CULTURE WATCH : Enough Already

When Dan Quayle attacked the “Hollywood elite,” the reaction of the American public was something between a sigh and a groan. When the “Hollywood elite” struck back during the Emmy Awards, the reaction of the American public--and, for that matter, of the Emmy audience itself--was something between a groan and a yawn.

Thanks to the vice president’s post-Emmy counterattack, we now know that his sister, presumably a Republican, is a divorced and struggling single mother. But has any sane citizen ever doubted that Republicans also divorce, just as Democrats also marry? Or that there are gay Republicans, just as there are straight Democrats? Or that out-of-wedlock birth, which occurs, classically, “in the best of families,” does not respect political affiliation?

In a happier era in American politics, “motherhood and apple pie” was the phrase of choice when dismissing a political speech that said nothing. But “family values,” without further specification, has even less content. There are significant, even major differences between the Republican and the Democratic platforms. But when it comes to the family, can anything be more obvious than that the two parties are essentially identical?

Political humor rises and falls with political debate generally. Good serious talk begets good funny talk, and, alas, vice versa. “Family values,” a non-issue if there ever was one, has begotten some of the unfunniest political humor we’ve ever not laughed at. It’s time to change the subject and to bury, once and for all, that damned potato.