A “cultural breakthrough” is Sullivan’s description of the Saturday Night Live skit in which Senator John McCain challenges Chuck Hagel to agree to fellate a donkey on the orders of Benjamin Netanyahu for the security of Israel:
After being banished from earnest Washington discussion for decades by various press gate-keepers, the absurdly overblown power of the Greater Israel lobby is now seeping into the popular culture.
Good point. Even friends of mine who don’t know the issue are fulminating about the Hagel hearing. And remember that those gatekeepers and lobby pooh-poohers included the Atlantic Magazine, David Remnick, Leon Wieseltier, Leslie Gelb, Walter Russell Mead, Jeffrey Goldberg, among other eminent journalists.
Lots of folks have asked why the skit did not run in the actual broadcast last Saturday night. I am told that the dress rehearsal goes on two hours and that a lot of material gets cut– not always for time reasons. Here is one explanation of the SNL method:
The SNL dress rehearsal begins at 8:00pm with an [audience] arrival time at the studio of 6:30pm. The SNL live show begins at 11:30pm with an arrival time at the studio at 10:00pm. Each show has a different studio audience. The rehearsal is recorded to tape and is used for backup in case the live show cannot air. Many skits in the rehearsal do not make it into the live SNL show. Many fans prefer to see the rehearsal because it’s more relaxed and enjoyable and some of the best skits have been cut-out in the live show because they are too risque for NBC execs.
Thanks to Peter Voskamp.
Who do we email to request that the skit be SHOWN next Saturday Night?
maybe *** nbcolympicsfeedback@nbcuni.com ***
I think that anyone who watches that and knows of the Hagel hearings will quickly conclude that the good Senators (real life and in skit) are not asking Hagel (skit) to do anything they haven’t already done themselves (real life).
This skit should be shown in every high-school and college “civics” class in the USA (if they still have such things, along with an analysis of the transcripts (or videos) of the actual hearings.
Sorry, contact NBC here:
http://www.nbc.com/contact/general/
Laughing at the Israel Lobby and Israel is the thing that will destroy it – taking it seriously, like Scowcroft said of George Bush being as if mesmerized by Sharon and Israel, is precisely how Israel is able to get away with manipulating the US so easily
William Kristol and netanyahu are only one good journalist away from someone laughing in their faces and their existential evaporation.
Candy Crawford came close with netanyahu last year
This is such a good thing – and the metaphor of doing the donkey for Israel is so apt and fitting
They should do a skit about the Congresspeople giving Netanyahu all those standing ovations.
the rehearsal shows the public mood. it’s obviously no longer fringe to think of the lobby massively powerful and manipulating congress. that impression or understanding didn’t begin with hagel. it had to have already been there for a large percentage of americans. what the hagel confirmation did was empower lots of people to not be afraid to voice that publicly.
but you don’t get this kind of reaction to humor (either by the comedians or the audience) unless there’s already a societal agreement of sorts. that can’t materialize in one week of hearings. what’s clear is the press doesn’t reflect the mainstream view.
in some instances, like for example remnick, it could be they are so inside their press bubble and have so internalized what’s ‘acceptable’ and PC they don’t even realize how far the public has moved. in other cases the reason journos have their msm jobs to begin with is not because they are the cream of the crop,but that they are the cream of the crop within the acceptable bubble, which is zionist.
so what happens when all the lionshare of msm is zionist, or keep the silence? when the gatekeepers can’t keep the gate shut? the people’s voice comes out. lotsof americans don’t even know what zionism means. the more they know the more they won’t/don’t like it. rambling.