As the U.S. Senate voted in favor of initiating debate on the implementation of new restrictions on constitutional rights, the “Saturday Night Live” crew was readying its Obama-supporting comedic arsenal.
SNL writers came up with an opening skit for this past weekend’s show, which essentially chided Congress for failing to sufficiently negate the Second Amendment.
The most recent telecast of the longstanding NBC show began with an Obama impersonator handing over a fictitious presidential press conference to two senator actors.
The senator thespians were fill-ins for a couple of real-life senators who have actually put together a background check proposal, which recently garnered votes from 14 other GOP senators.
In the SNL skit, Bill Hadar is cast as Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.V., and Jason Sudeikis plays the role of Sen. Pat Toomey, R-Pa.
In a real world prelude to the TV humor, a filibuster threat was fended off, due to a routine procedural vote that allowed the Senate to begin formal debate on the Toomey-Manchin proposal, as well as other post-Sandy Hook legislative measures.
The mainstream press hailed the event as a breakthrough. The SNL skit, true to its snarky form, referred to the procedural vote as an agreement “to begin thinking about talking about gun control.” The show’s writers and producers additionally belittled the Toomey-Manchin background checks proposal, characterizing it as a meaningless proposition.
President Obama is portrayed in the bit by Jay Pharoah, who throws out the following line: “As you know, over the past few months, I have made gun control legislation a top priority for my administration. Which is why I am so proud to announce that last week, the Senate voted 68 to 31 to begin debating the idea of discussing gun control.”
For partisan emphasis, the faux president paraphrases the same statement, saying, “Let me say that again: They’ve agreed to think about talking about gun control.”
The SNL Obama also informs viewers that the deal is going to end the careers of both senators. Concerning Manchin’s future, the actor notes that since the senator is “from West Virginia and he’s proposing gun reform? He’s going to lose his job.”
Similarly, the Obama stand-in says that Toomey is “a Republican who’s willing to make just the slightest compromise on gun control? He’s going to lose his job, too.”
Predictably, SNL crafts the humor in a way that places blame squarely on the shoulders of Congress for not having done enough to further the president’s gun control agenda.
The sketch wraps up with the Obama actor shrugging his shoulders and saying, “See, this is what I'm up against.”
From a media psychology vantage point, the real Obama is engaged in exploitation of the Sandy Hook tragedy and is using every media apparatus he can get his hands on to sway public opinion. In addition, he has an army of willing allies in the news and entertainment media who are lined up to assist him in massaging the public’s psyche.
In a truly unsettling move, the administration has actually taken some of the parents who lost children in the Newtown tragedy and essentially turned them into lobbyists for its political agenda, even placing the parents in the offices of the U.S. Senate.
Reportedly, the presence of the grieving parents was what persuaded several of the senators who were previously reluctant to back away from a filibuster.
“It’s remarkable,” Connecticut Democrat Sen. Christopher S. Murphy told The New York Times. “You can’t turn a corner in the Capitol this week without meeting a family of a gun violence victim. It’s hard to say no to these families.”
While meeting with the parents, Manchin evidently became so emotional that he broke down and cried.
“I'm a parent . . . I'm a grandparent,” he told reporters, after being asked what he thought it meant to have them visiting the U.S. Capitol. Attempting to respond, the senator said, “I can't imagine this . . . to do something.” He then gave up, succumbing to his emotions.
Emotional lobbying apparently played a role in the current Toomey-Manchin bipartisan matchup. The two were reportedly brought together by the staff of Americans for Responsible Solutions, former Rep. Gabrielle Giffords’ new gun control advocacy group.
Possibly buoyed in his gun control push by the effectiveness of having Newtown parents serve as inadvertent lobbyists, Obama, in a rather startling move, recently had Francine Wheeler in his place to deliver the weekly address. Wheeler had tragically lost her little boy in the Sandy Hook massacre.
Wheeler’s message seemed mostly intended for congressional ears, as she urged lawmakers to move to enact gun control legislation. She implored them to “help this be the moment when real change begins.”
Similar to the message conveyed by Wheeler, the SNL focus seems to have the earmarks of having been orchestrated by media-savvy operatives in the Obama administration and who may have, as a further agenda, the goal of reaching beyond the Toomey-Manchin proposal.
The language is strikingly similar to the dialog in the SNL skit.
The Manchin and Toomey imitators in the SNL skit said, “Is this bill what we wanted? No. No. Is this bill what the NRA wanted? No. But does it at least help in some small way? No. Probably not.”
Wheeler, sitting in for the real Obama said, “Is this bill what we wanted? No, no. Is it what the NRA wanted? No. But does it at least help in some small way? No. No. Probably not.”
James Hirsen, J.D., M.A., in media psychology, is a New York Times best-selling author, media analyst, and law professor. Visit Newsmax.TV Hollywood. Read more reports from James Hirsen — Click Here Now.