SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE, I TAKE IT ALL BACK

I've criticized Saturday Night Live recently, but I'm starting to realize that I was just (understandably) confused about what the show was trying to do.

Look at the sketch excerpt below, from the February 23 show. I thought it was SNL's idea of how the Democratic race was going at the time. In fact, it was a prediction of how the general election race would unfold -- and it's a remarkably accurate prediction. I was confused because the actor playing John McCain had short black hair, while Barack Obama was played by a blond woman; also, they were called by the wrong names. (I guess you get glitches like that on live TV.)

Now that I understand that the sketch was really a general election prognostication, I can see its brilliance. Just watch how the press reacts to Fred Armisen, playing McCain, while Amy Poehler (playing Obama) gets the short end of the stick:



Spot on! It's just like real life:

...John McCain and Barack Obama both appeared before the nation's newspaper editors yesterday. The putative Republican presidential nominee was given a box of doughnuts and a standing ovation. The likely Democratic nominee was likened to a terrorist.

At a luncheon for the editors hosted by the Associated Press, AP Chairman Dean Singleton quizzed Obama about whether he would send more troops to Afghanistan, where "Obama bin Laden is still at large?"

"I think that was Osama bin Laden," the candidate answered....

McCain's moderators, the AP's Ron Fournier and Liz Sidoti, greeted McCain with a box of Dunkin' Donuts. "We spend quite a bit of time with you on the back of the Straight Talk Express asking you questions, and what we've decided to do today was invite everyone else along on the ride," Sidoti explained. "We even brought you your favorite treat."

McCain opened the offering. "Oh, yes, with sprinkles!" he said....


*****

Seriously, was it less than two months ago that we were all fixated on the press's "love affair" with Obama? Anyone remember that "love affair"? I barely do either.

Yeah, maybe there was an affair, but that's all it was -- an affair. The reporters thought the sex was great, but we were crazy if we thought they'd ever end their long and successful plural marriage with the Daddy Party and John McCain.