Republican satire: every bit as effective as Republican policy

A supposed clip from the long-discussed conservative version of the The Daily Show has finally appeared online.

Predictably, it's unfunny. The producers realize this, too, hence the awful laugh-track.



What's so unfunny about it? Humor is subjective, of course, but in general, repeating the same RNC talking points about Barack Obama that Hannity and Limbaugh parroted earlier in the day isn't satire and it's never going to be funny.

For satire to work, it has to cut through bullshit to reveal a hidden or partially obscured truth. Political talking points are, by their nature, bullshit. Repeating them isn't satire. It's partisan hackery.

What the producers of this show clearly don't get is that The Daily Show and The Onion don't represent or carry water for the Democratic Party. A show that carries water for the Republicans isn't actually balancing anything out. Conservative TV viewers aged 18-34 are not going to watch a show with a comedy sensibility pitched somewhere between the Capitol Steps and a Rush Limbaugh song parody.

The only funny line, and the only real satire in the whole clip is the faux-bama magazine story titled "My Life In Politics: An 18-month Journey." Not coincidentally, it's the only example in the entire clip of the writers addressing a substantive issue.