Scott Blakeman
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Scott Blakeman has performed his progressive political humor around the world, including the Edinburgh Fringe Festival in Scotland and the Jewish Historical Museum in Amsterdam. He has made more than 30 national television appearances, and was the warmup comedian for the Late Show with David Letterman. Scott can be heard regularly on National Public Radio, co-hosting political coverage, delivering commentaries, or as a guest. Scott co-created Standup for Peace: The Two Comedian Solution to Middle East Peace, with Palestinian-American comedian Dean Obeidallah, and they perform the show at theaters, colleges, Temples and Jewish and Arab community centers across the US. You can read more at ScottBlakeman.com

Blog Entries by Scott Blakeman

Let's Take War Off the Table

(3) Comments | Posted May 28, 2012 | 10:33 AM

Memorial Day sales have got to go.

To honor those who have given the ultimate sacrifice in battle, America's stores bravely slash prices up to 50 percent and more! You can hear the commercial announcer intoning, "They went to battle, so we could bring back these great savings for you!"

...
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U.S. Presidential Elections Should Have A French Accent

(4) Comments | Posted May 7, 2012 | 1:54 PM

Conservatives love to hate France.

When France rightly refused to send troops to Iraq, outraged Republican congressmen struck back the only way they knew how. With total ignorance. They renamed the french fries in the House dining room freedom fries, even though french fries have actually nothing to do with...

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Standup Comedy Can Make a Candidate Stand Out

(2) Comments | Posted May 1, 2012 | 12:37 PM

Comedy can be a politician's best friend. And not just at events like Saturday's White House Correspondents' Dinner.

As he has every year, President Obama outperformed the very funny comedian that had the unenviable task of following the leader of the free world. If Obama wins a second term, the...

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The Green Jacket Has A Stain

(7) Comments | Posted April 9, 2012 | 5:17 PM

It got ugly at The Masters again this year. But not because of what happened on the course.

On a beautiful Sunday in Augusta, the immaculate greens and fairways were bathed in sunshine. The tournament was decided by a two hole sudden death playoff with an emotional Bubba Watson executing...

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Fox and MSNBC Merge, Israelis and Palestinians Make Peace and Other April Fools News

(1) Comments | Posted April 2, 2012 | 3:15 PM

What a week!

Israelis and Palestinians hammered out a peace deal after an all-night negotiating session mediated by former New York Governor Mario Cuomo. "I don't know why it took us so long to get this done", said Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. "I mean, we're just talking land here. How...

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I Hate What Limbaugh Said and Support His Right to Say It

(203) Comments | Posted March 12, 2012 | 5:07 PM

It's been more than a week since Rush Limbaugh verbally assaulted an American citizen who merely exercised her democratic right to testify before Congress. His words were disgusting, vile, mean spirited, misogynistic, inane, and despite Limbaugh's dubious claims, not remotely funny in any conceivable way.

Yet I am opposed to...

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The Misconception Debate

(8) Comments | Posted February 23, 2012 | 3:20 PM

The most telling moment of last night's Republican debate was virtually ignored by most pundits. When John King asked Mitt Romney to name the biggest misconception about himself, he chose to ignore the question and robotically repeated his stump pitch for why he should be President.

When pressed by...

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Why We All Need a Vacation From GOP Debates

(2) Comments | Posted February 3, 2012 | 2:06 PM

For those of us going through GOP debate withdrawal between now and Feb. 22, here are some ways to make the most of that time.

First, for the candidates themselves: Don't say anything between now and the next debate. When was the last time a candidate said something outside of...

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GOP Debate Sets Clock Back in South Carolina

(29) Comments | Posted January 18, 2012 | 2:35 PM

At Monday's ugly Republican debate, there were the five remaining candidates and an empty lectern representing the former candidacy of Jon Huntsman.

The empty lectern won the debate.

And Huntsman's parting words "the current toxic form of our political discourse does not help our cause," was never more in...

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My Debatable Weekend

(2) Comments | Posted January 8, 2012 | 8:28 PM

From Saturday night until Sunday morning, we were given a taste of what life would be like if there was a 24 hour Republican presidential debate channel.

Saturday's debate followed the adventure game show Wipeout where contestants tried to navigate a moving obstacle course suspended over water. Even though the...

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The End of the Year as We Know It

(4) Comments | Posted December 27, 2011 | 1:47 PM

To those of you who think 2011 flew by more quickly than any other year, you're absolutely right.

While we were being distracted by wall to wall coverage of trials of people we had never heard of, and marriages of people we shouldn't have heard of, and debates with...

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My Valentine's Day Card to Egypt

(0) Comments | Posted February 14, 2011 | 5:08 PM

I don't have all of your addresses, so here's a group Valentine's Day card to the people of Egypt to express my love and admiration for your miraculous and inspiring achievement.

Your heroic perseverance, poise and dedication showed us all that anything is possible.

That Facebook can be used...

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It's the Guns, Stupid

(2) Comments | Posted January 16, 2011 | 5:02 PM

In the week since the shootings in Arizona, there have been many comments about Sarah Palin, the Tea Party, and civility.

And comparatively very little has been said about guns.

And what limited discussion about guns there has been, has largely focused on how it's pointless to make guns...

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Summer Blamed for Northeast Heat Wave

(0) Comments | Posted August 17, 2010 | 3:53 PM

The hot temperatures and high humidity that have dominated the headlines in the Northeast this July and August, is attributable to one of the four seasons called summer, a leading climatologist revealed yesterday.

The climatologist, who requested anonymity because he was not authorized to make obvious statements, said summer was...

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No News Is Bad News for CNN

(24) Comments | Posted June 25, 2010 | 11:24 AM

Jonathan Klein, the CNN/U.S. president, said yesterday that the new 8 pm show co-hosted by Eliot Spitzer and Kathleen Parker, would be a "roundup of all the best ideas" of the day. Which sounds a bit like plagiarism.

But the real news here is not what the new show is,...

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Lazy Reporters, Politicians and Comedians Bring Helen Thomas Down as an Unquestioning Public Cheers

(83) Comments | Posted June 14, 2010 | 10:27 AM

The fact that writing about Helen Thomas just a few days after she resigned feels like old news, tells you something about what's wrong with the media and our country today.

After a journalism career spanning almost seventy years, Thomas was taken down in less than two minutes. Which is...

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Crackdown on Ignorance Should Target Arizona Lawmakers

(171) Comments | Posted April 24, 2010 | 3:50 PM

Governor Jan Brewer said the Arizona police would not use racial profiling, even though the whole point of the immigration bill she signed into law yesterday is to racially profile and harass Hispanics. Brewer was expected to receive the endorsement of racist groups in Arizona and across the country, and...

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Were Laws of Gravity Passed Through Reconciliation?

(0) Comments | Posted March 10, 2010 | 3:25 PM

The Kentucky Legislature recently introduced a bill that would encourage teachers to discuss "the advantages and disadvantages of scientific theories," including "evolution, the origins of life, global warming and human cloning."

But why stop there?

Maybe it's time to revisit the whole question of whether the earth is actually flat...

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Tiger Woods Story Apparently Has Nothing To Do with Healthcare Reform Or Anything Else Important To Us

(3) Comments | Posted December 20, 2009 | 11:04 PM

Although you wouldn't know it by the front page tabloid news stories or the endless panel discussions on television, the Tiger Woods story has nothing to do with our lives, and should only be important to the people in Tiger's life. And not surprisingly, the rest of the world feels...

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Public Option Much Healthier than Military Option

(2) Comments | Posted October 5, 2009 | 3:59 PM

I think it's outrageous that there's more outrage about the public option in health care reform, than there is about the military option in dealing with Iran's nuclear ambitions.

Especially because the public option is a smart, practical idea that will make it cheaper for us to buy health insurance....

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