Comedic Campaigning

After discussing Mitt Romney’s leaked “47%” video in class the other day I started thinking about how those kinds of things actually affect a candidate and their campaign. I noticed that it was all over the front page of every news website I looked at the rest of the afternoon. I logged onto The Huffinton Post and the first thing that popped up was big red letters bashing Romney and the GOP party saying that the campaign was over and he had no chance now that this video had gone viral. I started to think about how the media’s portrayal of these events truly effects the race and how events like this feed the media and give them material to work with. These things can be spun every which way, negative or positive. I chose to look at the funny side of it, or satirical viewpoint.

I am a big fan of all entertainment television, especially comedy. I am a big Saturday Night Live fan. I know that election season is a big time of the year for comedy writers. I know this not only because I’ve seen various political impersonations and spoofs, but also because Seth Meyers talked about it when he came and did his show at Notre Dame a few weeks ago. These funny guys absolutely love giving politicians a hard time. So I was watching The Daily Show with Jon Stewart last night on Comedy Central (September 18, 2012 at 11:00pm) and of course he and Steven Colbert were having a field day with the Romney’s “47%” video. (Full episode here: http://www.thedailyshow.com/full-episodes/tue-september-18-2012-salman-rushdie)  

While it is pretty funny and makes good entertainment to see these guys call out people for what they do and what they say, I began to consider what kind of negative press this gives the Romney campaign. News sources are notably more left-winged, but man we’re they making Romeny sound like an idiot. Stewart, in regard to Romney’s comment about not being able to win the vote of people on welfare, pulled up a viedo from years ago of Mitt Romney’s mother talking about her husband’s rise to political success where she says, “He was a rufugee from Mexico, living on welfare relief for the first few years.” Stewart then comments, “George Romney was on welfare, so according to Mitt Romney’s own logic, Mitt Romney could not win the vote of his own father!” This doesn’t make Romney look very smart, and in a round-about-way implies that he may not have the support of his own family. Stewart also comments on the Romney campaign’s launching of a  “reboot” and how on the very first day they are already in “damage control” mode because of the leaked video. This high lights the fact that it seems like since campaigning started Romney has just had problem after problem. Beginning with the GOP convention and Clint Eastwood, to his comments on Libya, and now the “47%” video.

Yes, this is comedic television and not always meant to be taken seriously, but a few years ago Jon Stewart was actually voted “America’s Most Trusted Newsman.” (http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/07/22/time-magazine-poll-jon-st_n_242933.html) With that said, people apparently do listen to him and take what he says seriously even though it is a comical way of portraying news events. A good portion of people who are going to vote in this election may not sit down and watch the whole “47%” video, but they may see clips of it on the news or watch shows like The Daily Show that spoof on those things. Which could be enough to sway their vote. While comedy is not usually taken seriously, it can have a very real and negative affect on a candidate and their campaign. It is truly amazing how much of an influence media’s portrayal of certain events can shape our opinions of such things.