A List Of Things Thrown Five Minutes Ago

WHO AMONG US DOESN'T LIKE NASCAR? Here's a question I want to throw out there to all around--what on earth is "Saturday Night Live" going to do for humor with this Presidential election? Especially in the last few years, they've reduced political figures to one note characterizations. Bush=stupid. Cheney=mean/evil genius. Gore=stiff. Lieberman=stiffer. Clinton=lech. Edwards=slick. But what can you do with John Kerry? Not that he hasn't had his share of bizarre moments (like the space suit from earlier this week, and, of course, the grand question mentioned in the title (I don't, BTW)), but there's not a single trait there that's really crying to be caricatured.

So is "SNL" going to bring us fresh and smart political humor again, like, say, the infamous 1988 debate sketch with Jon Lovitz as Dukakis getting on a "lift" behind the podium? Or are we going to get even lamer, more one-note sketches than we've been getting before? I hope for the former, but expect we're going to get the latter.

On a related note, I already thought Natalie Portman was gorgeous and smart, but this exchange with Diane Sawyer during a promotion interview for "Garden State" on "Good Morning America" makes me love her still more:

Diane Sawyer: Now if I'm gonna talk to you, you're gonna have to hold flowers here in front of the John Kerry (T-shirt). We can't just have John Kerry the whole time. Who do we bring in for equal time?

Portman: Come on, you've got The O'Reilly Factor. That's on television; that evens it out! I love John Kerry! I just think he has the perfect combination of compassion and intelligence and composure under pressure and I'm just a huge fan.

Portman stuff from IMDB.