The episode makes references to several real-life persons. The piano-playing satirist who annoys Bart is a reference to Mark Russell. Bob Arnold, the corrupt congressman, tells Lisa that there are quite a few women senators, but Lisa asserts that there are only two. (At the time there were indeed only two, Nancy Landon Kassebaum of Kansas and Barbara Mikulski of Maryland.) Then-President George H. W. Bush is featured briefly in the episode. Shortly after it aired, Bush disparaged "The Simpsons" in a speech during his re-election campaign on January 27, 1992. At that point family values were the cornerstone of Bush's campaign platform, so he gave the following speech at the National Religious Broadcasters' convention in Washington: "We are going to keep on trying to strengthen the American family, to make American families a lot more like the Waltons and a lot less like the Simpsons." As a result, Bush appeared in future episodes in a more negative light.