Kill Bart, Kill Bart

First, if you missed it on TV last night, please take five minutes to watch this clip from Colbert.

The Colbert Report	Mon - Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c
Sarah Palin Uses a Hand-O-Prompter
www.colbertnation.com
Colbert Report Full Episodes Political Humor Economy

I have something of a soft-spot bordering on outright crush for the well-executed literary device.  (As an aside, I nearly jumped out of my seat when I saw this article in the latest issue of Southwest Airline's Spirit magazine about Warren Buffet's use of literary devices in his shareholder letters.) And the clip above borders on perfection in terms of executing satire--my personal favorite literary device.

As for Sarah Palin, today brings further news that she umm shall we say, didn't do her reading.  She's clearly in the Tyson Zone at this point, yet she's not quite dead politically.  It's a puzzle that I don't have an answer to.  How can someone so clearly incapable of governing memorizing three lines be mentioned in the same breath as the Lincolns, the Jeffersons, the Roosevelts,  and whoever else is on American currency.   Are we so desensitized that facebook ramblings ghostwritten by some newly minted College Republican out of some East Coast liberal arts college count as contributions to the political discourse?  Unfortunately, if this Vanity Fair blog post is any indication (h/t James), the answer is yes and American democracy is in deep trouble.  Read the whole thing, but the part that stood out for me:

Then there’s Sarah Palin, who, egged on by other intellectually malnourished “real Americans,” has said so many startlingly stupid things in the last few days, the comedic furnaces won’t be cooling down any time soon! She’s a dynamo of dumbassity! An inferno of idiocy! Yes, Ms. Palin, 2012 is almost in your grasp! Reach for the stars, get a map, find Iran, start another pointless war we can’t afford! Score!

And he uses alliteration and other devices.  Way to stick the landing.  Bravo!