CSotD: Trumped up issues
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Jeff Danziger on the kerfuffle over Trump's endorsement of Romney, in a cartoon that over-analysis only improves.
Rodeo clowns went through a period when they insisted on being called "bullfighters" rather than "clowns," but, unlike pundits, they seem to have gotten over that and have embraced their dual role of protecting the cowboys while they entertain the crowd.
Their purpose is to distract the bull while the cowboy escapes, and, boy, Danziger couldn't be more right on about that aspect, and you can swap out all sorts of bulls.
But Trump is special. He's such a freak of reality, such a bizarre grabber of spotlights, that he becomes a symbol of a whole lot of stuff that belongs in the toy box, not the tool box.
For instance, I sort of get "American Idol," even though I think its only purpose is to let you put a face to the music you'll be hearing on the grocery store Muzak a year from now. But, okay, I'm a snob. I also don't get the Grammys, because they've always saluted the bland, middle-of-the-road music that keeps the industry profitable.
People like that stuff, and I should lighten up.
And, if you ignore the unspeakable sideshow cruelty of the opening episodes each season, I understand the appeal of watching amateurs make the grade.
After all, if a kid who stocks shelves at Wal-Mart can sing like that, maybe you can, too.
Meanwhile, "Dancing with the Stars" is pure celebrity worship. Coaching people who are famous-for-being-famous to perform routines choreographed to look harder than they are is like when they bumped Carol Lawrence out of the lead for the movie version of "West Side Story" in favor of Natalie Wood, or chose Audrey Hepburn over Julie Andrews for "My Fair Lady" and then had Marni Nixon dub in their singing.
And, as with Idol, the purpose of DWTS is for viewers to say, "If a putz like that can look good on the dance floor, I'll bet I could, too!"
So I guess it's all in the vicarious experience you seek.
I liked the 2002 reality show "Celebrity Boxing," where people like Vanilla Ice and Todd Bridges or Tonya Harding and Paula Jones stepped into the ring to pound the crap out of each other.
When I watch the Sunday morning interview shows, the moderator stands in for me and asks the questions I would like to ask, just as, when I watched "Celebrity Boxing," each fighter would repeatedly sock a famous non-entity in the face upon my behalf.
Where "Celebrity Boxing" failed was when one fighter would fold up and not put up any resistance. The equivalent on the Sunday talkers is when the moderator allows it to become a game of "on the one hand/on the other" and fails to challenge even the most ridiculous, counter-factual statements.
Which brings us to Donald Trump's endorsement of Mitt Romney. There is a DWTS factor here, because, even though Trump is an empty suit, there he is, being treated as if his opinion mattered. And it wasn't Will or Blitzer who offered him the chance to prance through the choreographed steps.
It was Romney.
There was a picture that went out in the lead-up to the Iraq war, showing Rumsfeld shaking hands with Saddam Hussein, but it was blunted by the "That was then, this is now" factor.
But how do you explain Romney and his wife turning out for an endorsement from Trump? This is not then, if there ever was a "then" for Donald Trump. This is now.
And this is the point where the "rodeo clown" analogy takes hold, because, if Will and Blitzer want to make the point that Romney should have run as fast from Trump as he has from Ted Nugent, it's a fair point.
Or if they want to say that Romney accepting Trump's endorsement blunts any possible criticism of Obama taking money and handshakes from Hollywood celebrities, that's a good point, too.
But how long does it take to make your point and move on to more important things?
If you've ever been to a rodeo, you know that the bulls generally head to the gate as soon as they've disposed of their rider. The clowns rarely have to do more than shoo them along.
When the clowns start trying to keep the bull from leaving the arena, they've forgotten that, entertaining as they are, they're not the reason for the crowd.
Meanwhile, as has been said so many times before, we're in trouble when the jokesters are making better points than the pundits:
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