Not Quite Yet

104.3: Not Quite Yet

I went into the barn this morning to get the axe, and the radio was on (as always). It was set to 104.3 FM out of Atlanta, which is a country music station. The disc jockey was saying that it was George H. W. Bush's birthday, and he was going skydiving as he always did.

'President Bush won't be joining him,' the jockey said. 'He wanted to go, but the last time he got into an airplane he couldn't find the way out. See, he has this problem finding exits. Yeah.'

That was a poor attempt at humor, I thought, just from a structural view. A joke normally relies on something unexpected to create the sense that there's something funny about what was said. This wasn't humor, but simple mockery. I thought to myself, "That's the end for Bush, then. When they feel comfortable mocking him on country music stations in Atlanta, it's all over."

Well, I went off and did some chores, and about half an hour later was back in the barn to get some hay. The disc jockey had a caller on the air -- which this station normally doesn't do, I don't think -- and she was reading him the riot act.

"I love George Bush," he was saying defensively. "I mean, I think he makes fun of himself sometimes?"

She gave him another load of verbal buckshot.

The message is clear: If you're Leno or Letterman, or MTV, or a disc jockey on a rock and roll station, or a professional comic, or just about anyone else, you can make fun of the President.

If your business is country music, though, it's still not quite time. Willie Nelson excepted, of course -- old Willie can do just about what he wants. He's earned it.

Maybe if it had been a better joke?

I don't recall Clinton having defenders who were ready to assert that it was wrong to mock him; maybe there were some, but I seem to remember him being roundly mocked by everyone, left and right, although for different reasons. Probably that's to do with the fact that Clinton's supporters weren't Southerners, for whom it's important that the people they respect not be mocked. GWB seems to have hit rock bottom in terms of his approval ratings, but that bottom is solid. That lady who called the radio station wasn't someone I'd be in a hurry to tangle with, from the sound of her.

I don't think this is an important story, just an interesting one.