Dan Crenshaw is running for Congress. The seat, TX CD-02 is up for grabs due to the retirement of Rep. Ted Poe. In Saturday’s SNL Weekend Update skit, Pete Davidson, a comedian and actor of whom apparently I’m supposed to know, did a bit about some political candidates running for office. Davidson said he wanted to talk about “some really gross people running for office this year.” One that he chose to mock was Crenshaw, a retired Navy lieutenant commander who sports an eye patch because he lost his right eye in Afghanistan six years ago. Hilarious, right?

“You may be surprised to hear he’s a congressional candidate for Texas and not a hit-man in a porno movie,” Davidson said while laughing at his own quip.

“I’m sorry. I know he lost his eye in war — or whatever,” he added.

Ah, a porno movie because of the black eye patch. Lost an eye — “or whatever”. Lord, SNL is scrapping the bottom these days. He also wears an American flag eye patch, which I prefer, but nonetheless, mocking the loss of his eye?  He’s a former Navy SEAL and he went on to deploy two more times after he completely lost his vision, only to have the vision in his left eye restored after surgeries. The guy simply would not quit. Here’s a bit of his story from his campaign website:

“On Dan’s third deployment in 2012, his life changed forever. After six months of combat operations, Dan was hit by an IED blast during a mission in Helmand province, Afghanistan. He was evacuated and awoke from his medically induced coma learning that his right eye had been destroyed in the blast and his left eye was still present, but badly damaged. Dan was completely blind and the doctors did not believe he would ever see again. Tara [his wife] stood by him every day and night, keeping faith and praying he would see again. After several difficult surgeries, he eventually regained sight in his left eye, a miracle according to the head surgeon. Dan refused to quit and went on to deploy twice more, first back to the Middle East in 2014 and then South Korea in 2016.

“Dan was medically retired in September of 2016, after ten years in the SEAL Teams. He left service with two Bronze Stars (one with Valor), the Purple Heart, and the Navy Commendation Medal with Valor, among many other recognitions. Soon after, Dan completed his Master in Public Administration at the Harvard Kennedy School of Government. In September of this year, he was back in Houston, volunteering for days on end in areas of Katy devastated by Hurricane Harvey. He saw first-hand the unthinkable losses that his neighbors suffered, but he also saw Texan grit and resilience. He wanted to do more, and this November Dan and Tara decided that the best way to serve the people of Texas would be in elected office.”

Full disclosure: I’ve met and spoken to Crenshaw and have endorsed his candidacy as a member of a Republican PAC. (The PAC was the only one at the time to endorse Crenshaw in the primary.) I am very impressed with him and am in awe of his dedication to our country. I don’t live in his district but I am excited for him to go to Washington to represent Texas.

So, he deployed five times in all before he was medically retired in 2016. Still wanting to serve, he was accepted into Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government and earned Master in Public Administration. The Republican primary for this seat was crowded and Crenshaw was in the top three candidates – the other two were a Texas state representative and a woman running for office for the first time who spent over $6M. Crenshaw’s campaign utilized his family, his wife, and parents, as well as old-fashioned groundwork. His is truly a grassroots campaign.

Davidson included Republican candidates Rick Scott, Peter King, Greg Pence before adding, in order to “look fair” a Democrat. He chose N.Y. Governor Andrew Cuomo to mock. He made a penis joke about Scott’s looks, of King he said he looks as though “a cigar came to life”, and Cuomo “looks like a guy who sleeps with your mom” and calls you a “queer” for not playing baseball. Pence “really gives him the creeps” because he’s running as a “faith-based” conservative who looks like a Ken Doll that’s been in a river for a year. OK. So, you see it’s all superficial mockery based on the candidate’s appearance. He began the segment saying he’s moved back in with his mom. I think that is perfectly believable after watching this performance.

I don’t watch SNL anymore. It has been many years since I found the show funny enough to watch. It’s a shame, too, because back in the day it was fun to watch. The days of Jane Curtin, John Belushi, Dan Ackroyd, and Gilda Radner are classic comedic fun. Remember the Coneheads? Solid gold. These days the show is like the last guest at a party who doesn’t know it’s time to go home. It’s overstayed its welcome.

As we all know by now, the Hollywood crowd has jumped on the bandwagon of the Democrats with pushing the narrative that if Republicans win the mid-term elections, we are all going to die. At the end of this skit, Davidson reminds everyone to get out and vote. Lots of celebrities have done videos trying to get out the vote and several primetime television shows have inserted random reminders to their viewers, too. Previous efforts by Hollywood over the years haven’t really made much of a difference but we’ll know soon enough if the fans are paying attention this year.

Just a couple of days to go, y’all. The mid-terms will be over and then we can jump into the 2020 presidential election cycle. Hoo boy.