VIDEO-WaPo editor defends 'fact check' on SNL skit | WashingtonExaminer.com

A Washington Post editor on Monday defended his review of a recent Saturday Night Live comedy sketch, telling the Washington Examiner that his article was meant only to explore “interesting questions.”

“I was simply using the SNL skit, which many people viewed online and on TV, as a launching-off point for a discussion about President Obama's immigration action,” Washington Post policy editor Zachary Goldfarb told the Washington Examiner.

On Nov. 23, the Post published Goldfarb’s article, titled “SNL skit suggests Obama’s immigration executive action is unconstitutional,” which examines a Saturday Night Live “cold open” modeled after the classic “Schoolhouse Rock” educational cartoons.

“The post was conceived along the lines of, ‘Hey, there's a funny skit on SNL. It actually raises interesting questions about President Obama's immigration action. Let's discuss them,' " Goldfarb said.

The sketch shows Obama throwing a character named “Bill,” who likes to explain how laws are passed in Congress, down the stairs of Capitol Hill and calling on his friend, “Executive Order,” to help him work around Congress to get his way on immigration reform.

Goldfarb wrote of the SNL routine: “This skit got a couple of things right, and a couple of things wrong. For starters, Obama didn't sign an executive order. He is taking executive action, in particular by directing the Department of Homeland Security to expand programs that defer deportation for classes of undocumented immigrants — parents of U.S. citizens or permanent-resident children, as well as undocumented immigrants brought to the country as children.”

He added: “As to whether the executive action is unconstitutional? That's a matter of debate, of course. Some House Republicans think so and may add a complaint to a suit they are planning to file challenging Obama's executive actions on his health-care law.”

Goldfarb's review noted that the president’s immigration move is unprecedented.

“Obama's measure still goes far beyond his predecessors, who shielded anywhere from 100,000 to 1.5 million people from deportations. If there is a court challenge, it would, in any event, go on for years, perhaps into the next president's term,” he wrote.

“And so what matters most for Obama's action is public opinion, and what his successor does. The SNL skit, in that sense, doesn't help him,” he added.

The Washington Post article has since been met with a measure of mockery and derision on social and other media.

“Only thing funnier than SNL's Obama amnesty power grab sketch is [the Washington Post] actually doing a ‘fact check,’ ” businessman and one-time Republican presidential candidate Herman Cain said in a tweet.

The conservative news and commentary site Breitbart declared in a headline: “WaPo Fact Check: MSM Again Protects Obama From 'SNL' Skit.”

The American Spectator, another online conservative publication, said in its own headline: “WaPo Feels Compulsive Need to Fact Check SNL Skit on Executive Action.”

Goldfarb’s article appears on the Washington Post’s Wonkblog, which explores and discusses several topics, including politics, economics, healthcare and sports. The Washington Post’s Fact Checker, which is managed by Glenn Kessler, did not publish the news group’s review of the SNL routine.

“It wasn't an attempt at a fact check; SNL is a comedy show,” Goldfarb told the Washington Examiner.

http://m.washingtonexaminer.com/washington-post-editor-defends-fact-check-on-saturday-night-live-obama-skit/article/2556601?custom_click=rss?custom_click=rss