Well, this is weird.  It’s a Saturday Night Live parody.  From last May.  On the Benghazi Hearings.  Tell me what’s wrong with this picture.

Representatives Doc Hastings, Daniel Issa and Trey Gowdy (Keenan Thompson, Bill Hader and Taran Killam) oversee the hearings. Issa first expresses disdain that the (liberal) media, with the exception of FOX news, has largely overlooked the importance of the hearings.
The first witness is Jodi Arias (Nasim Fedrad). Rep. Hastings opines that she’s been brought in as a ploy to increase ratings. Rep. Issa says his comments are hurtful, adding “Do you have any idea how hard it was to book her, especially this week?” Rep. Gowdy asks her if she knows what happened at Bhenghazi, and of course she has no idea. Rep. Hastings asks, “What’s next? The guy from Cleveland who kept all those women in his basement?” Sure enough, it’s Ariel Castro (Bobby Moynihan).

No, that does not sound like Doc Hastings.  Being a Republican and all that.

 … We can watch the clip here.

… That is … um… Doc Hastings, sitting on the left.   Played by  Kenan Thompson.  The … um… black man.

He’s actually playing  Elijah E. Cummings, apparently.

… Did anyone notice?  Other than Representative Hastings?

… Probably just honored someone noticed him.

As always the comedy comes piling in on this facebook page.  Reagan… “Freedom just a generation away” quote; “Please Impeach Obama”…  AND…

SNL’s error may be more of a service than you know. This will get picked up now..

It’s been 3 months.  No one noticed then; nobody notices now.  Even though “Saturday Night Live” and “SNL” are instant google phrases when you put in “Doc Hastings”.  Nobody thinks Doc Hastings is a black man.  Sorry.

The big story, the biggest story, the top story in the Prison Planet realm at Alex Jones land… and, I don’t know, but undoubtedly elsewhere…

Some kid posted a youtube clip of him showing more respect to President Obama than Obama — or any politician — deserves.

To which you can only say.  “Hm”.  In a few years’, if he follows the kind of trajectory of former Conservative Wunderkind Jonathan Krohn, he’ll have renounced his former partisan allegiance and will be heading a unit of Ted Cruz for President.  But Jonathan Krohn could be commented upon because he was shoved about in various partisan spots — speaking before the Conservative Political Action Committee.  All I get from this Obama worshipper is a stupid youtube video.  Why am I being shown some kid’s youtube clip?

Today we get something better from Prison Planet.  At least the latest Michael Hastings conspiracy fodder brings us a clear trajectory that points into real matters of concern.  (Not necessarily “Obama killed Hastings!” as “Hastings investigating Government Censorship Attempts” .  Maybe yesterday’s “Obama Loving Kid” headline is the equivalent of a slow news day in Conspiracy Land?

I wonder, though.  For this other news item making the rounds in a different spot on the social media group… Not allowed to name your kid “Messiah“… not in Tennessee… Can you name him “Barack”?

So we get this article.  About the Republican Primary for US Senate in the state of Georgia.  A many folded bunch… a couple of them might lose to the Democrats’ selected pick.

And then we go into the comments section to see…

THE BIG DEBATE!!!

Point: Georgians despise traitors. Libbers lose!
Counterpoint #1:  But Georgia was a traitor in 1861, so that explains why you hate yourself.
Point:  1861 … the year you went insane!
Counterpoint:  But I recovered in 1864 when they burned Atlanta to the ground.
CounterPoint #2:  But they were traitors to the USA.  Americans had to burn their state to maintain the Union.  So, your comment is a bit odd.
Counterpoint to Counterpoint:  Incorrect. They simply chose to leave which was well within their Constitutional right.
Counterpoint:  I think Mr. Lincoln and time have proven you wrong.

And then there’s
Point:  You have probably never been here. Our state is stronger than ever. Our cost of living is very reasonable, which is demonstrated by the rapid growth here compared to other states. Your comment is ridiculous!
Counterpoint:  That will change once the statists take advantage of “demographic changes.” Georgia will be South Massachusetts in no time. Good luck.

Interestingly, you can’t call this racial code… er…  “South Massachusetts”?

We then get into some discussion on Obama being called a Socialist, with the interesting quip, “There are many people who come from a socialist country that say Obama and the Democrats are socialists.” that then clicks to a youtube video of an ad I remember from the 2008 campaign of one of … er… “Some Rich Schmuk who came from the old Soviet Union who bought an anti-Obama ad”.

Saying goodbye to Richard Nixon 45 years ago…

And, you know… this might not be such an out of whack thought…

The current Republican Party isn’t the party of Barry Goldwater and Ronald Reagan. It isn’t a conservative party. It’s the party, instead, of Nixon and Gingrich. And that’s why it’s a dysfunctional mess, and a problem for the nation.

And with the typical “but… what about” on some the  tapping of Richard Nixon as the ironic “Last Liberal President”…

We can get at this a couple of ways. One is that everyone should be very careful about what “Nixon” did, as opposed to what the government did while he was president. Give Nixon the Congress and the policy environment of 1947 — or 1997 — and you get very different results.

From the left, Counterpunch, we get another dismantling of the “further to the left”, arguing it can’t even be argued against the neo-liberal Obama.

There is one thought here, with reflection of the Republican Party — and the manner of how the Primaries are working to redefine moderates as standard run of the mill conservative… we do have the sniping of Charles Goodell in favor of Chris Buckley.
… with standard phrases of demagoguery.

Key to this crypto-primary fight… Goodell had a voting record more in line with Nixon’s domestic agenda than such Conservative stalwarts as Barry Goldwater — but his deviations were to the left, and Nixon had use for a right flank but not a left flank.  Further, the main thrust of agitation against the Moderate Republicans — some opposition to foreign policy — this had to be a partisan crudgel and Goodell was ruining that score.

In the hub-ub about RNC Chief Priebus and their “either remove this Clinton related programming” to CNN and NBC “or we won’t debate on your networks”…

… which… hm… the Democrats withdrew from Fox News, for obvious enough reasons.  And there is a very good need to just dump a whole lot of debates…

In a so-called autopsy report from March, the RNC specifically lamented the media’s role in its 2012 election losses. As Slate’s Dave Weigel pointed out, one of the prescriptions in that report was for the GOP to “create a system that results in a more rational number of debates.”

On Bloomberg TV, Priebus acknowledged that concern, calling the last primary season “a 23-debate traveling circus.”

“The last thing I want to do is add more debates that will promote agencies and companies that are going out of their way to make sure that they’re promoting Hillary Clinton,” he said.

Priebus also dismissed a question on whether the RNC would oppose a Fox News documentary on New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, a favorite to seek the GOP nomination in 2016, saying the conservative network had announced no such plans.

It is a hypothetical that does need answering, though.  Things get interesting here…

During a Tuesday interview on Fox News Radio’s “Kilmeade and Friends,” Priebus rejected guest host Leslie Gold’s characterization that Republicans were “freaked out” about films that could just as well be critical of Clinton as they could be fawning or flattering in their portrayal.

“It just doesn’t matter,” he responded. “In today’s world, cult personality, cultural votes, which is what presidential elections are — it doesn’t matter.”

“Let’s imagine that it’s critical or even-handed … When you build up a name, when you start a small wave far from the shore, it builds and builds and builds,” Priebus added. “And if Hillary Clinton is running for president, her candidacy will build and build itself. It really makes no difference.”

He then goes on to shove up the “Liberal Media” line anyway, suggesting he doesn’t believe they’ll give an “even handed” or even “unflattering” portrayal of Hillary Clinton.

But go ahead and take him at his word.    This goes back to a famous incident on a CBS News coverage, critical of the Reagan Administration — showing “rhetoric versus reality”.  And the Reagan Administration thanking them for the coverage.  Because… “nobody heard what they said”, and all that came across was a mass of pleasing visuals, which reinforced Reagan’s rhetoric.

So the Reince Priebus may have a point.
But…

But then… um… what was the point of the conservative group “Citizen’s United” broadcasting a Hillary Clinton biopic to the 2008 elections?
Or Swift Boat Veterans for Truth doing a biopic on Kerry in 2004?
I suppose they’ll recycle the Hillary Clinton video and get the requisite network affiliates in key swing states to air it — just blur the Hillary Clinton image about.

I suppose a neutral showing of Hillary Clinton would reinforce some kind of Hillary Clinton pleasing narrative — as a “Very Important Figure” — towering over the Republican’s lot of Rand Pauls and whoever else they got…  OR?

A miniseries is likely to bring back that culture-war-and-tabloid optic of HRC the brave martyr or the sinister harridan, the ultimate marital survivor or Red Queen. Maybe that would be good for a presidential campaign—depending on how the writers and directors handle her “story”—but I wouldn’t just assume that to be the case. It is pretty clear she doesn’t really need the attention. So perhaps she should consider making it known she’s not any crazier about the project than is Priebus.

Not that that would persuade the Republicans or Priebus of anything… even in the “Against anything they’re for” theory of partisan ground-fighting.  I also want to note the washington monthly commenter pointing to how the 1984 movie “The Right Stuff” really helped John Glenn’s presidential aspirations.

I do have the one thought that… um… a long form broadcast covering the biography of major political figures… is much more desirable and useful to fill time … than the thin coverage of politics that is the hallmark of 24 hour cable news networks.

I haven’t gotten around to rounding up the Presidential election results for 2012, as we see the Presidential election results for 2008 here.

But here we go…  Now planted here.

1.  Barack Obama, Democrat…          65,915,796,          51.06 percent
2.  Mitt Romney, Republican …         60,933,500,         47.2 percent
3.  Gary Johnson, Libertarian…             1,275,971,       0.99 percent
4.  Jill Stein, Green ………………                  469,628,        .36 percent
Write In …………………………….                  136,040         .11 percent
5.  Virgil Goode, Constitution ..                  122,388,       .09 percent
6.  Roseanne Barr, Peace and Freedom     67,326        .05 percent
7.  Rocky Anderson, Justice …….                43,018,        .03 percent
8.  Tom Hoefling, America’s ……                  40,628,        .03 percent
9.  -Randall Terry (independent)             – 13,105        – 0.01 percent
10. Richard Duncan (independent)          – 12,557 –         0.01%
11.  Peta Lindsay (Socialism and Liberation)  7,791 … .01 percent
9.  -Jerry Litzel (independent) –                        12,895 – 0.01%
10.  -none of the above –                                       5,770
11.  Chuck Baldwin (Reform Party) –                5,017
12.  Will Christensen (Constitution)                 4,453
13.  Stewart Alexander (Socialist)                     4,405
14.  James Harris (Socialist Workers)              4,117
15.  Thomas Robert Stevens (Objectivist)     4,091
16.  Jim Carlson (Grassroots)                             3,149
17.  Jill Reed (Unaffiliated)                                  2,875
18.  Merlin Miller (American Third Position) 2,701
19.  Sheila “Samm” Tittle (We The People)     2,572
20.  Gloria La Riva (Socialism and Liberation)  1,608
21.  Jerry White (Socialist Equality)                1,279
22.  Dean Morstad (Constitutional Government)  1,094
23.  Jerry Litzel (Independent)                           1,027
24.  Barbara Dale Washer (Reform)                   1,016
25.  Jeff Boss  (NSA Did 911)                                 1,007
26.  Andre Barnett (Reform)                                    956
27.  Jack Fellure (Prohibition)                               518
129,085,403

Do with them what you must.  Interesting to compare with the 2008 totals, at the very least.