SNL Rips Obama, Pelosi, Reid and 'Unpopular' Healthcare Reform

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SNL Rips Obama, Pelosi, Reid and 'Unpopular' Healthcare Reform

By Noel Sheppard (Bio | Archive)
Sun, 03/07/2010 - 11:58 ET

"Saturday Night Live" mocked the entire Democrat establishment last evening taking on President Obama, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.), and healthcare reform.

Fred Armisen playing Obama in a mock address to the American Nursing Association continually referred to healthcare legislation currently before Congress as "surprisingly unpopular."

"Speaker Pelosi and Majority Leader Reid have assured me that unpopular though it may be, in the days ahead this bill will be passed by both the House and Senate and sent to my desk for signature," assured Armisen.

"Finally, after decades of effort, we will have real healthcare reform even though, as I have said, it may not be popular. Or viewed favorably by Americans. Or what the people want us to do" (video embedded below the fold with transcript, h/t Story Balloon):

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FRED ARMISEN AS PRESIDENT OBAMA: Good afternoon. Roughly sixteen years ago in 1993 and ‘94, a newly-elected Democratic President Bill Clinton working with the Democratic majorities in both the House and Senate attempted to pass the first serious health care reform in a generation. Predictably, the forces of the status quo went into action. The bill was attacked relentlessly. Unfairly distorted and became so unpopular it was finally abandoned. That fall of '94, the Democrat Speaker of the House was defeated in his own district and the Republicans took over both houses of Congress. I am here today joined by House Speaker Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Reid to tell the American people this is not going to happen again. Now, polls may show the healthcare reform bill currently before Congress to be surprisingly unpopular.
KRISTEN WIIG AS NANCY PELOSI: They really don't like it.
WILL FORTE AS HARRY REID: I thought it would be much more unpopular. Much more popular, excuse me.
WIIG: I was stunned.
ARMISEN: All the same. It is not going to be abandoned. It is a good bill. A good bill hat we have perhaps failed to properly explain. Speaker Pelosi and Majority Leader Reid have assured me that unpopular though it may be in the days ahead, this bill will be passed by both the House and Senate and sent to my desk for signature. Finally, after decades of effort, we will have real healthcare reform even though as I have said, it may not be popular. Or viewed favorably by Americans. Or what the people want us to do.
Naturally the same forces that fought reform sixteen years ago are back trying to convince members of Congress that a vote for this legislation is political suicide.
Now, granted this bill is very unpopular, but come on, does anyone seriously think Nancy Pelosi could lose in her San Francisco district? A place where Republican candidates often finish fourth behind professional dominatrixes - and homeless people. Let's get real, that's not going to happen.
Now, Senator Reid, I'll admit, is in a different situation. He's up for re-election this fall in Nevada where healthcare reform is especially unpopular. I'm not sure why, but it is.
Really, really unpopular. Angry mob unpopular. So let's be frank, Harry could lose this November, but let me make something clear, I don't think he will. Or at least it won't be because of this unpopular healthcare bill. After all, he's got other problems. Healthcare could poll at 100% and Harry Reid would still have problems. I think even Harry would agree he's not the most telegenic or charismatic guy around. Am I right about that?
Plus he has been hurt by some of the sleazy deals he cut with other Senators in order to get health care passed. I mean you have to acknowledge they were sleazy.
FORTE: You're right, they were. They were.
ARMESON: I mean the Cornhusker Kickback. It just smelled bad.
FORTE: It did.
ARMESON: Also, Harry hasn't been able to spend much time back in Nevada campaigning as he's been tied up here in Washington working on this deeply unpopular healthcare bill. But that doesn't help. But still, I wouldn't count Harry Reid out. He's a scrapper. Plus even if he should lose, we'll still have enough Democratic senators for a majority. I mean, no offense.
FORTE: None taken.
ARMESON: I mean, who knows? We might even be better off without him. I don't know.
FORTE: Maybe.
ARMESON: But I'll tell you what, even with all of Harry's problems, I'll bet he makes it, although you never know. Nevada is weird. Now, Nancy here, I'm sure of. Come on, San Francisco.
WIIG: I feel pretty good.
ARMESON: As for myself, I will unfortunately not be on the ballot this fall. I wish I could be because unlike this healthcare bill, I am really, really popular. You'll see what I mean in 2012. Thank you and live from New York, it's Saturday Night!

Interesting how the folks at "SNL" really harped on how unpopular the bill is, and how Obama, Pelosi, and Reid are willing to force it through regardless of what the people want.

Nice to see some honesty in the media concerning this issue even if from a comedy show.

Although this wasn't very funny, this skit more accurately depicted what's going on with healthcare reform than what's been emanating from so-called "real journalists" for months.

Bravo, SNL. Bravo!

—Noel Sheppard is the Associate Editor of NewsBusters. Follow him at Facebook and Twitter.

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Painful To Watch

Sun, 03/07/2010 - 12:14 ET by SimJim

I don't know if it is the comedian or the fact they won't allow Obama to be portrayed as the buffoon he is, but there was very little humor in the skit. There is tons of funny material in Obama ignoring health care reforms that would work in favor of reforms putting control of our health in the hands of government, but the comedians simply refuse to do it. Too bad...the country could use a good laugh at Obama's expense.

Boooooooorrrrriiiiiiiiiiiiiirinnnnnnggggggggggggg

Sun, 03/07/2010 - 20:52 ET by conservativediva

Snore. Geez, who writes this. The only joke was it's unpopular.. Wow, hillarious. First off, the Obama comedian doesn't look like him. Second, the Pelosi one is too young and not frozen faced enough. How could there not be one funny person to do these imitations. I guess all the funny people are liberal idiots.

I enjoyed it, but I couldn't

Mon, 03/08/2010 - 05:05 ET by MadRat

I enjoyed it, but I couldn't help but feel the audience was squirming in their seats and thinking, "Is it OK to laugh at Democrats? Are they really making fun of Democrats on TV? This doesn't make sense, everyone in the entertainment industry is Liberal."

It may not have been as

Sun, 03/07/2010 - 12:29 ET by Cthulhu2012

It may not have been as funny as some past SNL skits (although I did chuckle a bit in some parts), but it may have been intended to be about as serious as a show like SNL can get. The entire skit essentially focused on how unpopular the bill was, how it wasn't what the public wanted, and yet they were still going to ram it through anyways. Something the folks that watch SNL religiously need to hear.

Sad when a comedy show is more accurate than the "news" networks.

Why choose the lesser of two evils?

Obama is laughable when he says, "A GOVERNMENT takeover

Sun, 03/07/2010 - 12:29 ET by ekslib

of health care is NOT in the works."

The mere length of the 2000-page GOVERNMENT bill shouts

"Obama's crazy or lying."

Obama's also funny when he acts as though he only promoted a dialogue after the bills were written, but he had nothing to do with the content of the congressional bills.

Obama's fingerprints are all over the bills.

Stand by...

Sun, 03/07/2010 - 12:34 ET by dervish

for a CNN fact-check. Wolf's probably got it loaded up already.

Opening skit then zzzzzzzzzz

Sun, 03/07/2010 - 12:42 ET by Tomorama

I watched this and merely snickered, BUT, they were spot on with the facts, but it was a one joke skit pretty much.

Problem is, the jokes on us.

Why can't Armisen do the back and forth head motion that WE all know is an "obama tic"?

Almost like he is forced to do the skit, but doesn't want to make him the butt of the "joke" too much....

A great man once said, YOU only get out of life what YOU put into it, he obviously wasn't a liberal.

yep

Sun, 03/07/2010 - 12:50 ET by forest

Time to trot out the old "but people like the individual provisions within the bills". When asked about awesome sounding benefits loaded with talking point lingo like "choice and competition", and omitting the massive costs and other likely consequences of the changes, people love health care reform!

Time to trot out the old

Sun, 03/07/2010 - 13:25 ET by GrannyGrump42

Time to trot out the old "but people like the individual provisions within the bills".

What kills me is Obama's bewilderment that people like some of the provisions but don't like the whole bill. Does nobody on his staff get simple high-school set theory? The Set of People Who Like Provision A may overlap The Set of People Who Like Provision B, and both may overlap The Set of People Who Like Provision C, but the area where all those sets overlap is always going to be smaller than any of the sets themselves. And the more provisions you chuck in, the smaller the area of overlap of all the sets.

Or, to make it simple: Poll people in the workplace. How many like the idea of ordering Chinese for lunch? How many are okay with subs? Pizza? Soup and salad? You'll find majorities that are okay with ordering any one lunch. But NOBODY is going to want a bowl of Chinese salami pizza with clam chowder and Italian dressing, okay?

Also...

Sun, 03/07/2010 - 13:44 ET by SimJim

When the polls don't include information on the cost...both societal and economic...of the individual pieces, then it's not a real question anyway. There is no magic genie. There is a cost and when the whole bill is presented the cost becomes obvious.

What an odd skit. It's

Sun, 03/07/2010 - 12:44 ET by shannon76

What an odd skit. It's accurate (i.e. the unpopular sentiment), but really grim. It seemed like their heart wasn't into the material, but then why'd they even bother taking that angle (the healthcare bill angle)?

It looked like Armisen was finally making a token effort to get Obama's mannerisms (e.g. the head swivel from one teleprompter to the other and the index finger in the air). It's the first time I've noticed Armisen do that. But Armisen still doesn't have his heart in mocking Obama. There's a wealth of material there even in the speech mannerisms (refer to Paul Shanklin).

He is...

Sun, 03/07/2010 - 13:11 ET by StarAZ

...kind of bad at Obama.

But he's getting better

Sun, 03/07/2010 - 13:44 ET by Blonde

His inflections are better, the rise on odd syllables, he is using his hand movements a bit better, and also the stop and grin when Obama "makes a point".

Armisen needs to work on the teleprompter/tennis match twitch. And of course, the writers need to come up with some better material.

But at least SNL is trying. Fortunately, we don't have to watch it, we just get to see anything remorely worthwhile here, thanks NS!

I hope he fails, too.

StarAZ~~

Sun, 03/07/2010 - 18:33 ET by Kat Outta the Bag

No kidding. Where are the big ears, the purple lips and the arrogant upward tilt of the chin?

I suspect, judging from the

Sun, 03/07/2010 - 13:01 ET by snaggletoothie

I suspect, judging from the very low quality of the writing and half-a$$ed acting, that the SNL people did not want to do this at all. I'm sure they would have preferred to have made fun of the Tea Parties and the anyone else to their right but they lack the courage of their convictions.

Or Sarrah Palin

Sun, 03/07/2010 - 13:54 ET by Kingfish17

You could also tell that this audience wasn't into this skit at all. They failed to laugh at the very first punch line. They should stick to making fun of Americans who care about limited government like the tea party movement.

Whenever a SNL skit flops, like this one, they need to have their Sarah Palin look-a-like come out on stage and say something stupid like....."Oooo! I can see Russia from here!......That will bring the house down. That's the type of high brow humor the liberals in New York are renowned for.

There is only one goddess Gaia and Al Gore is her prophet.

Hmmm...

Sun, 03/07/2010 - 13:09 ET by Guapo Diablo

This makes me suspect that Emanuel, Axelrod or someone will call NBC execs and ask "What the hell are you doing to us? I thought we were on the same side."

If Pelosi

Sun, 03/07/2010 - 13:17 ET by jessieH

If Pelosi gets re-elected, then California deserves what happens. The woman is nuts.

Heck, more than half that state is nuts! The worst part is that

Sun, 03/07/2010 - 15:14 ET by no tingly legs

they no doubt expect the feds to bail them out from their financial irresponsibility and profligacy.

NO MORE HOAX & CHAINS

And when you say Feds....

Sun, 03/07/2010 - 19:21 ET by Kingfish17

......you mean the rest of us Americans who don't live in California. I have no doubt, that where I live, we do not have the same sort of "social spending programs" as in California, (not that I'd want them anyways). So why should I pay for social programs and infrastructure that supposedly is way better then we have in my state?

I bet a typical liberal Californian would answer that it's not their fault that the state that I live in doesn't spend as much on their citizens as California does.

There is only one goddess Gaia and Al Gore is her prophet.

SNL skit

Sun, 03/07/2010 - 13:41 ET by cajun2

The problem with this skit is that it is very accurate which makes it scary, not funny. The best part of this skit is that it is a summary of Washington's "skits" with health care and better analysis than anything done by the fringe media. Sad day when SNL and John Stewart have a better report on the beltway that the news media.

Saul's soul

Sun, 03/07/2010 - 13:52 ET by nadadhimmi

The left is going ballistic as the right is learning and using Saul Alinski's Rule for Radicals. Yep, target, isolate and ridicule. Thank you Andrew Breitbart for starting to fight back, stay strong and the weaker ones will follow. John Stewart and Sat Night Live(twice), ridiculing Progressives? The tide is turning! Don't Blitzer, Olbermann, Matthews and Madcow now seem so old fashioned, stiff and humorless? Just as did Nixon in 1970.

I actually liked the way

Sun, 03/07/2010 - 14:43 ET by gmonsen

I actually liked the way Obama is so willing to throw everyone under the bus to get the bill passed. I like Armisen's interplay with Harry Reid here. The whole, well Nancy should survive, but Harry won't... He has issues even if the bill WERE popular...

Gmonsen

Not all that funny and the worst part was that Kristen Wiig

Sun, 03/07/2010 - 15:11 ET by no tingly legs

is MUCH too attractive to pass for Pelosi. But I guess it would be difficult to find an older actress with a frozen, leering, scary Botox grin permanently plastered on what passes for a face. The crack about Republicans in SF losing to even a dominatrix was funny however....probably even true.

NO MORE HOAX & CHAINS

The HuffPo Libs are not

Sun, 03/07/2010 - 15:58 ET by bse5150

The HuffPo Libs are not happy with this SNL skit either. Typical comments are:

NOT FUNNY! BUSH LIED!

I HATE PALIN! SNL NOT FUNNY!

CHENEY SHOULD BE IN JAIL! SNL NOT FUNNY!

PALIN! PALIN! PALIN! I HATE PALIN! DO YOU HATE PALIN? I HATE PALIN! SNL NOT FUNNY!

I LOVE ABORTION! I HATE PALIN! NOT FUNNY, SNL!

The comedy wasn't great. The

Sun, 03/07/2010 - 16:32 ET by balboa

The comedy wasn't great. The best lines were about Nancy's opposition in California. But then none of these cold opens seem to be good at that.

There is no way that Fred Armisen's "heart isn't in it" when portraying Obama. He knows that this can translate into a huge gig for him. I just don't think he's very good at it.