Once again, enjoy!
Sigh. Even Dave Barry’s going with the fucking “both sides are equally bad politically” line.
He always has.
Is Dave Barry this generation’s Andrew Rooney? Hell, which generation am I talking about? I liked Andrew Rooney in, say, 1989, and I liked Dave Barry then, too. But I don’t think I’d like Andrew Rooney now, and similarly, I don’t seem to like Dave Barry now, either.
Dave Barry suffers from Dennis Miller disease. They got too wrapped up in the fake-patriotism of 9/11, and it really blunted their humor.
Well, no: “I Got You Babe” still plays, but then the morning deejays cut in like this:
D.J. #1: Okay, campers, rise and shine, and hang onto your sanity 'cause Trump is President out there today.
D.J. #2: Trump is President out there every day!
Oh, that’s too bad. I used to really enjoy his column. I cancelled my Chicago Trib subscription due to billing BS, and haven’t read Barry’s column in quite a while. Chicago (and maybe other markets) used to get his column a week after other markets for reasons beyond me.
Sorry about the Dennis Miller thing, Mr. Barry, that’s a real shame.
Yeah, he was funny back in the 20th century. I’m not sure if he lost what made him funny, or if I lost something that made me think he was funny. Either way I wish him the best, but give his written works a miss.
By my count, in Dave Barry’s 2018 Year in Review his ratio of making fun of Trump and Republicans compared to ridiculing Democrats is only about 25 to 1, which is an obvious attempt to equate both sides. For instance, his August capsule starts out;
“…a Virginia jury finds former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort guilty of tax evasion, bank fraud and having a name that can be rearranged to spell “Fart Upon Lama.” Only minutes later, Trump’s former lawyer, Michael Cohen, pleads guilty in New York to various charges, including arranging hush-money payments in 2016 to Stormy Daniels and Playboy model Karen McDougal “at the direction of a candidate for federal office” who is not named but was obviously Bernie Sanders.”
The ‘tell’ there is dragging in Bernie Sanders. :mad:
He reported from both the Democratic and Republican conventions in either 2012 or 2016 (can’t recall right now; maybe he did both). The one thing I definitely remember is that one of them was in Tampa, Florida, and I was personally surprised that he didn’t mention that if you put an X on the end of Tampa, it becomes Tampax, Florida.
You see, I made that up. 
(So did a lot of other 11-year-olds.)
I keep believing he has retired and getting surprised when he publishes.
Right. What, we now must have a de facto ban on any mockery of the Dems until the emergency passes? I don’t see symptoms of Dennis Miller Disease in any part of this piece, either.
The one clear instance of bothsidesism in the piece is the commentary on the Kavanaugh appointment and at least he’s explicit about it.
Y’know, Balthisar, he MAY have become the new Andy Rooney. I can see that being the case.
Why shouldn’t he?
Because they’re not?
You’re right, he’s far too easy on the Democrats.
Maybe not so much in the linked column, but it’s been a trend with him and Miller both since 9/11. It’s like they’re either afraid or just unwilling to be overly critical of Republicans or conservatives. It’s more blatant with Miller, but Barry does it, too.
Or, you know, maybe his political views evolved. Not everyone has to agree with everyone else. And if a person can’t laugh at their own side, maybe they don’t have a sense of humor as much as Schadenfreude.
It wasn’t his political humor that turned me off to Barry. To me, he just wasn’t being very funny anymore. Heck, I still read P. J. O’Rourke, who’s constantly jabbing at moderates and liberals. Because O’Rourke is still funny.
De gustibus. I like Dave Barry.
I’ve been a fan of Barry since his columns started appearing in Upstate magazine, the sadly ex-Sunday magazine of the Rochester Democrat & Chronicle. That was before his first book came out.
This year’s column was just sad. It had no punch, no rhythm, no flow. I don’t remember that being true for previous year-end columns. Something changed.
He’s only a year younger than Trump, so age really could be a major factor. Even Carlin fell off a cliff as he aged.
Read the whole thing yesterday. Major meh, and it’s been like that for several years.
I’m about as big a defender of him as you’ll ever meet, but his post-80’s political stuff is iffy at best. His worldview was shaped by the dramatic, sweeping events of the 60’s and early 70’s…the Cuban Missile Crisis, the Vietnam War, the draft, Stonewall, Kent State, the civil rights movement, Richard Nixon, Lyndon Johnson, the moon landing, assassinations, feminism, blaxploitation. It was a pretty intense time to be alive, and one of the unfortunate side effects is that these people have a tough time even understanding the battles we face and what’s at stake today. On top of that, he’s old and has had a long, successful career. Nothing Trump, the Supreme Court, or the current crop of politicians do is ever going to harm him in any meaningful way, and that makes it all the harder to get really passionate about like, well, someone who isn’t old and secure. Oh, sure, he finds the Trump administration utterly ridiculous…anyone with a functioning brain would…but he doesn’t see it as evil or a major threat the way a minority or small business owner or Planned Parenthood doctor would. On top of that, he’s never been a real big-picture guy, which is why he pokes fun at the news media for reporting over and over that Trump is finished and is going to be impeached and it neeverrr haaaapeensss!…without ever considering that in all likelihood these are not predictions but desperate cries for help, and that there are many, many people making these same cries.
He’s wickedly funny when he’s talking about Florida, his children, weird news, Disney World, television, or his useless annoying pets. I’m fine with that. Trying to find humor in current events is practically an impossible dream these days.