Conan O'Brien Goofs On Obama's Kidnapped TOTUS

Kind of funny.

So, Conan O'Brien is making teleprompter jokes. Obviously, then, no longer a fringe thing.

I had meant to add something to that Drudge screencap, the "Flawless" headline.

Irony only works if it's clear you don't mean a word of what you're saying. Otherwise, it's confusing, as people do in fact take your words as on-the-level.

Because, I guess, I'm considered a RINO, it does happen that when I drop some ironic statement, some people start arguing with me, because it's not clear, in their minds, that I couldn't possibly have meant what I'm saying.

So, for irony to work without that sort of confusion, it has to be pretty clear that the literal interpretation is not intended.

So, with Obama: Could "Flawless" possibly mean that Obama's actually flawless?

No. Not a damn person in the entire world could think such a thing. Drudge's irony works here because it's so obvious that Obama's a failure that a headline calling him "Flawless" must be some kind of sarcasm.

Even if I put up a big headline reading "CLUTCH" under Tony Romo's picture, you wouldn't know for sure if I was goofing or not, because every once in a while Tony Romo does in fact turn in a clutch performance. You'd have to read the article link to know if this was one of the minority of times he'd actually been clutch, or one of the majority of times he was anti-clutch.

With Obama? No need for context! We all know what the headline means.

We've come an awfully long way from January 2009. When a "Flawless" headline might actually have been used by some in the media in an on-the-level, straight-serious manner.

Now, it's a gag, and an obvious one.

Minor thing, I know, but that's the best I've got lately.

posted by Ace at 03:28 PM

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