Outside the Beltway

When Over-the-Top Presidential Warmongering Was Funny

Simpler times.

James Joyner
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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, and 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 the present context.

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9 responses to “When Over-the-Top Presidential Warmongering Was Funny”

  1. Rob1 Avatar
    Rob1

    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.

    4
  2. James Joyner Avatar
    James Joyner

    @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.

    10
  3. dazedandconfused Avatar
    dazedandconfused

    In the spirit of funny analogies: The Iranian response to Trumps latest blustering

  4. Ken_L Avatar
    Ken_L

    I’m having trouble finding any humour in American politics these days. Trump is so self-evidently insane, plus so desperate to celebrate victory over Iran, that it is no longer unthinkable that he would order the use of nuclear weapons against infrastructure.

    4
  5. Jax Avatar
    Jax

    @Ken_L: He’s gonna nuke Iran. Nobody will stop him, and no consequences will be forthcoming. That’s where we’re at. I guess all that remains to be seen will be who nukes us back.

    2
  6. Flat Earth Luddite Avatar
    Flat Earth Luddite

    @Jax:

    My fervent hope is that, when he orders the nuke strike, the officer refuses the order, and we step back from the abyss. Unfortunately, I’m afearin y’all are absolutely right.

    3
  7. Kylopod Avatar
    Kylopod

    When his infamous post was being sent around earlier today, I kept seeing people ask if it was real or satire. That’s what the Trump era is like. He’s ruined satire because he’s a walking joke that doesn’t know he’s a joke.

    Bringing up Dana Carvey’s beloved GHWB impression is ironic in retrospect, because a lot of those skits reinforced an image of Bush (who enlisted in the Navy at 18 and became a fighter pilot during WWII) as a wimp. There was just something about the way he spoke that conveyed passivity, to those who were inclined to superficial impressions. His son managed to shake free of that image despite having a lot of the same tendency toward verbal stumbles and malapropisms that the comics loved. I guess he got away with it because he was so unapologetic about it. And the Connecticut-born Yalie really laid on that Texas charm thick. I’m convinced it’s a big part of the reason the press gave him a pass for so long. While Trump is obviously in a category all his own, this is yet another area in which Dubya laid the groundwork, by appealing to raw machismo. In his case there was no doubt a daddy complex at work, but whatever the reasons or motivations behind it, it’s not a trait known for leading to prudence and circumspection in foreign policy (or anything else).

    1
  8. Ken_L Avatar
    Ken_L

    @Jax: I think it’s unlikely either China or Russia would retaliate to the American use of nukes in Iran, for the simple reason their leaders are rational actors who do not have a death wish. The atrocity would do no more than accelerate the global movement already under way to isolate the US.

    1
  9. Rob1 Avatar
    Rob1

    @James Joyner:

    regard to the First Gulf War, I believe it was arguably the most just since World War II

    Agreed. Totally. This ongoing mess in the Straits and Cheney’s 2002 Iraq War, not so much. If only we could maintain the same righteous deliberation and restraint through our own regime changes.

    I’m just not finding much humor in our foreign escapades these days. I root for the civilians trapped between inhuman counterpoint policies.

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