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July 13, 2004

Life imitates Art

Back in 1992, I remember watching the film Bob Roberts in a theather and thinking it was so far over the top that it was stupid. Tim Robbins was going for a political Spinal Tap, but I remember at the time I thought the satire sailed clear past funny and landed somewhere in the depths of self-mockery.

About a month ago I was sifting through some shows my TiVo recorded and Bob Roberts was there, playing on some cable channel. I watched about 30 minutes of it, and after the last few years of post-war politics and overal coarsening of debate, it no longer seemed outlandish and I wondered if I should reconsider my original take on the piece.

Today a friend IMed me a link to an over-the-top conservative singer, and when sampling his tracks I heard the lyric "when in doubt, wipe them out" which crystallized the singer's brilliant Mid-East peace plan.

So Bob Roberts. Turns out it's not much of a satire anymore.

Posted at July 13, 2004 11:11 AM