Lady member of the House of Commons. This is also wrong and more than a tad insulting to the memory of MPs like Barbara Castle, Judith Hart or Harriet Slater.
• The Soviet menace, which Thatcher worked to undo with Reagan and Pope John Paul II, is ignored.
• Her daughter, Carol, is portrayed as taking care of her, when, in fact, she spends much of her time in Switzerland. Not surprisingly, Thatcher’s family rightly rejected an invitation to watch the film.

But the most spurious attack of the film is on Thatcher’s politics. It tries to portray Thatcher as somehow a rugged individualist who had to suffer the loss of power that she so coveted. The fictional young Thatcher declares, defiantly, that she will never wash a tea cup but in the end she’s brought down to earth, washing tea cups as if all of her actions were for naught.

But Thatcher would have been the first to tell you that her successes were from the community that raised her, the largely Jewish constituency that retained her, and the philosophy that animated her, not from some sort of “we’re all on our own” libertarianism.

That’s why the film does not include Immanuel Jakobovits, Chief Rabbi of England and Thatcher’s spiritual adviser who knew full well that a reduction in the state would see a rise in communities looking out for their own. Thatcher and Jakobovits wanted to strengthen “the moral sense of the people,” as Thatcher put it, through religious institutions, not through the state.

While Thatcherism relied on “economics…[as] the method; the object is to change the soul,” and so, her project was necessarily religious. The Orthodox rabbi had come to Thatcher’s defense in 1985 when he rebutted a blistering, 400-page report on Thatcher’s government by the Church of England. Thatcher’s government, the report held, was anti-poor and therefore anti-Christian and immoral. Jakobovits rightly disagreed. The Jewish and the Thatcherite contribution to poverty reduction, “would lay greater emphasis on building up self-respect by encouraging ambition and enterprise through a more demanding and more satisfying work-ethic, which is designed to eliminate human idleness and to nurture pride in ‘eating the toil of one’s hands’ as the first immediate targets.” He, like the very Christian Thatcher, blamed the trade unions for Britain’s woes, writing, “The selfishness of workers in attempting to secure better conditions at the cost of rising unemployment and immense public misery can be just as morally indefensible as the rapaciousness of the wealthy in exploiting the working class.”

The rabbi and the prime minister shared the belief that “self-help” was the “means whereby we make ourselves useful.” Helping oneself by helping others, without the meddlesome state, is what Thatcher believed.  (To those seeking a corrective to this cinematic slander, I recommend the excellent BBC series, Tory! Tory! Tory!, you can watch all episodes here, for free.)

Enoch Powell, the Tory genius and one-time possible prime minister whose work Thatcher knew well, said it best when he said all political lives end in failure. But “The Iron Lady” makes a fetish of Powell’s statement, never once showing that her fights with the unions were as necessary then as they are now.

Now, looks like comedians are prepping the Dull Card to play against potential presidential candidate Mitt Romney.

—–

Tina Fey and Jimmy Fallon both played the card – hard – Tuesday during a skit on Fallon’s NBC “Late Night” program.

The bit involved a game show segment where the participants had to imitate famous people. For Michelle Obama, Fey started flexing her arms – Fey’s partner thought she was doing the Hulk. Ha ha.

When Fey drew Romney’s name, she said, “This is a really boring Republican guy who might be president.” Later, when the game required only visual clues, Fallon started moving stiffly, like a robot politician motioning to an unseen crowd.

Let’s see how fast this meme gets picked up by Fallon’s late night peers now that Romney’s path to the GOP presidential ticket seems clear.

Yes, people still buy those shiny silver disks, especially since it’s hard to wrap up a digital file and stuff it in a stocking. With that in mind, here are some recent book and music releases which could be just the right gift this holiday season.

BOOKS

• “Arguably” by Christopher Hitchens – The great writer may be battling cancer, but his rapier wit remains unchanged. “Arguably” assembles some of his thoughtful essays for easy consumption.
• “Pauline Kael: A Life in the Dark” by Brian Kellow – Conservatives may know Kael best for her infamous quote regarding President Richard Nixon’s re-election vote tally, but for movie buffs Kael’s prose represents a thoughtful, albeit typically left-of-center, voice.

• “Bossypants” by Tina Fey - The woman behind the infamous Sarah Palin impersonation is a top-notch humorist, and her first foray into the book realm proves it.
• “On the Island” by Tracy L. Garvis Graves – The compelling tale of an English teacher whose invitation to work on a tropical island ends up in disaster is a first-rate survival yarn.
• “The Ledge” by Jim Davidson and Kevin Vaughn – The year 2010 ended with movie goers marveling at “127 Hours,” the true story of Aron Ralston’s inspiring escape from a mountain chasm. Readers can relish another true tale of adventure and survival with this detailed account of two men battling the elements.
• “Delirium” by Lauren Oliver - A young woman living in a government-controlled society finds love as well as purpose in this young adult novel.
• “Rescue” by Anita Shreve – Smart, sensitive tale of a man’s attempt to rehabilitate a troubled woman.
• “Swamplandia” by Karen Russell - Gator wrestling meets family dysfunction and loss -what’s not to love?
• “In 50 Years We’ll All Be Chicks … And Other Complaints from a Middle-Aged White Guy” by Adam Carolla – He’s the toast of the podcasting world, but Carolla’s shtick translates easily to the printed page. Politically incorrect, and proud of it.

MUSIC

• “21,” Adele – Possibly the biggest crowd pleaser of the year, with appeal to pop, rock, blues, and soul aficionados alike. Who doesn’t like “Rolling in the Deep?”
• “Bad as Me,” Tom Waits – The idiosyncratic  songwriter returns with his first full album proper since 2004’s “Real Gone,” revealing he’s still got a few fresh twists to take with his growly saloon-fixture aesthetic.
• “First World Manifesto,” Screeching Weasel – Screeching Weasel is one of the greatest pop punk bands ever, so it’s a delight to know that lead singer Ben Weasel is both conservative and Catholic, much to the chagrin of the punk community. Support this free thinker and get some great pop punk for yourself with his latest release.
• “Helplessness Blues,” Fleet Foxes – If you think vocals should be recorded in a single take with zero auto-tuning, this great American folk band is for you.
• “As Far as Yesterday Goes,” The Red Button – Near-perfect pop that feels like it was unearthed from a Flower Power time capsule. Seth Swirsky, a Big Hollywood contributor, and Mike Ruekberg re-team for another batch of great songs, from the blistering beauty of “I Can’t Forget” to the mournful “Picture,” you can’t go wrong with these 12 tracks.
• “Songs for Christmas,” Sufjan Stevens – Take a listen for yourself. A great mix of reverent but fresh takes on traditional Christmas music, plus plenty of magnificent originals. Also a great record of Sufjan’s progress as a songwriter over the years.
• “Best of Gloucester County,” – Danielson – Profiled on Big Hollywood at the time of its release, “Best of Gloucester County” is a rich, detailed celebration of family life and growing older and wiser, expressed through one-of-a-kind folk rock.
• “Bon Iver,” Bon Iver – Lush, expressive, melancholy folk music working from a wide sonic palette. A newly-released deluxe edition includes a music video for each and every song.
• “Drive” Soundtrack – Italo-Disco is back!
• “Era Extraña,” Neon Indian – Hazy, shoe-gaze-y but never lazy synth rock from the son of Mexican pop star Jorge Palomo.
• “Hurry Up, We’re Dreaming,” M83 - Huge ’80s/John Hughes nostalgia trip, massive synth sounds. This is a rare double album that doesn’t drag; plus, if you buy it, you’ll be sticking it to unions!
• “Portamento,” The Drums -Very minimalist rock. Fans of both Joy Division and the Beach Boys will feel right at home.

Big Hollywood writers Ezra Dulis, Meira Pentermann and Ron Capshaw contributed to this guide.

What inspires your ire tips your hand–politically speaking–and a sanctimonious editorial on Tracy Morgan in yesterday’s Los Angeles Times tells you all you need to know about the staff of SoCal’s leading paper.

For those of you who dropped out of society for the past week, the synopsis is that during a stand-up comedy routine in Nashville, Morgan, of “SNL” and “30 Rock” fame, joked that he would stab his son if he used a “gay voice.”  Word got out and all hell broke loose.  The twitterverse was outraged, celebrities clamored to condemn the comment, and Morgan eventually delivered the obligatory pandering over-apology replete with a commitment to partner with America’s most ironically named advocacy organization: GLAAD.

The story is a social justice cliché.

The courageous editors at the Los Angeles Times joined the fray yesterday, unloading a bold op-ed stating Morgan had crossed the line:

But that’s not what Tracy Morgan, the comedian and star of the popular NBC TV comedy “30 Rock,” did during a recent stand-up gig in Nashville, when he unleashed a rant against gays and said that if a son of his ever came home sounding effeminate, he would pull out a knife and stab him.

That wasn’t pushing any new boundaries; if anything, it was a reversion to old ones. In the process, Morgan revealed that he’s capable of frightening (and unfunny) invective, and left his audience wondering whether he is a garden-variety homophobe.

Fair enough.  This analysis is lacking in originality, but it’s at least an accurate assessment of a joke even the most homophobic comedian would probably want to take back.

But here’s where the L.A. Times leaves themselves open to criticism.  They identified **gasp** a trend in comedians taking a joke too far:

Morgan isn’t the first public figure trying to be funny who crossed a line that seems fuzzy — until the minute you step over it. In a failed attempt to be amusing and irreverent during a news conference at the Cannes Film Festival last month, Danish director Lars von Trier rambled on about how he is a Nazi because of his German background, adding that he sympathized with Hitler “a little bit.” When comic Michael Richards was unnerved by an African American heckler at a comedy club several years ago, he responded with a racial-slur-laced tirade. And Don Imus referred to the Rutgers University women’s basketball team as a group of “nappy-headed hos.”

Uhhh…excuse me…but these are the best examples of “crossing the line” the L.A. Times can muster?  An off-his-rocker director with whom practically none of us are familiar (who isn’t even American!), the Michael Richards tirade from nearly five years ago, and the comparatively mild Imus comments from 2007?  Wat?  The editors of the Times do realize there’s a woman named Sarah Palin and most of Hollywood really, really, REALLY doesn’t like her, right?

Just in case they need their collective memory jogged:

• Comedian Chris Titus joked about assassinating Sarah Palin.  June 2011.
• Comedian Louis C.K. on Sarah and Trig Palin: “When she was on stage at the fucking convention, that [Trig] just came out of her fucking disgusting cunt.  Her fucking retard-making cunt.  I hate her more than anybody…” Likely 2010. After these and other similar comments were made about Sarah Palin and her family by Louis C.K., the “Tonight Show” producers thought it would be a good idea to seat him right next to Bristol Palin on television. September 2010.)
• Comedian Whitney Cummings said, “[Quentin Tarantino has] produced more retarded things than Sarah Palin’s vagina.” December, 2010.
• Humorous political blog Wonkette published a “birthday card” to Trig Palin mocking him unmercifully.  This lead to a massive advertiser boycott. April 2011
• 9/11 Truther Ed Asner hates America, thinks the U.S. government was behind the World Trade Center attacks. November 2010
• Roseanne Barr, dressed as Hitler, baked burnt “Jew cookies.” July 2009.
• Aaron Sorkin, amid calling Sarah Palin a slew of names, wrote that he delights when hunters are shot: “I get happy every time one of you faux-macho shitheads accidentally shoots another one of you in the face.” March, 2011.
  
• 50-year-old comedian Kathy Griffin said she will be dedicating 2011 to attacking 16-year-old Willow Palin. January 2011.
  
• Rob Reiner likened the Tea Party to the Nazis on HBO’s comedy show “Real Time with Bill Maher.” 2010.

Tracy Morgan joked about killing a hypothetically gay son; Chris Titus joked about assassinating the real Sarah Palin just last week!  But to the L.A. Times, these examples all pale in comparison to Don Imus’s “nappy-headed hos” line from the Bush years.

But wait!  There’s more!  As a bonus, here’s some name-calling:

• Charlie Sheen called Sarah Palin a “whore” in front of a live audience. April 2011.
• Jennifer Lopez called Sarah Palin “bitch.” January 2010.
• Joy Behar on Sharron Angle: that bitch is going to hell. October 2010.
• Rosie O’Donnell called Big Hollywood reader a “bitch” (twice). April 2010.
• Rosie called Elisabeth Hasselbeck a “twat.” August 2009.

There’s even more Hollywood Palin hate in the upcoming doc “The Undefeated.”

And what about Dan Savage?  The openly-gay podcaster and columnist wrote at Salon.com in 2000 that he infiltrated the Gary Bauer for President campaign and licked doorknobs with the express purpose of infecting the Republican and his staff with the flu.  Seriously.  At the time of this writing, Savage has a pilot in the can at HBO.  (The always charming Savage gave his $.02 on the Morgan kerfluffle, noting “Tracy Morgan can suck my…“)

The mistake Tracy Morgan made (and Richards and Imus) is not unleashing h8red, but doing so at a protected class of people.  Had Morgan spewed venom at, say, a mother of five who doesn’t abort her fetuses and thinks “Drill Baby, Drill” isn’t just a line from Anthony Weiner’s facebook conversations, he’d almost certainly have skated the literary lashing form Hollywood’s biggest newspaper.

The Times wraps up the editorial by not-so-subtly suggesting Tina Fey and the “30 Rock” big-wigs might want to consider canning Morgan over the joke:

Morgan’s future on the show is a call for Fey and NBC to make. There are plenty of ways to handle this situation. But when artists slip from funny to hateful, it’s time to stop laughing and call them out on it. We all learn something from doing that.

Chris Titus has a special on Comedy Central next month, Whitney Cummings has TWO pilots debuting this season on network television, Louis C.K. is quickly becoming a household name, Sorkin just won an Oscar, etc. etc. etc.  The careers of these h8ers, with the exception of the staff at Wonkette (thanks to new media and readers of this blog), have been augmented since they made over-the-line jokes about conservatives.  Yet, the Los Angeles Times felt it appropriate to plant the seed that a “30 Rock” sans Tracy Morgan would be an appropriate result of this dust-up.

Obviously, I’m not here to defend the awful things Tracy Morgan said, but if you are outraged that comedians have carte blanche to savage conservatives but must abide a zero-tolerance policy when it comes to gay jokes, you’re probably right-of-center.  On the other hand, if you are aware of the invective that has been hurled toward Sarah Palin and her family in just the last couple of years (Months! Weeks! Days!) and you still can’t get beyond Don Imus and Michael Richards, you might be an editor of the Los Angeles Times.

In case you missed it, here is the back story: Tracy Morgan, stand-up comic and one of the stars of the NBC hit sit-com “30 Rock” was busted doing a stand-up routine at the Ryman Theater in Nashville. Unlike back when St. Lenny was being busted the cops didn’t rush the stage and drag Mr. Morgan off. No, a single audience member got offended and reported Mr. Morgan to “the authorities” through Facebook.

The verboten topic was lack of empathy for homosexuality. The “authorities” are the liberal media. A gay man in the audience, Kevin Rogers took offence and wound up on CNN chatting about how horrible the show was.

I wasn’t there and I doubt there is a recording or transcript but from reports the “bit” was pretty raw. What I have read and seen on the Internet is that Mr. Morgan was doing a rant where he imagined his son came home and announced he was gay. Mr. Morgan said if that happened he would stab him.

Yeah, I know, it’s not exactly knocking me of my chair either but that’s not the point.  

I have seen Mr. Morgan perform and found a lot of his act to be tasteless. I didn’t find a lot of his material to be funny. I don’t condone bullying or violence against anyone. However I also don’t condone drawing lines for performers or establishing sacred cows. Does anyone think that this was the first Mr. Morgan performed this routine? Doubt it! Now, under pressure from NBC, Tina Fey and uber-hypocrite Alec Baldwin, Mr. Morgan says his rant was “not funny in any context.”  Even though according to one person who attended the show, “No one was booing him. Everyone was laughing…”

Let’s step back and imagine for a minute that instead of the word “gay’ in his routine he had used the word “Republican” or “conservative.”  What if he had said, “… if my son came home and said he was joining the GOP I would stab him!” The audience and liberal media would still be praising his talent. Genius! Let’s further imagine the next day Reince Priebus issued a statement asking for an apology. More howls of laughter and perhaps a statement from Mr. Morgan telling the GOP leader he could plant one where the sun don’t shine. High fives all around!

So why isn’t the outspoken Mr. Morgan telling the GLAAD folks to kiss off? Simple, he’s worried about his job. He’s got plenty of reason to worry.  Isaiah Washington got canned from Grey’s Anatomy after using a gay slur and he did the entire apology tour. The movie “The Dilemma” was roundly criticized for using the dreaded “f’ word.  The “f” word, by the way, is not “fuck.” If you tried to stop comedians from using that word because you find it offensive Hollywood types would brand you a Nazi, fascist or worst some sort of Christian zealot. 

Meanwhile a congressman is sending pictures of his penis around the country and is being defended by Charlie Rangel who is saying “He wasn’t going out with little boys. He wasn’t going into men’s rooms with broad stances.”  That statement sounds offensive and more that a little homophobic to me. GLAAD, where are ya?

Unfortunately, their enthusiasm might have caused them to jump the gun. Since last Thursday’s GOP debate was devoid of A-list candidates, “Saturday Night Live” didn’t have any solid characters to parody. So rather than make the late night ensemble work, the writers just fictionalized a debate between the more famous undeclared candidates; using characters they will probably be able to recycle during the upcoming campaign.

It was like watching a focus group, each actor trying out catch phrases they hope to use over the next year and a half. They even had Keenan Thompson resurrect his Jimmy “Rents 2 Damn High” McMillan character (personally I would think they could have gotten the real Jimmy McMillan, at or below AFTRA rates, which would have had the added bonus of making the skit funny).

For even less of a reason, they decided to trot out Tina Fey, to perform her award-winning impression that she thought was tired three years ago. This makes no sense. Sarah Palin doesn’t even have a Presidential exploratory committee; at least Jimmy McMillan once suggested that he would run for President as a Republican. Back in 2009, CNN thought it was necessary to fact-check “Saturday Night Live” for an Obama skit, I wonder what those fact-checkers are doing today?

Much like jokes about airline food and phone booths, Tina Fey’s impression seems like it’s from another era. I was puzzled why they didn’t bring in Rich Little to do his Nixon impression. If it’s okay to add Republicans who aren’t even running for President, why limit yourself to the living?

Conservatives are neither Muslim extremists who will take your head, bitter, humorless, Soros-funded leftists who will harass you until you fire someone, or neo-fascists who have decided to label humor aimed at us as bullying. We might pray for you or write a blog post about the stupidity of funding you with taxpayer dollars (we’ll do that anyway), but that’s about as hard as we roll.

WaPo:

Tina Fey got a little political airbrushing from PBS Sunday night during its annual broadcast of the Kennedy Center’s Mark Twain Prize for American Humor. …

“And, you know, politics aside, the success of Sarah Palin and women like her is good for all women – except, of course –those who will end up, you know, like, paying for their own rape ‘kit ‘n’ stuff,” Fey said. “But for everybody else, it’s a win-win. Unless you’re a gay woman who wants to marry your partner of 20 years – whatever. But for most women, the success of conservative women is good for all of us. Unless you believe in evolution. You know – actually, I take it back. The whole thing’s a disaster.”

But that’s not what viewers heard when PBS and WETA (channel 26) broadcast an edited version of Fey’s speech on Sunday. The part about rape kits and evolution was gone, leaving only Fey’s more harmonious — and blander — comments about Palin and politics[.]…

Was PBS shielding its viewers from Fey’s more pointed remarks?

“It was not a political decision,” responded Peter Kaminsky, one of the broadcast’s executive producers. “We had zero problems with anything she said.”

Read the full article here.

The day before Halloween? I’m sure it’ll be a solemn occasion, where people intend to reflect upon the real problems that face our nation, dressed up in costumes mocking conservative movers and shakers like Sarah Palin and Glenn Beck. In fact, I can just imagine the oh-so-clever people who will be dressed up like Christine O’Donnell as a witch. (Funny, isn’t it, how when a conservative admits to “dabbling” in something like witchcraft as a teenager it’s a big scandal, but progressive, leftist PC dictates that we should be sensitive to the beliefs of those who declare themselves pagans and Wiccans.)

Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert – your hosts

Oh, but I’m being cynical. The Comedy Central guys don’t really “mean” anything by the whole thing. It’s just a big joke, doncha know:

“We’re not provocateurs, we’re not activists; we are reacting for our own catharsis,” Stewart tells [New York magazine's Chris] Smith. “There is a line into demagoguery, and we try very hard to express ourselves but not move into, ‘So follow me! And I will lead you to the land of answers, my people!’ You can fall in love with your own idea of common sense. Maybe the nice thing about being a comedian is never having a full belief in yourself to know the answer. So you can say all this stuff, but underneath, you’re going, ‘But of course, I’m f*cking idiotic.’ It’s why we don’t lead a lot of marches.” (emphasis mine)

Perhaps that’s why the Comedy Central overlords have asked Craig Minassian, former Clinton administration press aide who is now a consultant to Comedy Central, and Chris Wayne, a former Clinton White House event organizer who works on large-scale media events and promotions, to help them file their permit for the October 30th event. But I’m sure they won’t be helping them actually run the event…

Still, we know that Stewart, Colbert and Comedy Central aren’t activists. How do we know? Jon Stewart told us so! Why would he lie?

Remember when comedians used to speak “truth to power” (I hate that phrase, but there it is) to the rich and powerful? Back in the ’70s, Chevy Chase enjoyed portraying Gerald Ford (an accomplished athlete in his youth) as a perpetual klutz. Even Johnny Carson wasn’t averse to making the occasional funny reference to politicians.

During the 2008 campaign, politicians running for president were the butt of many jokes (some more than others – guess who?, but we’ll put that aside for now). More recently, Will Ferrell loved to bash George W. Bush so much that he even expanded his SNL impressions of W to a one-man Broadway show. And Tina Fey milked her impression of Sarah Palin until the cow ran dry.

Tired schtick.

Then there are the really vulgar offerings of David Letterman and Kathy “I’ll say anything to get press” Griffin.

That’s to be expected, of course. Public figures are ripe for ridicule, deserved or not. It goes with the territory.

But now, Colbert and Stewart (real last name Leibowitz) are, to bastardize a quote from Emeril Lagasse, kicking it down a notch. Because instead of going after the rich and powerful – or those who would like to be rich and powerful – and those associated with them, they’re going after YOU.

That’s right. If you:

• Went to Glenn Beck’s recent (and massively attended) Restoring Honor rally in August or wished you could have;
• are an official Tea Partier or a Tea Party supporter;
• are one of the people whose values are closer to Sarah Palin than Barack “The Won” Obama’s;
• agree with 68% of Pennsylvanians that cutting taxes, not increasing spending, will lead to more jobs
• and read Big Hollywood…

…then the Wonder Twins at Comedy Central have a bone to pick with you.

You see, Colbert and Stewart and their ilk (the big cahunas in the entertainment industry) have risen above such petty concerns as which bills will have to go unpaid this month or what to do when you’ve been informed that your job will shortly be eliminated. Paid much, much more than the average schlub and surrounded by yes men and other adoring admirers, they live in a bubble world where unicorns and sugar-coated raindrops really do exist.

In other words, they are part of the self-anointed elite. As such, the people lovingly described by accomplished actress and American icon Megan Fox as “white trash, hillbilly, anti-gay, super bible-beating people in Middle America” who are becoming more politically aware and not liking what they see, have become a threat who must be eliminated. Not literally, of course.

And it doesn’t matter if you watch their shows or not. Hollywoodites have proven again and again that they really don’t care if they insult their loyal fans as long as they can suck up to one another and to their liberal overlords in the government. How else would they get chances to schmooze with the prez? (Another reason why I think they despised W – he wasn’t as impressed with vapid celebrity as his predecessor and successor.)

This is not a rally to restore “sanity;” it’s a rally to show the Democrats that they still haven’t lost Hollywood – and to show middle America the finger.

Question: Am I the only one who thinks Stephen Colbert is a dead ringer for the nerdy, upper crust Cecil Vyse (played by Daniel Day-Lewis) in one of my favorite films, 1985’s A Room With a View?

Stephen Colbert and Cecil Vyse: Separated at birth?

Seriously, one more question: Will this event be reported as an in-kind donation to the DNC?

So: Levi Johnston has come out and apologized publicly for slandering Sarah Palin and her family. He told People magazine:

“Last year, after Bristol and I broke up, I was unhappy and a little angry. Unfortunately, against my better judgment, I publicly said things about the Palins that were not completely true. I have already privately apologized to Todd and Sarah. Since my statements were public, I owe it to the Palins to publicly apologize.”

Johnston wasn’t specific about what it was that he said that was “not completely true,” but he asked Sarah and the rest of her family to accept his “regrets and youthful indiscretion.” However, we can speculate that he may have been referring to a comment made in an interview with Barbara Walters that “she knows what I got on her.” Or perhaps it was his claim that Sarah referred to her youngest son Trig “the retarded baby” and that her marriage was falling apart. Then again, it could be his accusation that she left her post as Alaska’s governor in order to cash in on her fame. “She had talked about how nice it would be to take some of this money people had been offering us and you know just run with it, say ‘forget everything else.’”

His apologies are probably most welcome to the Palins. However, the damage has been done – and not just to Sarah Palin and her family.

When young adults like Levi Johnston are suddenly shoved into the public spotlight –- the father of Bristol Palin’s then-unborn baby during a highly contested presidential campaign and, at the time, her fiancée -– the results can be devastating. Heck, just look at the likes of Britney Spears and Lindsay Lohan. And when his relationship with Bristol faltered, he was, to quote his own words, “unhappy and a little angry.” Most of us know what it’s like to break up with someone – you want to emotionally hurt them as much as you feel you have been hurt. And for Johnston, what better way than to go public with embarrassing accusations that were reported by media eager to humiliate Sarah Palin just as much as her daughter’s ex was?

Add to this already toxic brew Hollywood’s desire to do everything they could to showcase Sarah Palin to the world as a brainless, redneck hick in order to keep her out of national public office and you have a PR disaster of nuclear proportions just waiting to happen.

One might say that Levi Johnston deserves no quarter – he’s a legal adult, after all, and should be held accountable for his own words and actions. But I can’t help but feel a smidgen of pity for a young man who was obviously naïve and unworldly enough to believe that people like self-avowed D-list celeb Kathy Griffin had his best interests at heart when she took him as her date to the 2009 Teen Choice Awards, featured him on an episode of her television show My Life on the D List (where she ogled his Playgirl spread), and recently said that every time she’s with Johnston in public it’s her “very subtle middle finger to Sarah Palin.” Johnston was also courted on the talk show circuit, was cast in a B-horror movie and was at one point shopping a reality show about Alaskan “bromances” (a term I dislike about as much as “have a good one” instead of “have a nice day” and people saying they have to go p** rather than say they have to go to the bathroom).

A star sucker is born 

So why is Johnston apologizing now? Has he finally realized that Hollywood doesn’t love him – rather, they love using him to trash his son’s grandmother? Or has his latent conscience finally come to the fore? Whatever the reason, it’s a sad commentary on today’s society where people, especially young people with precious little life experience to prepare them, are so infatuated with the idea of fame that they’ll do just about anything to get their proverbial 15 minutes of it. Yet the Hollywood machine grinds on, littering the ground around it with the shattered remains of these broken lives, all in the name of politics and money.

As Big Hollywood’s Joseph Lindsey notes:

[W]hen the media showers the public with the car crash that is Levi Johnston they are filled with glee because somehow they believe they are helping their liberal cause by destroying a young man, smearing a young mother and mocking a conservative woman who rose to power by her own boot straps.

And BH’s Kurt Schlichter calls this type of exploitation the new minstrel show:

The minstrel shows of the past were calculated to demonstrate white superiority through the employment of the most degrading stereotypes and the ritualized humiliation of the African-American performers. This shameful circus is no different. Levi’s mindless brand of masculinity, his dropping out of high school, his troubled home life – these are all the hyper-exaggerated cultural touchstones the bicoastal liberal elite imagines define the rest of our country.

Levi Johnston is what they want to see when they look at Middle America. They don’t want to see the young heroes like Track Palin, an Iraqi Freedom vet. They don’t want to see Americans whose commitment to a better world is manifested by their putting their lives on the line instead of pasting a “Hope & Change” bumper sticker to the back of their Prius. They want – and need – clowns, and Levi is only too happy to oblige them.

“Youthful indiscretion” is a kind way to characterize what Levi Johnston did. I am sure there are others out there who would use a much harsher term. But he was egged on by an industry that didn’t care what happened to him in the end, as long as they could squeeze every drop of bitterness and angst out of this troubled young man in order to use it in their continued attack on conservatism and those in Middle America who embrace it. Now that he’s made a public apology, expect his newfound “friends” to drop him like a hot rock. Maybe Tina Fey will reprise her Sarah Palin shtick on Saturday Night Live in order to skewer Johnston for daring to bite the gnarled hand that fed him.

 
Tina Fey pretending she’s as savvy and pretty as Sarah Palin

Whatever Johnston’s future holds, I hope it includes much introspection for how his public antics affect him and his family, including his infant son, who will surely someday find out that his dad traded his integrity for a nudie spread in Playgirl and a spot in a pistachio commercial. I hope it doesn’t include continuing to allow Tinseltown to use him for their own nefarious ends. He owes it to himself, and in the end may become a positive role model for young people in America who will do anything to become famous – or, in Johnston’s case, infamous – and sell their souls in the process.

Fey and SNL’s caricature of the former VP candidate did some serious damage to Palin’s reputation and thus the McCain campaign in 2008, but if these stale punchlines are the best they can offer in 2010, maybe they should have just kept this character retired.

Jokes tend not to be as funny when it’s obvious the comic holds his/her subject(s) in contempt. There’s a fine line between “jokes” and “insults,” and when mean-spirited jokes aren’t funny, then they’re just… mean.

In 2008, SNL was able to affect the Presidential election with provocative original satire; you could debate what was in their messages, but not that the messages were delivered effectively. Now they’re just piling on with dated Palin-is-dumb jokes (such as a winking joke, a writing on hand joke, a death panel joke, a Katie Couric interview joke…). Yawn. Fake Sarah Palin has lost her edge.