Why did simpsons never make a single joke or comment on president Bush?

[Dejawesp]

The closest they ever got was "The government knows best act" Besides that during his 8 years there was never a single joke or depiction of him.

Meanwhile Clinton has been featured to an almost embarrassing degree. Sometimes he just pops out of nowhere to make a comment about himself like "I was a pretty bad president" and "I have had sex with pigs"

Is Groenings personal politics bleeding through his work or did Bush never do anything that offered a comedic opening for a sketch or joke?

 

[Jezzascmezza]

You sure?
I find that unbelievably hard to believe...

Maybe Matt Groening just really loved George W Bush.

 

[Sticky Squid]

I'm pretty sure they did.
Even if they didn't it's probably because it would have been so redundant.

 

[Ldude893]

Oh please. If anything, The Simpsons Movie did so much ripping on the president and his decision making. The only reason why Bush himself wasn't used as a character was because it would make the film outdated once his term ended.

There was one episode where Homer tries to jog the memory of Marge after she gets amnesia by showing her photos of him beating up BOTH George H.W. Bush and George W. Bush.

 

[disfunkybob]

I think there has been some veiled pot shots at the war or his intelligence, but yeah I don't remember anything by name. I would say that they are FOX and Rupert Murdoch might put the clamps on them, but Family Guy and American Dad take shots all the time.

 

[Sexual Harassment Panda]

The Simpsons is on Fox...

Do we really care? The Bush jokes were everywhere, and they were hardly sophisticated.

 

[Fetzenfisch]

President who? Why not join us in the present mate?

 

[Queen Michael]

But aren't all the Clinton-appearances you mention things that happened after he was president? So logically, it's only once Obama became the new prez that the Bush-jokes should have started. But the thing is, Bush is so universally considered a bad president that crtisizing him through satire is like making jokes about how it's not good to kill kittens.

 

[Thaluikhain]

Um, bearing in mind what network the Simpsons was on, and who owns it, well...

 

[moretimethansense]

Dude, they did it constantly, did you have your eyes closed and your ears shut?

 

[MassiveGeek]

But aren't all the Clinton-appearances you mention things that happened after he was president? So logically, it's only once Obama became the new prez that the Bush-jokes should have started. But the thing is, Bush is so universally considered a bad president that crtisizing him through satire is like making jokes about how it's not good to kill kittens.

That last part was fucking brilliant.

And yeah, I agree with this, btu I'm pretty damn sure I've seen Bush jokes in the Simpsons. I might just be thinking about Family Guy.

 

[Shuswah_Noir]

Yeah, I'm pretty sure somewhere between the network Simpsons is aired on in the US, and the fact you don't appear to have actually been paying attention, something has been missed completely.
Maybe you missed it because it wasn't spelled out perfectly for you?

 

[Dejawesp]

President who? Why not join us in the present mate?

I didn't have a lot of thread name space so I said "president bush" so everyone would get who I meant

Dude, they did it constantly, did you have your eyes closed and your ears shut?

Really? Constantly? Okay lay some constant examples on me. How about 8-10 for starters and we can work from there.


I think the people saying that Simpson is on fox has a good point though. That would very well be the reason.

I'm from Europe so I have no insight into what shows on what and what channel supports what party. All I know is we have simpsons about 3-4 times a day here so I have seen every episode there is several times over and something that is universal is that they never make any jokes about Bush. The closest they ever get is "The government knows best act" and at the end of the navy recruitment episode where Homer says "Anything's possible with Commander Cuckoo-Bananas in charge"

 

[ReservoirAngel]

Maybe they're just cowards? I dunno, but I don't think Obama has had much ripping from them either.

 

[Rayne870]

it's not nice to make fun of the disadvantaged. From what I have seen though they haven't been that specific on politics since Bill Clinton, and even then the show wasn't drenched in jokes about Bill

 

[Doctor Insanovic]

Because Bush already did such a perfect job of it himself. Poking fun at him would have been totally pointless if he already does it better himself.

 

[Kyle Roberts]

I think they did once where president bush moved next to the simpsons and they started fighting each other well bart and homer did.
May of been a different president not 100% sure.

 

[Merkavar]

maybe cause everyone was making jokes about bush and the simpsons is more high brow than that

 

[Woodsey]

I'm pretty sure Groening is liberal, if not an actual supporter of the Democrcats - given the nature of Futurama and The Simpsons, he's certainly not a conservative. So no, I don't think personal politics has anything to do with it.