Peter Sagal, the host of the NPR radio quiz show Wait, wait, dont tell me, was in Houston last night as featured speaker for opening night of the Jewish Book Fair. Beyond hosting the quiz show each week and firing off his rounds of predictably leftish commentary on events of the week, Sagals creds as opening night speaker for an event devoted to appreciation of literature are weak. Mr. Sagals conflation of snark as satire and the promotion of his brand of left wing jibing as literature is a terrible disservice to Jonathan Swift and other talented writers who though the years have managed to afflict the powerful with commentary that will outlast the next news cycle. Bemoaning the fact that the all too human George W. Bush is no longer available to be made fun of comprised the first 20 minutes of his presentation. Once hed finished with Bush, Sagal leveled his aim at John McCain where he made fun of McCains misstep following one of the debates with Obama. A couple of snidies directed at the easy target of Sarah Palin finished off his direct broadsides at the political underclass. Sagal lives in Chicago, Illinois, the most corrupt city in a state recognized as the most corrupt in the nation, after Louisiana even. No mention of Chicagos foolish gun ban or the easy irony of the city where the strongest gun laws in the nation have produced only the highest murder rate in the nation. Sagal fires the only ammo he can on the state level at Rick Perry, again, the easiest prey there is. The signature similarity of both Rod Blagojevich, the former Democrat governor of Illinois and Rick Perry, is their hair. The major difference is that for better or worse, the Republican Perry is still the governor of Texas isnt in jail for corruption. Sagal has found a large, compatible and comfortable audience with people whose thoughts parallel his own and whose sense of fair play in the doling out of satire is funny only if it is leveled at those whose beliefs differ from ones own. Props to Sagal for his beyond the studio work on the meaning of the US Constitution to the Americans whom he interviewed in his travels while collecting material for his PBS broadcast Constitution USA.
Posted on: Sun, 03 Nov 2013 19:40:17 +0000
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