In American presidential politics, Saturday Night Live’s debate parodies have become almost as important a tradition as the debates themselves. Over the years, the show has delivered lines that outlasted anything actually said in the debates—e.g. Jon Lovitz, as Michael Dukakis, saying of Bush 41, “I can’t believe I’m losing to this guy”—and has produced impressions that shaped how Americans saw the candidates—e.g. Will Ferrell as an endearing-but-bumbling George W. Bush. Even in a year when politics has truly become a parody of itself,SNL has managed to keep up. Here’s a look back at some of the moments when the show perfectly captured the absurdity of the great debates.
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