The Roots Snark Michele Bachmann on “Late Night with Jimmy Fallon” with Fishbone’s “Lyin’ Ass Bitch”

At first, I didn’t pay too much attention to this news. I thought that it was Fallon who had let slip a diss to Palin-clone Michele Bachmann, who is supposedly the first presidential candidate to visit the late night show. Instead, on closer inspection, it was the house band, The Roots, who decided to let the whole world know what they thought of this broad. And it hasn’t been the first time that they’ve done it to guests either. They have a whole Twitter base that looks forward to these asides.

Of course, clueless wonder Bachmann never knew what hit her, but the audience knew, and so did crusty-eyed viewers who suddenly sat up on the couch or in bed and laughed their asses off. I’m still laughing at the height of their admirable cheek as I am writing this, but don’t think that this is going to go over too well with the NBC executives. Fallon has already had to apologize to Bachmann, and I do think that he was probably coerced by them and the fallout from those outraged conservative-to-winger viewers to do so. I really don’t think he should have, but there it is. NBC is owned by Comcast (51%) and General Electric (49%), and these guys aren’t known to be understanding by a long shot when it comes to bad publicity. Especially when it’s someone of management’s persuasion:

NBC was courageously declining to comment at press time. But anyway, we’d urge you to put your money on NBC suits’ keeping just a teensy bit closer eye on the Roots’ music choices — particularly when Fallon is hosting presidential candidates. Fallon has reportedly smiled indulgently while The Roots:

●Played a Milli Vanilli tune by way of introducing Ashlee Simpson — she of the lip-syncing “Saturday Night Live” hoedown debacle — on Fallon’s show. (Fallon’s program and “Saturday Night Live” are exec-produced by Lorne Michaels, who said he was blindsided by Ashlee’s “SNL” lip-sync.)

●Broke into E.U.’s “Da Butt” to welcome Serena Williams.

●Introduced Joan Rivers with Lady Gaga’s “Poker Face.”

●Performed Beck’s “Loser” to herald the entrance of “Speidi” on the show.

The Roots have also introduced commentator Lou Dobbs with Genesis’ “Illegal Alien,” and Kathie Lee Gifford was ushered in with UB40’s “Red Red Wine,” for her tippling with co-host Hoda Kotb on the extended Today Show.

Bad taste? Not really, but that is always in the eye of the beholder. Demeaning to women? Most probably. But I find it interesting that Christian fundie and pro-lifer Bachmann, of all people, grabs at feminism (a right-wing booga-bear) like a cudgel to flay NBC about sexism.

As far as I know, Michele Bachmann is not a slut, as indicated further in the lyrics of this particular ditty, which humorously criticizes a woman who won’t reserve her charms for just one broken-hearted man. This singer, it appears, is happy just to have the woman in his life despite her drawbacks, even though his ~~common sense~~ self-preservation and male socialization (to dismiss her as a slut) tell him otherwise. To me, the subject of the song appears to be just a wild woman who refuses to be contained or limited (at least at that moment) by any man; that she’s going after whatever pleasure strikes her (just like some male ‘hounds’ that we all know); and that’s probably what is driving 9/10s of the attraction and repulsion the singer has for this woman that he can’t control.

Just your usual heterosexual obsession, but I digress.

Are there better words to describe Michele Bachmann? Yes. Crazy is one. Loon is another. Dog whistler is yet another. Uninformed. Clueless. Dupe. Liar. Homophobic. Ignorant. Make that willfully ignorant.

But was it hilarious in this setting? Hell, yeah. That was the point. For some people, Michele Bachmann is a lying so-and-so. It was only the title of the song that mattered. And if you gathered from watching the show, nobody clapped for her when she came out; there was dead silence, and I doubt whether it was all about The Roots’ song choice. We already know the woman’s MO. Those thinking that The Roots sold out to get a ~~day~~ night job with Fallon can get educated on the finer points of making your views known. It doesn’t have to be all up in your face.

Some have also suggested that presidential candidates are due some respect because they sure might be president some day. Such disrespect of Bachmann impacts how we are supposed to view high public officials. They have a point, but I call BS on that one for several reasons including one I’ll retail downwind. However, you don’t see too many presidential candidates on shows like Fallon’s. You might find them on Leno or Letterman; you might find them on The Daily Show or on The Colbert Show, but not on Fallon’s show or even Craig Ferguson’s show. Were Bachmann and her handlers asking for trouble with the candidate appearing on something as loose as Jimmy Fallon’s show? Possibly. And no, I don’t think that the fix was already in. She didn’t get any good advice, in my view, about the dangers. I just think that as far as exposure was concerned, she and her handlers could have done a lot better than bottom-feeding on Fallon’s show. Which is exactly where her candidacy is—scraping the bottom.

Unfortunately for Jimmy Fallon, that’s probably going to be the last time someone of the Republican ilk comes on his show, unless their advance people come with stipulations. Or, for his bosses, Fallon’s going to have to muzzle The Roots, asking that their song choices are vetted. Damn shame if that happens.

This just in: Bachmann says that she feels insulted by the song choice, saying that it was sexist and proof of a double standard at NBC. Because if Michelle Obama had been introduced by something less kosher like “Lyin’ Ass Bitch,” the liberal contingent would be up in arms, she claims. She wants NBC to apologize, too. Boy, she’s going to run hard on this meme.

Excuse me, but when the First Lady and the Second Lady of the land, whose husbands will be running for re-election–and who are helping to focus attention on military families–are booed at NASCAR before the racers even start their engines, who is Bachmann to talk about kid glove treatment? The President and the First Lady are representatives of the country, not just a part of the country. The fact remains that President Obama is their president, whether they like it or not, and he and his wife deserve a modicum of respect, something that has been missing from the Other, Dark Side since Obama took office. It never used to be this way–that regardless of party affiliation, presidents and first ladies were due that respect. Not any more.

Furthermore, Fallon’s is a late night comedy show where everyone eventually gets lampooned, either by Fallon or his band. Of course, I don’t think that Leno and his house band of relatively Old School geezers would be pulling something like this. No, this is strictly something inimical to the Fallon show, like Letterman’s “Stupid Pet Tricks” or his “Top Ten List.”

Oh, and brothas, maybe it was a bad idea to announce that you had a definite surprise for Bachmann on Twitter. Next time, don’t even spill what you’re up to. Let them figure it out.