(h/t Dave at VideoCafe)
I've been covering the Sunday news shows for almost eight years now. I've mocked; I've cajoled; I've thrown shoes at the television. True to the name of the site, we document the talking points, the evaded questions, the lack of follow up. And thanks to you readers, we've carved ourselves a successful little niche in the blogosphere.
But sometimes, only comedians can show us the truth by holding up the mirror to the ridiculousness that passes for news media today.
On Current TV's Viewpoint, comedians John Fugelsang and Frank Conniff (TV's Frank of MST3K fame) re-enact, right down to the orange of Boehner's skin, the travesty of the John Boehner/David Gregory interview from last Sunday's Meet the Press. It was a simply brilliant parody of two Beltway denizens, comfortable with their respective lack of accountability, uninterested in offering solutions and oblivious to both the disgust and the pain of anyone outside their cocktail circuit:
"Mr. Speaker, I'd like to ask you some very tough questions, followed up by some very limp follow ups," Conniff said as Gregory.
In character as Boehner, Fugelsang asserted that Senate Democrats had not passed plant to avert automatic spending cuts in the so-called sequester, part of a 2011 deal Democrats made with Republicans cut $85 billion and raise the debt ceiling.
"Well, this is where I should bring up that Senate Democrats tried that and got filibustered, but instead, I'm going to ask about revenues," the Gregory character remarked.
"Spending is out of control and I was born in a tavern," Fugelsang quipped. "This president spends like me at Georgetown Applebee's at Happy Hour."
"This is where I'm not going to mention that you raised the debt ceiling seven times for George W. Bush," Conniff noted, lampooning Gregory.
"If you don't change the subject then I'm going to keep saying 'sequester'," Fugelsang grumbled. "If you ask a follow-up question, I'm going to say the word 'Benghazi.'"
"David, haven't you learned by now, you can have information or you have have access," the Current TV host added in his Boehner voice.
After eight years of doing this, this is EXACTLY what I hear when I watch the Sunday shows.
