Vox

Humorectomy

Listening to Laura Ingraham on my way to work this morning. Today she was incensed - incensed, I tell you! - that Mike Huckabee in particular, and all the candidates in general, are making the rounds of the TV talk shows.

Her take, "there are serious problems in the world and Huckabee is making jokes!" on The Colbert Report. How dare he not talk about the soldiers who were killed in Iraq, or the problems with Pakistan harboring terrorists. How dare he wax wittily about the campaign trail.

I have no problem with Huckabee campaigning on any reasonable show that will have him. (Though I am sick of hearing, "as the only candidate with a Theology degree" and I would be concerned if he was making his plea on Pat Robertson's show) When he is on a comedy show, he does well being funny. When the candidates do news shows, they can concentrate on plans for the economy and their stance on abortion. I appreciate that human beings are able to compartmentalize, and I would hate to imagine what a single-minded concentration on any of the prevailing issues of the day would do to a person's psyche.

I should qualify this by noting that Huckabee is the politician best suited to the Comedy Central route, as he seems to be the only candidate of either party with a natural sense of humor. The others, though fed with quips and one-liners by their staff, can't quite pull it off. I am thinking most specifically of McCain here, who insists on telling "jokes" that are rarely funny and never effectively delivered.

At the end of the show, she let it slip that Huckabee has declined to appear on her show. She seemed genuinely put out that he would choose Letterman, Leno & Colbert over her.

So, Laura, were you really upset about him making jokes or were you just upset that he wasn't making them on your show?

[ed note: I won't be voting for Huckabee in the primary, but in the general he is head & shoulders more appealing than Clinton, Obama, Edwards....]

Posted by Vox at January 10, 2008 12:26 PM | politics