In one of the most scathing and arguably vulgar personal attacks on the Republican vice presidential nominee yet, Bernhard lashed out at Palin during opening night of her one woman show in Washington, D.C. on Thursday night. Among other controversial remarks, Bernhard called Palin a 'turncoat bitch' who "would be gang raped by blacks in Manhattan."
In one particularly abasive [sic] rant, Bernhard attacked everything from Sarah Palin's fashion sense and hair style to her political views and religious beliefs.
"Now you got Uncle Women, like Sarah Palin, who jumps on the shit and points her fingers at other women. Turncoat bitch! Don't you fuckin' reference Old Testament, bitch!" Bernhard said. "You stay with your new Goyisha crappy shiksa funky bullshit! Don't you touch my Old Testament, you bitch! Because we have left it open for interpre-ta-tion! It is no longer taken literally! You whore in your cheap fuckin' New Vision cheap-ass plastic glasses and your [sneering voice] hair up. A Tina Fey-Megan Mullally brokedown bullshit moment."
Or, more to the point, whites in Wasilla, Alaska. Sandra Bernhard is wrong here in so many ways, I won't even begin to list them. In one fel swoop, she's viciously insulted people on either side the this gaping ideological divide, which if you think about it, is kinda impressive.
I suggest we just let the political implications of her remark go. It's not like Sandra Bernhard is a mainstream figure at this point. Face it, she needs the attention.
]]>WTF?
and, Palin has never been to Manhattan, as far as I know. Why Manhattan? She probably won't be going to Manhattan, home of "cosmopolitans" (tm Rudy Giuliani) and "eastern elites" (tm Mitt Romney). Maybe to denounce Wall Street--except, wow, talk about the only R around who sounds cluelesser than McCain when discussing national finance. Palin rambling with even more cluelessness than she showed about fungible commodities would be a gift. And I don't see any Manhattan fundraisers this next few weeks.
]]>Is it me, or is the amount of crazy increasing by the day? It's starting to sound like the scenery in Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five's "The Message".
]]>http://www.theonion.com/content/video/portrayal_of_obama_as_elitist
]]>But yeah, Bernhardt is crazy. But then, she's always been crazy, so this is not necessarily news.
She's good in "King of Comedy", though. Where she plays a crazy lady.
]]>With friends like these...
]]>"As far as you know"? Of course she's been to Manhattan before. And she's going to be back there this week. There's this organization that's based in Manhattan that you've never heard of, as far as I know*, called the UN. Palin is going to meet with some world leaders while they are in town. Not that this makes Bernhard's comment any less offensive or pointless.
*See how lazy this formulation is? Since I don't know anything about you, I can claim anything I want about you as long as I add the clause, "as far as I know". Just like you just did with Palin.
]]>Exactly. That's why its funny. Why this is even news is beyond me.
]]>This is exactly the type of bizarro world liberal rationalization I am talking about.
I wonder if you guys would think it was really funny if some looney red neck "comedian" did a bit about warming Obama not to come to Birmingham or he'd be lynched? How funny would that be? The howls of outrage would be unbelievable, but because its a conservative woman, no big deal.
Black guys gang raping Sarah Palin takes on deep philosophical meaning.....alrighty then.
]]>Is this as far as you know? Or a fact?
]]>Your sense of humor sucks. Getting offended by comedians is one of the lamest things you can do, you old crusty idiot.
]]>Perhaps it should be this week's SNL opener. The possibilities for hilarity are endless.
]]>For the very same reason that the Jews engendered the enmity of the Nazis during the 1930s.
The thought of a couple of black men raping Palin certainly is provocative, isn't it. But it is a justifiable meme.
]]>It isn't my sense of humor that sucks.
]]>also, I walked down 125 from Morningside to Lex last night, and never before had I seen that many cops in the same place. Like 2 groups of 5-15 cops every 50 feet. Then one of them told me there was a shooting, and had to walk down 124 instead.
]]>It's all in the way you look at it. For example, all of the above are funnier than Larry the Cable Guy.
]]>Gosh, in the entire comment thread, I see exactly one person who thinks it's funny. So maybe you should calm down a litte.
]]>'cept for Jeffrey Ross. That nigga's funny as hell
]]>But this rant signifies nothing more than Bernahrdt's belief that the rant will be contraversial, and so popular with her admirers.
I do agree that the whacko in King of Comedy was a role that she pulled off perfectly though.
]]>See, torture can be funny, I saw that on a T-shirt here - http://tshirtinsurgency.com/guantanamo-bay-t-shirt
]]>This sounds oddly like that irritating clip on tv from Axe bodyspray in which someone insists that jokes about sheep aren't funny.
It is hard to think of how one would come up with a funny child abuse joke, but it does seem doubtful that it couldn't be done. And I can think of funny jokes about rape, although don't known any offhand about gang rape. Torture though seems an easy target for humor. And have animals really become that sancrosanct. I can think of good jokes about killing animals.
Maybe the problem here is a confusion between making a joke about a topic and endorsing a behavior in the joke. That would seem to miss the fact that it is a joke.
]]>However, I can explain why Palin inspires a visceral detestation. She reminds some women, me included, of all the mean girls that made our lives a misery in school. She's shallow, vapid, dishonest, ignorant, intellectually lazy, more concerned about style than substance, and vindictive. What's not to hate?
I do not wish rape on anyone. Boiling oil, on the other hand...
]]>Big difference: Sarah Silverman is actually funny. Bernhard isn't.
"Essentially, this phrase represents three of the right's worst fears: sex, black people and liberals."Exactly. That's why its funny. Why this is even news is beyond me.
Let's break this down a little, shall we?
"Rape" does not equal "sex". Shouldn't have had to explain that to a woman, but there you go. Republicans aren't afraid of sex, and a woman who has had five kids certainly isn't afraid of sex.
it's called "shock comedy" where you try to elicit laughs by shocking your audience.
it's not for everyone but let's not pretend she really wants palin gangraped, ok?
]]>Heavy-handed tirades almost never work. They're predictable and boring and come off as mean-spirited. They may be intended as jokes, but they are bad jokes at best. And often not even that.
]]>Actually I agree with "Libertarian" that there are some topics that just aren't funny, but I'm an older person, so maybe this is just another one of those opinions that come with age. South Park has some hilarious moments but then some that are just offensive, not clever. Humor and outrageousness aren't the same thing, but some comedians and some audiences can't tell the difference.
]]>it would serve her right.
]]>You can joke about rape. As George Carlin (peace be unto him) once said "think about Elmer Fudd raping Porky Pig". This is sort of funny. There was at least one good rape joke in Blazing Saddles too (You said rape twice? [response] "I like rape.").
I guess my point is that an offensive joke is less offensive if it is funny. I have heard and told funny allusions to torture and abuse (our host offered a funny allusion himslef the other day: "and keep feeding you, and feeding you", a reference to the hilarious Wu Tang clip called "Torture" (I think that is what it was called)).
And don't get me started on race. Whether its white, black or everything in between, there are few things funnier than good natured racial humor.
And this: "y'all lost all rights to make fun of black people because of 400 years of you know what."
African-American please. I'm not going to stop making jokes about black folks out of white guilt. I mean, I love you guys and all, but you all are way too funny for me to sick back and pretend not to be amused.
]]>Palin inspires the same highly visceral negative reaction in me that Clarence Thomas does. I do hate her cos she's a woman trying to screw me over with a smile on her face and claiming to be a feminist all at once. If she's a feminist, then what the hell does that leave me?
]]>If you go to a place where young men cannot find women to marry, they will tell you that heaven is a brothel.
The Church Fathers, at a time where they were being ground by the millstones of the lion's teeth to make the flour that would become the bread of Christ, explained that part of the pleasures of Heaven would be watching the wicked be tormented in Hell.
I think that SB's observational humor fits quite well with the viewpoint of the Church Fathers... but that pretty much only works if you see her positions as Religious.
They make absolutely no sense to me through any other filter than the one that says "Cosmic Justice would entail Ironic Punishment!"
]]>You are a fucking idiot, Juan. Richards stopped his show and was directly talking to two black dudes in the audience. Cute try, though. And its not about defending SB, its about not getting riled up by what a comedian says during a show. The fact that some dumb-ass blogger has this on her "Sarah Palin sexist watch," is beyond dumb.
]]>Where's your sense of humor now? It all depends on whose ox is getting gored. If you want to defend wishing graphic acts of violence on someone as being humor, then you you're stuck defending it in both instances.
BTW, unlike the black guys in Kramer's audience who heckled and insulted him in the middle of his show, Palin did nothing to warrant the ire of the ugly, untalented Bernhard.
]]>I agree with that sentiment. Sandra Bernhardt was never smart enough to sense that line and made her career on crossing it (e.g. being mean). Her limited popularity has been a product of people taking a stake in her bullying behavior. In that regard, I think the inadvertent comparison to Larry the Cable guy is apt.
]]>As far as Ms. Bernhard, uh....she's crazy!
]]>I wasn't offended by what Richards said. It was obviously dumb, and ignorant, but I certainly wasn't offended. Also, it wasn't a joke. He was just calling them niggers. If you can't see the difference, then I don't know what to tell you.
]]>If people didn't find comedians offensive, Michael Richards would still be fondly remembered as the loveable, hipster doufus from Seinfeld.
]]>
Get an oldster to tell you about the sort of stuff that was said about Eleanor Roosevelt. Not to mention all the Hillary stuff over the last 15 years.
Weird and sad as it is, whenever a woman is at all a public figure of discussion, even in some much more trivial way then Palin, rape jokes and threats always come up.**
I don't know if you remember the Kathie Sierra blogosphere controversy of last year, but something that ought to have been a total tempest in a teapot--had to do with opinions about software usability--blew up because folks who disagreed with a *web design column* decided to express themselves in--you guessed it--rape threats.
Run for President, be married to a President, be on TV, be on the internet, run for the condo board--these are just a few of the things a women can do to get herself threatened with violent sexual punishment.
People on the right do it, and some people on the left. Men are most often the perpetrators, but sometimes, as with Bernhardt, it's women.
Whatever. It has nothing to do with how nice or horrible the woman is--all you need are the right chromosomes and you too can play. It's horrible, but it's not stopping anytime soon.
* Bernhardt's repulsive triple play of race, sex, and violence is of course, a whole mess in itself that means a lot about Bernhardt. 'M just talking about the pattern "woman does public stuff=nasty humans use the rape threat thing"
** Palin's nomination infuriates me too for a variety of political reasons. That's irrelevant to the fact that these sort of events are still scummage.
You're playing dumb. Richard didn't just call the men niggers (just like Bernhard didn't just call Palin a traitorous bitch), he said he'd like to see them lynched (just like Bernhard said she'd like to see Palin gang-raped). You're being dishonest in claiming that one of these 'comedians' was being funny and the other was being offensive. Either both were being offensive and over the line or neither were.
]]>She doesn't represent anyone but herself, and doesn't do herself any favors with this rant.
This Palin-hatred is really idiotic. I have much more of a healthy fear of her, in terms of her views and intentions, than any hatred.
Anyway, if you want to see funny, check out the Onion video mentioned above by JimS. Brilliant.
]]>You truly are an idiot. I didn't say that he 'just" called them that. I said that it wasn't part of his routine. He wasn't joking. He's was very pissed and his true colors came out. He wasn't even TRYING to be funny. Do you really not get this? I also said I wasn't offended by Richards. How would I be in a position to be offended?
]]>As a white person, I just have to thank you, TNC, for being so understanding about our little foibles.
]]>it would serve her right."
Rape doesn't serve anybody right. Rape is rape. It's a violent crime. I'm not saying, "I disagree with Williams, so being raped would serve him right."
It's a little weird for Williams to claim that "we would ALL love" to see her not just raped, but gang-raped. What makes you think we would ALL love to see that, Williams? I think it's mostly just you.
]]>"I also said I wasn't offended by Richards. How would I be in a position to be offended?"
As a decent human being, you ought to be offended anytime someone wishes an act of violence on someone. Set aside your overpowering political bias for a moment and think about that.
]]>