A GOOD DEAL OF THE JOKES about politicians being comedians, clowns or idiots will have been used up by most commentators after so many years of dire political behaviour by leaders on both sides of the Atlantic, so I will try to avoid the obvious here. Al Franken, a comedian turned Democrat (why does that sound strange?), is not exactly the first entertainer to move into politics in the USA, something completely logical in a country where the TV is as close to a deity as most people will ever see, and actually is the godhead in California, just as Elvis Presley is God in Nevada.
IN CALIFORNIA NOBODY THINKS that Arnold Schwarzenegger is unfit to be the state governor, and even if any doubts lingered there would always be the echo of Ronald Reagan to remind them of how one can make the move from the silver screen to the political stage. Indeed, in a rare moment of insight, Reagan summed up the ease of this transition in a BBC TV documentary in 1989 when he stated, “In Hollywood, if you can’t sing or dance, you wind up as an after-dinner speaker.”
MINNESOTA, HOWEVER, is not California, although it does have a tradition of apparent humour passing off as political and social commentary in the monologue drudgery produced by writer and broadcaster Garrison Keillor, all brought together in his famous, brain-numbing novel Lake Wobegon Days. Thus a boring stand up comedian like Franken might easily pass without a hitch into the realms of boring politicians representing farmers. I hope he one day becomes president.
I AMUSE MYSELF ON OCCASION by side-stepping true analysis of issues pertinent to friends by providing obscure replies. Such as: “He didn’t come off his line enough,” or “He punched when he should have caught the ball” when talking about Albert Camus or Julio Iglesias. I look forward to being able to say things like, “His material is far too Jewish” when Franken gets to the top of his game.
AND AS FOR A COMEDIAN helping a president sort out the Supreme Court, which Franken will apparently do for Barack Hussein Obama, I thought Gore Vidal had already done that when he wrote Duluth.
IN CALIFORNIA NOBODY THINKS that Arnold Schwarzenegger is unfit to be the state governor, and even if any doubts lingered there would always be the echo of Ronald Reagan to remind them of how one can make the move from the silver screen to the political stage. Indeed, in a rare moment of insight, Reagan summed up the ease of this transition in a BBC TV documentary in 1989 when he stated, “In Hollywood, if you can’t sing or dance, you wind up as an after-dinner speaker.”
MINNESOTA, HOWEVER, is not California, although it does have a tradition of apparent humour passing off as political and social commentary in the monologue drudgery produced by writer and broadcaster Garrison Keillor, all brought together in his famous, brain-numbing novel Lake Wobegon Days. Thus a boring stand up comedian like Franken might easily pass without a hitch into the realms of boring politicians representing farmers. I hope he one day becomes president.
I AMUSE MYSELF ON OCCASION by side-stepping true analysis of issues pertinent to friends by providing obscure replies. Such as: “He didn’t come off his line enough,” or “He punched when he should have caught the ball” when talking about Albert Camus or Julio Iglesias. I look forward to being able to say things like, “His material is far too Jewish” when Franken gets to the top of his game.
AND AS FOR A COMEDIAN helping a president sort out the Supreme Court, which Franken will apparently do for Barack Hussein Obama, I thought Gore Vidal had already done that when he wrote Duluth.
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