‘Family Guy,’ Palin and the Limits of Laughter (New York Times)

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By DAVE ITZKOFF

February 19, 2010 

 

“Family Guy,” the Fox animated comedy series, is either irreverent or crass, depending on your tolerance for unmannerly humor. Viewers come for its pop-cultural free associations and flatulence gags, not necessarily to debate pressing issues of the day.

So it is probably the last program that anyone expected to serve as a catalyst for a continuing fight about the depiction of disabled people on television, and whether they are fair game to participate in and be the subjects of satire.

It is a dispute that has drawn in Sarah Palin, the former Republican governor of Alaska and 2008 vice-presidential candidate, who has a son with Down syndrome, and a “Family Guy” voice actress who, like the character she portrayed on the show, also has that disability. Though the two women would seem to be coming from similar perspectives, they have ended up as far apart as possible.

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Gov. Paterson written off by experts, pols as he fends off rumors of sexual, political scandal (New York Daily News)

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BY Kenneth Lovett
DAILY NEWS ALBANY BUREAU CHIEF

February 9th 2010

ALBANY - A chaotic Capitol plunged to new lows Monday as Gov. Paterson was forced to swat down "callous and sleazy" speculation he's quitting amid personal and political scandal.

The pushback capped a remarkable few days in which an apparently orchestrated rumor mill about the gov's drug use and womanizing reached a fever pitch, peaking with blogs claiming his resignation was imminent.

An increasingly beleaguered Paterson scrambled yesterday to pick up the pieces of his political world as it crumbled around him.

"For the last couple of weeks I have been the subject of what, even by Albany standards, has been a spate of outrageous rumors about me," Paterson told The Associated Press.

Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/news/2010/02/09/2010-02-09_major_meltdown_in_albany_as_he_fends_off_rumors_of_scandal_patersons_increasingl.html#ixzz0f696ZViD

Mike Lupica: Tea Party favorite Sarah Palin has delusions of grandeur if she thinks she can be President (New York Daily News)

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By Mike Lupica

February 8th 2010

Now Sarah Palin comes right out and says it, that she really is thinking about running for President in 2012. She says it in the same starry-eyed way kids talk about growing up to be astronauts, but actually seems to believe it, that somehow she can go from being this kind of pinup girl for her Tea Party friends to the White House.

"I think it would be absurd to not consider what it is that I can potentially do to help our country," Palin told Chris Wallace on "Fox News Sunday."

Now there are many, many ways Sarah Palin could help this country. Running for President will never be one of them. You listen to her long enough and actually feel yourself getting dimmer by the minute, like a dying light bulb.

Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/news/politics/2010/02/08/2010-02-08_sarah_believe_me_you_have_delusions_of_grandeur.html#ixzz0eyTjjyEZ

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