I get home around 10:30 p.m. on Friday nights because of English Conversation. Watch “Clone Wars” then “Battlestar Galactica” which I had recorded. Then I flip channels for a few minutes to see if anything interesting is on as midnight approaches.
Hmm. “Saturday Night Live” rerun. Steve Carrell hosting. Not bad. Give that a whirl.
One of the sketches features ah yes another (now former then current) President Bush impersonation. It is clear by this point the original episode was broadcast shortly after Hurricane Katrina. President Bush appears at a White House news conference and attempts to explain and defend his response (or lack thereof) to the devastation in the Gulf. Fair enough.
He asks for questions. One reporter stands and notes that the president has asked Congress to approve $400 billion both for reconstruction efforts and for the continued war in Iraq. He then asks (although I cannot recall the exact wording):
“How are you going to pay for that? Where is that $400 billion going to come from?”
The audience laughs. President Bush squirms and rambles something like “the money is going to come from… wherever it is that money comes from, that’s a stupid question”. And we all laugh.
Already you see the irony. A few years ago comedians and comedy shows picked on then President Bush for wanting the federal government to spend $400 billion without any clear answer for where that would come from or how to pay for it. Silly president. You can’t spend what you don’t have.
Fast forward to February 2009.
I am unaware of any sketches or comedy sets where someone picks on President Obama and/or the Pelosi-Reid Congress for wanting to spend at least $800 billion… and I am unaware if anyone is even asking “how will we pay for this? where will that money come from?” let alone whether our political leaders have a coherent answer.
It continues to fascinate me how the rules have apparently changed.
