Even if Obama wins, I'm not crying for the "satirical industrial complex": ever heard of Congress? Stephen Colbert's "Better Know a District" segments revealed the unbelievable gold mine that is the 536 members of Congress (including of course DC!). Anyway, it's not healthy for us to be so intently focused on the presidency alone; it is a symptom of the "imperial presidency" reported on by Arthur Schlesinger, Charlie Savage, and Andrew Bacevich that is unbalancing the checks written into the Constitution. So all to the good that the most dysfunctional and least approved branch of government should draw a little of that most famous and effective disinfectant, the sunlight of satire.

SNL kicked the shit out of Clinton.

You're kidding, right? Some crap buffoonery like "Boston Legal" happens to not do any Obama jokes but it does some McCain jokes and it means the whole media circus is too terrified to poke fun at Obama.

See, folks, Election Day has barely started and already the "mainstream media" is in Obama's pocket and has been all along. Because on "Boston Legal." William Shatner didn't call Obama "Osama" by mistake or something.

The fake-news shows are full of Obama jokes, dhdowney, and liberals are laughing the hardest at them.

Fred Armisen? White? He's half Venezuelan, quarter Japanese, and quarter German. But I don't think his race has anything to do with why the impression isn't dead on. Especially with the way you phrase it, jamming the "white in blackface" statement within Obama's words, you make it seem like that's what he was implying.

In what alternate universe is that happening?

Because the "TDS" and "CR" shows I watch, almost never mock Obama. And the few times that they do, I hear gasps and boos from the audience.

You can't make fun of people's god; it really pisses them off. Just like fanatical muslims, it seems.

Hmmm, what are the odds of Obama supporters flying airplanes into 30Rock if "SNL" really mocks President Obama one night? Instead of 70 virgins, would they get extra child tax credits in heaven?

The author of this article must have been living in Opposite World for the last 8 years. The executive branch of the US government has been so far beyond satire that the only thing available has been pure straight-up mockery.

The very last truly satirical thing I recall was written just before Bush took office. It's a brilliant Onion piece entitled "Bush: 'Our Long National Nightmare Of Peace And Prosperity Is Finally Over'"

It's here:

http://www.theonion.com/content/node/28784

Read it and weep at how accurately it predicted the past 8 years (it was written in January 2001).

You are correct. I am a Keith Olberman fan but Ben Affleck's take on him was absolutely hilarious. Not only that but I have to compliment Ben because I think that was some seriously good acting, especially with that script he was using.

We've been drunk on neo-con satire for the past 8 years, now we'll just have to go back to being moderate drinkers. There's still plenty out there.

Also, even though many of us are Obama supporters that doesn't mean we can't poke fun at him from time to time.

You must be kidding.

Two weeks befopre JFK was shot, the pilot of "That Was the Week That Was" -- a show that featured the songs of Tom Lehrer satirizing American militarism, nuclear annihilation, and National Brotherhood Week -- ran on NBC. Two months later -- despite the assassination -- the show went on the air as a regular series. Vaughn Meader had a great job spoofing Kennedy up until the end of 1963, and I don't remember too many LBJ impersonators, but the '60s were an era rife for American satire, despite Democratic presidents and a Democratically-controlled Congress. The Smothers Brothers were in trouble with the censors before the '68 campaign even began.

The GOP will always be easier targets because of a combination of things. Mostly they're humorless, lack the ability to see irony, lack insight and are generally socially dumb...but mostly the bigger their ineptitude, the easier the target.

Bill Clinton, even with the endless sex and intern jokes, owned the media because he was smarter then them, understood the "game"...and everyone loves a winner who pulls our butt out of economic muck.

In many ways, Obama has similar qualities -- he's gifted intellectually, he understands media, he's comfortable with himself and he possesses a rare dignity and there's no archetype to tag to him.

If that rare dignity can restore some sense to American pride and standing in the world and can bridge party lines and fix the mess left behind...I'm totally fine with that deal. I'll simply laugh at other stuff and enjoy the possibilities of the futures.

Your kidding, right?

You can't really believe that Obama takes the heat of

McCain. Or can you? Hummmm...

By the way I voted a straight Dem ticket with one BIG exception.

Not only is the satirical industrial complex going to enter a recession after the election, but youtube will most likely come crashing down to sustainable numbers as well. Voter-generated media has really reached a new level in polish and proliferation. In these final days, the Youtube video "Et tu, Palin? Palin 2012" is truly a hysterical example of this new culture of media makers.

...there's a whole winger-industrial complex to continue taking apart--and they are going to be so rabid after tomorrow they'll continue providing excellent material.

SoFla Kate: Unfortunately, someone did a count (don't they always?) of how much different comedians on popular late-night shows have joked about each side and concluded they haven't ever before seen such a huge imbalance. Here's one link, though you can find others:

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/sns-ap-tv-campaign-humor,0,1277900.story

I've been ranting on my own blog about how biased Jon Stewart has become. I'm a longtime fan of TDS, but it's been insanely biased for Obama (or, at the very least, very much anti-McCain) especially in the past month or so to the point of making unwarranted and extremely insulting attacks on Americans who live in small towns.

I remember when Dennnis Miller essentially did nonpartisan satire, and he was funny then. I remember when P.J. O'Rourke did basically bipartisan comedy, and he was funny then. When it becomes biased, though, and goes along with a refusal to laugh at one's own side and one's own beliefs, it stops being funny, I think. "My side is right and your side is wrong" just doesn't have the same comedic value as "Wow, they're all idiots!" Stewart is in danger of that, though maybe he'll calm down once the election is over.

I am having a hard time believing that Obama supporters would risk becoming as humorless as they claim Republicans are. If you can't laugh at the circus that is Congress, at least, just because it's controlled by Pelosi and Reid, then you have a serious irony and humor deficiency. If nothing else, we can have a few laughs estimating how many post offices Congress will rename while Wall Street burns. And, as someone mentioned, Colbert's Better Know a District segments are gold.