The annual “Treehouse of Horror” Halloween episode of FOX’s The Simpsons will parody the U.S. invasion and occupation of Iraq, according to a report by ABCNews.com. What’s more, the special is scheduled to air the first week of November, just before the midterm congressional election.
While the writers of The Simpsons have never shied away from politics, one segment of the upcoming broadcast will be particularly critical of the war in Iraq, judging by specific lines of dialogue cited by ABC News. Titled “The Day the Earth Was Stupid,” the segment recalls the panic caused by Orson Welles’ 1938 radio broadcast of H.G. Wells’ The War of the Worlds, only this time aliens Kang and Kodos capitalize on the confusion by invading Springfield. At one point, Kang says, "Well, the Earthlings continue to resent our presence. You said we'd be greeted as liberators!" Kodos replies, "Don't worry, we still have the people's hearts and minds." He then holds up a brain and a heart.
Okay, so this probably isn't the shot that will bring the whole Cheney Administration/Project for a New American Century apparatus crashing to the earth. Not that it won't having right-wing bloggers crying foul next Monday. But it does suggest, as long time p3 reader and correspondent The TV Guy wrote me this morning: "I guess the Republicans have lost the Simpson vote. "And yet--what is the Simpson vote? Where will they fit in the minute calculations of Karl Rove's 72-hour GOTV operation? What's their part in the vapid horse-race election coverage of the major media?
Herewith, my take:
Lisa: Well, they never had Lisa's vote, of course--on the environment alone they lost her. And don't get her started on funding for the arts.
Bart: Even though he's certainly old enough to vote by now, and his felony convictions were probably sealed by the juvenile courts, he would never in his life cast a legal ballot (which isn't to say he wouldn't go into the booth and "mark" a ballot, but the Sec of State would probably disqualify the result, describing it euphemistically as a "spoiled ballot").
Homer? Difficult to say. He's in the right IQ range, of course, and sufficiently out of touch with his own best interests--two things the GOP likee in their voters. But he did live comfortably with those gay guys . . . at most, he'd be a Giuliani Republican.
Marge is the one I worry about. Marge is, I predict, a Security Mom: straight Republican at the top of the ticket, albeit with occasional misgivings, and typically splitting her vote as she moves to the down-ticket races.
Abe, and Patty and Selma are totally Republican, of course. I can easily see Abe helping swift-boat Murtha for something that happened during the Crimean War. And can't you just picture Patti and Selma, cigarettes dangling from their lips, posing next to a torture victim at Abu Ghraib?
(Picture credit)
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