Rachel Sklar, formerly of Mediabistro's FishbowlNY blog and now the "Eat the Press" specialist at the Huffington Post (no "Green Acres" accents required), reports on what she calls a "cheap but hilarious" shot at congressional Republicans on Comedy Central's "The Daily Show." It's apparently funny to blame Republican softball players for the floods in New Orleans, as fake-reporter Dan Bakkedahl put it:
The Daily Show's Dan Bakkedahl reported last night on the crisis gripping Congressional-league softball in D.C. this season after the Republican players split off into their own league in response to more inclusive regulations proposed by Democrats. According to the Wall Street Journal (and The Daily Show), the Republicans "seceded" from the league after the Democratic commissioner, Gary Caruso, permitted below-average teams to compete in the playoffs. The WSJ and Daily Show cited several emails accusing the league of being "all about Softball Welfare" and accusing Caruso of "punishing success and rewarding failure - He's a Democrat. Waddya' expect?"
Bakkedahl, however, was thwarted in his attempt to talk to the Republican players, who refused to go on the record, and, according to Bakkedahl, Comedy Central wouldn't allow any footage of Republican team members to be aired. Bakkedahl's response provides a hilarious soundbite: Citing "Chapter 84, Section 14 of the Electronic Communication Regulation Act...which allows us to record and broadcast phone calls" Bakkedahl picked up the phone, put it on speaker, and called Bob Honold, legislative assistant to Virginia Foxx (R-N.C.) and captain of one Republican team, who had earlier refused to be interviewed. Honold (who was very cordial) once again declined to comment, at which point Bakkedahl let fly with a hilarious (if rhetorical) question:
"Would you say that your decision to storm out in the middle of an interview reflects a general dickishness amongst Republicans that's probably responsible for the fact that New Orleans is under water? And I will take a hang up to mean yes." (Dial tone)Bakkedahl subsequently noted that there was no "i" in team, but there were two "i"s in "dickishness."
