…or “Silence of the Times”

Buffalo Bill and friend
I’m from the government and I’m here to help you!

Maynard helpfully interprets a Tammy moment

If anyone was listening to the Tammy Bruce Show on Thursday (and I assume some of you do), you might have heard Tammy highlight the New York Times assertion that Michelle Obama’s wardrobe will save the world through its positive message. Tammy briefly pondered the “message” conveyed by Michelle’s infamous black widow dress, which is suggestive of cannibalism (although the term “cannibal” is judgmental and xenophobic; we should acknowledge that one man’s cannibalism is another man’s recycling program). This line of contemplation somehow led Tammy to exclaim, “It rubs the lotion on its skin!”

In case anyone missed the reference or didn’t quite follow the leaps of her nimble brain, Tammy was quoting the serial killer from The Silence of the Lambs. In this scene, he was demanding his menaced victim maintain a good appearance so that she, too, could make a world-changing fashion statement.

You can watch a YouTube post of the 5-second line of dialogue here. If you want to view the entire scene (2-minutes; be warned that it includes perverse menace and vulgarity), go here. Or for the full treatment, with both the 2-minute original scene back-to-back against a parody scene from the comedy Joe Dirt, it’s here. You’re welcome.

I’m thinking this clip is more than a simple metaphor for looking good. Broadly speaking, this is a representation of the coming era of socialized medicine and government assistance. “Buffalo Bill” demonstrates enlightened liberalism, giving us treatment and compelling us to accept it because we’re too dumb to know what’s good for us. And that poor girl in the pit represents the bitter people who resist progress and instead cling to their family (she explains she’d rather have her mother help her than this strange dermatologist who has such a poor bedside manner).

I guess the poodle represents the gullible voters who believe what they read in the New York Times.

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6 Comments | Leave a comment
  1. Ripper says:

    Hi Maynard – happy new year!
    As a New Yorker I am proud to say that I have not bought the New York Times since February 2004 when I was in the midst of apartment shopping. After Bill Safire retired there was nothing in that paper worth reading (think Maureen Dowd, Frank Rich, and Bob Herbert, and David Brooks has gone wobbly).

  2. ashleymatt says:

    My favorite movie, and a great extended metaphor, Maynard, or should I call you “Precious”?

  3. RobK says:

    I agree the dog is the gullible voters. Think back to the beginning of the movie when the girl is abducted after feeling sorry for Buffalo Bill when he couldn’t get the couch in the van. The cult voter (the girl), FILLED with general blind Liberal, objectified sympathy, with the lack of total common sense, gets lured in. We know what happens next as the Socialist ideology turns on the cult member and knocks them out before they can cause a disturbance. Now, the deprogrammed cultist is in the pit, Socialism looking down, holding a voter that is still in a trance. Fast forward to the basement Foster hunt down scene and think of it as the last month before the 2012 election, where one of the armed Conservative resistance members has finally caught up to the Socialist ideology. Now, view Buffalo Bill in this scene as the failed Socialist “ideology” and Jody Foster as the “Conservative” ideology. Or, you could even view Foster as the Blue Dog Democrat ideology, an Independent Conservative ideology, or even a deprogrammed Barky cult voter new ideology thinker. We know how it ends.
    Okay, back to reality! Writing that was scary!

  4. NavajoSierra says:

    I read this before I left for work this morning, and I have thought about it off and on all day. It is an amazingly clear, and chilling, metaphor for what is happening in this country at this time.

  5. CNYTammyFan says:

    Since we only have one First Lady at a time I think she is out of place struting around lookin
    so dignified and styled. “Hey Pete!! How’s your 401k doing?”. “Terrible Larry, dropped another 15%
    last month but who cares,did you see Michelle O’s new treads? WOW That should turn the market in no time.”

    I hope she doesn’t wear that blue number in the Oval Office. Last time we had a blue dress in there it was trouble.

  6. Paul Snively says:

    I don’t know how good the metaphor is, but I will say that Ted Levine (“Monk”) was robbed at Oscar time for Best Supporting Actor as “Buffalo Bill.”

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