David Frum, National Review:
http://www.nationalreview.com/frum/diary060103.asp
Bill O'Reilly debated Al Franken and Molly Ivins in an
event broadcast on C-Span on Sunday afternoon, and he
made this great joke that cracked up the conservatives
in the audience:
"These HMOs are getting so arrogant that men who want
to beat their wives have to get the hospital bills
pre-cleared."
No, no, no - of course he didn't say that. O'Reilly
can be a pretty outrageous guy, but he knows perfectly
well that a joke about wife-beating is a career-ender.
The joke actually was made by Molly Ivins, and it
really went like this: "The price of gas is riz so
high" - yes she said "riz": if you're a Texan who
wants to advocate gun control and lesbian marriage,
you have to sprinkle your speech with hick phrases so
that nobody gets the idea you're just another of them
Yankee liberals - "the price of gas is riz so high
that women who want to run over their husbands have to
carpool." And the liberals in the audience really did
crack up, including both Franken and the ostensibly
neutral moderator, whose name I did not catch.
Now there are is a very obvious point to be made about
this little humorous gem, and I'm sure it has already
occurred to you. (Actually there are two: the other
being that it's not very funny, but then none of Molly
Ivins' work has been very funny since a court told her
to quit repackaging Florence King's writing as her
own.)
Let me venture instead this possibly slightly less
obvious point - Molly Ivins went on to deliver a
passionate little speech about her commitment to
civilizing American discourse! Apparently, American
discourse is being rendered viciously uncivil by Rush
Limbaugh's habit of explaining dynamic scoring over
the airwaves - and the liberal way to elevate the
vulgar tone of right-wing debate is to make jokes
about killing people.
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John D. Giorgis - [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Tonight I have a message for the brave and oppressed people of Iraq:
Your enemy is not surrounding your country � your enemy is ruling your
country. And the day he and his regime are removed from power will be
the day of your liberation." -George W. Bush 1/29/03
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