John McCain announced his candidacy last night on the Late Show With David Letterman, and his decision is once again stirring up talk about the overlap between politics and pop culture. The idea of a presidential candidate coming on a comedy show is nothing new. Cue Nixon on Laugh-in. Cue Clinton on Arsenio. Cue John Kerry riding onto the set of the Tonight Show on a motorcycle.
But McCain's appearance isn't quite the same as Howard Dean doing damage control on Letterman and the Daily Show following his momentum-celebrating (and momentum-killing) scream. Those are cases of politicians needing to borrow some lightness from late-night TV. This was a case of late-night TV borrowing gravity from politicians. This is not a universal trend. It's limited to Letterman, mainly, and to some degree to the Daily Show, and it dates back directly to September 11, 2001.
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After the attacks on the World Trade Center, everything was news, or related to the news, and the insignificant bordered on the offensive. It was too soon to laugh for a little while, and then it was just barely permissible. On September 17, Letterman returned to the air – the first major national host to do so – with a somber, memorial show. He delivered his monologue from behind his desk, commending Mayor Guiliani and celebrating New York's firefighters and police officers. Dan Rather, the main guest that night, broke down crying while he was reciting "America the Beautiful." Since then, the nation has been at war, against terrorism, in Afghanistan, in Iraq, and Letterman has not only maintained a steady pulse of more serious guests but has decided, for the most part, not to use them as comic relief.
It's not that McCain wouldn't have appeared on Letterman eight years ago. But if he had, he most likely would have participated in a sketch, or read a Top Ten list, or had a highly choreographed interview. The main point would have been to appeal to younger voters and establish himself as a human in a political arena filled with plastic statues. Last night, McCain made a few jokes about getting old, but soon enough he and Letterman settled into what has become an important point of the Late Show these days: frank discussion of the war and its consequences that, if not exactly middle-of-the-road (Letterman consistently appears to be a staunch opponent of the war), managed to address the concerns of a large number of Americans.
Reader Comments ( Page 1 of 1)
1. As a Democratic activist my entire adult life, I was thrilled with John McCain's second of three announcements that he is running for President - Letterman being squeezed in between the foundation of the exploratory committee and the climactic FORMAL announcement still to come!!!
McCain's blind "stay the course and then some" strategy will make a lot of sense to the Republican party base. Plus, after making the mistake of speaking truthfully that Fundamentalists are "agents of intolerance," John has now jumped in bed with them and proclaimed his opposition to gay rights (Republicans ALWAYS need a scapegoat to distract voters from their record) and hatred of abortion.
Plus, I admire his switch from "straight talk" to "slick talk." He blasted General Case for the failure in Iraq, then he turned on poor Rummy and blamed him. Of course, he avoids blaming the top general and self-proclaimed "decider" on Iraq, George Bush, because he can't afford to lose Bush lovers' votes in the primary.
John's loyalty to his financial supporters, such as Big Pharma which charges Americans the highest drug prices in the world, is outstanding - in fact, he's so loyal, that he was willing to sell out America's seniors by refusing to let Medicare lower prescription drug prices. He has his Republican priorities straight - putting the demands of big corporate interests and America's richest individuals ahead of the interests of 99% of Americans.
John, we're rooting for you over at Democratic headquarters, and I personally promise to write complimentary blogs such as this one throughout your campaign. Go, John, go!!!!!
Phil at 7:20PM on Mar 2nd 2007
2. I prefer Democrats over Republicans but the Democrats need to secure our borders, issue work permits, and ensure that legal immigration does not favor one culture over the other and as to Iraq, partition the oil and the country and station a "watch dog" force of our troops in the Kurd sector to protect the oil and the Kurds and send the rest of our young service members home and divert the savings to alternative forms of energy, clean air and water, and a highly educated work force. Instead, the Democrats will defend the right to an abortion to the hilt and lose control of the Congress and the White House and cause 80% of Americans to suffer needlessly as the Republicans continue to diminish the greatness of America in favor of the wealthy elite.
Sincerely,
John W. Mikus
John W. Mikus at 6:53AM on Mar 3rd 2007