Is SNL playing favorites? Hardball and Chicago Tribune

Here is a concept, if they are asking the question it is legitimate issue. The Chicago Tribune approached the subject this morning in Saturday Night Live' takes pro-Hillary Clinton allegations seriously. So is it the 'intent' or the 'effect', and because the stakes are so high SNL is responsible regardless for as Loren Michaels puts it:

..."has long maintained that the show risks its comedy credentials if it appears partisan. So he is troubled by the recent chatter that the venerable late-night program has exhibited a pro-Hillary Clinton bent."

"That's a major concern," Michaels said. "I can assure you that there's no agenda, that there's only a reaction to what's going in the world."

When media toughened its coverage of Sen. Barack Obamaafter a "SNL" sketch portrayed the press as fawning over him, analysts credited the show in part for the shift. (Obama even joked that he was going to call Michaels to complain.)

A series of other bits in recent weeks have contributed to the perception that the program is trying to sway public opinion toward Clinton. Guest host Tina Fey gave a shout-out to the New York senator, saying women like her "get stuff done." The candidate herself made a lighthearted appearance the following week, appearing in a matching brown tweed suit with cast member Amy Poehler, who plays Clinton on the show.

Two days later, Clinton performed strongly in the Ohio and Texas primaries. Seth Meyers, one of show's three head writers, said he was amused by suggestions that "Saturday Night Live" changed the momentum of the race.

"We don't quite feel we've affected it as much as people want to give us credit for," he said.

"The show happens too quickly for any of us to have an agenda," added Meyers, who donated $1 ,000 to Obama in January. "And our egos as comedy writers are too big to ever let our own political loyalties get in the way of a joke. So we aim for whatever is the richest to be satirized on any given week."But the scrutiny has also forced the late-night institution to contemplate whether it has a responsibility to provide equal doses of satire in a tightly fought race.

Michaels believes one of the factors fueling the perception that "SNL" has a bias toward Clinton may be Poehler herself, who plays the New York senator as a woman laboring valiantly to ignore the jibes sent her way.

"People can confuse the charm of the character with the person," he said.

For her part, Poehler noted that "people forget that we did two full years of kind of slamming her in a lot of stuff."

"I've certainly done her in other situations before on the show in not so flattering ways," she said. "I think there's been a history of different takes on her."

Still, the show's writers were divided when Clinton's campaign called and said that the candidate was interested in making an appearance on the show March 2, right before the Ohio and Texas primaries.


"Some people thought it wasn't a good idea," Michaels said. "Would it appear partisan?"

In the end, he felt it was only fair, since Obama had been on the program in November. But he added that "we were very clear that she was doing something that would be written for her and that it was not a campaign appearance in any sense."

Obama spokesman Bill Burton said the candidate is not concerned that his rival is getting a lift from "SNL."

"Frankly, Barack Obama knows he's good enough, smart enough and, gosh darn it, he's won more states, more votes and more delegates, and that's what probably matters more anyway," he quipped, à la Stuart Smalley.

For the most part, the writers said they believe the show's balance is apparent over time, although the program did consciously try to spoof Clinton last week. Playing off her ominous "3 a.m." ad that suggested Obama lacked the experience to handle a crisis, the piece showed stark black-and-white photos of a panicked President Obama calling Clinton at home for help.

"If anything, it was sympathetic toward Obama," Michaels said, though he admitted not everyone saw it that way."

On today Hardball Chris Matthews dissected precisely when he told a SNL writer that unintended consequences like Orson Wells "War of the Worlds" Show in the 1930's had an effect. So the question is not whether SNL is partisan, the effect has been partisan---BUSTED