HolyCoast: SNL Scrubs Barney Frank's Role in Mortgage Crisis From Sketch
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Wednesday, October 08, 2008

SNL Scrubs Barney Frank's Role in Mortgage Crisis From Sketch

I had a post yesterday on a Saturday Night Live sketch that blasted Dems for the mortgage mess but mysteriously disappeared from the NBC website on Tuesday. The video showed up again later with "minor" changes, mainly removing a chyron graphic that said "People who should be shot" under the characters playing Herbert and Marian Sandler, California liberal activists who sold a portfolio of mortgage securities to Wachovia for $24 billion which is now basically worthless.

Top of the Ticket reports today that a careful analysis of the video show that the graphic was not all that was removed:
The video was later reposted and a spokesman explained "upon review we caught certain elements in the sketch that didn't meet our standards. We took it down and made some minor changes."

In an interview with Gold, the show's executive producer, Lorne Michaels, said the Sandlers were distraught but had not demanded the changes. He noted the "People who should be shot" line was deleted as was a reference to their "corrupt activities."

But a comparison of the two versions shows that actually a little more than that was cut. What also was excised was any mention of the involvement of Massachusetts' Rep. Frank in the Sandler subprime mess.

Frank is the influential chairman of the House Financial Services Committee and an ardent political protector of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, which participated in the subprime problem.

In the original skit Sandler addresses Frank, saying, "And thank you Congressman Frank as well as many Republicans for helping block Congressional oversight of our corrupt activities."

To which Frank replies enthusiastically, "Not at all!"

All that's gone in the new version, which Show Tracker has posted here.

That's too bad for Frank's Republican opponent in the House election next month for the Bay State's Fourth District, which includes Brookline and Newton. Frank's opponent is little-known Republican Earl Henry Sholley, who could use any embarrassing ammunition like the SNL sketch.

Nevermind any grand policy proposals. Sholley's still trying to get Frank to agree to simple public debates. Frank dismisses his GOP challenger, saying he simply can't make the dates Sholley has suggested. And that's that.
SNL finally got a sketch right and the Dems and their liberal activist money machines complained. Poof, down the memory hole.

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