Why Was Mika Miffed About a Wolff In Sheep's Clothing?

MSNBC's The Morning Joe has been a television
"church" haven for The Resistance against the presidency of Donald Trump.  The show had been previously pleased to promote the political expose book "Fire and Fury" by Michael Wolff.  But the gossip monger may have cried Wolff (sic) one too many times.

When the topic turned to UN Ambassador Nikki Haley, who Wolff intimated spend lots of one-on-one time with President Trump, Michael Wolff denied accusing her of having an affair with the President. Mika was miffed at this subterfuge and quickly ended his segment, despite the author being on set.

Inquiring minds might wonder what motivated Mika to take this stand:

• Was it because they don't take B.S. on the Morning Joe.  Hardly.  Michael Wolff's prologue admitted that Fire and Fury was full of half truths, and the reader was to decide. So they have accepted a Wolff in sheep's clothing as long as it helps the MSNBC-DNC party line.

• Was it because Brzezinski stood up for the sisterhood?  Well, she has a spotty record on that accord. Mika slut shamed ex Senator Al Franken's accusor Leean Tweeden in a bid for the progressive to keep his position. 

• Maybe Mika was motivated to mitigate the devastating parody of her and lover boy Joe from Saturday Night Live. 

Saturday Night Live: Amusement or Agiprop?

Saturday Night Live just launched its 41st season on NBC with special guest First Lady Secretary of State Senator Hillary Clinton (D-NY).  The appearance by the leading Democrat Presidential hopeful was a sympathetic portrayal of Mrs. Clinton, having the real politico playing a bar keep to a faux Hillary Clinton visiting a Republican bar.  This was a sharp contrast to the SNL satire in the spring which portrayed Hillary as robotic.  It is not surprising that the Not Ready For Prime Time writers would pen comedic softballs for a progressive politician like Hillary Clinton, but the obsequiousness for covering campaign soft spots (slow to support same sex marriage, need to be cool and youthful and the tough task of humanizing her) was egregious.

What was more irksome was a pretty amusing SNL fake ad for Ambilify, a pharmaceutical for politicians suffering from what would best be described as "Potomac Fever".  Such wanna be Presidential candidates have virtually no support but they still continue to campaign.



Perhaps the writers were appealing to Low Information Voters and Potomac Fever would be too Between the Beltways lingo or esoteric.  But slandering these quixotic campaigners as having dementia propels it from the realm of parody into propaganda.

Faux Pharamaceutical Ad on Saturay Night Live

WMAL radio host Chris Plante rightly pointed out that the Ambilify fake pharmaceutical only takes aim at Republicans.  There are a couple of Democrats running for President this cycle who have nearly naught support, namely former Senator and  Governor Lincoln Chafee (R-I-D-RI), former Senator Jim Webb (D-VA) and former Governor Martin O'Malley (D-MD).  Strangely, none of those fledgling politicians were satirized as being candidates for Ambilify, even though all of them could have less support than the margin of error in most polls.

As a political junkie, it is fun to see campaigns spoofed on comedy shows.  Knowing the ways of the Lamestream Media, it is unsurprising to see the comedy slanted to the left.  But when a funny fake drug about delusional Presidential aspirants only ribs Republicans, it is not entertainment but agiprop.

Thomas Sowell has urged Americans to be prudent in choosing their news sources. But in an age of infotainment, low information voters often turn to comedy shows to get their fill of the world. Unfortunately, for the last decade youths have been turning to comedy shows, like the Daily Show or the old Colbert Report, to get their news instead satirizing current events. These smug news consumers think that they get they have a good bead on things but they do not realize that they are being played. 

John Boehner on Being Anti-Establishment

Speaker Boehner's anti-establishment apologia seems about as accurate to Tea Party types as Saturday Night Live's sketch: "We Did Stop (the government)".

On a related note, Speaker Boehner has now vowed to "fight tooth and nail" against President Barack Obama's unilateral Executive Amnesty action, despite the fact that the lame duck Cromnibus spending bill put no prohibitions on spending funds to implement the amnesty.

Steve Martin on Persistence

If an entertainer is persistent enough then he or she may become a member of SNL's exclusive Five Timers' Club, like new inductee Justin Timberlake.  

 

Unboxing Popular Culture

Nerds can be willing to spend enormous amounts on kitschy tchotchke which seems to relive their fantasy obsessions from childhood. Think of the gaggle of geeks from the television sit-com “Big Bang Theory” where Shelton wanted to get his vintage Apple II signed by the great Woz. Or the prized mint-in-box Wesley Crusher Star Trek action figure from Will Wheaton. Or Shelton being tempted to play with the mint-in-box Star Trek Transformer Device by a hallucinated voice of Leonard Nimoy.  The value to collectors revolves around signatures and being pristine. Ironically, the obsession to be mint-in-box usually negates the pleasure of enjoying the item.

This phenomenon is not just a Hollywood exaggeration. Fan boys are fulminating over the auction of a rare Star Wars promotional poster.  The 1978 poster seems kind of silly, with the ‘Droids bedecked with philharmonic instruments to promote the Star Wars Symphonic Suite.  Even though the item is considered somewhat uncool because of the symphonic campiness, it is a rare piece of memorabilia AND it is signed by Star Wars creator George Lucas.  Therefore this geek grotesquerie will probably sell at auction for between $5,000 and $8,000.

Rather than ridicule the Star Wars Symphonic Suite as an unopened package for being cute yet conventional marketing, I suggest enjoying the symphonic suite composed by John Williams.  It is a contemporary classical piece that resonates in the popular culture.







It is certainly has more class than "Nick Winters, the Lounge Lizard" (a.k.a. Billy Murray) and his Lounge Medley from Saturday Night Live.