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One of the defenses of Trump is -- literally -- a TV-sitcom joke
https://www.washingtonpost.com/outlook/2019/11/14/one-defenses-trump-is-literally-tv-sitcom-joke/
House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) waits for President Trump to arrive for a mixed martial arts fight in Madison Square Garden in New York on Nov. 2. (Joshua Roberts/Reuters)
By Bill Oakley
Bill Oakley is a TV writer and producer who, along with his partner Josh Weinstein, was show runner of The Simpsons during its seventh and eighth seasons.
November 14, 2019 at 8:58 a.m. EST
“Convicted of a crime I didn’t even commit. Hah! Attempted murder? Now honestly, what is that? Do they give a Nobel Prize for attempted chemistry? Do they?”
— Sideshow Bob, “The Simpsons,” Season Six, Episode Five, 1994
This rhetorical absurdity, originally intended as joke on a TV cartoon, is now being trotted out in all seriousness by the GOP. What New York magazine writer Jonathan Chait has called the “Sideshow Bob defense” has become central to Republican efforts to shield President Trump from accusations of wrongdoing. Because the Ukrainian quid pro quo was ultimately unsuccessful, the argument goes, no crime was committed, even if one was attempted. The editorial page of the Wall Street Journal wrote (apparently not joking): “Many people in the Administration opposed the Giuliani effort, including some in senior positions at the White House. This matters because it may turn out that while Mr. Trump wanted a quid-pro-quo policy ultimatum toward Ukraine, he was too inept to execute it.”
Chait has noted other examples. House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.), for instance, said: “Name me one thing that Ukraine did to release the money. Nothing.” Never mind the explicit request for “a favor” or that the aid may have been released because skeptical National Security Council staff members started raising questions.
And instances of this extraordinarily strained attempt at excuse-making keep coming. In an interview with The Washington Post, Nikki Haley reasoned, “There was no heavy demand insisting that something had to happen. So it’s hard for me to understand where the whole impeachment situation is coming from, because what everybody’s up in arms about didn’t happen.” In the end, “the aid flowed.”
Good point, Sideshow Bob.
The Sideshow Bob line is famous among fans of “The Simpsons,” now in its 31st season, but others may need some background. Sideshow Bob is a recurring character — tall and slim with huge, weird hair and voiced by actor Kelsey Grammer, whose upper-crust baritone gives the character a sophisticated élan. (Bob did go to Yale, after all.)
</snip>
House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) waits for President Trump to arrive for a mixed martial arts fight in Madison Square Garden in New York on Nov. 2. (Joshua Roberts/Reuters)
By Bill Oakley
Bill Oakley is a TV writer and producer who, along with his partner Josh Weinstein, was show runner of The Simpsons during its seventh and eighth seasons.
November 14, 2019 at 8:58 a.m. EST
“Convicted of a crime I didn’t even commit. Hah! Attempted murder? Now honestly, what is that? Do they give a Nobel Prize for attempted chemistry? Do they?”
— Sideshow Bob, “The Simpsons,” Season Six, Episode Five, 1994
This rhetorical absurdity, originally intended as joke on a TV cartoon, is now being trotted out in all seriousness by the GOP. What New York magazine writer Jonathan Chait has called the “Sideshow Bob defense” has become central to Republican efforts to shield President Trump from accusations of wrongdoing. Because the Ukrainian quid pro quo was ultimately unsuccessful, the argument goes, no crime was committed, even if one was attempted. The editorial page of the Wall Street Journal wrote (apparently not joking): “Many people in the Administration opposed the Giuliani effort, including some in senior positions at the White House. This matters because it may turn out that while Mr. Trump wanted a quid-pro-quo policy ultimatum toward Ukraine, he was too inept to execute it.”
Chait has noted other examples. House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.), for instance, said: “Name me one thing that Ukraine did to release the money. Nothing.” Never mind the explicit request for “a favor” or that the aid may have been released because skeptical National Security Council staff members started raising questions.
And instances of this extraordinarily strained attempt at excuse-making keep coming. In an interview with The Washington Post, Nikki Haley reasoned, “There was no heavy demand insisting that something had to happen. So it’s hard for me to understand where the whole impeachment situation is coming from, because what everybody’s up in arms about didn’t happen.” In the end, “the aid flowed.”
Good point, Sideshow Bob.
The Sideshow Bob line is famous among fans of “The Simpsons,” now in its 31st season, but others may need some background. Sideshow Bob is a recurring character — tall and slim with huge, weird hair and voiced by actor Kelsey Grammer, whose upper-crust baritone gives the character a sophisticated élan. (Bob did go to Yale, after all.)
</snip>
Yep!
8 replies
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