July 16, 2008

Yesterday, "The Daily Show" and Rush Limbaugh ran with the same joke about the Obama cartoon.

Rush Limbaugh:
Obama and his team are upset over a cartoon on the cover of The New Yorker, a leftist publication, that makes him look like a Muslim, that makes his wife look like a terrorist Muslim, that has the American flag burning in the fireplace, under the portrait of Osama Bin Laden in the Oval Office. The Obama campaign and The Messiah himself were said to be very, very upset over this. Let me ask you a question. Who is it that gets upset over cartoons? Muslims. (Gasping) Dawn's in there saying, "He didn't say that." Yes, I did, I'll say it again. (laughing) I just love tweaking these people. Who is it that gets upset over stupid cartoons? Muslims, intolerant Muslims.
The "Daily Show" clip is 5:39 long — and quite good all the way through — but the relevant joke is at 3:10:



Obama's camp initially agreed that the cartoon was tasteless and offensive.' Really? You know what your response should have been? It's very easy. Here. Let me put the statement out for you: Barack Obama is in no way upset about the cartoon that depicts him as a Muslim extremist, because you know who gets upset about cartoons? Muslim extremists! Of which Obama is not. It's just a #*!&ing cartoon!
Rush did it first. The "Daily Show" did it better, however. It was better to say "Muslim extremists" and not just "Muslims." Rush's joke has an added layer of Rushisms. He has to pause to call The New Yorker a "leftist publication." And he has to step back and find it amusing that he's so outrageous for saying what others will not dare to say. But basically, it's the same joke and a pretty good one.

ADDED: Maybe the 2 comedians ripped off Instapundit.

26 comments:

AllenS said...

Do you remember the outrage over the Danish cartoons in the Muslim world? I do. Nobody in the media called those Muslims in the street, from a lot of different countries, who were calling for the death of the cartoonists, Muslim extremists. The media described the scene as the Muslim world.

Bob said...

So Jon Stewart is repeating Rush Limbaugh talking points?

I haven't chipped in with my opinion about the New Yorker cover; I think that if the Democrats and especially the effete east coast elites snicker too loudly at the hoi polloi white working class, those worthies may desert en masse to the Republicans in revenge. Worst thing you can do to a hick is to publicly ridicule him as a hick.

Tank said...

Daily for President

Ken Pidcock said...

If Rush reported that Michelle was made "to look like a Muslim terrorist," that reveals a shockingly weak eye for cultural history. Man, if you can't see the Angela Davis button to hit it, you ain't exactly the sharpest conservative commentator.

X said...

I don't think Jon Stewart is very pleased about the fatwa on Obama jokes.

Peter Hoh said...

I was busy, so perhaps I missed the "outrage" coming from the Obama campaign. I heard criticism, but not outrage. That's coming from the media itself, as Stewart rightly points out.

Picking up on an idea from Bob, the cover boxed Obama in. He can't say that it's funny without suggesting that he's one of the elite satirizing the unwashed.

Meade said...

"Rush did it first."

Ahem.

Actually, I did it first. Here in your comment section.

They did it better.

Spread Eagle said...

Rush did it first. The "Daily Show" did it better

Limbaugh did it first, funnier, and more accurately. But, then, I've never seen what anybody sees in Jon Stewart. Smug self-important arrogance from a four foot nine guy who is nowhere near as smart as he thinks he is a combination that just doesn't resonate with me. Robert Reich too while I'm thinking about the genre.

Ruth Anne Adams said...

You are sooooo gunning for a date with El Rushbo.

George M. Spencer said...

This is officially now the summer Silly Season.

I predict a very silly season.

Then comes fall and winter.

So says Chauncey Gardiner.

UWS guy said...

I bet all the other magazines are kicking themselves for not doing this first.

rhhardin said...

Rush wears Bermudas.

Modern Otter said...

Funny though it is, Rush & John both forget that the Bush administration (admittedly treading a thin diplomatic line) also communicated its outrage over the Mohammad cartoons back in 2006. And I can remember having at least one conversation with an evangelical Christian who was interestingly sympathetic to the Muslim reaction.

John Stodder said...

I was busy, so perhaps I missed the "outrage" coming from the Obama campaign. I heard criticism, but not outrage. That's coming from the media itself, as Stewart rightly points out.

Really? Has this quote from the Obama campaign been "scrubbed" already?

"The Obama campaign quickly condemned the rendering. Spokesman Bill Burton said in a statement: “The New Yorker may think, as one of their staff explained to us, that their cover is a satirical lampoon of the caricature Sen. Obama's right-wing critics have tried to create. But most readers will see it as tasteless and offensive. And we agree."

Maybe you read this as a calm critique. If someone called me "tasteless and offensive," I'd read that as more than criticism.

And you're trying to rewrite the left's outrage as coming from "the media?" Well sure, if by "media" you mean Daily Kos, Huffington Post and most of the other leading left-wing and Democratic partisan blogs (like the formerly respected Kevin Drum, who really lost it.)

From what I could tell, the media was more fascinated by the Obama supporters' overreactions than by the cartoon itself, which they seemed to get.

Lance Burri said...

I didn't notice Meade's comment on the 13th, but I did see Instapundit making the same point two days ago.

There is nothing new under the sun.

sandy shoes said...

Good joke.

Too bad Rush is such a tiresome blowhard.

Spread Eagle said...

You are sooooo gunning for a date with El Rushbo.

I thought I was the only one thinking that. Ann really seems to be wanting Rush to notice her. But I don't think she's interested in him, per se. I think she just wants to vault herself into that orbit.

walter neff said...

Well but sucking up requires, well some sucking.

john said...

Ann,

I recall Camille did a guest host stint on Limbaugh's show. Would you, if asked?

amba said...

Latest on the cartoon: a New York friend wrote me,

Somebody I know at the New Yorker tells me that the people there are lamenting that the cartoon itself wasn't entirely successful; that it might have done its intended job--fresh, fun irony--more artfully.

Roger J. said...

walter neff, I am speculating AKA Trooper York--where you been man? We (or at least me) as missed you. Some of the Obamabots assigned to monitor our hostess' blog are NO fun--even make Cyrus look charming.

Hucbald said...

Yeah, yeah: Rush is this/Rush is that; yadda, yadda, yadda, blah, blah, blah.

Rush plays an important role in our society, and if you can't see that, then which of the Three Blind Mice are you?

I basically was forced to listen to him, because my late step-dad was a huge Rush fan, and he (Well, they actually) helped me to evolve out of my "leftardiness."

Eventually, I outgrew the guy and realized that fully evolved political agents are some brand or other of small-l libertarian, but I still have to give Rush credit for killing a lot of the sacred cows I used to hold near and dear.

I'm sure there are legions of others who can say the same.

Anonymous said...

"I don't think Jon Stewart is very pleased about the fatwa on Obama jokes."

He should be upset.

This is really an attack on
Humoring-Americans, if we want to add another hyphenated victim-class to do the one-upmanship on this.

We cant make jokes about politicians? That's a sad humor-challenged world we live in.

Will the New Yorker apologize for their lashing out at Bush as a chimp, cowboy, dolt, Daddy's rich boy, warmonger or whatever the slam-of-the-month has been over the last 8 years? New Yorker has done far worse to Bush than this cover, so what's the big deal. Obama actually wore an outfit like that, and Clinton campaign actually shared the funny hat photo as something worth sharing. *That* was tacky (what Clinton campaign did).

Obama can be friends with flag-burning-type radicals like Bill Ayers for years, stop wearing the flag pin as a statement, but then turn around and call charicatures (flag burning in the fire) based on those points 'offensive'. Hey a cartoon satire is a heck of a lot less offensive than the cr*p that your mentor and pastor Rev Wright spouted off on, Mr Obama. No no no, not God Bless the New Yorker, God D*mn the New Yorker!

That the Obama campaign stooped to lash out at the cover as 'tasteless and offensive' shows that they are easily offended by humor, not above media meddling, yet find it hard to get offended by extremist left-wing rhetoric. Obama needs to recalibrate what ticks him off.

Anonymous said...

"Somebody I know at the New Yorker tells me that the people there are lamenting that the cartoon itself wasn't entirely successful; that it might have done its intended job--fresh, fun irony--more artfully."

Come now, it was brilliantly successful. First, its been hugely talked about (Oscar Wilde's rule). I am sure New Yorker sales will be up due to the whole bruhaha.
Second, it *is* humorous, at least to those who haven't had their humor surgically removed by a Political Correctness lobotomy.

Ergo, success.

Bruce Hayden said...

Obama is going to need to develop a sense of humor or else risk becoming the laughing stock of the country, esp. if he wins in November.

The right side of the blogosphere is starting to develop Obama jokes. The punch line is invariably that he is either insufferably arrogant, or totally humorless. The jokes are usually very bad, and that badness is part of why they are somewhat funny.

Here are some from the Corner:

How many members of the Obama household does it take to screw in a light bulb?

"Knock, knock."
"Who's there?"
"Barack Hussein Obama."
"Barack Hussein Obama who?"
[The "Hussein" can be omitted if necessary to improve the punch line, or for contestants who are actually members of the Obama campaign staff.]

A priest, a rabbi, an imam, and Barack Obama are in a plane when the engines fail and the plane begins to go down. Opening the emergency locker, they find only three parachutes.

Arrested and imprisoned by a racist criminal-justice system, Barack Obama finds himself in the maximum-security wing among a group of lifers swapping jokes. "43," says one lifer. The others all roar with laughter. "17," says another. More laughter. Obama: "Excuse me, I don't get it. What's so funny about those numbers?" One of the lifers explains: "We've been here so long, see, we all know each other's jokes. So to save ourselves trouble, we've just numbered them. Everyone knows which joke is which number." Obama: "I see. All right, may I tell a joke?" The lifers nod agreement. "Um, 89," says Obama. Nobody laughs. Obama: "Why is nobody laughing?"

Barack Obama's sitting at a bar when a man comes up to him and says: "Wanna hear a Barack Obama joke?" Obama: "Er, hold on there, buddy — I am Barack Obama."

Barack Obama and a kangaroo pull up to a gas station. The gas station attendant takes one look at the kangaroo and says, "You know, we don't get many kangaroos here." Barack Obama replies, "At these prices, I'm not surprised. That's why we need to reduce our dependence on foreign oil."

A traveling salesman knocks on the door of a farmhouse, and much to his surprise, Barack Obama answers the door. The salesman says, "I was expecting the farmer's daughter." Barack Obama replies, "She's not here. The farm was foreclosed on because of subprime loans that are making a mockery of the American Dream."

A horse walks into a bar. The bartender says, "Why the long face?" Barack Obama replies, "His jockey just lost his health insurance, which should be the right of all Americans."

D said...

I don't think they did the same joke at all.

Rush's joke was more trying to insinuate that Obama was a muslim.

Stewart's joke was more trying to point out that Obama made a stupid comment.

Rush is an ignorant puppet for the neocons.

Stewart is a comic genius.