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Lunchtime Poll

Lunchtime Poll: Politics and Parody

So, this weekend, Rick Santorum launched a fundraising campaign called “Conservatives Unite Moneybomb.” Yes, the man whose name has become shorthand for icky sex fluids launched a fundraising campaign with the acronym “CUM.” It seems like the Republican presidential race for 2012 has teetered far over the edge of “ludicrous” and into “We can’t tell if this is The Onion or not anymore” territory.

Which leads me to my question for you today. What is the most ridiculous thing you’ve seen a politician do in your lifetime? I don’t mean the “serious” ridiculous. I mean the hilarious, the kind that might have been SNL-skit content except that it really happened by a candidate who took themselves seriously for political office. Give me your best political snafus in the comments.

By Meghan Young Krogh

Meghan had a number of quality writing mentors over the course of her education, which just goes to show that you can't blame the teacher for the way the student turns out. Team Oxford Comma represent.

44 replies on “Lunchtime Poll: Politics and Parody”

I don’t have any snafus to share. . . Just an absurdity to those who know anything about systems of care. . .

Local commissioner’s race we had a prominent local business person running as a libertarian. No surprise there right? (I live in a rural, conservative area.) No, the absurdity of the matter is that he wanted to privatize the foster care, MH, DD, and Addiction Services in our county. That’s right, cut off state funding for these outside of Medical Assistance Card. Thankfully, he lost. (A friend of my mother’s took the seat he was vying for- though it makes her
the token Democrat.)

Even if this doesn’t qualify, I want to thank you for a LTP that brightened a day made dull by chronic pain. Brava!

In my hometown, one of the candidates for Mayor was an 18 yr old kid. His old locker was also my locker and at one point my freshman year, he came up to me while I was at “our” locker and started talking about how great that particular location was, how handy it was being numbered 123 and all sorts of other things that he felt, as a senior, needed to be passed onto a freshman.

OMG. He may have not done anything ridiculous while campaigning (he lost, very much so) but he was a nutjob in school. Don’t elect 18 yr olds, just… don’t.

Though, it was in a great spot. Near the restrooms, near the exit, near the weight-room (he and I appreciated that fact for different reasons).

 

See Twiddle’s comment – Adam Scott is a character on Parks and Recreation who, as an older teen, became his city’s mayor… and consequently bankrupted the city trying to build a hockey rink or something similar. His character’s actually pretty great, but your story reminded me of him. :)

New Zealand had a Prime Minister affectionately known as “Piggy”. He once called a snap election while off his face on schnapps, then when he retired from politics, he joined the Rocky Horror Show and was the Narrator.

As Prime Minister he was an insufferable git, but as entertainment no one could beat him.

 

Rob Muldoon, PM over the late 70’s and early 80’s.

I’ve just recalled we have a cartoon of Muldoon in our spare room. Mr Cesy who used to be a card carrying Young Nat has quite the love for Muldoon. It’s rather frightening actually.

Santorum is either, as said below an excellent performance artist, or has no sense of humour. I’m hoping for the former even though I think it is the latter.

Muldoon had a wicked sense of humour. His secretary used to get phone calls from a man who was mentally ill and thought the Government was reading his brain with a satellite. Every day the secretary would say, no you cannot speak to the PM. One day Piggy went past his secretaries desk when this man rang again. He heard what was going on, and told the secretary to put the call through to his office. He listened to the man rant and rave, and said “Right, I’ve stopped it now” and hung up on him. The man never called again…..

I was told that story by a (very recent) former MP who was high up in Government for a long time. She was a Labour MP, the opposition to Muldoon’s National Party and even she thought that story was just brilliant.

Sadly the only thing I can come up with Jack Layton (RIP) playing the spoons during the last Canadian federal election in May, though I’m not sure if that’s what you’re looking for. I don’t think a sketch has been made about it.

Also, during October’s Ontario provincial election in their platform Tim Hudak and the Tories proposed transit cuts and highway expansions to end the “war on the car” so that people could go home and “spend quality time with your family”. It’s like they ran out of things to criticize and just settled for the most bizarre phrasing to get people to vote for them.

Our local representative (Mark Souder, for anyone who knows the name) made a youtube video with his assistant about the importance of family values.  The next week he was caught in his car having sex with said secretary at the state park.  I’ve never seen news anchors so gleeful at a political snafu.  Actual words out of the reporters mouth:  “The YouTube video has since been taken down, but we have it on our website!”  (Said with huge grin.)

Rachel Maddow (and shadowed by Jon Stewart) said the same thing about the Herman Cain campaign, that it was performance art gone horribly wrong. That was of course after Cain quoted a “poet”, then quoted the Pokemon Movie theme song in reality; his 999 economic plan, which also happens to be the default setting on Sim City; and there was something else I can’t remember at the moment…

Today’s US political WTF, c/o Rebecca Traister on Twitter:

Rand Paul refuses pat-down at Nashville airport on way to an anti-abortion rally in DC. Because keep your hands off his body. Happy Monday!

Irish politicians have a good few… let’s see… ex-Minister for Defence Willie O’Dea play-shoots a photographer… current Minister for Finance says emigration is a “lifestyle choice” (our unemployment rate is ~15%)… ex-Minister for Finance and ex-Prime Minister Bertie Ahern saying he didn’t have a bank account for seven years (while he was in government…!)…

If you don’t laugh you’ll cry.

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