2008's Biggest Winner: Satire

Rogers must have known something about the 2000 and 2004 presidential elections: "I am not a member of any organized party - I am a Democrat."

Kubrick's Dr. Strangelove showed that even the most powerful have their ironies: "Gentlemen, you can't fight in here! This is the war room!"

Of course, sometimes - many times? - satire writes itself. "I think we are welcomed. But it was not a peaceful welcome," said George W. Bush in defending Vice President Cheney's prewar assertion that the United States would be welcomed in Iraq as liberators.

But no matter which way it's aimed, satire teaches us in maddening terms. It exposes the absurdity of the actions of the powerful, many of whom we elected. It is not only a heart-and-soul cleansing for the public, but also a warning to those who are determined to continue the masquerade.

And with YouTube spreading the word, whenever there's an attempt to pass off blather as truth, satire has raised its side-splitting smarts, revealing those who try to make fools of us as the biggest fools and - on the first Tuesday of November - losers.

No joke.

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Award-winning TV writer and Former National Lampoon Political Editor, Steve Young, Blogs at steveyoungonpolitics.com.