10 Political Satires That Told the Truth

Mike Edison, a blogger from the Huffington Post, wrote an amusing article about political satires in October 2012. The body of his piece talks about how parody is easy, but satire takes work.  He had a new book coming out called Bye Bye, Miss American Pie that

takes that free-swinging approach to the stark absurdity of the American election process -- and the attendant hyperventilating media coverage -- but with a more patient and literary spin. After all, there are only so many times one can Photoshop Bill O'Reilly onto his knees before it ceases to be inspired. 

Edison also has a list of the top 10 political satires.  On the lists he includes things like the Colbert Roberts, movies like 'The Candidate' and books such as Animal Farm.  Below is what he has to say about Colbert.  Check out the article for the full list. 



I have a feeling — at least if a non-scientific poll of my left-leaning Facebook friends is any indictor — that the liberals who complain most loudly about Fox News do not actually watch it. Personally I cant get enough of Bill O’Reilly, in the same way I can’t wait for Darth Vader to come on the screen when I am watching Star Wars. And as any serious fan of westerns, Wagner, or professional wrestling will tell you, we all come to see the villains. The thing about O’Reilly — who is the prime inspiration for Stephen Colbert’s caricature “Stephen Colbert” — is that he is impossibly good at what he does. He is a bully, and he wins every argument, by any means necessary. Like a bad guy in the WWE, he never hesitates to play dirty. He cheats with out-of-hand dismissal of facts (“Oh c’mon! You cant be serious!”) or by simply making shit up. He is as low-down and unscrupulous as they come. Hannity, Doocy, Van Susteren, and the rest are just annoying mouthpieces, but O’Reilly, well, they should have got Jack Palance to play him in a movie when it was still possible. Colbert’s genius is that he plants his stake firmly in O’Reilly’s backyard as a blowhard, but his wit and intelligence still shine through his kayfabe heel. If more of Colbert’s viewers actually watched the thing they enjoyed making fun of, they would be horrified.