Media heads are spinning

Donald Trump was honored, so honored. And in introducing his least articulate and most irritating endorser this week in Ames, Iowa, he noted that she is “special.”

Her command of language is certainly special.

“Media heads are spinning,” Sarah said in her speech. Here is a link to the full transcript. Should you attempt to skim it, make sure you have an espresso. If your neurons are functioning, your head may spin, too. The buzzfeed page also includes the video, in case the words alone are not special enough and you want to relive the nightmare of 2008 by hearing that voice once again.

Here is just a tiny section of the endorsement speech:

Sarah during her triumphant 2008 campaign for VP.
Image from Wikimedia.org by user Therealbs2002.

“Oh, I just hope you guys get to know him more and more as a person, and a family man. What he’s been able to accomplish, with his um, it’s kind of this quiet generosity. Yeah, maybe his largess kind of, I don’t know, some would say gets in the way of that quiet generosity, and, uh, his compassion, but if you know him as a person and you’ll get to know him more and more, you’ll have even more respect. Not just for his record of success, and the good intentions for America, but who he is as a person. He’s not an elitist. And yes, as a multi-billionaire, we still root him on, because he roots us on. And he has, he’s spent his life with the workin’ man. And he tells us Joe six packs, he said, ‘You know, I’ve worked very, very hard. And I’ve succeeded. Hugely I’ve succeeded,’ he says. And he says, ‘I want you to succeed too.’ And that is refreshing, because he, as he builds things, he builds big things, things that touch the sky, big infrastructure that puts other people to work.”

Got that?

With endorsements like that, is it any wonder Donald Trump is doing so well?

So that you don’t have to, the spinning heads at The New York Times have chosen for you the juiciest quotes from Palin’s historic oratory. My personal favorite is: “He’s got the guts to wear the issues that need to be spoken about and debate on his sleeve, where the rest of some of these establishment candidates, they just wanted to duck and hide.”

I think I want to duck and hide.

I can’t say my head is exactly spinning, although it hurts. The mystery of Sarah is partly the mystery of Trump. What does it say about a country that The Donald can say the most sinister, ridiculous things, and just get more popular? Or that anybody cares whatever it is that Sarah is trying, and failing, to say?

Whatever education reforms we've enacted over the past several generations, they didn't work. Clearly, many children were left behind. And clearly, in this great land, that’s no barrier to fame and wealth.

As Sarah says: “Mr. Trump, you’re right, look back there in the press box. Heads are spinning, media heads are spinning. This is going to be so much fun.”

Indeed. Some things are so ridiculous that laughter can be the only response.

Like many Americans, I want my country back. I want a country were the members of the political classes are held somewhat accountable for what they say. I want a country where being a reality TV star qualifies you to be a reality TV star, and people don't assume that you are a leader just because you've been seen on TV. I want a body politic that makes some attempt to be rational and intelligent.I want two functioning political parties that make some effort to actually govern.

Republicans: If you can't do any better than The Donald or the The Ted, what is the point?

And I want less Sarah, please. She is years past her undeserved 15 minutes. And yet, I just wrote a blog post about her.

OK, now my head is spinning.

Seeking the Best & Worst TV Political Ads

I am exploring a new theory for the 2016 presidential elections, and I want your thoughts on it. I think TV ads may have peaked.

Since 1952, for two generations, TV has been the main arena of competition between presidential candidates, and we've seen and heard some historic things in that time period:  a girl plucking daisies before a mushroom cloud in 1964; a promise from Nixon to find an “honorable end” to the war in Vietnam in a commercial that ended with a soldier who had “love” stenciled on his helmet in 1968; Willie Horton in 1988; even Rick Perry wearing the Brokeback Mountain jacket in his disastrous and hilariously parodied 2012 “Strong” commercial.

NPR reported this year that television ad spending in the 2016 race should top $4 billion. But even as the 2010 Citizens United Supreme Court decision opened the floodgates for cash to pour into presidential politics, the 2016 races feels different to me.

Mike Huckabee—where is your “Chuck Norris” ad now? In this presidential election cycle, if you don’t live in Iowa, you might not already be inundated with candidate and PAC TV ads, but trust me, they are out there. Yet, in all the odd twists and turns of this very strange campaign (don’t look to me for an explanation why a blowhard billionaire with a tenuous hold on reality leads the polls in one of our major parties—I too am stumped by Trump), I don’t think that there has been a breakthrough TV ad message.

Indeed, some of the commercials I've seen are frankly just entertaining because they are so silly.

Take for example, this PAC ad endorsing Bobby Jindal. It’s not really loaded with much content except “Bobby is coming up in the polls,” but the meteoric rise it trumpets and praises is all the way to 6 percent. Right after this ad started airing, Jindal disappeared from the race completely. I guess he was rising so face he just raptured out of here.

Hillary, a hard-nosed politician and policy wonk of long standing, is toting a softer, "vote for grandma" message in this commercial:

Bernie Sanders, on the other hand, wants you to know that the economy is rigged in this ad. It takes a socialist to change America, I suppose, except I am not sure Middle America will ever vote for a socialist, even if he’s got a catchy slogan like “Feel the Bern.” We've certainly changed the tone of our campaigns since “I Like Ike.”

Jeb, whose poll numbers remain stubbornly low but who has the cash to keep running for some time anyway, actually takes a jab at Trump in this online ad—which I have not seen on Iowa TV, but wonder if I will should Trump’s numbers stay up:

Anyway, as noted, despite a record amount of cash pouring into the coffers of Iowa television stations, I am not sure advertising as yet has moved the needle this year. The mood of the electorate is very down, as world events prove too chilling. As a nation, we seem to be losing the middle.

I don’t want us to descend into multiple warring political factions, and I suppose the roughness of the current political rhetoric might be too easy to be alarmed at. But, how odd it is to feel nostalgic for 2012, when this was one of the hard-hitting ads of the campaign season:

To be fair, I'm not sure all of the ads I'm showing have aired on TV. I saw then on the Internet. Iowans, which have you seen on your home screen? Anyway, I want your help, legions of the Internet. What are your favorite or least favorite ads of the 2016 presidential race so far, and why? Please embed a link with your comment, so we can all share the fun.