The Comedy of Extremes
According to a recent Rasmussen Reports survey, Ron Paul and Dennis Kucinich would both be delivering concession speeches at the end of the night, if matched in head-to-head contests with comedian Stephen Colbert.
My first reaction: Woop-tee-freakin-dooh. This is a professional satirist, we’re talking about, people. Yes, Colbert is funny, but he has the governance credentials of a termite.
My second reaction: Wait a minute. Maybe this poll does tell us something worthwhile. Consider …
Kucinich is about as far left as you can go on many fronts. Paul, on the other hand, though he’s not your typical right-winger, certainly goes off the scale when it comes to his desire to strip the federal government down to a bare minimum (and possibly lower) level of functionality. Net, they’re both the embodiment of an extreme, and they’re viewed by many as a distorted caricature of the American body politic. Accordingly, faced with the prospect of voting for a caricature vs. a comedian, why not vote for the comedian?
So perhaps the American people are smarter than they’re given credit for being, after all. Perhaps, in this Rasmussen poll, they’re sending a clear message: That they do, in fact, reject extremes; that if you make them choose between someone whom they know is a legitimate joker and someone whom they suspect is an unintentional joker … well then, at the very least, give them credit for choosing the more authentic soul of the two.
opinions powered by SendLove.to
3 Responses to “The Comedy of Extremes”
I hope the rejection of extremes message is the true one to draw from the Colbert campaign.
There is another possibility, namely, that comedy is the last frontier for the sane and reasonble. I returned to following politics closely only when I became alarmed during what was an obvious prelude to the war in Iraq. Things were too serious to be disengaged. My side lost that debate, if even there was one.
Once again, we are at a crossroads. An economic downturn at home and nothing but wars and animosities abroad. The political reaction is to call for a debate whete everyone HAS TO ATTACK someone else The commentary before the debates sounded more like drumming up patronage to a cockfight than interesting the public in the real issues involved.
My hat is off to Obama, for not stooping quite as low as the others. I suspect my side will lose again.
In this kind of an atmosphere, the Colbert campaign
is a pleasure, because the crowds are laughting instead of cheering on the blood and gore at a cockfight.
[...] Efron The Comedy of Extremes » This Summary is from an article posted at The Moderate Voice » Domestic and international news [...]
Domajot, I thought our political system *was* cockfighting?
It also shows what a joke (bad one at that) our political system has turned into. Sometimes you have to laugh to stop from crying at what passes for politics in America today.