This week’s Saturday Night Live Weekend Update segment briefly discussed Arizona’s new immigration law. The law has been declared “divisive” by the left because it actually enforces the law. Here is Seth Myers take on the law:
Seth Meyers: This week, Arizona signed the toughest illegal immigration law in the country which will allow police to demand identification papers from anyone they suspect is in the country illegally.
I know there’s some people in Arizona worried that Obama is acting like Hitler, but could we all agree that there’s nothing more Nazi than saying “Show me your papers”? There’s never been a World War II movie that didn’t include the line “show me your papers”. It’s their catchphrase. Every time someone says “show me your papers”, Hitler’s family gets a residual check.
So heads up, Arizona; that’s fascism. I know, I know, it’s a dry fascism, but it’s still fascism.
Obviously this is satire, but comparing this law to fascism isn’t funny or even logical. Requiring every driver in the United States to carry papers (a.k.a., a Driver’s License) must be a dry fascism. Requiring every worker to have a Social Security number must also fascist. Every time Club Soda is stopped for speeding, the local Gestapo asks for his “papers”. Every time I get a new job the Gestapo asks for my “papers”. This whole time, apparently, I’ve been living in a police state!
The left’s indifference to illegal immigration continues to puzzle me. Or maybe not. The Democrats seem most excited by the prospect that these illegals will become a voting bloc.
There will also be political repercussions. While Republicans may pick up a few more percent of the angry white vote in November 2010, they can kiss the Hispanic vote goodbye — and not just in Arizona. That may not have meant much in 1935, but in the years to come, it could seal the Republicans’ fate as a minority party. That’s at least one price they’ll pay for being mean and crazy.
According to John B. Judis, enforcing the law is crazy and mean. Forcing healthy citizens to get health insurance against their will, however, is perfectly fine. This is how the illogical progressive thinks. Judis would rather give illegal immigrants amnesty and free health care so they vote for Democrats forever. The law wouldn’t even be necessary if Democrats would get off this amnesty train and commit to common-sense reform. There’s nothing remotely fascist about enforcing immigration laws.
It’s odd that Saturday Night Live would highlight this piece of news and ignore what happened on South Park this week. Comedy Central’s capitulation to death threats from Islamic fundamentalists was easily the most disgusting development this week. When it comes to satire everything is fair game except Mohammad.
On Wednesday, September 30, 2009, something remarkable happened. Every once in awhile someone inadvertently creates a genius work of art; like the Leaning Tower of Pisa, it’s a train wreck remembered for future generations. Journalist Tim Teeman submitted an article for the Times Online that will live in infamy. Teeman’s article about Gore Vidal is a sprawling masterpiece of disconnected adjectives and incomplete thoughts. I find this article so fascinating that I’ve contemplated dedicating a post to every paragraph. I’m serious, this article is that good. Here’s a taste of the madness:
Has he met Obama? “No,” he says quietly, “I’ve had my time with presidents.” Vidal raises his fingers to signify a gun and mutters: “Bang bang.” He is referring to the possibility of Obama being assassinated. “Just a mysterious lone gunman lurking in the shadows of the capital,” he says in a wry, dreamy way.
Where do I begin? The most obvious insane thing is the assassination nonsense, but Teeman’s description of Gore’s statement is even better. Vidal talks casually about Obama getting shot “in a wry, dreamy way?” What?! I wish I could hear the recording of this interview. Is Vidal fantasizing about the murder of our president or is Teeman fantasizing about Vidal? I am sure this conundrum will be discussed in the future by the great philosophers.
What separates this article from a typical celebrity interview is the sheer amount of ground covered. Teeman has successfully created the Gore Vidal greatest hits. The famed author drops bombs on Timothy McVeigh (no pun intended), Joe Kennedy, JFK, Abraham Lincoln, Amelia Earhart, and of course, George Bush.
Vidal originally became pro-Obama because he grew up in “a black city” (meaning Washington), as well as being impressed by Obama’s intelligence. “But he believes the generals. Even Bush knew the way to win a general was to give him another star. Obama believes the Republican Party is a party when in fact it’s a mindset, like Hitler Youth, based on hatred — religious hatred, racial hatred. When you foreigners hear the word ‘conservative’ you think of kindly old men hunting foxes. They’re not, they’re fascists.”
After reading that idiotic diatribe I am full of a sense of irony that Vidal was “impressed by Obama’s intelligence.” Vidal is supposedly an enlightened intellectual, but he casts Republicans as fascist, racists and bigots. The members of the liberal elite intellectual class need to learn more about fascism. While they’re at it they could learn a lot more about the military. According to Vidal people in the military are all stupid. All you have to do is give them a star and they’ll do what you say. Who knew? The next stop on the Vidal crazy train express is JFK.
He observes presidential office-holders balefully. “The only one I knew well was Kennedy, but he didn’t impress me as a good president. It’s like asking, ‘What do I think of my brother?’ It’s complicated. I’d known him all my life and I liked him to the end, but he wrecked his chances with the Bay of Pigs and Suez crises, and because everyone was so keen to elect Bobby once Jack had gone, lies started to be told about him — that he was the greatest and the King of Camelot.
For those scoring at home Vidal was impressed by Obama’s intelligence but not by Kennedy’s presidency. Liberals are going to hate that paragraph. This is probably the closest thing to a sane statement in this article. Kennedy is remembered for being a much better president than the reality. Forgive Americans for grieving over a tragic assassination, but is JFK a top 10 president? Not even close.
Unlike Vidal, William F. Buckley never became a grizzled old man.
The entire article has to be read to be believed. I could go on and on and maybe I’ll come back and revisit this later. It’s a magnificent piece of writing and I’ve only scratched the surface. Vidal predicts the United States will end up in a military dictatorship. I guess those medals will quit working as a motivational tool. I know one thing is for certain; this article will continue to be a source of entertainment for a long time to come.
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