Book?!? Politics?!? WHAT?!?

First things first: I am as liberal as they come. OK, wait, I take that back. I'm actually quite moderate, for a liberal. But a liberal nonetheless. (I'll prove it--I have this bad habit of cringing whenever I hear President Bush talk. I can't help it. It's something about the way he says 'nucular').

That said, Stephen Colbert's I Am America (And So Can You!) is the most hilarious book I've read in a long time. Possibly ever, Terry Pratchett notwithstanding. I certainly don't think I've laughed so hard I cried after reading any other book in recent memory. Colbert undermines and satirizes the far right with what I'll choose to call 'spirited sillyness.' And it comes with STICKERS!!!

That's right, STICKERS!!!

And so, I suppose I had to recommend it.

And now, my disclaimer:

Part of me feels guilty for buying a book that tells us, even in extremely obvious jest, that a

'good mother cooks, cleans, drives, organizes charity events so her children earn community service points for college, and expects nothing in return except love and breakfast in bed one day a year.'

or

'But some mothers are worse than others. Take women who work. I don't care if it's CEO of a major corporation or three hours a week as a teacher's aide, if you work outside the home, you might as well bring coconut arsenic squares to the school bake sale.'

or

'At one time...acceptance of the gay lifestyle was so low that there were exactly two homosexuals in the continental United States...But today tolerance is at a dangerous level, and if it keeps increasing at current rates, everyone will gay marry, and our grandchildren's grandchildren may never be born. Or worse...They'll be gay adopted.'

or

well, you get the point. It goes on and on, on everything--race, class, immigrants...It's offensive, isn't it?

Yes, yes, I know, he's kidding, and believe me, I laughed. But, you see, I have read The Feminine Mystique, and I'm a naturalized immigrant, and I and I feel compelled to put this disclaimer in here. It's the old commentary on finding these offensive statements funny--that by laughing at them, we condone them in our society. Taken out of the book's context, those quotes above (and there are a lot more where those came from) sound terrible, don't they? Still, I think we need to laugh at our foibles, and to me, Colbert's satire is particularly pointed. I used to watch his show regularly (along with Jon Stewart) before I lost cable access, and I honestly have no idea where his political affiliations lie. I do know, though, that he's the best caricature of the conservative right I've ever seen.