Friday
Mar182016
We've Reached Peak Campaign
Friday, March 18, 2016 at 12:01AM
Apparently this is a thing now. The Internet thinks Ted Cruz is the singer of Stryper. Or rather, the Internet thinks Ted Cruz is really Michael Sweet. I mean, the photos of the two guys look sort of similar, but come on. Insanity. What's worse is that CNN even had Sweet on to discuss last night! Peak election. The scary thing is that we still have about eight more months of this crap!
Posted by Stryper on Thursday, March 17, 2016
Reader Comments (13)
IDIOTS!
One thing they do have in common is the Evangelical bird calling, Stryper in their lyrics and Cruz in his speeches.
Cruz: 45
Seven years age difference.
Stupid CNN!
King Kobra--a band I enjoyed with Free and Shortino--acted like a bunch of Neanderthals when they discussed her transition (and then largely through Appice). This from a band that most recently featured Appice and Rod, both men well past their primes, squeezing as much of a "look" as they can out of their pouty "come hither" duckfaces, billowing untucked shirts, and poorly coiffed and dyed 'dos. Kettles. Meet Black. Can't figure the darn thing out? Fair enough. Not approving of the same? That's your right. But you can take the classy route and just move past it. Seems Marcie has.
The political stuff? Not gonna touch it . . . save one (not partisan) comment: Cruz displays all the tendencies, most of them bad, of former collegiate debaters who learned that technique trumps (no pun intended) oratorical passion. The emotions cued as if by small electrical shocks meant to mimic real human behavior. The calibrated gesture and posture shifts, designed in some windowless basement that makes "how to" videos for small market newscasters. The tone and cadence variations that suggest the semblance of contact with real feelings.
And one can affect said passion, regardless the side of the aisle. Regan did. So, too, JFK. But that is the tricky thing about being oratorically fluent: you should show few signs of a "tell." Rhetoric works best when we sense it least.
The sad fact, though, is that quite a few people nowadays could care less about a well-thought out policy discussion, rendered in sensible, if elegant, prose. And those failing opinion leaders of yore--the CNNs, FOXs, and MSNBCs--indulge in just the same avarice (greed for gain in share, if not in wealth), funneling messages that are tailored for "their" audience and their audience alone. Echo Chambers of Disconfirmation Bias surround us in the low hum of what we already know we know. When the ticker running across the bottom of the screen says we are right . . . well, you know, we are right. Right?
Here's what's been wrong with SO many politicians either seeking the Presidency or who actually attained "the highest office in the land. Not since Kennedy or to a lesser degree, Bill Clinton, has there been someone who comes across as "genuine" in the way, Trump does.
Cruz, Rubio, Kerry, all the Bushes, Reagan, Hillary, Gore, Ford, Mondale, Dukakis, Carter, McCain, Nixon, Johnson, Romney, even Carter (and especially, the cavalcade of the usual Republican'ts and Demoncrats) all had or have a canned quality about them, no matter how horrible or great their message is/was.
Wheareas, Trump, even though he repeats himself over and over and continuously insults nearly every walk of life, he comes across as genuine, in that he can speak extemporaneously, off the cuff, organically and unscripted, the same way most people do in their everyday lives and that's what people respond to -- He is relatable.
Plus they know him from 9 years of a major hit television show. Basically, he's not a stiff, as he so accurately describes Romney and Cruz.
Hillary will beat him but it's gonna be close. It could still be a landslide but she's going to have to do a better job of connecting with voters.
To Bring Back Glam! into the subject, look how the guy's been crankin' up "We're Not Gonna Take It"! What more endorsement do you need to put him up? Believe me, he'll do a lot better than Cruz against Hillary, even though he'll still lose.