SNL's Campaign Trail: Fauxbama, Huckabee, And Tina Fey Endorsing Clinton

Is Bitch the New Black? If you believe Tina Fey on "Saturday Night Live" last night, then damn straight; if you don't, you may well be burning up the NBC message boards right now. Last night politics was center stage on SNL, with an epic cold open spoofing the latest CNN debate between Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama (over 8 minutes), a supersized "Weekend Update" (11 minutes), and about as close as SNL could come to a live, on-air endorsement of Hillary Clinton by host and returning alumna Tina Fey. In a segment on Update called "Women's News" ("It's a great time to be a lady in America!") Fey celebrated the news of a woman running for president — and then (after a bitty swipe at Oprah), proceeded to take aim at a number of Hillary-hating arguments: That if elected she wouldn't be able to "control" hubby Bill Clinton and there'd be "co-presidents" in the White House ("'Cause that would be terrible, having two intelligent, qualified people working together to solve problems — why would you let Starsky talk to Hutch?"); reassuring the audience that, even though they were married, they were having "about as much sex as George Bush and Jeb Bush are" and smacking down Rush Limbaugh for his comments that "America's not ready to watch their president turn into an old lady. "Really?" asked Fey. "'Cause they didn't seem to mind when Ronald Reagan did that." But what bugged her most, said Fey, was when people said that Clinton was a bitch. "Yeah, she is," said Fey. "And so am I — and so is this one over here," gesturing at Amy Poehler. "Yeah, deal with it," said Poehler. Fey's point: Bitches got things done, yo, and that's why Hillary would be a good president. "So I'm sayin, it's not too late, Texas and Ohio, get on board! Bitch is the new black!" An exhortation of voters to the polls to vote their bitch in? Bill Clinton probably couldn't have done it more effectively. Watch it here:







Commenters are already incensed (both on the NBC chat boards and in our comments sections, so far) but to be fair, it's about equal to the Lorne Michaels endorsement of Obama, who said Obama would be hard to mock because he was a "truly heroic figure." Also, it's worth noting that many Hillary supporters are chiming in with gratitude to Fey for articulating a sentiment that had made them feel marginalized in the face of Obamania.

Speaking of which, SNL also tapped Fred Armisen to play its Obama (details here), which he did with his brow furrowed the whole time, doing a nice rendering of Obama's from-30,000 feet speechifying and penchant for scribbling during debates. The CNN debate spoof greedily hit on it all around the central conceit that the media was "totally in the tank" with Obama. Kristen Wiig was a smitten Campbell Brown, Jason Sudeikis a drooling John King, and Will Forte a dashingly handsome Jorge Ramos, whose question to Obama was "Are you comfortable? Can we get you anything?" while all three panelists ignored and insulted Amy Poehler's Clinton (by far the best example of that was when Wiig's Brown smacked down Clinton for interrupting the "randomly selected" audience questioner, Obama Girl. "I think you owe Obama Girl and all the people of this nation an Obam-apology," she deadpanned. Classic). Props to Amber Lee Ettinger, aka Obama Girl, for hitting the big time — hearing Fey thank Mike Huckabee, Steve Martin, Carrie Underwood and Obama Girl at the end of the show was really a testament to how much the advent of viral vid has changed thing. Watch the whole great segment here:

Finally, there was the aforementioned Governor Huckabee, completing the late-night talk show circuit and spoofing himself in a segment that mirrored his campaign rather well — he was charming, funny and refused to leave. Watch it below:







As long as we're rocking the full SNL YouTube thing, here's Fey's opening monologue with a guest turn by Steve Martin, who always seems to monologue about how great, wonderful and what a big star he is. I'm just sayin'. Cogent writer's strike commentary in that, too. Chekkit here:







And finally: Tina Fey wished announcer Don Pardo a very happy birthday — his 90th! — during the goodnights last night — he doesn't look it by a long shot, nor sound it. Wow. Many more, Don Pardo!

Comments

[sweetsue]

Black as in "bitch is the new black" refers to the fashion term "basic black." It has nothing to do with African-American.

[TiffShelton]

Um OK. Do you have an explanation for why it wasn't funny?

[OneWoman]

What's with all the proclamations? Ok, so YOU didnt think it was funny; other people did. Can we leave it at that?

[presto]

It WAS funny. It was hilarious. There is no requirement in life that everyone have a sense of humor that matches yours. Nor that they explain jokes that you don't get.

[lvogt]

Well... I think it's meant to mean both.

[MizJ]

Gee, all this outrage over Tina Fey? What about
"a thrill up my leg" or similer fawning quotes about Obama? For once someone spoke truth to power and the bloggers go nuts! Right on Tina and Amy. At least they show you can poke fun without the world coming to an end simply because not everyone is so enthralled about Obama. It was funny and timely and about time.

[pamelagoodenough]

Spoke truth to power? What? The Clinton machine is the most powerful political group in the Democratic party. They have been working for Senator Clinton's run for decades.

Truth to power must be a term you just discovered.

Obama put himself through school. He comes from humble roots. He is the real deal and will work for social change and justice.

Truth to power indeed.

Tina Fey was way outta line last night. I am through with SNL. It was all downhill, even the opening skit was off. I was hoping for the SNL I remember when Gilda Radnor, Bill Murray, Chevy Chase and that entire comedy group ruled.

Saturday night live--after all the time they have had to prepare during this strike--had very little content that was funny.

By the way, Tina's boss, Loren Michaels, supports Obama.

This election, by the way, is (or should be) an intellectual debate. Women here relating those of us who support Obama in sexual terms and metaphors insult us. And disgust me.

[presto]

You said:

"This election, by the way, is (or should be) an intellectual debate"

Okay - you go first.

[duck47]

Hillary Clinton is from a middle class Chicago family and Bill Clinton grew up pretty dirt poor in Hope Arkansas. So if they're the most powerful political group (you do realize there is only three of them Bill, Hillary and Chelsea) they've come a long way on their own bootstraps too. They all probably had significant financial aid which Bill made sure was plentiful when he was president. Now Obama may do that too, if elected, but he sure won't be the first. Clinton protected that through six years of Republican Senate and Congress. Obama preaches that everything has been bad and now is going to fix it all. Neither is true!

[Manx]

You mean people still watch SNL? It used to be funny and have an edge to it but I haven't watched for the last few years. It's no longer fun or funny but amateurish, sophomoric and sometimes just plain dumb. And I never cared for Tina Fey. She should stick to writing.

[jeanniem]

We're pretty regular SNL viewers. I was out last night, but when I got home, my hubby gave me his version of the hilites ... the opening sketch and Huckabee on WE. Also told me Tina Fey was on, but he didn't even tell me the 'bitch is the new black' or the pro-Hill bit.
From reading thru here, if Tina Fey has struck a chord with HRC supporters, that's great. Maybe Hill should have called upon Tina's service a few months ago to help her really "find her voice". But from where the campaign currently sits, I'm glad for Tina's offering to you all.

[AnninCA]

Think that skit hit all-time viewer highs.

If you're right, I'm way encouraged.

Must be a SHITLOAD of us out there.

[realrick]

Boy! Were these skits LAME!

Bottom Line: You can point up whatever political views you want (Nobody takes it THAT seriously. It is, after all, a comedy show.) But, you've got to be FUNNY! And these weren't.

These people should be forced to watch the old SNL casts on the Broadway videos, including the first season around 1976 and see how they dealt with that election. Sure, like this cast, they inserted opinion and satire, but, most important, they were FUNNY!

In the meantime, over at Comedy Central, Stewart and Colbert continue to eat SNL's lunch!

[TiffShelton]

I totally agree. Who's idea was it to inject Obama girl?


The faux Obama needs practice.

[AnninCA]

Hey......she's YOUR candidate's icon.

Alas, so apropros. She didn't vote.

[imsosure]

This stuff is Hillaryous! What a funny group of people. Really Hillaryous.

Stop the War

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-1656880303867390173

[AxelDC]

What did Hillary Clinton do during her self-described co-presidency (which mysteriously excludes the elected Vice President Gore)?

1) She botched health care reform, dooming it for nearly 20 years.

2) She helped the Democrats lose control of Congress for 12 years.

3) She got her husband impeached by attacking his accusers, who happened to be right.

4) Her husband signed the two most explicitly antigay pieces of legislation: "Don't Ask; Don't Tell" and the "Defense of Marriage Act", which even Bill Clinton admits is unconstitutional. She does not wish to overturn either.

5) As senator, she voted for Bush to attack Iraq (2002) and Iran (2007).

As far as "bitches getting things done", I think we've had enough of Hillary Clinton doing things for us.

[ntmessage]

If it was so bad, then why did the Clinton(s) have one of the highest rating in history? Bush has one of the lowest, but it seems that many forget this and are somehow projecting their Bush anger to Hillary in some kind of weird almost psychotic way.

All this cherry picking on the Clintons record when 70% of the people approved.

1. Fought Tobacco companies. Health Care lobbies and oil companies.
2. Was awesome on the environment and the economy.
3. Lead an outstanding cabinet and administration.

All this against Pubs hell bent on destroying them with a 6 year witch hunt headed by a tobacco industry plant and 60M of the taxpayers dollars that found no evidence of any foul play in the areas they were to investigate. They only came up with Lewinsky when all else failed.

In addition the Dems were cowards under pressure regarding Health Care. The same is now true with Obama, in fact he is using the same ads against Hillary that the health care industry ran against her in 1993. Did he Xerox that?

Was a speech the same as a vote when you know Hillary want to get out of Iraq as well, and has a better plan?

No one is perfect but history tells us that the Clinton(s) were damn good. So objectively the Clinton bashing on their record does not hold water.

If there were more cattle under Barack's sombrero maybe we would really know how he would govern. We have zippo on that small detail, except for pandering on NAFTA and a Health Care plan that is a windfall for the Insurance Companies.

[Izadora]

Hello Tina, you are the best! Brilliant and

intelligent. Most of the blogger here are

jealousy of you. Miss you on SNL.

30 Rock ..........F A N T A S T I C!!!!!!

[leftbehind2000]

"Hello Tina, you are the best! Brilliant and
intelligent. Most of the blogger here are
jealousy of you. Miss you on SNL.
30 Rock ..........F A N T A S T I C!!!!!! "

Sincerely,

Tina Fey

[TiffShelton]

Tina Faye’s show 30 Rock is funny, but it reminds me of Arrested Development except Arrested Development was funnier.

I think SNL was a huge disappointment last night. Was it supposed to be funny or was it supposed to be like watching The Daily Show? I thought it was ironic that SNL made fun of news organizations allegedly shilling for Obama while shilling for Sen. Clinton.

[swanky]

Ha - you're all pissed that Obamamania is finally being called out for what it is, and that he's finally getting spoofed. Deal with it, because if he wins, it'll only get worse. You think you've got problems now, just wait - the wrecking ball will come out; remember how fatigued we got about all the sex jokes? Obama's shine is gonna wear off real fast under the cold light of satire...

[lachgirl]

I, for one, as an ardent Obama supporter, found the whole thing hilarious, from top to bottom. Yes, Hillary got her licks as well, claiming "it has been her dream for years to lose to Obama in Wisconsin". I thought it was political comedy at its best.

Obama himself was never directly attacked, which I find funny: just the media's obsession with him.

Also, Fey's biggest message in her WU piece was that many of the attacks leveled at Hillary are pretty superfluous. Its a bigger problem that her campaign has shown lack of foresight and operates from a Cold War mindset, IMO; her "b**chiness" is awesome.

Of course, I was raised in a generation where a Meredith Brooks song entitled, "B**ch" was a number 1 hit.

[AnninCA]

Bingo. I see Obamamania hasn't totally consumed your brain quite yet. :)

[HeyFella]

It's SNL, when did they start having any relevance?

[leftbehind2000]

SNL once did. Tina Fey? Never.

[AnninCA]

Apparently, with this skit. *hooting*

[lovethesinner]

It looks like there's some spaces where there used to be video. Did somebody remove video clips?

As long as I'm here... is that Tina Fey playing the part of Anne Frank?

[lawmichigander]

Oh it was horrible but to be expected by a New York B*tch that is biased. Is't that sexist of her, what the hey.

Why how racist of that to use a white guy to play Barack. I am sorry but everything points to SNL being biased. Can't they just realize that they are never funny anymore.

CNN IS 80% is pro Hillary all the time, the the lady that hosted the debate is always pro Hillary and they never ask her the hard questions. The only reason Barack comes out so good is being CNN sucks at being biased and he is smarter than them.

[musicstreet]

They had to use a white guy to play Barack because no black man is allowed to do or say anything that does not perpetuate the glorification of Obama. You sound intolerate and insecure that Obama won't be able to withstand critical analyses.

[AxelDC]

Maybe no black man wants to insult a guy they see as being the most successful black in American history.

[Melissa]

If you think CNN is pro-Hillary, I must not be watching the same CNN. The panel that Wolff uses tears her apart night after night. SNL was terrific last night, I'm glad they are back.

[TiffShelton]

Yeah you are not watching the same CNN.

They devoted segments of their shows to discuss the Obama "plagiarism". When it was found that Sen. Clinton's most memorable statement in the debate was lifted by Sen. Edwards and President Clinton, it was downplayed as everyone does this, Obama was right that this was silly, isn't a big deal, etc.

That was the impression I got from Wolf and Dobbs on Monday before the Wisconsin vote.

Oh and after going 0-10 and trailing in states and votes, Anderson Cooper stated that the race was “split”.

Would the race be labeled “split” if Obama had lost 10 in row with an average margin of 33 points? No way.

[AnninCA]

Oh please. I used to have CNN as my homepage.

The election coverage finally made me protest.

I won't watch them anymore.

They wrote me back some silly canned email.

My response........bite it.

I'll find C-Span or some other objective news source.

I'm not interesting in AP OR REUTERS now.

Same reason.

I'm done with the mass media.

[on2them]

If the only way hill can win is on the bitch card well then at least it would be an honest win.

[swanky]

yea, and not ripped off from someone else.

[lawmichigander]

Oh it was horrible but to be expected by a New York B*tch that is biased. Is't that sexist of her, what the hey.

Why how racist of that to use a white guy to play Barack. I am sorry but everything points to SNL being biased. Can't they just realize that they are never funny anymore.

CNN IS 80% is pro Hillary all the time, the the lady that hosted the debate is always pro Hillary and they never ask her the hard questions. The only reason Barack comes out so good is being CNN sucks at being biased and he is smarter than them.

[TiffShelton]

If Sen. Clinton is so victimized by the MSN, where are the constant questions about her not releasing her tax returns and the Bill Clinton library donor list?

Those questions were missing during Thursday's debate. They devoted segment to Obama "plagiarism" though.

[AnninCA]

Republican slime.