WaPo fact-checks SNL; has paper of record never heard of satire?

WaPo fact-checks SNL; has paper of record never heard of satire?

The opening skit on this week’s “Saturday Night Live” was a sendup of “School House Rock,” teaching the difference between a bill and an executive action, using that framework to poke fun at President Obama’s recent “immigration action.” Forgetting that it was satire, “The Washington Post Wonk Blog” fact-checked the comedy routine.

This skit got a couple of things right, and a couple of things wrong. For starters, Obama didn’t sign an executive order. He is taking executive action, in particular by directing the Department of Homeland Security to expand programs that defer deportation for classes of undocumented immigrants — parents of U.S. citizens or permanent-resident children, as well as undocumented immigrants brought to the country as children.

See a handy flow chart to determine who qualifies.

Obama’s action on Thursday adds 4 million new eligible immigrants, on top of the 1 million young immigrants who became eligible for deferred deportation under Obama’s original 2012 program.

The cold open got the basic explanation of what the difference is between a law and executive order right. And SNL also is correct that more Americans, even if they support comprehensive immigration reform, don’t believe Obama should do it by fiat.

As to whether the executive action is unconstitutional? That’s a matter of debate, of course. Some House Republicans think so and may add a complaint to a suit they are planning to file challenging Obama’s executive actions on his health-care law.

One Obama backer who also supports a comprehensive overhaul of immigration laws says the action may be impeachable, as “by constitutional design, impeachment for ‘treason, bribery, or other high crimes and misdemeanors’ is a political accusation.”

The piece goes on issue-by-issue, disputing the lines in the skit as if they were real political positions rather than laugh lines and concludes with:

And so what matters most for Obama’s action is public opinion, and what his successor does. The SNL skit, in that sense, doesn’t help him.

Perhaps the WaPo is afraid the sketch will be believed as truth by progressives. After all it was an SNL parody that put the words, “I can see Russia from my house,” in Sarah Palin’s mouth — something progressives sill believe the former governor said. Going back to the show’s beginnings, President Ford wasn’t anywhere near as clumsy as Chevy Chase portrayed him as being. The history of SNL is rife with political satire, usually at the expense of conservatives.

Factual correctness is not important to Saturday Night Live or any satire (they weren’t trying to convince the viewer that President Obama would ever push someone down the stairs either). What matters the most is that their sketches generate laughter on Saturday and discussion around the office water cooler on Monday. Apparently “The Washington Post” doesn’t get it.

Cross-posted at The Lid

Jeff Dunetz

Jeff Dunetz

Jeff Dunetz is editor and publisher of the The Lid, and a weekly political columnist for the Jewish Star and TruthRevolt. He has also contributed to Breitbart.com, HotAir, and PJ Media’s Tattler.

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