Monday, a Washington Post editor defended his review of a recent Saturday Night Live sketch by telling the Washington Examiner that the article’s point was to ask “interesting questions.”
The Washington Post’s policy editor, Zachary Goldfarb, told the Washington Examiner, “I was using the SNL skit, which many people watched online and on TV, as a jumping-off point for a discussion. About President Obama’s immigration action.”
The post published Goldfarb’s article “SNL skit suggests Obama’s immigration executive action is unconstitutional” on November 23. The report looks at a “cold open” for Saturday Night Live based on the old “Schoolhouse Rock” cartoons.
“The idea behind the post was something like, ‘Hey, there’s a funny skit on SNL. It does make some interesting points about what President Obama is doing about immigration. Let’s talk about them,'” said Goldfarb.
In the sketch, Obama throws “Bill,” a character who likes to explain how laws are made in Congress, down the stairs of Capitol Hill. He then calls on his friend “Executive Order” to help him get around Congress to get immigration reform done the way he wants.
Goldfarb said about the SNL skit: “This bit got some things right and some wrong. Obama didn’t sign an executive order, for one thing. He is using his power as president to do something like order the Department of Homeland Security to expand programs that keep undocumented immigrants from being deported. These programs help parents of U.S. citizens, permanent residents, and undocumented immigrants who came to the country as children.
He also said, “Is the executive action against the Constitution? That’s something that can be talked about. Some Republicans in the House of Representatives think so, and they might add a complaint to a lawsuit they plan to file to challenge Obama’s actions on his health care law.
In his review, Goldfarb said that the president’s move on immigration is the first of its kind.
“Obama’s plan is still much better than what his predecessors did, who kept between 100,000 and 1.5 million people from being deported. If there is a legal challenge, it would take years, maybe even until the next president is in office,” he wrote.
“So, for Obama’s actions, what matters most is what the public thinks and what his successor does. In that way, the SNL skit doesn’t help him,” he said.
Since then, people have made fun of and laughed at the Washington Post article in social media and other places.
“The only thing funnier than SNL’s Obama amnesty power grab sketch is that [the Washington Post] is actually doing a ‘fact check,'” said Herman Cain, a businessman and former Republican presidential candidate.
In a headline, the conservative news and opinion site Breitbart said, “WaPo Fact Check: MSM Protects Obama Again From ‘SNL’ Skit.”
The American Spectator, another online conservative publication, said in its own headline, “WaPo Feels Compelled to Fact Check SNL Skit on Executive Action.”
The article by Goldfarb can be found on the Washington Post’s Wonkblog, which looks into and talks about many things, such as politics, economics, healthcare, and sports. Glenn Kessler is in charge of the Washington Post’s Fact Checker, which did not publish the news organization’s review of the SNL routine.
Goldfarb told the Washington Examiner, “It wasn’t meant to be a fact check. SNL is a comedy show.”