(CNN) - Saturday Night Live, the longtime NBC sketch comedy show that has arguably wielded significant influence this presidential election season, skewered the McCain-Palin ticket for the second straight week in a row Saturday.
In the show’s opening sketch, a Darrell Hammond impersonation of John McCain is shown in an advertising studio recording his tagline for a bevy of negative - and ridiculously false - campaign ads. The ads level such allegations as Barack Obama wants healthcare coverage for the entire universe (including Osama bin Laden) and supports tax cuts for pedophiles.
The sketch also takes a dig at McCain's age, portraying the Arizona senator as unfamiliar with digital recording technology (After he is told it is a new technology McCain says, "Like 8-track?")
Politico reported Saturday the sketch was actually conceived by former SNL writer Al Franken, the current Democratic challenger to Norm Coleman's Minnesota Senate seat.
SNL has already proven its ability to crystallize emerging campaign narratives this election cycle, widely credited with raising a general perception the media was in love with Obama during the primary election season in a series of sketches last winter. SNL's portrayal of Sarah Palin last weekend also synthesized several questions raised about the Alaska governor's readiness to serve as vice president.
With a weekly viewership stretching into the millions that reaches a swath of (mostly young) voters who aren't as closely following the ins and outs on the campaign trail, SNL has a clear ability to shape general perceptions of both presidential tickets in the final stretch of the race for the White House.
Responding to SNL's depiction of McCain, spokesman Tucker Bounds said, "Saturday Night Live is funny, Barack Obama showing no sign of life or leadership during a banking crisis is not funny."
From CNN Politics
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Why won't this CNN Political Ticker let us comment on the Fact Check post that demonstrates that Obama is flat out lying when he says that John McCain's social security plan would "wipe out the nest eggs" of millions of people?
Just one more example of CNN's bias - the comments are always open on stories that are bad for McCain so people can criticize him even more, but they're not open on stories that criticize Obama, since CNN wants to limit the criticism of Obama as much as possible.
AAAAAHHHHHHHHHHH come on now...."We're just trying to have a little fun! Lighten up, Will Ya?????"
Uhhhhh....who said that once upon a time?
Neither candidate has been completely honest in their attack advertisements although McCain has strayed from the truth more often and more blatantly than Obama. According to Politifact.com, Obama has had 18 false claims and 1 rediculously false claim vs. 23 false claims and 6 blatantly false claims by McCain. The bottom line is don't take anything either of these candidates say as gospel, take the time to do your own research on thier claims and attacks and do your research from reputable sources.
"mostly young voters who aren't as closely following the ins and outs on the campaign trail" !?! Are you kidding me? How did you get that information? The people who I have talked to who seem to have the most knowledge and up-to-date news on the campaign are those under 30. They definitely won't be the uninformed voters this time around. Find another scapegoat. Sorry we never show up on your polls because we don't own landlines.
SNL is always a great show when politics is it's target. When it isn't it's usually more fun to watch Red Green.
The best way to get the facts are from the comedy shows like this or the Daily Show or Stephen Colbert. They show clips of McCain's statements where one contradicts the other. They show how ridiculous some of the so-called main stream media is with their ridiculous commentary and talking heads.
The fact is if the Main Stream Media stuck to the true facts and presented them to the public Obama would be ahead by 40 points in the polls right now.
Who cares – the media is still in love with Obama, because he doesn't give actual ideas for them to look at. Instead he just gives generalizations, like:
"We need to improve our country"
"I want change"
"We need to improve poverty"
"We need to help heal the nation"
"We need to improve our standing in the world"
WE NEED... WE NEED... blah blah blah... OF COURSE WE NEED TO DO THOSE THINGS! WHO CAN DISAGREE WITH THAT?!??!
But then the liberal media doesn't care about that. They want to rip apart the only candidate that has a record of actually doing these things. God help us if Obama is elected.
McCain 2008