Tuesday, February 15, 2011

Proof yet again that conservatives should never try to be funny

It's just not their métier.


Andrew Breitbart, at it again?

The conservative blogger – who is at the center of a lawsuit over a video his site posted depicting a government official as racist – now has a cartoon on his Big Government site portraying First Lady Michelle Obama as a plump, hamburger-scarfing glutton.

In the cartoon, posted over the weekend, the First Lady is sitting at a dinner table with President Obama.

"I've stepped up my efforts to control America's eating habits by telling restaurants to lower portion sizes and fat content," a double-chinned Michelle Obama says, referring to her anti-obesity campaign
, which celebrated its one-year anniversary last week.


I've seen one or two people comparing this to the hay that was made from Nancy Reagan's "Just Say No" campaign, in the '80s. Thing is, people who made fun of that did so because they felt it was an overly simplistic slogan that didn't take into account the realities of addiction as a sickness. IIRC, that was usually made clear by the comedians who made fun of it..

Cartoonists James Hudnall and Batton Lash' motive, however...well we have to consult the article linked above to know that because otherwise there's no way we would, based on the work. But they say they're making fun of the First Lady's anti-obesity campaign because
"We find the 'do as I say, not as I do' approach of the Obamas hypocritical and ripe for ridicule. The First Lady seeks to enforce healthy eating on the nation, while indulging on snacks in public appearances," said Lash, pointing to the recent White House Superbowl menu, which included deep-dish pizza and buffalo wings.


I suppose there might be a case to make for that. But I also feel that the cartoon is both unfunny, which may be a matter of personal reaction, but at least as importantly doesn't make that case. I defy anyone to tell me that's what they got out of that cartoon, like it or not.

Also I think Lash, sadly, apparently misunderstands the difference between enforcing and encouraging. So far as I know, no police are raiding homes because children reported their parents for eating hamburgers and pizza.

Unlike what happened in the Reagan '80s with one or two stoner parents. I'm just saying is all.

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