Election Entertainment

Guilt by Association   Does Corona Beer Give You Corona Virus? Or Death by Another Name A long time before 40% of the USA was obese, there was a diet candy called Ayds, and it was very popular.  Of course, diet candy is an oxymoron, but that did not stop many from buying Ayds.  What shut down the company was AIDS, which had absolutely nothing to do with diet candy.  However, the two were pronounced the same, and fear of the disease trumped even hunger cravings.  It was irrational, but how rational is using candy to diet? Today, the fear is corona virus, a.k.a., COVID-19.  They tried to change the name, but corona virus became a meme and sounds better anyway.  If corona virus is today's AIDS, then Corona beer is today's Ayds.  Corona is Spanish for crown, hence the Corona beer logo. Fortunately for Corona Beer, there are plenty of media outlets disputing this contention, but a many are just pandering to get as much attention as po...

Crash and Burn We Love to Watch Coronavirus is 'OK' America craves watching a train wreck, especially a political one.  Remember Jimmy Carter sitting at the White House in a sweater, telling everyone to turn down their thermostats in that last winter of his term.  Or recall the Iranian Hostage Crisis?  These failures at crisis management were the Waterloo battles of President Carter.  Will coronavirus be The Donald's "you're fired" moment? President Trump has been ruthlessly efficient at dodging blame by blaming others, including subordinates and faithful.  It will be hard for him to find a scapegoat for coronavirus.  In 1979, Carter squirmed through his re-election campaign while the Middle East cartel and Iran left him twisting in the wind.  In 2020, a tiny virus may show us how The Donald can squirm.  It should be spectacular. #electionentertainment

Death and Taxing   Betting on Democracy America is engrossed by death, obsessed by it.  We even brand our water Liquid Death, in order to murder our thirst. Our death obsession might explain some of the more popular candidates in this year's presidential election.  First and foremost is The Donald, who is the oldest person ever elected into the presidency, 70+, and would be the oldest person ever re-elected at 74+.  Ronald Reagan, another media personality, previously held the record, being less than three weeks shy of 70 and 74 when he became president for the first and second times. Democrats are proving they can field even older candidates.  Bernie Sanders, the current leader in the polls, would be over 79.  Michael Bloomberg would almost be 79, too.  Even the youthful Elizabeth Warren would be 71, which would still set a new record.  And former Vice President Joe Biden would be an easy 78.  This is the oldest field of president...

Fake It Forever Today Whitney, Tomorrow Trump Some paranoid people have feared The Donald becoming POTUSFL (President Of The United States For Life).  Well, as The Donald once said, "If you are going to think, think BIG."  Why not POTUSF (President Of The United States Forever)?  Other than the fact that neither POTUSFL nor POTUSF make a very pronounceable acronyms, the concept of president for life (a.k.a., king, emperor, chairman, premier, god, 'who's your daddy') has been around for a long time and often used.  A very contemporary 'who's your daddy' version is Vladimir Putin's hopping between president and prime minister while having the laws changed, moving power to follow him.  China's Xi Jinping has a similar thing going on, coronavirus notwithstanding. Of course, The Donald would not want to merely follow the example of other leaders-for-life.  Besides, at 73, 'for life' would definitely not be long enough.  Therefor...

Previews of Coming Attractions A Marketing Masterpiece Political campaigns are now a form of entertainment, largely due to the fact that media reporting of campaigns is produced as such.  Today, we may lament the overly slick ads, which glorify the "I approve this message" candidates or deride their opponents (without an endorsement, usually through a PAC).  This election season will evolve into an FX spectacle that only Hollywood could equal. This non-political trailer (above) for an old movie reborn is a great example of how great marketing can turn a sow's ear into a silk purse.  There will be hours of this magic performed, particularly towards the end of the season, between the conventions and the election.  Such ads will make The Donald look more entertaining than Arnold's character from this clip, and his opponent will hope to look as good as Jackie Chan's character.  Surprised?  Most viewers prefer Saturday Night Live's portrayals of the De...

English Rule   Top Dog Yesterday, two contests were decided, one much more definitively.  Siba, a standard poodle, took top honors as Best of Show at the Westminster Dog Show.  Across the ocean, Bernie Sanders eked out narrow victory over Pete Buttigieg, Amy Klobuchar, and a list of standard politicians (a.k.a., also-rans who get no delegates).  Comparing the two contests might seem unfair.  After all, the dogs are much better trained and groomed. While reporting of the dog show was upbeat and softball, the election reporting was as mixed as the voting - Bernie Sanders is the frontrunner. Now, treat him like it. Why Bernie Sanders's New Hampshire primary win should terrify you Interesting note, this browser's spell checker wanted to change Siba to Basia, Buttigieg to Butting, and Klobuchar to Kombucha. Hopefully, the Nevada caucuses will not be using it.

Mike Bloomberg Before TikTok, Twitter, Facebook, the World Wide Web, the Internet, television, or radio, newspapers were 'the press' as literally referenced in the First Amendment to the Constitution.  If the Supreme Court wants to split hairs, it could declare that only letterset or, maybe offset publications qualified to be 'the press' and censor electronic news.  However, since reference to 'the press' follows 'freedom of speech,' such an interpretation might defy the English language as well. We no longer call it 'the press'; ' The Media ' is now the moniker.  Another word slowly withdraing from common reference is journalism, referring to the profession of preparing the news.  It too has been subsumed beneath The Media moniker.  Money is the reason behind these changes. In their heyday, newspapers were the second most dominant medium, behind the rumor mill.  This medium created private enterprise empires more dominant than F...