The other day, in my message to people who think differently from me, I had sharp words for Michelle Wolf, the comedian who upended the staid and pompous and hoary White House Correspondent’s Dinner with her penetrating and uncomfortable assault on the politicians and journalists in the room.
I said she was coarse and cruel and guilty of spreading hatred and alienation in our world.
I followed the mob of serious and sometimes stuffy people who thought she went too far and were shocked, shocked, and who felt the need to balance the scales of the left and the right. We are all defensive in this world, as we are all constantly under one kind of attack or the other.
I have since read all of her comments, listened to all of the posturing and hand wringing, and was able to put her and her comments in context. It’s true that some were over the top, and brushed against the line of civility.
It’s true that she stretched and pushed the boundaries and pulled no punches – not to the fatcat journalists or the fatcat politicians. The President and the media love to pretend that they are enemies, and that they hate one another, but Wolff punctured the balloon and pointed out that they love each other, profit from one another, and have each made the other successful and rich and powerful.
The rattled White House Correspondents said she obscured the spirit of the night, but what, really, is the spirit of the night if it isn’t to afflict the comforted and comfort the afflicted, the creed of every good journalist in the world? What, truly, are they celebrating?
This needed to be said at an incestuous dinner where honest reporters have no business being, breaking bread and sipping champagne with the very people they are supposed to be watching and prodding and tormenting. The comments aimed at Sarah Huckabee Sanders were sharp and perhaps hurtful, but they were not cruel and coarse, they were pretty funny. Sanders is a big girl, she can take it.
Wolf made much nastier comments about the men – people like Chris Christie – and nobody said a word. I think Wolf was correct when she told Terri Gross that people accept women to be “nice” and respectful. I’ve already put Wolf’s new show on Netflx into my stuff.
Sorry, Michelle, for being a sheep and following the pompous a bit too quickly. I am old, after all, and sometimes remind myself not to think that way.
Michelle Wolf’s comments were not that bad, really, she poked the powerful and made them squirm, precisely what satirists and comedians are supposed to do.
She did her job, and in doing so, she committed the unforgiveable crime of reminding everyone in the room, Republicans and Democrats, journalists and bureaucrats, that most of them are not doing their jobs, and if they were, our country wouldn’t be such a mess and so full of hatred.
It was embarrassing to see all of those hard-ass and righteous journalists abandon Wolf and grovel afterwards, when they should have been among the first and loudest to defend her. So should I. This feels much better, it feels like me.
It doesn’t matter how hateful Donald Trump is or isn’t, or what Sanders really feels, Wolf was doing what she does. She was honest, she was funny. And if you read over her words, they weren’t even all that shocking. She was only jarring in comparison to the tepid words and ideas of what we call the media and the political establishment.
Wolf was the only person in the room who was actually doing her job, and that, I think, was why the reaction was so severe and overblown. I do stand by the rest of what I wrote. Things are getting too nasty out there. But that is not Michele Wolf’s fault. She was just telling the truth. Some comedians still remember that is why they are here.
In any case, you can read the transcript right here for yourself, and make up your own mind. Feel free to let me know what you think.
Guess I can’t figure out why you would apologize to a woman who is a bully? Everyone is whiny and complaining abour the poor kids being bullied in school and on the web yet they learn it from adults. I am soooo sick of the horrible things being said about a man that is our PRESIDENT. If these things were said about Obama, oh my god there would be riots but trump who had the gall to run and win the presidency can do nothing right in anyone’s eyes. I am not saying I am for or against trump but what I AM saying is he deserves respect. We can’t expect kids to not bully when adults are doing it NONSTOP. I see it over and over in your blog and others and feel sorry for people. You go on and on about the poor Immagrants. If they want to live her let them become LEGAL citizens. Problem solved. I don’t expect to ru to Canada and be accepted without going through the correct and LEGAL processs. My god when did this country become a country of give me give me give me. Work for it.
There were – are – many horrible things said about Obama, Rach, what cave were you living in. This is the point really, we are all speaking horrible to one another and one side can only hear themselves and see themselves. You have so perfect captured what I was railing about in the first place. And your hero is leading the horrible sayings chorus..do you read what he says about Obama? And yes it is also happening to him. That’s the point. The whole world doesn’t paint itself right or left. The curse of the ideologues. At least Michele Wolf can think for herself.
You sure have an odd notion of what is humorous is all I can say!
That is most certainly true…
Thank you reading her full presentation and for admitting your error publicly. You disappeared me with your first comments but now more than fully redeemed yourself!!
Well today you’ve become a a Cowardly sheep. Hate ruled out again. Time for some more pics of donkey lips..who could argue with that.
Very well said, Jon.
I agree with you…Now! I thought she was awesome and did the job she was supposed to do…make those people uncomfortable. And she must have hit a nerve…like Stephen Colbert back in 2006…some things just need to be said. Like the fools in medieval times who could speak truth to power!
Jon,
I have to admit, when I watched the video clips of Michele Wolfs WHCD gig, I cringed, even tho I thought much of it was spot on and, sadly, comical. It has been my reading through of the comments and criticisms since that I have come to the same conclusions as have you. She was doing her job and in doing so, she was reminding the White House Correspondents to do theirs. Journalists all over the world are being tested, tried, and killed everyday trying to do their jobs.
So if that room of WHC’s and all the other people watching, including myself, got a little uncomfortable, good.
I was taken aback at your initial reaction- Glad to see you come to your senses on this . THis is about truth – however uncomfortable it makes people feel.
Yeah, Jon, am with you 100%!
Because I heard that I was supposed to be angry about what Michelle said I like you was. Then I found the entire transcript and had a change of opinion. She is a comedian. She’s not the President. We expect some inappropriate comments from comedians and if we are offended we can choose not to follow their humor. On the other hand we have but one President and when he offends with his angry words we can’t pick another one for a while. A comedian is not there to set an example of what class and dignity are about. We do expect more from a president, however,or any public servant for that matter. So I too changed my mind.
Thank you for that editorial. I felt the same, but was unable to speak it out.
You said to tell you what we think about what you wrote, but I fear if I disagree with you you may ask me what cave I am living in. Speaking of speaking horribly to eachother..
Mary, it’s sad that you can’t see that we are all doing this to each other in America. You’ve internalized the idea that you are a victim because you are on the “right” and if anyone did this to President Obama, we would all be horrified. People did do this to Obama and people are doing this to Trump,and everyone is angry and horrified. Seems to me we need to start telling a different story. You can’t see that Obama was treated that way also – Trump attacks him daily – because you are blinded by the left right propaganda machine. Trump is often treated horribly as well. We are doing this to one another. The system is failing. Disagreeing with you is not treating you horribly. Suggesting you were born in another country and are lying is treating you horribly, suggesting the President is insane is treating him horribly. The world isn’t divided into good guys and bad guys, and you and I are not saints superior to one another. The left and the right dichotomy is a poison, and you seem to be stuck in it. I hope I never am. Please respond to the idea that this happens to people on both sides of the divide, rather than just whine about me because I don’t feel sorry for you. That would be a conversation, not a complaint.
I don’t know any of the players. But no one likes to be “third personed” i.e. talked about in front of others. And to attack her physical appearance while she sat there was pretty harsh. Her “humor scraped the bottom of the barrel. It was unkind. And unnecessary. “It is a long road that doesn’t turn”