This weekend I was talking with a few people about how I just couldn’t watch the speeches at the political conventions going on now. I feel almost coerced, having to sit there for 40 minutes or sometimes even an hour, just to take in unspecific rhetoric, hammered in by slow antitheses and political slams.
Before, I would rely on New York Times coverage to take in the “real” story faster while feeling a bit less gezwungen along the way. But yesterday, seeing this article right on top of NYTimes.com for half of the day absolutely drove me up a wall. To sum it up: This is a seven-paragraph analysis of McCain’s body language as he hugged the Palins at the airport and the political meaning one could deduce from that. Are you serious? I felt so cheap reading that.
Fortunately, The Bugle Podcast has been providing the comic relief I need so my head doesn’t explode in the midst of election year media mayhem. A few gems from Episode 43, featuring John Oliver reporting on the DNC in Denver to Andy Zaltzman, back across the pond in London, include:
- “The convention center itself looks like what would happen if you got a six year-old to design his own birthday party. I want a million balloons and TV screens all the way up to the ceiling! And thousands upon thousands of donuts!”
- Disgruntled response to the already acclaimed rave speeches that would be given, instead proposing candidates have to speak at opposing parties’ conventions (that would be a real test: “Booed onto the stage”)
- On Sarah Palin: “She’s about as right-wing as you can get, without having your face painted on the side of a tank.”
- Mockery of the Barackopolis stage (“This is Mount Olympus. I am Zeus!”)
Laughter is the best medicine.
Tags: Andy Zaltzman, John McCain, John Oliver, Sarah Palin, The Bugle, The New York Times
