Lightning Rod Gets The Zot

The Poet's Eye ^ | Lightning Rod

[Lrod]

A character like Christine O'Donnell presents a unique problem for a humorist. Few elaborations are called for since the caricature is self-embodied. All that is needed is a dead-pan Jack Benny look. You know, the one where he just stares blankly at the audience without saying a word and eventually someone titters and before you know it the whole place is in hysterics? Her very existence as a major party candidate for US Senate is the kind of comedy which arrives ready-written and would only be spoiled by embellishment. I mean, what can you add to rabidantimasturbationtarianism, rats with fully-functioning human brains and her famous Witches of Eastwick campaign ad that looks like it was produced by Tim Burton? I had fully intended to leave Ms. O'Donnell to the other comedians and the pundits who were wearing her out on cable TV. But then came the most recent revelation that she has claimed that her father was Bozo the Clown. Here I had to break my silence, not in the name of humor, but in the cause of veracity. This is a subject I happen to know something about.

Long ago, for one magic season, I was related by marriage to Bozo the Clown. I'm not making this up. My father was a semi-notorious lothario in the television and advertising business. Sometime after he turned 50, he married the 17 year-old daughter of one of his professional colleagues, Larry Harmon, the guy who owned the franchise to Bozo, the Most Famous Clown in the World. He was Bozo Primero, not one of the many FauxZos who were franchised in every major media market. I was much closer to the power center of the Bozo world than Ms. O'Donnell ever dreamed of being. It gave me an intimate glimpse into the backstage life of clowns. I knew little of the inside workings of the clown business in those days. Like a naive child, I had assumed that, you know, Bozo was Bozo. It never occurred to me that there was a school, like a Bozo boot-camp, where imposters went to learn how to walk like a Bozo and talk like a Bozo and draw the red rictus of a smile on their faces with greasepaint. It was like learning a dirty family secret and it was a big disappointment. When you go to see Bozo, you want it to really be Bozo, not some guy dressed up in a Bozo costume.

I hadn't thought about my brief inclusion in greasepaint royalty for years until Ms. O'D surfaced with her claims of actually being a blood relative of Bozo the Clown. The marriage between my father and Princess Bozo, which was chronologically challenged to begin with, barely outlasted the honeymoon. They had about as much in common as Christine would have in common with the 99 other US Senators. Suddenly the whole subject bubbled from my subconscious and made me wonder about franchises and politicians and the authenticity of clowns.

Since John Quincy Adams carried forth his father's political legacy, American politicians have campaigned on the richness of their family's past public service. Roosevelt and Kennedy and Bush all represent minor dynasties and it is entirely in keeping with this tradition for Ms. O'D to claim descent from Bozo. Clowning is as present in the current of American politics as populism, liberalism or conservatism. But in light of Ms. O'D's penchant for resume enhancement, she fibbed about her college career and has downplayed her wiccan studies, her claims to clownly ancestry are also suspect. While she seems like a natural and can certainly get a laugh and works well in the side-shows, one has to wonder if she is really ready for the Big Top, the center ring.

The US Senate is the Big League of Buffoonery. Even pros like Colbert have trouble hanging there. It's a tough room. Notice that Al Franken, even with all his years of practical comic experience, has been keeping mum in deference to the mime-masters of the Senate. These clowns can juggle, ride unicycles, do pratfalls and get shot from cannons, all with the perfect dead-pan of their painted-on media faces. They are consummate clowns adept with all the tricks, the seltzer bottle, the pie-in-the-face, the filibuster. I don't want to get all Stephen King on you but these aren't nice clowns. Ms. O'D should think twice before she alienates her witch constituency, she may need some strong juju to avoid the dunking stool. They'll make her the senator-punk-clown. Every troupe of clowns has one, the smallest clown, bottom of the pecking order, the one who all the other clowns slap and when there is no smaller clown for her to slap, she turns to the audience with her out-turned palms and pitiful Emmett Kelly frown and says, "I am you."

Two of the greatest Senatorial Clowns, Lloyd Bentson and Dan Quayle, in their famous vice-presidential debate in 1988 demonstrated the type of cut-throat comedy these jokers are capable of. When Quayle set the joke up by comparing his inexperience to the inexperience of Jack Kennedy, Bentson spiked it with this punch-line, "Senator," he said, "I served with Jack Kennedy. I knew Jack Kennedy. Jack Kennedy was a friend of mine. Senator, you are no Jack Kennedy."

The Poet's Eye would like to say to Christine O'Donnell in this same spirit, "Ms. O'Donnell, you say your father is Bozo. Well, I knew Bozo. Bozo was briefly my step-grand-father-in-law. Christine, your father was no Bozo."

Yes I’m stuck in the middle with you, and I’m wondering what it is I should do. It’s so hard to keep this smile from my face. Losing control yeah I'm all over the place.

Clowns to the left of me! Jokers to the right! Here I am stuck in the middle with you. ---Joe Egan and Gerry Rafferty

Visit The Poet's Eye

[glock rocks]

You’re trying to hijack a hijacked zot thread?

Wait, what?

You can’t fight in here... This is the War Room!

[Monkey Face]

As I said, this is a “General Chat” thread. It is called “The Undead Thread,” and it has been going since 2004, in one form or another, usually changing every month. We’ve managed to keep it sane and safe, and a haven of sorts for folks who are burned out on the political and religious threads.

If you feel that we are “strict,” remember that this is our Flying Castle, and there are certain rules we abide by. Otherwise, we may have to suggest you take a tour of the Lower Levels without a Guide or a Map.

You may post here any time you wish. You may talk about anything you wish, including politics. But since this is NOT a political thread, we prefer that you not try to make it so. We are happy with our Flying Castle, thankyouverymuch.

And sarcasm is optional.

[Monkey Face]

Thanks, glock!

[glock rocks]

Fluffy likes ham. Who knew.

[Tax-chick]

Now we all know!

[Monkey Face]

Got any 4’s?

[ColdOne]

And sarcasm is optional. and necessary. /s ? ;)

[glock rocks]

No, but I suppose I could break out some salmon steaks. I don’t suppose lower level feral tilapia would be appropriate, being “fresh water” and all... that, and it would take a forklift to move one. I wonder how much they have to eat to get that size. No, wait... never mind.

[Monkey Face]

Necessary on occasion.
Not always. Especially since this is the Undead Thread! :o])

[Syncro]

That’ll teach you!

Hijacked hijacked?

Makes sense

But, noes I ain’t

I thought ZOT threads were open to anyone, any comments.

[Monkey Face]

We DO have a moat (freshwater) with a Nessie-type critter and her offspring, and they have to eat SOMEthing. Bob knows more about that than I do.

However, we always caution folks about swimming there alone.

(As for the 4’s...your post was 1444...kinda like, “Go Fish.”)

[Arthur Wildfire! March]

“You can’t fight in here... This is the War Room!”

Can I throw twinkies at people? It helps them lose weight:

Twinkie diet helps nutrition professor lose 27 pounds
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/2624159/posts

[Arthur Wildfire! March]

“We’ve managed to keep it sane and safe, and a haven of sorts for folks who are burned out on the political and religious threads.”

OK, I can understand that. But I’ve got to share something with you:

Triceratops ‘Never Existed’ — Three-horned fossils are actually juvenile torosauruses
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/2624623/posts

[glock rocks]

This apparently isn’t the run o mill Zot thread.... I just dropped in for the free coffee... and ended up tending a penguin for four hours. What’s up with that?

[Monkey Face]

Once the troll is dead, banned or suspended, we often take over the thread for our own nefarious uses. And yes, they are open to anyone, and you can post what you want, but there are often people under 21 who lurk, read and post, so we try to keep the content clean and user-friendly.

If you’d like to join the Undead Thread ping list, you can FReepmail sionnsar or me and we will be glad to add you. Low volume...twice a month.

We ain’t much, but we’re all we’ve got!

[Arthur Wildfire! March]

Oh, and if the world is about to end as we know it a year from now, can I let you know?

[Monkey Face]

That would be in SunkenCiv’s baliwick.

I only post when he pings me to something pithy!

[Monkey Face]

Only if you post a vanity thread after signing up that morning at oh-dark-thirty!

*wink*

[Syncro]

As I said, this is a "General Chat" thread. It is called "The Undead Thread"

Well, maybe you should put that in the title.

Maybe [Undead Caucus]

I didn't realize some of them are "owned."

Or maybe even use a keyword, like these:

Undead (therefore live) keyword

I see a latest post on a ZOT thread, and sometimes I post on it.

Sorry to reign on your parade. Crown me.

[glock rocks]

Absolutely! And let me know if the coffee runs low. Darks^TM coffee is some of the finest silver cleaner this side of the known universe.