The Hillary Clinton campaign leaked to Amy Chozik of the New York Times in early September the news that the notoriously stiff Mrs. Clinton soon would be showing a "more humor and heart."
And–presto!–by the first Saturday in October Clinton appeared on SNL, presumably showing more humor and heart.
I didn't see the whole thing, but I found excerpts from her skit,which had Clinton playing a bartender named Val, to Kate McKinnon's pretend Hillary, decidedly unfunny.
Things that are funny cause one to laugh. The SNL skit, what I saw of it, at least, caused one to ask: What is going on here? What is going on is that SNL got the memo.
Errol Lewis, a New York TV host, gave Mrs. Clinton good marks but could not help noticing that Sarah Palin was not treated nearly so well:
But notably absent from the skit were any jokes pointed enough to draw blood. There were no references to questions about classified communications ending up on Clinton's private email server, or about ethics issues related to the money raised and spent by the Clinton Foundation.
There was no mention of the upcoming showdown with congressional Republicans over the attack on the U.S. mission in Benghazi, Libya, and the murder of four State Department employees on Clinton's watch as secretary of state — a temptingly timely subject, given Rep. Kevin McCarthy's suggestion that the Benghazi investigation was designed to harm Clinton's presidential hopes.
The jokesters at "Saturday Night Live" didn't even touch on the polls suggesting that a majority of voters consider her to be untrustworthy.
One suspects that Clinton's team negotiated limits to how vicious the humor could get, mindful of the night in October 2008 when, during the closing weeks of the presidential campaign, Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin, then the governor of Alaska, unwisely took part in an over-the-top zany skit that mercilessly lampooned Palin, her family, her state and her campaign as the show's cast laughed at her, not with her.
Comedians Amy Poehler and Tina Fey played Palin on "SNL." Palin and her running mate, Sen. John McCain, lost. Palin's TV appearance didn't sink the campaign, but it definitely didn't help.
So it was smart of the seasoned campaign operatives on Clinton's team to avoid letting their candidate be displayed as a fool. While "SNL" is well past the days of serving as a uniquely edgy, unorthodox way to connect with younger voters — there are now far better venues where that can happen — the appearance was a cle
While McKinnon, who previously eviscerated Mrs. Clinton on SNL, played the candidate as stiff and driven, her new Hillary was nevertheless more "relatable" this time around.
It takes suspension of disbelief to see Mrs. Clinton, whom we've known for more than a quarter of a century, in a new light. But SNL began the process.
Hillary is now funny and warm. Who knew? Moreover, Rep. Kevin McCarthy's dumb remark about the Benghazi hearings has breathed new life into her campaign. The same ethical and political issues remain, but you'd never have known Saturday night.
The big question is whether the rest of the media, which has heretofore covered Mrs. Clinton's emails-related ethics problems with surprising gusto, is now willing to follow suit, back off and fall in line behind the Democratic standard bearer.
We'll soon see.