Scarborough pranked by Dan Savage, editor of The Stranger,of "Savage Love" fame

by Maura in VA
Fri Jan 9th, 2004 at 22:37:32 GMT
Seems like with the "flyer flap" frenzy and the so-called "Dean Tapes" non-scandal, most of you missed the best, most delicious moment in right-wing cable news in MONTHS last night.  In some ways, this is more fun, though less momentous than the hypocrite-Limbaugh-as-addict comeuppance.

Simultaneously wondering "What was he thinking?" and "Some scheduler is getting fired for this one!", I was shocked and intrigued to see that Joe Scarborough had invited Dan Savage to be a guest on Scarborough Country last night.  Yes, THAT Dan Savage, author of the explicit syndicated "Savage Love" sex advice column and the recent Skipping Towards Gomorrah.  Not the typical kind of guest I would expect from Scarborough.

You may have read the article that Dan Savage wrote this week in the New York Times about How to Be an Iowan for a Day , Dan Savage's experience posing as an Iowa resident to participate in the Republican Iowa caucuses in 2000.

Clearly, Scarborough had invited him on the show to discuss the allegation that the Dean campaign was planning to plant out-of-state supporters as Iowa caucus participants.  The bottom of the screen read "DEAN ACCUSED OF FRAUD" for the entire length of the clip.  Dan Savage explained very well the gaping holes in caucus protocol that would allow just about anyone to show up and manipulate the results.  It was very interesting and informational, and Savage came off well on TV.  He didn't take any bait about the Dean campaign, but explained how easy it was for anyone to impact the results fraudulently.

Then, at the very end, Scarborough made an offhand reference to Savage's famous "doorknob licking" incident and as a closing Savage said something like, "You can read more about it on my Web site, spreadingsandtorum.com .  [[Caution before you click this site!!! It's not for the prude or easily disgusted.]] If you haven't heard of it yet, it is an absolutely BRUTAL anti-Rick Santorum site, where Savage chronicles the re-definition of the name "Santorum" as, well, a word for the byproduct of a sex act of which Santorum espouses extreme disapproval, to put it mildly.

Joe Scarborough certainly never meant to give air time to that URL!  I doubled over laughing.  His attempt at a Dean smear succeeded in bringing more traffic to Savage's anti-Santorum site.  I haven't laughed so hard at this kind of irony in months.