"Is it me? It's him isn't it?"

After my Master Thespian reference a couple of weeks ago, I seem to be on an 80s Saturday Night Live nostalgia trip (never thought I'd say that...) Coincidentally, NBC is showing a special on SNL in the 80s this weekend. Not looking forward to the inevitable Fernando's Hideaway segment.

I've watched a few White House press briefings recently and can't stop thinking of the Martin Short character Nathan Thurm whenever I see Press Secretary Scott McClellan stammer, pant, and deflect his way through questions. You might remember Thurm as the sweaty, twitchy, spectacled, chain-smoking lawyer character from SNL in the mid-80s who was constantly responding to questions with flat and implausible denials, irrelevant accusations, turning the question back on the questioner, or just not responding at all.

See, for instance, this exchange between McClellan and Helen Thomas yesterday. Now, Thomas can be a bit belligerent at times, but given the mendaciousness of the administration's representatives, her pointed belligerence seems like the best way to get anything out of these things.