In Which The 2012 Presidential Election Mirrors The Simpsons (Part II)

Part I is here, although with the addition of Paul Ryan to the ticket, hopefully our debates will progress past "C'monnnnnn!" vs. the rubbing of fingers together to indicate tax hikes.  But it will still be about "your children's future", either way...

But let's move on to the second example of our national elections imitating a cartoon sitcom.  Last night, Paul Ryan and Mitt Romney, on 60 Minutes, defended themselves against the claim they were dismantling Medicare, by pointing out it was Barack Obama that was de-funding the system by $700 billion -  to pay for Obamacare.  Ryan made it personal and professional, as usual:

“My mom is a Medicare senior in Florida. Our point is we need to preserve their benefits, because government made promises to them that they’ve organized their retirements around. In order to make sure we can do that, you must reform it for those of us who are younger. And we think these reforms are good reforms. That have bipartisan origins. They started from the Clinton commission in the late ’90s."

Good stuff, right?

You wouldn't know... because CBS cut the segment out of the broadcast.

I don't have to explain why, or what their motivation was.  If you are here, reading this, you know exactly why.

And it all reminds me of an episode of the Simpsons, Homer Badman, in which our hero is accused of sexual harassment when a confused babysitter doesn't realize that he's reaching for her rear end only to snatch a rare gummy candy that got stuck to her posterior.

Homer is ostracized by the community, and makes the mistake of going on a syndicated talk show in an attempt to defend himself.


60 Minutes, meet your cartoon doppelganger, appropriately named:  Rock Bottom:





And maybe  - like Homer, and Sarah Palin - Paul Ryan will get to see a TV "biography" of his life air, with all the same distortions of "Game Change", or "Homer S: Portrait of an Ass-Grabber" (starring Dennis Franz as Homer):

[A dark city street, with a rusty beater careering wildly back and forth knocking over garbage cans and uprooting parking meters. Dennis Franz and a pigtailed girl of about 14 are in the car.]

GIRL: *screams in terror*
DENNIS/HOMER: *laughs with evil delight*
[A cat is in the middle of the street.]
GIRL: No, Mr. Simpson! A cat is a living creature!!
HOMER: I don't care!
HOMER swerves across the road and runs over the cat, which meows as the car thumps over it.
The car powerslides to a stop next to the curb. 
 HOMER: Now I'm gonna grab me something sweet. The camera quickly focuses on the girl's butt. 
GIRL: No Mr. Simpson! That's sexual harassment! If you do it, I'll scream so loud the whole country will hear! 
 HOMER: *mocking* With the man [Bill Clinton?] in the White House?! Not likely! *laughs evilly*