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Borowitz Says "Bush Jumps Shark" but Shark Might Bite Bush
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This is one of the more clever ditties on President Bush's latest maneuvers. Comedian and political satirist Andy Borowitz says just like in the days of declining ratings in Happy Days, George Bush is out like the Fonz trying to get popular by "jumping a shark."
Here is the opener:
President Bush's decision to send additional troops to Iraq has puzzled many pundits: is the President stubborn, isolated, out of touch with reality? While all three may be true, there is another explanation: George W. Bush has been on television for the past six years, and like many TV shows entering a seventh season, Bush has jumped the shark.Wikipedia defines jumping the shark as "the tipping point at which a TV series is deemed to have passed its peak, or has introduced plot twists that are illogical in terms of everything that has preceded them."
(photo source: Wikipedia -- see fair use provisions)Three telltale signs:
Same Character, Different Actor: For the first six seasons of the Bush administration, the character of the Secretary of Defense was played by Donald Rumsfeld. Then, without warning (unless you count his pre-election comment that Rumsfeld was doing a "fantastic job"), Bush replaced him with former CIA chief Robert Gates. Like the producers of "Bewitched," (two Darrins) or "Roseanne" (two Beckys), Bush may have thought that if he made the casting switch with no explanation, the viewers wouldn't notice.
Unfortunately for the president, the Rumsfeld-Gates switcheroo was the most jarring since "The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air" (two Aunt Vivs).
New Kid in Town: Long-of-tooth TV series often resort to adding younger characters in the hope of breathing much-needed life into a moribund enterprise. Although this ploy almost never works, and the new characters usually wind up being reviled (Cousin Oliver on "The Brady Bunch," Stephanie on "All in the Family"), the Decider-in-Chief has ignored the lessons of television history and proposed adding not one, but twenty-one thousand new characters.
Will "the surge" succeed where those other fresh faces didn't? I have just two words for you: Scrappy Doo.
Bush and his team are doing a fairly good job of distracting the public from the worsening quagmire in Iraq.
Bush is out every day talking about the economy -- and as he remains focused on the surge and on broadening the rhetoric to pound on Iran and Syria, the Senate is still floundering on a non-binding political resolution outlining opposition to the escalation.
But the shark may jump up and bite Bush yet. The American public doesn't like what it sees coming from the White House.
-- Steve Clemons
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Reader Comments (9) - post a comment
The American public doesn`t like what it sees coming out of inside the beltway PERIOD. The message is get it together all ye inside the beltway.
President Bush's decision to send additional troops to Iraq has puzzled many pundits: is the President stubborn, isolated, out of touch with reality? While all three may be true, there is another explanation: George W. Bush has been on television for the past six years, and like many TV shows entering a seventh season, Bush has jumped the shark.
i love cheese and sharks lol hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaahahahahahahahah
i also am wearing a shark thong!!~!
My favorite example of this is when Diana Muldaur stepped into the empty elevator shaft on LA Law. I stopped watching the show in disgust.
Do you even listen to what Bush says? When has Bush EVER said that troops would leave Iraq before Bush leaves office? Why are there permanent bases in Iraq if Bush is not planning to stay?
Bush does not now, and has NEVER in the past planned to leave Iraq. The whole point of the US invading Iraq was to STAY there. This is completely clear and transparent from EVERYTHING Bush has EVER said about Iraq. I understand that foreign policy wonks don't believe that Bush could be so naive/stupid/ignorant/insane/misinformed (pick one).
Quit attributing to Bush, policies that Bush has never believed, never discussed and never proposed. Bush Iraq policy sees US troops in Iraq one decade from now. Bush Iraq policy always was, is now and will be to STAY in Iraq. If the policy is to STAY, then sending more troops is understandable.
The American public has had it with social elites and politicians. They are destroying this country
Steve Clemons >"...The American public doesn't like what it sees coming from the White House."
The American public doesn`t like what it sees coming out of inside the beltway PERIOD. The message is get it together all ye inside the beltway.
You & those like you need to wake up & quit with the head in the sand support for business as usual behavior. Anyone that SERIOUSLY suggests that this current "play" should continue to run until the end of its "contract" is way out of line.
"...We don't have news, we have stories inspired by current events..." - Stirling Newberr
Steve,
But the shark may jump up and bite Bush yet. The American public doesn't like what it sees coming from the White House.
I don't know...there's just enough voters to keep him going. In any real world, any real democracy, Bush would have been removed already, tried and convicted for violating the Constitution of the United States.
I really wonder how long it will be before Americans can look back and see the shame of this generation and of this decade.
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