These things never happened at the Dean Martin Celebrity Roasts, but then, those comics were pros, not wannabe political pundits…,
The View edged up in my estimation a tic or two when Joy Behar exited it for her own show, now mercifully ended. Admittedly, this enhancement still left that offensive ABC daytime talk-fest well below water, but anything was an improvement over Behar, the epitome of a loud and opinionated celebrity with nothing to contribute of substance to any discussion except misplaced arrogance and noise. I’m sure I’ve flagged at least one or two of her stunts…let’s check. Why yes, here is one: I wrote this when Joy led a walk-out on guest Bill O’Reilly because he had the bad taste to suggest that Muslims took down the Twin Towers. (They did, you know.)
Given her antics through the years, I was stunned to discover that anyone would compensate this awful woman to give her a podium, but someone did. On April 1, Behar was one of a group of New Jersey comedians hired to participate in a “roast” of former New Jersey governor Brendan Byrne, who is in his nineties. On the dais with Byrne was the current governor Chris Christie, who, this being a roast, came in for more than his share of the jibes from the comics, who were generally clever about it. Behar, however, decided to make her act personal and nasty.
She began by saying that the Governor had a tough few weeks, beginning with a “Velveeta shortage.” “When I first heard that he was accused of blocking off three lanes on the bridge, I said, ‘What the hell is he doing, standing in the middle of the bridge?’” Behar said, with Cristie sitting right next to her. Yes, a fat joke, followed by another fat joke. Foul. If Cristie had dared to make a joke of similar fairness about Behar—say, a Catholic*, homely woman, nasty bitch or post-menopausal joke, there would have been hell to pay. Bigotry and denigration on the basis of physical characteristics is verboten, you see, unless a liberal is doing it, and a fat, white, male conservative is the target. Behar also said Christie had his eyes on the “House of Pancakes” before the White House. That’s three fay jokes.
Around this time, Christie had the nerve to point out, seemingly in good spirits, that the event was a roast of Byrne, not him. This set off Behar, who accused him of “bullying” her, another cheap shot. She was the one flinging fat jokes, after all. “Why don’t you get up here at the microphone instead of being such a coward?” Behar then said. Funny! I’ve watched a lot of roasts, and almost anything goes except serious nastiness without a joke attached. Like that, for example.
Christie responded in the spirit of the proceedings, saying, “Really, is that what you’re thinking? At least I don’t get paid for this.”
“Who would pay you to do this?” Behar retorted.
“I was just thinking the same thing about you!” Christie shot back. Zing!
This prompted Behar to summon all of her wit and poise to come back with this: “I really don’t know about the Presidency,” she said. “Let me put it to you this way, in a way that you’d appreciate: You’re toast.”
That’s right, a lame food joke.
So in addition to inflicting a bunch of bigoted, mean-spirited and personal insults on an invited guest because, as a self-proclaimed, self-righteous liberal Democrat, Joy doesn’t like Chris Christie, Behar also detracted from an event that was supposed to honor a past governor by ambushing the current one.
Joy Behar, ladies and gentlemen! She’ll be here all week!
Yecchh.
* Note: In the original version of this post, I erroneously identified Ms.Behar as Jewish. She is a Catholic, and not of Jewish heritage. A apolojize to all concerned, as well as Ethics Alarms readers.
_____________________________
Sources: The Blaze, New Yorker
Ethics Alarms 
You had me at “the Muslims took down the twin towers.”
So how did your villainous Muslims (from our ‘ally’ Saudi Arabia) take down building 7? Allah? Lee Harvey? Michael Hastings?
You must be getting a lot of ‘bank’ from Rumsfeld Cheney & assoc. to connect those dots… Repeat the lie over and over, and lo & behold, your magical thinking comes true.
*Fry Squint* Cant tell if Truther idiot or making some kind of satire…
No, BBA is serious, and is not an idiot, I assure you. Just sees things a bit differently, and that has its value. This just isn’t one of the areas where its value is apparent…
Sweet Jesus, tell me you’re fucking joking…
Welcome back! Just last night, I was missing you, and I must have put that phrase in, which was tangential to the post, as a subliminal BBA bat signal!
You have so many valid or at least colorable conspiracy theories to argue for; I will never understand why you weaken your credibility by holding on to this loser.
Hey I miss you too! Gots lots to share offline. Thanks so much for avoiding my question..! As usual.
It was swampgas, and the angle of the sun that took down building 7 at freefall speed, into its own footprint. Oh, and Muslims. Right .
Holy cow. Are people still doing this?
Good post, Jack. But Joy is not one of ours. She is New York Italian and Roman Catholic… if she has any religion.
Wow. Where did I get THAT impression. I’ll fix it, and I apologize. Talk about sterotyping—I assumed that successful comics are Jewish, since they have dominated the field for a century. That will teach me.
Aw, dammit, she’s one of MINE? I’d have guessed she was Jewish too. Blame it on the perception that a NY/Italian accent sounds Jewish-y to my midwestern ear, which in turn you can probably blame on Woody Allen.
Congratulations Mr. Marshall.
When the award for “Blog Headlines: Redundancy Category” are given, your name should be mentioned!
Thank you, thank you so much! I will gratefully and humbly accept the prize!
Do tell, BBA, how do you think things went down? Do you have a specific theory? Do you think it was drones, or missiles, or CIA hijackers rather than terrorists, or interior explosive demolition? Do you have anything to back that one theory up? Or are you the kind who figures all of those are super duper compelling, you can’t be bothered to pick one but you saw Loose Change and you’re just SURE that something about the “official story” isn’t right?
Because fire’s never melted steel, heat folding is a myth, and the towers collapsed at faster than free fall speed, yes?
Because fire’s never melted steel, heat folding is a myth, and the towers collapsed at faster than free fall speed, yes?
Yes. Czech out Architects & Engineers for 911 Truth… Google search will help. And, Jack hasn’t answered the question yet – probably won’t even acknowledge it.
But my love is unconditional.
This sentence is false.
Not that one.
My non-paranoid metallurgist friends/ associates…yes, I had more than one (one has died)…disagreed with you. That, and 2) the fact that this kind of a vast, nut-ball conspiracy would be impossible to keep quiet, and 3) there has never been a sufficient motive given for this explanation that didn’t also require clinical insanity by more than one high elected government official.
Patriot act , war inc.
Your argument would not hold up in a court of law, Captain Complacent.
It ain’t rocket science. Oh, and weaponized thermite, liquidized steel that didn’t cool for weeks, etc. etc.
Ssshhhhhhh… (We’ve always been at war with Eurasia…).
And scene.
Court? Sure it would. You have the burden of proof, and it just ain’t there. Absence of motive, smoking guns, eye-witness evidence…I wouldn’t have to say a thing, other than move for a directed verdict. Or a one- word summary, like, “So?”
“Patriot Act, war” is the equivalent of humming, with heavy dose of confirmation bias and assumed malice. Madmen intentionally wrecked the country’s economy, killed people and set up a war the derailed all policy plans so they could, what, get library book checkout records? First you have to prove they are mad without using 9/11, since that’s a circular argument. Then you have to explain why even madmen would see any benefit to doing this. I’ve never heard a more plausible theory than “Patriot act , war inc.,” which is to say, I haven’t heard a plausible theory.
I have really missed you, though.
‘Remember the Maine! ‘ archduke Ferdinand … Pearl Harbor.. gulf of Tonkin… Syria ‘gasses their own’ – and you’ve never heard of madmen doing something so heinous? Gimme a break. They Depend undergarments on you not being able to conceive of their ‘Eeeeee-vileeee’
Weaponized anthrax, mailed to newspapers, newsrooms & congressmen? A week after 9:11?
Bush & staff taking the ante dote for it a month before? I guess that was the Black Panthers…
You got nothin.
‘Sorry folks… Parks closed… Moose outside shoulda toldja’…
‘Remember the Maine! ‘ archduke Ferdinand … Pearl Harbor.. gulf of Tonkin… Syria ‘gasses their own’
You’ll have to enlighten me…which of these was a multilateral, multiple party, multiple instutional, mass -murder conspiracy? I don’t see one.
I’VE got nothin’?
Yes Jack, the illuminati which has determined presidential elections since the Founding have been employing modern Knights Templar to ensure that the Bilderburg Group’s global vision continues unabated via finding from LIBOR, all to ensure that the Rosicrucian descendents of the 10 satanic bloodlines continue to enslave the human race for the reptilian masters which are not from outer space but inside the hollow earth.
Duh.
Beautiful… not too far off the mark.
2 quotes:
“Go to the internet and go to the FBI website and go to their international list of top ten terrorists. You will see Bin Laden there, bring his name up and his picture. Amazingly, all the charges: the embassy of ’98 and this other stuff is all listed. But, ironically nothing on 9/11. NOTHING! Now when the FBI was pressed as to why 9/11 wasn’t included, their response was “We don’t have enough evidence.” Now, people, if you’re like me that is extremely disturbing; we’ve fought two wars, we’ve changed our entire foreign policy and we’ve had the PATRIOT act put on us, all, supposedly, because of Osama Bin Laden!”
― Jesse Ventura
“England is not the jewelled isle of Shakespeare’s much-quoted message, nor is it the inferno depicted by Dr Goebbels. More than either it resembles a family, a rather stuffy Victorian family, with not many black sheep in it but with all its cupboards bursting with skeletons.
“It has rich relations who have to be kow-towed to and poor relations who are horribly sat upon, and there is a deep conspiracy of silence about the source of the family income. It is a family in which the young are generally thwarted and most of the power is in the hands of irresponsible uncles and bedridden aunts. Still, it is a family. It has its private language and its common memories, and at the approach of an enemy it closes its ranks. A family with the wrong members in control – that, perhaps is as near as one can come to describing England in a phrase.”
― George Orwell, Why I Write
same at it ever was – fire hydrant of “yuuuuck” – comes from the top down, my friends.
Fire doesn’t melt steel?? Are we to assume from this that steel beams and rivets grow out of the ground ready-made?
As for Joy Behar- I find it difficult to imagine that anyone would have believed she would do anything less than make a loud mouthed moron out of herself in any venue at all. The only thing that can be said for the sponsors of this ill-fated event is that- at least- they eschewed the services of Sarah Silverman.
Silverman is about 500% cleverer than Joy Behar; she is also a decent comic actress.But she’s the comedian equivalent of a shock-jock.
C’mon man. Snarkiness aside, Jet fuel burns at a temperature that is relatively low… That’s why the jet engine doesn’t know when it’s burning fuel.
Of course fire can melt steel, but only the foundry or steel mill where they raise the temperature to that degree to where it will melt. Your car engine doesn’t melt when it burns gasoline.
For sake of argument, let’s say that the jet fuel fires caused by the plane’s impact didn’t know that steel. But only melts in the steel on those floors. And if the temperatures were that high how are people able to hang out the holes in the building and wave for help.? And then how do you account for the 70+ floors of building below that were on fire and all that just came down in a heap? That’s not ‘pancaking’…
Every part of the World Trade Center that came down for the most part was pulverized, including WTC seven, which everyone avoids talking about like the plague. And that doesn’t come from melting steel at freefall speed. If that was the case, you would’ve seen the top floors fall over into the street, leaving the bottom of the building intact.
You utter fucking stupidity is breathtaking. I shall attempt to correct each point of retardation…
We’ll ignore the utterly fucktarded line about engines not knowing that they are burning fuel, and point out that while jet fuel burns at a lower temp than steel melts, it burns more than hot enough (especially when you burn other stuff with it) to SOFTEN steel. When you say melt, what you are actually saying is “reduce it to liquid”, when what you think you mean is “make it bendable”. The temperatures of a well-fed, highly contained fire that burns for several hours is more than enough to cause the steel to lose a good portion of its strength.
That is because a) gasoline burns at a much lower temperature than commercial aviation fuel and b) we take active measures to cool an engine during operation. Try killing your water-pump and disabling the fan, and then go driving – your engine will cease working fairly quickly. The block won’t melt, but you will warp important parts. Because it got too hot. You fucking retard.
Because that’s where the heat was concentrated, you cunt.
Because heat radiates, and for every unit of distance away from it you are, the intensity lessens geometrically.
I’m not even going to spend time explaining momentum and kinetic vs. potential energy in a structure. Suffice to say that your grasp of physics is right on par with your grasp of metallurgy, mechanical engineering, structural engineering, and chemistry.
Few thousand tons tends to do that. It’s almost like weight is a factor. Ah well, I’m sure it doesn’t mean anything…
Because we aren’t fucking insane, you shit-sucker. WTC 7 stored the fuel for the emergency generators. You throw burning wreckage on a building with fuel storage, and the bitch is going to burn.
How the fuck do you function in society? I’m seriously asking.
Because you seem to think that a building that had flaming, burning wreckage hit it and had a shit-load of fuel for generators inside shouldn’t burn. It’s like you live in a land of fairies and magic, and jesus fuck you are stupid.
W O W .. Look at the big brain on Scott Jacobs.
First off, personal attacks only weaken your argument. The more insults and degradation you fling at me shows the desperation in believing your own ‘BS reenactment.’ Second – this is a healthy debate. What’s the problem with not being able to rationally discuss the facts and figures that took place on September 11, 2001, without getting our panties in a bunch?
Do you have something to hide? Or help hide?
Are you some sort of paid troll?
Im not going to waste my valuable time and energy to rehash all the debates that have already been done regarding this topic. There are those that know the truth, and then there are those who either willfully or ignorantly avoid the truth… And your ’emergency generators fuel storage tanks’ argument – why didn’t it blow up & out , like the towers? What about the footage of the workers hustling away , saying ‘that building is gonna come down soon?’ What about the BBC reporting that building 7 collapsed 20+ minutes before it did?
Because it was a classic controlled demolition, planned in advance.
I think critically & rationally , for myself. And from my knowledge base, 911 is wrought with glaring fairy tales, that you are defending… My fellow spiritual being, having a human experience.
I think it was Napoleon who said “history is a pack of lies agreed upon.” 911 is the rule, not the exception.
If I’m wrong, I’m wrong – and maybe worthy of your fantastic insult barrage.
But if you’re wrong… Have a nice day.
You are a caricature of a satire of a parody.
You are beyond insane… There is literally – not figuratively – no reasoning with you.
So you buy the whole story, hook line & sinker. Correct?
You mean do I accept facts and the physical laws of the universe?
Yes.
You, however, are fucking insane.
Though I will say this: <blockquotewhy didn’t it blow up & outBecause diesel doesn’t explode. As I said, your fundamental ignorance of every aspect of science is staggering.
And as a result, you are not with the time to talk to. Why Jack leaves you here is beyond the kenning of rational men.
Well it’s because I’m not a lemming. Jack wants a blog, I’d imagine, where there’s a difference of opinion and spirited debate, not just a group of people glad handing each other and and sniffing his jockstrap.
I have a point of view, based upon intensive research ,and tons of knowledge on a wide variety of subjects. My recall is not always the best, but it comes from a thought structure(r) of truth, positivity and with the best of intent.
It is my hope that yours is the same.
Your “research” requires ignoring physics and the laws under which the universe operates…
I’m pretty sure that doesn’t count, fucktard.
You know I do, BBA, and your input is always provocative. I knew you and Scott would hit it off…
I would rather swim in shards of glass than be around an unmedicated sociopath like BBA.
I have to defend BBA to this extent—he’s serious, he’s a good person, and he’s resilient. Unmedicated, I can’t speak to. He just sees the world differently, and I wouldn’t want to see it the same way.
I know that he’s serious. That’s the problem…
Hmmm… 500% of zero is still zero! I’ve seen Mizz Silverman in action. At a Spirit Awards opening monologue, the went into a long oration about how she’d have liked to shove the orange she was holding up her vaginal orifice. Considering the average worth of American independent filmmaking, it was unsurprising that the audience laughed and applauded. For most of those guys, it’s a credible plot line.
BTW: Thanks, Scott, for taking up the unrewarding task of trying to educate a political ideologue in simple physics!
I THOUGHT as much!!!
The above was in reply to Tex’s enlightening revelation of the Master Illuminati Plot!
It’s not even much fun to argue with someone who simply knocks open a fire hydrant of gibberish sentence fragments and half-formed conspiracy references, but I’ll take one more poke before I stop.
You think the government was willing and able to pull off mass murder of the passengers on the planes, the people in the towers, rescue workers, etc- and then too squeamish to kill off a handful of bloggers and engineers? That they were devious enough to never get caught thorugh setup and execution but left loose ends flopping around that some dudes on the internet picked up? HA.
Luke,
You don’t get it. The fact that the skeptics were allowed to live is one of the key cornerstones of conspiracy belief. The vast conspiracy allows them to live so that they is no further doubts.
You see, the fact tht skeptics live is proof of the conspiracy.
Never mind that proving a negative doesn’t count because the opposite premise is equally valid: that skeptics live is proof that there is no conspiracy.
Oh trust me, I know, I know… but that’s only the way the truly lost ones think. I left my little nugget of joy out there for anyone who might be on the fence enough to go “well MAYBE” and hopefully they realize that “no, not maybe at all.”
Exactly!
So, to anchor this discussion back in reality.
Joy Behar probably encapsulated the virulent left in that short “roast”.
yeah, back to it – Chris Christie blew it. Try as you all might with your “Manufactured Consent” (which Jack is doing on a regular basis with his 911 references peppered thru his last few posts – it’s like seasoning the turd salad we’re all being forced fed) and crucify all the messengers or female staffers that stand up to the machine – he’s not going to win the nomination or be President.
Unless Scalia says “it’ll huuurt his widdowle feelinguhs” if they continue counting the vote, etc. etc.
Then, of COURSE! he will inherit the Bush mantle of righteousness. Lovely. Bilderberg, Illuminati, Club of Rome, Monsanto. These are not the droids you are looking for.
It sounds like you’re in the group of idiots who think the SCOTUS is responsible for Bush winning. You do realize that under any vote counting method that was being considered, Bush still won Florida, don’t you?
Maybe I’m reading too much into one throwaway line.
So, again, to anchor this discussion back in reality.
Joy Behar probably encapsulated the virulent left in that short “roast”.
Yeah, I get tired of people from both ends hijacking the audience’s time while they froth at the mouth. That convinces me more in a negative way that anything she might have said. The old roasts could be biting, but there was a lack of mean like any I’ve seen in the last fifteen years. The funnier they were, the more biting the jokes could be. Now too many just criticize and pretend it’s all in fun. If the audience isn’t laughing they aren’t having fun. They should stick to comedians and leave celebrities out of it. There is no shortage of comedians with political riffs.
I think something happeend to BBA during his absence. I don’t remember him being such a font of incoherence before. And I don’t just mean misinformation and lunacy, I mean literal spittle-flying fragmented incoherence.
I agree. BBA — and I don’t mean this in a pejorative way at all — but is everything ok? You are coming across as manic, and I am using that term in a clinical sense.
ugh correct my spelling please
Done. I always want to spell it like that too.
I tried reading his posts backwards to see if there was a hidden meaning. Unfortunately, they only make a little more sense that way.
I actually think JB can be hilarious in small doses — but fat jokes are old, and they are especially old re Christie. I do think you’re wrong about the one direction of fat jokes though Jack — in fact you’re dead wrong. Roseanne Bar and Rosie O’Donnell immediately leap to mind.
Who ever called Rosie fat in a derogatory way other than Donald Trump, who is habitually loathsome? And Rosanne hasn’t been called fat in about 20 years, because she hasn’t been fat for 20 years.
From 2012
http://www.uproxx.com/tv/2012/08/20-best-roseanne-comedy-central-roast-jokes/
You do understand that the insults sent the way of the target of the roast, especially a celebrity roast of a raunchy comic, has no etiquette or civility limits, right? And that the roast of a public official has different rules? And that Christie was there to honor the ex-governor, not to be ridiculed for his weight? Remember this? When was the last time anyone outside a celebrity roast called Roseanne fat? Calling Christie fat is a partisan and media habit, and not intended as good humored in any way, just as calling Rush Limbaugh fat is fully approved by the left. It’s apples and oranges.
You said Roseanne hadn’t been called fat in 20 years and put no conditions on your remark. It took me all of 2 seconds to come up with a set of examples proving you wrong. And — in any event — I agree with you that fat jokes are in bad taste. They are directed at women though just as much as men. And I forgot to add Oprah to that list.
Here’s some food for thought. Perhaps you see the fat jokes as being one sided because — at least in the entertainment industry — women are very thin. Although male actors, especially leading men, also have to be very attractive, you see more weight, hair, wrinkle, etc. deviations with men in the limelight. Even in politics, the women tend to be on the more attractive side. (Yes, there are obvious exceptions. But for every Albright, there are several Palins and Condoleezzas.)
I agree that I didn’t give you any parameters, but I was indeed talking about derision of the sort Rush Limbaugh and Christie face almost daily. And Roseanne isn’t fat, and hasn’t been for a long, long time, which raises the tangential question of whether calling someone fat who isn’t qualifies even as an insult.
I stand on my statement that conservatives like Limbaugh and Christie are regularly derided as fat by mainstream media pundits and comics, whereas liberals like Albright, Ted Kennedy and Tip O’Neill were not, and are not, except in the rare exception. It’s a double double standard.
Sure it does, it’s just a dumb insult. If you call a straight female college grad a “stupid faggot” you’re still being insulting, just… poorly.
But it is still different in kind. For example, Scott is gender neutral in his use of the C-word as indicia of a commenter he thinks is reprehensible. Similarly, the EEOC had ruled that calling a woman a bitch is not sexual harassment, but calling a MAN a pitch might be, as it implies gay-bashing. I speak the truth…
Truly, I am color and gender blind.
I’m also gender blind and color blind. And I hate black people. What, hypocrisy? No, no, I’m a TOTAL racist, I just can’t tell the difference between red and green.
The other thing to consider is that making fat jokes about someone who isn’t CURRENTLY fat but once WAS has more power than making them to someone who never was. Roseanne’s no longer obese but she’s still not supermodel thin (and that’s the general truth for most fat people who drop a bunch of weight- they may be much smaller comparitively but seldom get super thin) and unless you have amazing mental strength the sting of those insults and the body issues stick with you even after you drop the weight.
Or made millions making fun of yourself?
Well sure- I’m not saying she can’t handle a fat joke, nor that Christie can’t. As a card-carrying fat guy I make fat jokes at my own expense, or at the expense of fat friends, and take friendly ribbing from them in return- and if I could make millions doing it I would. It’s still unpleasant when someone who isn’t me or my friend makes fun of my weight in a hostile way. Do I rush home and cry and doubt my worth? Nah, but it’s still not pleasant.
Be honest…
Is cake involved?
🙂
Sure–my point is that those who make their living ridiculing others know they are fair game for insults that would be condsidered unconscionable with any other target. Joan Rivers, Don Rickles, Rosanne, Gilbert Gottfried, Maher, any comic that deals in personal attacks on public figures, fair or unfair, has printed a license for their own faces and forms to be attached to a bullseye, and invited marksmen to take a shot. They cannot complain. They have defined their own ethical boundaries. It’s not tit-for-tat; it’s integrity.
You’re backpedaling. You went from “female celebrities don’t get called fat” to “Only loathsome people like Trump call female celebrities fat” to “Only female celebrities who ARE fat ever get called fat” to “LIBERAL female celebrities never get called fat” to “Roseanne hasn’t been called fat in 20 years” to “Roseanne has only been called fat lately by certain people and only because she’s an insulting comedian so she’s fair game.”
Your original point, that male celebrities are more frequently fair game than female ones, is valid, but you overstated it as an absolute or near absolute, and then you kept justifying the holes people were poking. Not cool.
No, people poked holes knowing damn well exactly what I was referring to. So I’ll say it again: only fat conservative white men get called fat (by supposedly respectable media members and get away with it). Non-white, non-conservative, and/or non males don’t If somebody crosses the line and breaks this general rule, they are condemned and set upon by the political correctness Furies. Has a stray fat joke wafted the way of an occasional white guy, by some slob at a smoker? Sure. I wrote “Bigotry and denigration on the basis of physical characteristics is verboten, you see, unless a liberal is doing it, and a fat, white, male conservative is the target.” Jokes made in good sport with a willing target are NOT bigotry OR denigration. They are true jokes. The fat attacks on Christie are, in fact, intended to diminish him and as ad hominem attacks: he is fat, ergo he is not good. That’s what Behar was doing; that’s what a partisan comic risks: her under-the radar attempts at political character assassination in the guise of “good fun” are too obvious. That was the intent of what I said, and Rosanne is 100% irrelevant. What’s not cool is intentionally misconstruing clear point. What another comic said as part of a roast of Rosanne is completely off topic. Verboten means “forbidden,” not “has never and will never happen.” Back off.
Jack’s not backpedaling, he’s rationalizing. As for Roseanne’s comedy, I think her brand was making fun of herself — the whole Domestic Goddess routine, not making fun of others.
You keep saying this and it’s just not true. Here’s a 2007 piece making fun of Ted Kennedy for being fat. http://wonkette.com/227676/ted-kennedys-ass-cushion
And here’s a whole string about Kennedy:
“This week, footage surfaced of Senator Ted Kennedy singing in Spanish to a Latino group. Yeah, there was an awkward moment when someone in the crowd pointed at Kennedy’s head and said, ‘Look, the pinata is singing.'” –Conan O’Brien
“Ted Kennedy is here. He’s in East L.A. this morning campaigning for Obama. Apparently, I’m not kidding, Ted Kennedy is very popular in the Latino community, and here’s why [on screen: Sen. Ted Kennedy speaking in Spanish]. My Spanish is not perfect, but I believe in English that translates to ‘I am fat and I plan to eat most of you by November.'” –Jimmy Kimmel
“Did you see who’s campaigning with John Kerry now? Ted Kennedy! Can you imagine those two giant heads coming down the street together? It’s gonna look like a Macy’s Day parade.” —Jay Leno
“Just about a half hour ago, the U.S. Senate finished a marathon session on judicial nominees that lasted 30 straight hours. In fact, at 5 a.m. Ted Kennedy was so tired he put his head down on several desks.” —Conan O’Brien
“Congress is investigating steroids. It’s kind of ironic, isn’t it? Ted Kennedy asking somebody how their head got so big.” –Jay Leno
“Ted Kennedy said even if Hillary Clinton runs for president, he will still support John Kerry for the Democratic nomination in 2008. Ted Kennedy backing John Kerry — you know what they say, two giant heads are better than one.” –Jay Leno
“Schwarzenegger met with President Bush to try and get some money for California and then after the meeting he took Ted Kennedy to lunch. Feeding Ted Kennedy, how much does that cost? In fact, after the bill came Arnold had to go back to President Bush to get more money.” —Jay Leno
“After the switch, the Democrats would have 51 seats, the Republicans would have 49 seats, and Senator Ted Kennedy would still need four seats.” —Craig Kilborn
This also took me 5 seconds to find on the web. You’ve decided that this is the truth and you are cherry-picking facts to support it OR you have blinders on.
We all agree that fat jokes are inappropriate — but they aren’t just made about Republicans Jack. You’re either cherry-picking your facts or you have blinders on re this topic.
To be fair, Beth, a lot of those jokes were about Teddy having a huge head and let’s face it – the guy’s head was freakish. Fat or not, the dude’s head was enormous.
And yeah, I get that both sides get ribber…
But forgive me for a rationalization, but the fucker murdered someone. He left her to die slowly and went to go chat about how to cover it up. “Fat jokes” are the least of what that fucker should have suffered.
Also, there is a difference between a monologue joke (Bush isn’t actually stupid, and yet you could never count the number of “stupid W” jokes that got made) and malicious joke-telling.
Even when you aren’t the “target” of a roast – and especially if you are on the stage – you know you may well get a few lines tossed your way. Generally they are good-natured, but Joy’s were mean-spirited and done out of spite.
That, for me, is what makes the difference. Yeah, fat jokes get made at the fat guy’s expense (the actual roasts that Dean Martin held all had a couple, I’m sure), but when you do it specifically to be mean, that’s crossing a line from “lazy comedy” to “bitch”.
You are being willfully obtuse. Comics make jokes. I know Time magazine called Chris Christy fat. John Kerry’s campaign manager called Rush Limbaugh fat. A Democratic Senator wrote a whole book calling Rush Limbaugh fat. The point of the article was not that the vile Ms. Behar was making jokes, because she wasn’t. She’s a partisan comic/pundit, like Bill Maher. Every one of those you mentioned make jokes about any aspect of any politician—Leno and Conan are bi-partisan clowns. Not only is Behar not bi-partisan, those weren’t even jokes. They were attacks. They were bigotry getting a pass as jokes. When was the last time “I was joking!” worked with a racist joke? And how is “you’re toast” a joke? “Stop bullying me”?
I’ll quote myself again: Bigotry and denigration on the basis of physical characteristics is verboten, you see, unless a liberal is doing it, and a fat, white, male conservative is the target. I didn’t write about jokes, because it was crystal clear that she wasn’t joking, just like much of the time Jon Stewart isn’t joking.
Your list is off point. Find me one example of Maher, Behar, Colbert, Alec Baldwin, a major news magazine, columnist, pundit or talking head mocking a chubby liberal or a progressive women for her physical characteristics, and I’ll engage you on whether there’s really a double standard. Find me a conservative that made an equivilant “joke” who wasn’t required to grovel an apology by NOW or an equivilent PC group. Remember all those “grandpa” jokes about John McCain when he ran for President? “Old white men” obituaries for the GOP after Romney lost from MSNBC hosts and columnists? Did you notice the firestorm, in contrast, when Fox News dared to wonder whether Hillary was a little long in the tooth to be running? See the double standard there? NO? Then you’re willfully blind.
Hills has packed on about 20-30 pounds since 2008—will anyone dare to mention that, like they are flogging Cristie? Wanna bet? If someone treated Hillary on a dais like Christie was treated by Behar, would the alleged comic be treated as pariah? You know he or she would.It would be treated as if a shoe had been thrown at her.
This is the desperate nit-picking, tap-dancing that I find shocking and disturbing from liberals. They either dishonestly deny a double standard that acts as a permanent handicap on their adversaries, or they are incapable of seeing what is obvious.
By the way, a big head joke is not even necessarily an insult. Comparing anyone’s head to John Kerry’s head is an insult, however.
‘Liberals doing it’ aside, don’t you think Limbaugh cancels out his free pass by his own spirit of meanness ?
Neither he nor Christie abide by the golden rule , therefore they draw out this response from those to which they disagree.
AND – BTW, how often are we talking about ‘the horrible attack dog liberals harassing the poor poor unfortunate conservative?’ I’d say the evidence weighs heavily towards the other side (don’t take that the wrong way… Do you knead a tissue cause of your hurt feelers??) pfft.
1. That’s the tit for tat rationalization.
2. Rush Limbaugh is not mean, not by miles, in the field in which he works. He is demonstrably less so that Maher, Bill Press, any of the Air America or MSNBC hacks, Michael Savage, Stewart and Colbert, Mark Levin, Cris Plante. He hits his targets , that’s all, which are all liberals, and they don’t like being called out. It’s not mean. he’s no meaner than I am.
3. We’re not talking about “attacks”—shifting the goal posts. No question, on pure venom, the Right gives as good as it gets. We’re talking about insults based on physical characteristics that are irrelevant to conduct—age, race, weight, size, attractiveness, gender. The Left gives itself a pass, and it gets away with it. Double standard; hypocrisy. I would point it out if the parties were reversed—you know, like if conservatives could call Hillary “an old hag” on the cover of Time and have the media shrug it off as “a legitimate concern.”
I can’t even keep up with your backpedaling at this point. So, to sum up, you’ve gone from only white conservative men jokes are allowed to: Okay, COMEDIANS make jokes about all fat politicians, and that is acceptable as long as they are bi-partisan (as defined by Jack Marshall). Maher and Behar aren’t comedians because they are liberal pundits.
Jack, while Maher and Behar most definitely have liberal agendas, they are not pundits — they are comedians. Maddow is an example of a pundit — and most decidely not funny.
Conservative pundits like Rush have a long history of negative jokes/comments about people’s appearance — he made one about Michelle Obama’s weight just recently. He also was vicious re the Clintons, even Chelsea. Glenn Beck recently even took a shot at Meghan McCain for being fat and said that her photo (she did an ad for skin cancer awareness in a tight dress) made him want to vomit.
As for Maher, Colbert, and Stewart — they make fun of everybody, but certainly their jokes weigh (no pun intended) more on the side of conservatives. I am not going to do this research for you as it’s obvious your mind is made up. As for conservative comedians with conservative acts, I can’t think of any other than Dennis Miller, and I don’t think he’s in the public eye anymore.
Here’s what’s really happening. Comedians make fat jokes about everybody, but liberal comedians tend to focus their fat jokes about conservatives. Given that there are fewer conservative comedians, you don’t see as many examples of fat liberal jokes by conservative comedians. All pundits make fat jokes (and other appearance jokes/comments) against the opposing party. Perhaps a venn diagram is in order?
I don’t consider this nit-picking, I consider this to be correcting your broad generalizations that you sometimes like to make. It drives me crazy.
Uhhhh YES PLEASE!
Ridiculous, Beth, and poorly observed. The point is really obvious, and beyond this kind of apologetic nit-picking. Let me spell it out: the mainstream pundit attitude is that if you make personal remarks about a liberal/woman/black, you are a sexist, bigoted racist. Hence the reaction to any such comment Rush makes (I’d like to see the transcript of that fat joke about Michelle. If he simply made the observation that Michelle is not the perfect carrier of the “eat healthy or else” message, then that’s no joke.) If a liberal calls John McCain “grandpa” or Rush ” a bit fat idiot,” or Michele Bachman a “twat,” that’s OK, because Republicans and conservatives are heartless, mean and evil, and they deserve it. Any comedian who only mocks one ideological side is by definition a pundit, while he or she may also double as an entertainer. Rush is both, Stewart is both. Maher is both. Anyone who was or is on “The View” cannot argue that they are just a comedian, because they are making (uninformed, usually poorly reasoned) political and social statements completely devoid of humor. When Joy and Whoopie walk out on Bill Maher, that’s activism and punditry, not humor. When Rosie O’Donnell and Joy ignorantly endorse “loser pays,” as they did, that’s punditry. Bob Hope was NEVER a pundit. Johnny Carson was never a pundit. The Lettermans/Behars/ Goldbergs/Sykes become incompetent pundits, and eventually stop being funny. A few, like Will Rogers, manage to walk the line and be pundits without being partisan, and this keep their entertainment status. Once you take sides, it’s over. Fat jokes aimed at conservatives are given a pass, and end up on Time Magazine.
Go ahead, tell me that Time, or any mainstream news publication, would have dared to put a Clinton in his chubby days, Al Gore, Hillary, Barbra Jordan or Ted Kennedy on the cover with “The Elephant in the Room” title. You’re kicking and screaming to deny a double standard, which is why such inequities in media coverage exists.
For the last time, Beth, Jack IS NOT TALKING ABOUT ACTUAL JOKES.
He’s talking about intentionally nasty insults, meant to hurt, not meant in good fun, directed AT conservatives. But Leftist media will always shrug and say “what? where’s your sense of humor? It’s just a joke.”
But ACTUAL jokes FROM conservatives towards any Leftist, are immediately skewered by the Leftist media as the most egregious of horrendous slander.
That’s what Jack is discussing. Your objections ONLY apply, if Behar were actually joking and meant her humor in good fun. She didn’t.
She didn’t. Here was her final sally in the tiff with Christie, after the “toast” fat and “nyah, nyah, you’re not going to President” comment, which was no joke:
“Not that I care. I don’t give a shit. I mean, I don’t care how pissed off you are with these jokes, Governor, because, first of all, you can do the worst you want on me. I’m taking mass transit home.”
…which is straight-up unprofessional. She lost her cool, completely, and showed the ugly face beneath the mask, displaying pure political animus.
There were quite a few drunk, fat Teddy jokes.
He was a slovenly drunk, Beth. It was hard not to notice. He was also other things far worse.
Behar is an unfunny pig.
What an insult to an animal of intelligence and tastiness.
Wow! How does a slob knob like Joy Behar continue to work. What a disgusting POS! I tried watching 1 time and nearly lost my breakfast, for real! Untalented loud mouth!