Los Angeles Times
WASHINGTON — Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld’s news briefings recently crossed the bridge from politics to pop culture with a "Saturday Night Live" parody of the secretary — artfully captured by Darrell Hammond — tongue-lashing reporters into cowering submission.
As he studied tapes of Rumsfeld in action, Hammond said the image of Tom Joad from John Steinbeck’s "Grapes of Wrath" came to mind — frank, up against it and to the point. He seized on those qualities in a news conference spoof that hardly required exaggeration:
Reporter: We are being told that Northern Alliance forces are firing back at Taliban troops who have fired on them, even though the Taliban troops missed. Does the U.S. condone that?
Rumsfeld: Now what kind of question is that?
Reporter: Thought-provoking?
Rumsfeld: Nooooo.
Reporter: Incisive?
Rumsfeld: No. Remember what I said about your question the other day?
Reporter: That it was idiotic?
Rumsfeld: And?
Reporter: And that I am an embarrassment to both myself and my newspaper?
Rumsfeld: You got it.
To the next reporter: You had a question?
Reporter: No, no.
Rumsfeld: You had your hand up.
Reporter: I did, but I don’t want to ask my question anymore.
Rumsfeld: Why not?
Reporter: Too scared.
The media — not the secretary — were the butt of the satire, written by SNL staff writer Jim Downey. "You can’t make fun of a guy who appears to be trying hard, doing well and sticking to his guns," Hammond said. "In American culture, that is unimpeachable."
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