The joke's on McCain: Late-night comedians lay off Obama

maybe you will also present your audience with the polls or scientific data that show or suggest whether being the object of comedy actually more helps or harms a candidate's campaign? or whether, and if so how, comedy can be, or is being used, as a propaganda tool.
without further information, your material seems rather pointless.

Well if it will make you feel better, over 70% of the media coverage about Barack Obama is negative, and 90% of the coverage of Black men in general is negative. Think about it when is the last time read a positive article about a Black man in the Los Angeles Times or any other publication.

The reason for this is obvious. They have more respect for him. He is more presidential than all of them.

thats bull, the reason is because he is black, liberal television, race fear again, double standard..its disqusting

is that self censor? or we will be label many kind of word form racis* , gender bia*....? oh thats not good for media freedom.

This study reveals the bias of the entertainment industry as a whole, not just the TV "comics".

Let's face it, we moderates and conservatives are just not PC!

What a joke that is.

"Probably out of simple respect for Obama's long public service" - good one.

Obama is comedy gold, but Hollywood types won't gore their own ox.

Mocking him pisses him off more than anything it will be fun to watch.

How about this story? Game changer and you don't even see it. Imagine the ads targeted at rural dems in key states. While millions of Americans lose the only home they have ever owned, John McCain tells them, Gee, I have to get back to you on how many homes I own! Wow! And who is that elitist?!
Couple this unreal moment with his claim that peopel who make over 5 mil are rich, his making millions off of his mob-tied father-in-law, and his travels to The Bahamas with Keating...and this election is done for him.

McCain unsure how many houses he owns Jonathan Martin, Mike Allen
1 hour, 12 minutes ago

Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) said in an interview Wednesday that he was uncertain how many houses he and his wife, Cindy, own.

"I think — I'll have my staff get to you," McCain told Politico in Las Cruces, N.M. "It's condominiums where — I'll have them get to you."

The correct answer is at least four, located in Arizona, California and Virginia, according to his staff. Newsweek estimated this summer that the couple owns at least seven properties.

In recent weeks, Democrats have stepped up their effort to caricature McCain as living an outlandishly rich lifestyle — a bit of payback to the GOP for portraying Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) as an elitist, and for turning the spotlight in 2004 on the five homes owned by Sen. John F. Kerry (D-Mass.) and his wife, Teresa Heinz Kerry.

Pro-Obama labor groups have sent out mailers highlighting McCain’s wealth, and prominent Democrats have included references to it in comments to reporters.

Twice in the past two weeks, those Democrats have focused on McCain’s houses.

Sen. Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) told Politico’s Ben Smith that it was McCain “who wears $500 shoes, has six houses and comes from one of the richest families in his state."

And David Axelrod, Obama’s chief strategist, referred in an interview with Adam Nagourney of The New York Times to an imagined meeting of McCain strategists “on the portico of the McCain estate in Sedona — or maybe in one of his six other houses.”

McCain’s comments came four days after he initially told Pastor Rick Warren during a faith forum on Sunday his threshold for considering someone rich is $5 million — a careless comment he quickly corrected.

In the interview, McCain did not offer an alternate number, but had a new answer ready.

“I define rich in other ways besides income,” he said. “Some people are wealthy and rich in their lives and their children and their ability to educate them. Others are poor if they’re billionaires.”

McCain, by anyone's measure, is well-off, if you account for his wife's fortune. Cindy McCain inherited control of her father’s beer distributorship, the largest in Arizona, and has an estimated worth of more than $100 million.

Does the fact that Obama is not the subject of jokes work against him? O's problem is that he comes across as distant and too cerebral suggesting a lack of decisiveness when he answers questions (as happened at the Saddleback "debate"). Our humanity comes as much from our foibles as our strengths. Foibles are the prime source of humor and a visceral way we connect with our leaders and they with us (which is why laughing at one's self is so endearing).

Its easier to make fun of someone with more imperfections. Its no joke, that's just the way it is.

2 words: White Guilt

What about Craig Ferguson?

We have the media, including late night talk show hosts, to thank for foisting this charlantan on the American public. Of course the DNC contributed heavily. Their actions, combined with the gullibility of many Americans, has resulted in the most unqualified candidate ever to run for the office being a hair's breath away from the presidency. Nice work!

I took Leno & Letterman out od my TIVO. They are not funny anymore. I think they are getting too old.

this is meaningless because comedy central destroys the argument

They're afraid to poke fun of Obama because they're scared of being labeled "racists." He's too "holy" for jokes.

Obamamania in the media started almoust immediately. One of the best example of the Obamamaniacs, i think, is Keith Olbermann. Nobody investigates who is behind all of that nonsence.

The Center for Media and Public Affairs that released this "study" is a conservative think tank. The president of the the CMPA is a Fox News consultant and used to be head of the American Enterprise Institute. CMPA is funded by the Olins, the Scaifes, and the same millionaire heirs that fund so many of these conservative groups. Of course, this "news" is not provided by the reporter Andrew Malcolm. Thankfully, the LA Times makes him list on this page he used to work for the Bushes (yet another bunch of millionaire heirs who never worked a day in their lives), so at least we know what angle he is trying to push.

I'm told by the software that these items are moderated and thus there is a good chance this will never show up. Of course, LA Times Tribune company's readership has been plummeting since the web breaks up their little corporate propaganda campaign, as did their stock price which went from 60 in 1999 to below 30 last year before it was finally privatized. The Times can spit out corporate PR and hide this comment, but they can't stop their plummeting readership and disappearing advertising.

...so where is Craig Ferguson in this study? He's much funnier than these guys. He tells several jokes on McCain nightly. Have never heard him say a joke about Obama.

Remember, the new definition of a racist is someone who uses facts and logic to win a debate with a "liberal."

Americans don't want a President that comedians can't make fun of out of racial hesitations. That is for sure.

they don't joke about B.O. because he's divebombing in the polls. it's bad sportsmanship to mock losers.

"Well if it will make you feel better, over 70% of the media coverage about Barack Obama is negative..."

I'd like to visit your planet some day. How many Suns do you have and what color is the sky there?

This is news to anyone? That a black liberal who can't speak off teleprompter, is a two-legged gaffe machine, has zero grasp of history, but has a history of drug use, is totally whipped by his domineering wife, and is currently divebombing in the polls offers nothing to make fun of?

Yup, makes sense to me...

"How about this story? Game changer and you don't even see it. Imagine the ads targeted at rural dems in key states. While millions of Americans lose the only home they have ever owned, John McCain tells them, Gee, I have to get back to you on how many homes I own! Wow! And who is that elitist?!"

When will the moonbats learn that this sort of class warfare just doesn't work? Most Americans simply don't share your resentment of success.

They don't make jokes about Putin in Russia either.
An investment in the future. I guess...

why dont they make jokes about barack hussein obimbo
it is obvious, he is black and tthat would be wrong and they would be called racist even thoug the obamanation is a black racist
white guilt it may be however it may also be self loathing that whites are taught by the media.
i wonder where obimbo and his kind would be without whitey, getting eaten by lions and alligators and living in cesspools like somalia, kenya, the congo or the future hell hole that was a great country called south africa

tis a pity
eamon

Man, this article likes to start a flame war. Look at these comments, all politics and racism talk. I don't think anyone is even talking about what the article is actually about; how Jay Leno sucks and Conan rules.

And 'squinty-eyes' Kimmel is not funny

They don't make fun of Obama because it would piss off the Hollywood Elite, and they might even boycott their shows, Or be accused of making jokes at Obama because he's black. So sad.

And how many homes does Ted Kennedy own,? Give me a break. You liberals live in a world of your own!

They're scared. Look what happened to Imus.

For all the people who have commented to the effect of "no one makes fun of Obama because they fear being branded racist/he's too out of touch" - this argument would only hold up if people weren't telling jokes about him. They are. Just less than they are telling jokes about McCain.

The likely reason: they're terrified.

To make any jokes about Obama is to invite immediate condemnation for racism from the campaign and the entertainment industry, with calls to pull them off the air.

Gives a whole new meaning to the term "Hollywood blacklist."

As a senator in the Illinois legislature, Obama voted against a measure that would have protected BABIES who were already born. Obama's action would have the effect to allow doctors to withhold medical attention from BABIES and allow them to DIE!
Gives new meaning to the song "Killing Me Softly" doesn't it?
The records from the Illinois Legislature fully support the story and the facts. When confronted with the facts and copies of official documents, Obama accused people of lying about his record. It turns out that Obama was the one who was not telling the truth. And he tried to force his deception upon The American People by calling his accusers liars. A few days later, his campaign very quietly admitted that Obama was "Mistaken" in his assertions. MISTAKEN? I think there are more appropriate words which more accurately describe Obama's assertions rather than "MISTAKEN".
These facts would lead a reasonable person to conclude that Obama supported infant killing in Illinois and then when faced with the truth tried to cover his tracks. What do you think?

These people NEVER get the studies right.

The problem with evaluating these comedians according to the sum-total of their jokes about candidate X or candidate Y is that some comedians have larger audiences than others.

The audience-size thing is critical. To plausibly measure influence, one should multiply each comedian's joke-total (for each candidate) by the number of persons who're likely to have heard the joke. Dennis Miller could crack on Obama all night and it wouldn't have a tenth the impact of Leno cracking on McCain, 'cause the former has no audience and the latter does.

The same thing is the problem when people argue that, "The Mainstream Media aren't really that left-biased; after all, most editorials in small-town newspapers are written by fairly conservative people." Yes: And the small-town newspapers have a circulation of 150; the New York and L.A. Times and Washington Post circulate 15 million. This is, uh, a difference worth considering.

Once the findings of these "bias" studies are audience-weighted, they'll be meaningful.

But not until then.

(Another problem is that some jokes evoke sympathy for a person or don't bear on aspects of that person's qualifications for being president, whereas others evoke contempt and/or do reflect negatively on that person's presidential qualifications. But we'll leave that aside for a moment.)

Lets stop beating around the Bush--of course it's a "white Guilt" deal, plus the Imus fear factor, fear of being labeled racist--all of it. And the fact that the majority of the entertainment industry itself is so undeniably liberal and leftist. To contend otherwise would take a Lake-Superior-sized vessel full of unmitigated gall. Let's not kid ourselves, sports-fans, the only politically acceptable category left ok to ridicule is straight white conservative Christian males. Everything else is PC-like beyond the pale--UNLESS your a member of the minority group that you're making fun of. DL Hugley, on the Lenno show only a week after Imus was fired said:"Imus was right, those WERE some ugly nappy-heads out there--although they weren't Ho's." Not a PEEP of criticism.

I have a great respect for America. But all these years politicians have been folling around and especially repub..

Look at unemployment,health all these have killed americans real guts but still you are talkng about security threat..you millions billions to FBI,CIA,NSG for what ..what are they doing if you are asking to be pres ..ask for health reforms jobs .....

Mccain talk about fuel and stuff like that what was he doing ...why did Sr Bush killed the electric car...

Is Obama American? Otherwise, he can not take a joke.

Walter Winchell, the famous gossip columnist said, "I don't give a damn what they say about me...as long as they spell my name right". McCain is easier to ridicule so I guess he wins the exposure round in this matchup.

@Sammeer...

That's kinda ironic because all the civil rights legislation that the democrats started and continue to push for have been around since the 1960's and what have they done for the country? It seems like if these policies worked so well, we wouldn't still be talking about them, now would we?

It's very simple: McCain is just a funny ol' dude trying to act presidential and failing.

"Apparently, Jimmy Kimmel was not deemed funny enough to be included ... "

Hahaha, I rofl'd.

The study is meaningless for a variety of reasons:

1. Selection Criteria is what? Conan is in, but Fergeson is out? On what basis?

2. Colbert's show is stylistic in premise and that premise inherently pokes more fun at certain targets.

3. Letterman is in NEW YORK where one of the candidates is a sitting Senator, skewing his joke selection.

4. We made more fun of Quayle than Bush I as a VP. Media bias, or are some people just better fodder? Both can be critiqued on policy, negativity, flip-flops, and the usual stuff -- but the values of their real defining characteristics for simple, base comedy (Mccain - Age, Obama - fanatic pop culture vs substance) are different, and frankly McCain's vice is easier to exploit for a quick punchline.

5. Who the heck cares?

Simple. McCain gets the brunt of the jokes because he is the Bigger Clown. By far. The man is a buffoon who doesn't know that Pakistan and Iraq aren't contiguous, who admits to know nothing about the economy, who married a woman young enough to be his daughter shortly after dumping the wife who had stuck with him through thick and thin, who doesn't know how many houses he has, who claims to be a straight talker but who can't go a press conference without lying (the latest: his wife met Mother Teresa... bwaaah!)

Mecane steels people heart by telling his captivitu in vetnam and when he talks about it he thinks makes his listeners to belive he is the only vetran from that wrongly started war and finished shmefully.
He uses it like a currency to buy peoples heart, ear and now their vote AMERICA WAKE UP BEFORE CRYING FOR THE NEXT FOUR YEARS.

MACANE STOP USING YOUR EXPERIANCE IN VETNAM AS ACURRENCY TO BY PEOPLS HEART BECAUSE YOU ARE FROM RICH FAMILY AND GOT A CHANCE TO BE ON NATIONAL STAGE DONT MAKE MONY AND STATUS WITH THAT EXPERIANCE. THERE ARE MANY VETRACE WHO DIDN'T HAVE A CHANCE LIKE YOU AND CANNOT CASH IN TELLING THEIR STORY. WE ARE TIRED OF LISTING YOUR BLABLA BLA .....VETNAM......BLABLA.... TALK REALITY NOW.

It's all for ratings people! They joke about what's funny. Those crying that the TV stations are too easy on Obama need to listen to the "Eagles" single named "Get Over It".

It doesn´t really matter which party wins its all a show, all controlled by the CFR and Bilderberg until everyone realizes that these elections are all a show then we´re in the same position that we are with Bush. Learn more people open your eyes.

www.prisonplanet.com
www.infowars.com
www.jonesreport.com
www.truthnews.us

Obama is going to get hammered now about HIS house courtesy of convicted felon Tony Rezko...and someone should ask him if he objected when John Kerry with his many mansions and his billionaire wife Teresa Heinz ran for President.

Simply put, Bush, McCain and Clinton are more buffoonish than Obama. He doesn't really have that many qualities that lend themselves to comedic skewering. He's intelligent, speaks eloquently, always appears calm and confident, is neither strident or befuddled.

Nicely put Midgie.

To exapnd a little McCain seems more like Bush a figure of fun for the late night shows and a nightmare for the rest of us.

McCain offers up an easy comedy target.
Compare: Obama goes to Germany a makes a very presidential speech. McCain goes to a supermarket and talks while cans are dropped behind him by an uninterested shopper. Come on, comedians can't pass up that kind of opportunity.

How about the bikers rally he attended were he offered up his wife for a strip dancing beauty contest!! and doing that vroom vroom thing just to get them to rev their engines - So sad.

Add the fact that he is old which means he forgets how many houses he has and mixes up Shite and Sunni gives them another easy target.

Obama talks sensibly and intelligently about subjects, even if you don't agree with him and doesn't come across as senile.

Should comedians base their jokes on the lies about Obama, muslim etc or the reality that is John McCain.

Maross - I presume you are talking about John McCain or are you referring to President Bush?

Lets see, a study stating that shows on ABC NBC etc
are biased in favor of democratic presidential hopefuls.
They are all unbiased professionals. It can't be.
It's NOT true I tell you.

Doowleb

For the multitude of people on here saying that the late nights are attacking McCain because he's an easier target - last time I checked, big ears were comic gold (see Fresh Prince).

Or how about the Obama "Uh" count, which I've only seen once or twice. Obama says "uh" more times in a day than he says "Americans." That too is comic gold.

I love late night television; jokes about Bush and McCain can be funny. I'm not a wingnut. But a "he's old" joke every night usually falls flat. I think they're not picking on Obama because the race issue. Saturday Night Live deals with race issues all the time; why have they fallen silent on this one?

Speaking of Hollywood and the media's infatuation with Senator Obama, where are Michael Moore and Susan Sarandon and Whoopi Goldberg this time around? They put W. in the White House in 2004 with their socialist ranting, and now they have an even more liberal candidate based upon Obama's voting record which is at odds with his rhetoric. The media seem to forget the part of the country not on the east and west coast, who do not share the views that the economy can be "solved" by radically expanding the welfare state and punishing success. Both BIll and Hillary Clinton undersand this, which is why both were/are electable as President. Not Senator Obama, whose record is more liberal than Ted Kennedy which is why Hollywood is fawning all over him and thus confirming his lack of electability in the heartland. Hillary would have beaten McCain by 10 points and Obama snubbed her out of ego and criticized her for supporting the liberation of the repressed and brutalized citizens of Iraq who now have freedom and democracy. How can that be a "disaster" or a "quagmire" -- ask any Iraqi citizen if they want to go back to being terrorized and murdered by Udaq and Qusay Hussein. Its gonna be 4 more years in the wilderness for the Democratic Party until we can nominate another moderate such as Bill or Hillary. Hillary in 2012!!!!!

This isn't a shock! Obama's people set the precedent early on: If you make any jokes about the Black candidate we'll call you a racist!!!! Just another reason not to vote for the man if you ask me. Can you imagine four years of being called a racist any time you try to critique (or even joke about) your President? No thank! I'm going with Nader this year!!!

the bias is so obvious. so much so i did a google search and found this page. glad to see i'm not the only one who's noticed the continuous jokes about mccain, palin, palin's daughter, etc...and not a peep about obama. please tell me there aren't people out there stupid enough to believe that this has nothing to do with obama's race...the memo has been passed down to conan, letterman, etc. and i'm positive the name don imus was mentioned when the decisions were made.

How backwards is our nation when it seems like one candidate is backed by the mainstream media just because they are afraid to crack a joke about the other. Yes thats a good call make fun of a white guy and play it safe. Its perfectly safe to poke fun at an old christian white guy, but heaven forbid you go out on a limb and snap a joke off about obama. A black guy. Ohh thats taboo not safe better not do that. That would be awful to take risk and be labeled a racist. Way to go media! America is going to be overtaken one day if we stay on the course we are on. We are so politically correct now we have lost any morals and backbone!!!!! We r basically telling the world hey we dont want to offend anyone out there so just do what you want its ok!!

Could be that one candidate is preposterous and silly ad inept and the other isn't, thus make it difficult to spoof one and hard to spoof the other. Do you think?

There are more jokes about McCain/Bush/Palin just because Americans can easily understand these jokes.

If you watch Conan you will see EVERY joke is basically this: Larry King is old, Paris is a skank, Kristy Alley is fat. Obviously Conan goes for the very very EASY zingers that the American people all "know" about.

This is why there are 20-30% more jokes are about McCain/Bush/Palin.

Think about it.

Most (80%) of Americans do not approve of George Bush, so he has got EASY bullseye the size of Texas on his back. The TV audience can easily understand at laugh at these jokes.

Everybody can see that John McCain is older. Instead of making an intelligent joke about is Amnesty policy for illegal aliens (which most people don't care about), the talk show hosts go for the EASY joke of.... McCain is so old, his social security number is 1. This is a joke the American public can easily laugh at and understand.

Everybody knows about Sarah's unwed pregnant daughter. Plus Alaska is sooo far out there it is easy to make fun of people we do not really understand. So you get the EASY jokes of something like "did she ride her dog sled down from Alaska?" Or any joke revolving around Sarah Palin shooting a moose from a helicopter. And presto you have an easy image for the American TV audience to visualize and laugh at.

As for Obama

Yes, i do admit that people are a bit hesitant to make jokes at the expense of an African American man. But i similarly have not heard any jokes about McCain's heritage, skin color, or religion.

Second, with Obama you do not have very obvious things to make fun of. He does not have any odd verbal tics ("My Freinds"), he hasn't done anything terrible on the campaign trail like writing "Potatoe" on a school chalkboard (Dan Quayle=easy), and he doesn't really say or look weird enough to make a joke about (no JFK accent, or the Clinton smile and 'thumbs up'). Think about it... have you ever seen a really good impersonation of Obama?? No, because he is not easy to make fun of or imitate, on a basic level that everybody can understand and laugh at.

So my point is that not enough people are educated enough to make intelligent substantive jokes. So the talk show hosts go for the easy zingers that are obvious, like McCain is old, which really is unfortunate.

So if you do not like these easy shots.... Don't watch the TV show. I am not saying this to patronize, but seriously If you do not like something do not watch it. If enough people stop watching, they will lose ratings, advertising revenue, and viewers; forcing those TV shows to change the tone of jokes.

My guess as to why they are so easy on Obama is simply that they like him. You can't reasonably expect comedians to be all that objective and bipartisan. It could also have something to do with race. Democrats don't like to be as equally tough on minorities as they are on whites.

This is just observation - I am not a Republican by any means.

"Well if it will make you feel better, over 70% of the media coverage about Barack Obama is negative"

Why not 75%? As long as you're just going to make up statistics, you might as well make them as easy to remember as possible.

Jokes about Obama pulled because he's black? I don't think so. McCain and Palin don't get laughed at because they're white!

McCain is a target for jokes because he's old and angry. Palin – she IS a joke.

America must not be ready for a black president if we can't treat him like everyone else in the country and must tip toe around him, or be called a rasist...