In a bold move to liven up a dreary primary season, CNN partnered with the fake news satire site Babylon Bee to produce a fake debate last night, using actors who closely resembled the actual candidates. CNN, perhaps not realizing that its normal audience of several thousand people whose remotes no longer function would not "get" the satire, did not bother to notify viewers of the ruse. The actors acquitted themselves very well, particularly the guy playing Bernie Sanders. He produced a scene reminiscent of the crazed newsman Howard Beal from the classic film Network News, when he began shouting, eyes bugging out crazily, that energy companies were criminals who were destroying the country and strongly implying that they deserved prison or worse. That was the setup for straight man "Rep. Tim Ryan" who cautioned that there might be some lower level workers, provided they belonged to a union, who could be salvaged. Saturday Night Live has been desperate for a new funny girl since Tina Fey went big time, and they may have found her last night. The actress playing nutcase Marianne Williamson combined Fey's almost attractive looks with her brand of biting sarcasm. At one point she went on a long harangue about slavery reparations, a pretty funny topic all by itself. She went into a mock serious explanation of her "calculations" for the vast amount due the descendants of slavery for harms they themselves never experienced. I felt sorry for the actor playing Rep. Dulaney, the wealthy former healthcare exec. As the nominally sane candidate on the stage, he had precious little to work with, and rolling your eyes is only effective when on camera. Media watchers applauded CNN for pushing the envelope, and some saw a natural synergy between CNN, which invented fake news, and the Babylon Bee, which has developed it into an art form.
jaboukieVerified account@jaboukie 16h16 hours ago marianne williamson abt to be the first pres to swear in on a stack of tarot cards 211 replies 7,956 retweets 57,677 likes
Ann CoulterVerified account@AnnCoulter 15h15 hours ago There's something the matter with our TV. It keeps replaying the same speech by Bernie. 98 replies 247 retweets 1,938 likes
David Marcus@BlueBoxDave 15h15 hours ago If Don Lemon asked if only non white people should vote in this election how many Democrats would raise their hand? 1 reply 14 retweets 35 likes
Jimmy KimmelVerified account@jimmykimmel 15h15 hours ago Marianne Williamson is like if the trailer for the movie #Cats became a person. #DemDebate 372 replies 1,206 retweets 9,357 likes