You want the truth? You can’t handle the truth. Son, we live in a country with an investment gap. And that gap needs to be filled by men with money. Who’s gonna do it? You? You, Middle Class Consumer? Goldman Sachs has a greater responsibility than you can possibly fathom. You weep for Lehman and you curse derivatives. You have that luxury. You have the luxury of not knowing what we know: that Lehman’s death, while tragic, probably saved the financial system. And that Goldman’s existence, while grotesque and incomprehensible to you, saves pension funds. You don’t want the truth. Because deep down, in places you don’t talk about at parties, you want us to fill that investment gap. You need us to fill that gap.
We use words like credit default swaps, collateralized debt obligation, and securitization? We use these words as the backbone of a life spent investing in something. You use them as a punchline. We have neither the time nor the inclination to explain ourselves to a commoner who rises and sleeps under the blanket of the very credit we provide, and then questions the manner in which we provide it! We’d rather you just said thank you and paid your taxes on time. Otherwise, we suggest you get an account and start trading. Either way, we don’t give a damn what you think you’re entitled to!?
But take heart, because I have overcome the world.” John 16:33
The nasty party reveals its funny bone By Damian Thompson Politics Last updated: September 9th, 2011
Politicians reveal so much of themselves with their sense of humour, or lack of it. Ronald Reagan’s jokes were delivered with the polish of a professional actor – but the artifice didn’t hide his lovable nature. Margaret Thatcher recited her wooden gags dutifully: she didn’t pretend to be witty. Blair’s one-liners were slick; Brown’s were weird. Although Cameron is a better jokesmith than Osborne, both men revel in the humour of entitlement. We’re not talking about the quickfire banter of the Oxford Union, of which both William Hague and Michael Gove are masters: this is closer to the post-prandial sneering at an undergraduate dining society.
“It’s Darwinian,” a former speechwriter for Cameron told me the other day. “Dave and George basically like laughing at losers.” And people still think of the Tories as the nasty party. Funny, that.
Talk: Bush Shows Flashes of Meanness as He Mocks Executed Inmate:
"Bush's brand of forthright tough-guy populism can be appealing, and it has played well in Texas. Yet occasionally there are flashes of meanness visible beneath it.
While driving back from the speech later that day, Bush mentions Karla Faye Tucker, a double murderer who was executed in Texas last year. In the weeks before the execution, Bush says, Bianca Jagger and a number of other protesters came to Austin to demand clemency for Tucker. 'Did you meet with any of them?' I ask.
Bush whips around and stares at me. 'No, I didn't meet with any of them,' he snaps, as though I've just asked the dumbest, most offensive question ever posed. 'I didn't meet with Larry King either when he came down for it. I watched his interview with [Tucker], though. He asked her real difficult questions, like 'What would you say to Governor Bush?' 'What was her answer?' I wonder.
'Please,' Bush whimpers,his lips pursed in mock desperation, 'don't kill me.' I must look shocked, ridiculing the pleas of a condemned prisoner who has since been executed seems odd and cruel, even for someone as militantly anticrime as Bush because he immediately stops smirking.
The nasty party reveals its funny bone By Damian Thompson Politics Last updated: September 9th, 2011
Politicians reveal so much of themselves with their sense of humour, or lack of it. Ronald Reagan’s jokes were delivered with the polish of a professional actor – but the artifice didn’t hide his lovable nature. Margaret Thatcher recited her wooden gags dutifully: she didn’t pretend to be witty.
This little routine of hers is genuinely hilarious, but only if you know the background story on it:
Apparently she didn't know who Monty Python was when her speech-writers gave her the gag, and asked her advisor : "Is he one of us?" Meaning: is he a Tory?
How the hell could anyoneeven begin to answer that question to somebody like Maggie? I like to think they just rolled their eyes wearily and pushed her out onto the stage.
After Jim Callaghan had been compared to Moses in the Commons - an unaccountable figure, the Lawgiver coming down from the mountain on high with his unquestionable edicts - Thatcher was encouraged to tell him to "Keep taking the tablets." It got a good laugh when she said it. Standards in the Commons are pretty low.
Get it? Tablets - like what the Ten Commandments were written on, but with the humorous implication of serious mental disorder in her political opponent? She actually had to be persuaded from changing the line to "keep taking the pill." She thought that would be funnier.
Here's one of her improvised jokes. It's actually quite funny, in a way. In a horrible way. In an eye-bulging disbelief at her nerve sort of way.
I'm not a fan of the old Miltant Tendency, all things considered, and protesting in the hall at a Tory Party Conference is like standing in a swamp complaining about the dampness, but that reaction was still a bit... harsh. This was pre-Brighton bombing too, so the security weren't as legitimately concerned about security as they would later become. That was just their default mode. Hell, Thatcher wasn't even particularly unpopular with the public in 1980.
Look how quick and (I suppose) witty her response is, though. Much like Bush (and Reagan to an extent) I think she could only find immediate humour in a situation if there was also a bit of cruelty and suffering involved. Needless to say, I don't like her much, and am very wary of the Reagan-esque rehabilitation that her political career seems to be undergoing. But, ach, it's the comedy thread, so I'll shut up.
"The universe is 40 billion light years across and every inch of it would kill you if you went there. That is the position of the universe with regard to human life."
AhabsOtherLeg wrote:Here's one of her improvised jokes. It's actually quite funny, in a way. In a horrible way. In an eye-bulging disbelief at her nerve sort of way.
Reminds me of Chretien years ago, when asked about the RCMP's brutality and pepper spraying of peaceful protesters at an economic summit in Vancouver. "For me, pepper, I put it on my plate." Not so much a joke (though it got laughs), as a commentary on the joke that's on us.
Canadian political humour has really turtled under Harper. Perhaps largely because so much of it, if it's going to find an audience, depends on public financing. When the Conservatives want to raise money from their base, which is often, they frequently throw them the red meat of attacking the CBC. The CBC has become so fearful of them it's no fucking use anymore. Which is as good as mission accomplished.
It used to have an edge and wouldn't shy from attacking institutional power. On the election night broadcast of 1993, when the Conservatives were reduced to two seats, a comedy troupe led an on-air conga line through the studio. They went on to air difficult dark bits like this during the Chretien years:
While under Harper, its alumnus is holding innocuous sleepovers at the PM's residence.
Not a good sign for the health of our politics, or our comedy.
Jeff wrote:"For me, pepper, I put it on my plate." Not so much a joke (though it got laughs), as a commentary on the joke that's on us.
"For us, pepper, we have it aerosolized and pneumatically pumped into our lachrymal ducts and windpipes, causing '"[m]utagenic effects, carcinogenic effects, sensitization, cardiovascular and pulmonary toxicity, neurotoxicity, as well as possible human fatalities'. And temporary blindness and pain."
Not as pithy as Chretien's remark, but it's the best I could do.
Jeff wrote:Canadian political humour has really turtled under Harper. Perhaps largely because so much of it, if it's going to find an audience, depends on public financing. When the Conservatives want to raise money from their base, which is often, they frequently throw them the red meat of attacking the CBC. The CBC has become so fearful of them it's no fucking use anymore. Which is as good as mission accomplished.
Identical situation with the BBC, except we have to pay £145.00 a year each for it. They're taking me to court soon, or at least threatening to. I doubt it'll come to that. Imagine, though, what a broadcaster taking 145 each from a population of around 60 million people could achieve, if it was truly free, unbiased, and acted without fear or favour. I wouldn't grudge them the money if they did the work. But they never really have.
I remember the thread back when Rick Mercer first went a bit... odd. The tone is all wrong in that clip. A satirist shouldn't waste time deprecating himself (or not much) when embodied power is standing right next to him on screen. Even his political questions are just set-ups for Harper's punchlines. He's acting as straight man to the Prime Minister! Unacceptable.
I don't know what category this next one falls into - playing along with power, or hitting back. To be fair it was part of a Comic Relief charity thing, so there was never going to be blood on the walls, politically speaking. It's definitely horror, though, not comedy. Come to think of it, maybe Catherine Tate played a blinder here, and this is the closest thing to a confession we'll ever see. The real horror begins at 1:20 mins.
"The universe is 40 billion light years across and every inch of it would kill you if you went there. That is the position of the universe with regard to human life."
I doubt it'll come to that. Imagine, though, what a broadcaster taking 145 each from a population of around 60 million people could achieve, if it was truly free, unbiased, and acted without fear or favour. I wouldn't grudge them the money if they did the work. But they never really have. 
