When Over-the-Top Presidential Warmongering Was Funny
Simpler times.
Over at Bluesky, BBC North American correspondent Anthony Zurcher observes, “In the run-up to the first Gulf War, SNL had a skit where Dana Carvey, as George HW Bush, gave a speech to the Iraqi people where he said America was a great scorpion and jackals would slake their thirst on the blood of Iraqi soldiers. It was funny because it was so absurd.”
Here’s the clip, which originally aired September 29, 1990:
I was a few weeks away from being mobilized to fight in that war at the time, but don’t think I caught it. (The Armed Forces Network was the only source of American television overseas in those days, and I couldn’t get reception in my apartment in Germany).
Carvey’s impression of Bush The Elder holds up well. The humor is less funny in present context.
Resonates that you should frame our war humor satire this way. I have recently found myself not laughing at the SNL skits, Kimmel riffs, and Colbert improvs on the Iran war. The dying civilians at the hand of my government lands hard and leaves a hollow feeling.
@Rob1: Granting that I have many biases with regard to the First Gulf War, I believe it was arguably the most just since World War II. Saddam violated every precept of the international order by invading and seizing Kuwait and Bush The Elder secured not only Congressional authorization but a UN Security Council Resolution in support of the war effort. And gave Saddam months to comply before launching operations.
Wars, unfortunately, kill innocents. We have, at least beginning with that war, generally sought to minimize so-called “collateral damage.” But killing is the modality of war.
In the spirit of funny analogies: The Iranian response to Trumps latest blustering