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News & ArtsTuesday, May 12, 2009
Media Hitchens on Sykes
Posted by Eli Sanders on Tue, May 12, 2009 at 5:07 PM
According to New York magazine, here's what Christopher "last man (barely) standing" Hitchens had to say at an after-party regarding Wanda Sykes' White House Correspondents' Dinner performance, and Obama's reaction:
"The president should be squirming in his seat. Not smiling," he said. "The black dyke got it wrong. No one told her the rules."
2
Christopher Hitchens is an odd one. Sort of like Charles Mudede... sometimes brilliant, sometimes deranged.
6
I don't get the big deal about this. I gladly voted for Bush twice, and for McCain (not so gladly), but Wanda Sykes was funny. Funny is funny, and I don't get the problem people have with what she did. That's a hard gig, and she excelled. Good for her.
7
Every president has things like that happen to them. Sometimes the Prez makes an ass out of his own self. If CH doesn't know that by now, he needs to find himself a different job. The Rules. What a fucking idiot.
8
Eli,
Hitchens was a bit crude in his description of Wanda Sykes but she was outta line. Check this out:
http://www.commentarymagazine.com/blogs/…
If the shoe was on the other foot...
Hitchens was a bit crude in his description of Wanda Sykes but she was outta line. Check this out:
http://www.commentarymagazine.com/blogs/…
If the shoe was on the other foot...
9
Woah woah woah! Sykes was great and Obama reacted appropriately. You can't take anyone seriously who would describe Wanda Sykes as a "black dyke" with no amount of irony or humor. I think Sykes made a very valid point about Rush and kept it funny at the same point. That dude is selling his country out to line his own pockets; it's gross and he deserves all the criticism people want to give him.
10
@5: Right you are. Still, it's kind of refreshing to get the gin-soaked popinjay perspective once in a while.
11
@8,
If Rush really believed that Obama's policies are bad for America, then he could have simply stated that Obama will fail, not that Rush hopes Obama will fail. The most charitable interpretation is that Rush wants Americans to suffer in order to fulfill his personal political agenda. Considering what a bag full of poisonous gas that motherfucker is, I'm not inclined to be even that charitable towards him.
If Rush really believed that Obama's policies are bad for America, then he could have simply stated that Obama will fail, not that Rush hopes Obama will fail. The most charitable interpretation is that Rush wants Americans to suffer in order to fulfill his personal political agenda. Considering what a bag full of poisonous gas that motherfucker is, I'm not inclined to be even that charitable towards him.
13
Just because Hitchens occasionally makes a good point (this is not one of them, however) doesn't mean he's not still a drunken, arrogant asshole with very limited talent. I think he's one of the most POUTY little crybabies I've ever seen on Bill Maher - if all the other guests don't fall down and worship his brilliance, he sits there and sulks like a weasel. I have no respect for Chris Hitchens.
14
I think a central nugget in this whole pile of shit is the fact that Rush once claimed that wanting the president (for the record, 'his' president) to fail was treason. Then we get a new president. Suddenly Rush is all about wanting the president to fail. Huh.
15
If the shoe was on the other foot...
Totally. You have to criticize everyone equally no matter what they do. You have to make fun of Sean Hannity's pro-torture views exactly equally to Keith Olbermann's anti-torture views. You have to insult Obama's 3% tax increase on the rich equally to Bush's 2+ wars. You have to criticize Dick Cheney's anti-civil liberties policies equally to Joe Biden's pro-health care policies. Fair and balanced, amirite?
PS Libertarians are the worst people on the planet.
16
How is that not a good point, however provocatively/offensively worded? When you have the president on a dais, and a comedian at the mic, the comedian should be making fun of the president. It's a jester role, and the jester jests at the expense of the king.
17
Frankly, Sykes was far too kind to the drug addled fascist pig fucker known as Rush.
Far, far too kind. Perhaps she is losing her edge.
Far, far too kind. Perhaps she is losing her edge.
18
#16, Since you are so into traditional roles, should Wanda be enslaved, become some man's property, or be stoned to death? Please advise.
19
Right or wrong, Hitchens is one of the few people in mainstream media with the balls to say "black dyke". Seems like a perfect columnist for The Stranger.
24
i thought sykes fell flat. she misgauged because the fat man isn't funny. fascism isn't. hitchens should have STFU, but he gets paid to have opinions.
25
Where are these people who supposedly give a shit about anything Christopher Hitchens says? Who are they?
26
where was he when imus worked clinton over in front of his wife?
i remember seeing Hitchens get on a bus in DC in our neighborhood hammered...with his kid in tow.
i remember seeing Hitchens get on a bus in DC in our neighborhood hammered...with his kid in tow.
27
The May issue of Harper's had an article about a bio of Hazlitt, a true man of letters, referencing Hitchens as a "modern" man of letters, in the limey tradition.
SERIOUSLY!
they were serious about it. or srius or whatever we call it now. Mike Skinner is a classier ambassador for your dead culture, Mr. Hitchens. That's saying something.
Ray Davies.
Clearly I'm drunk, good night!
SERIOUSLY!
they were serious about it. or srius or whatever we call it now. Mike Skinner is a classier ambassador for your dead culture, Mr. Hitchens. That's saying something.
Ray Davies.
Clearly I'm drunk, good night!
29
I'm kind of surprised that no one has mentioned that in the Asian tradition (and Obama was raised with a healthy strain of it, in the household of an Indonesian stepfather), smiling and chuckling can also indicate embarrassment. Watch Obama's reactions on the videotape again. Some are genuine chuckles, but some are just "go-along-because-she's-the-headliner" smiles, some are mixed with genuine winces.
(After reading the comments on the Commentary post referenced above, I fear for our nation when its right-wing plutarchs are so damned thin-skinned. Sheesh! Get a life, losers--why do you even care about who's in power in Washington--go play in your military-industrial complexes and on Wall Street.)
(After reading the comments on the Commentary post referenced above, I fear for our nation when its right-wing plutarchs are so damned thin-skinned. Sheesh! Get a life, losers--why do you even care about who's in power in Washington--go play in your military-industrial complexes and on Wall Street.)
30
wanda ain't been out for like .what ...fifteen minutes and now she's a 'black dyke'.. i wonder what he called her when she was still in the closet
31
I thought her routine was funny. Enough time has passed for 9/11 to be used in the kind of joke she told. The humor at the dinner is supposed to be squirm inducing. People should be reacting in a "I can't believe she said that" way. She said it, bitches, get over it.
I too hope Rush's kidneys fail, and his liver, and his heart (if he has one). Soon.
I too hope Rush's kidneys fail, and his liver, and his heart (if he has one). Soon.
32
@5, I'm pretty sure Hitchens is soaking in whisky, not gin.
@27, Harpers is right. Hitchens has forgotten more about literature in the last ten minutes than most of his adopted countrymen (that's us) will ever know, and not miss it. He's very erudite. A bit wrong at times, but consistent and erudite.
@27, Harpers is right. Hitchens has forgotten more about literature in the last ten minutes than most of his adopted countrymen (that's us) will ever know, and not miss it. He's very erudite. A bit wrong at times, but consistent and erudite.
33
Sykes was hamfisted.
The WHCD is about subtle witty satire.
And who cares about Rush anyway?
It was the President's evening.
The WHCD is about subtle witty satire.
And who cares about Rush anyway?
It was the President's evening.
35
Hitchens is a drunken bomb-thrower, and Wehner (@8) is just plain wrong. A comedian insulting a talk-radio personality is not the same as a talk-radio personality cursing the President.
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