Humor
I think I’ve figured out why politicians can’t seem to accomplish much these days. They are too busy playing bulldog politics, attacking each other. Some of you might be surprised to learn there was a time when wit, humor and yes, intelligence played a big role in government. I call them the big three. But you can’t have humor or wit without intelligence which seems to be in short supply lately. Let me give you a few examples from days gone by. Told that a fellow Londoner in his late seventies had been arrested in Hyde Park for making improper advances toward a young lady in the dead of winter, Winston Churchill quipped, “Over seventy-five and below zero. Makes you proud to be an Englishman!” Ronald Reagan once said, “I have learned that one of the most important rules in politics is poise,… which means looking like an owl after you have behaved like a jackass.” Saying grace before a White House dinner in 1965, press secretary Bill Moyers spoke very softly. “Speak up, Bill!” President Johnson bellowed. “Speak up! I can’t hear you.” Moyers replied, “I wasn’t talking to you, Mr. President.”
Timing is also important. When word came that President Herbert Hoover had a new granddaughter, he said, “Thank God she doesn’t have to be confirmed by the Senate.” When Will Rogers was taken to the White House to meet President Harding, Rogers said, “Mr. President, I would like to tell you all the latest political jokes.” “You don’t have to Will,” the President said. “I appointed them.” There are thousands of stories about wit, humor and intelligence in politics but interestingly, very few of them are recent. There are however, funny stories about political failures or maybe I should say sad, funny stories. For example, during the recent standoff on funding Homeland Security, Republican Cathy Rodgers of Washington said, “When I had 4-H animals and I sold them, I saved that money so I could go to school.” Don’t ask me how that applied to the subject at hand. During that same standoff, Republican Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy of California said, “I have two small kids that are now one in college and one about to go to college.” Reporters looked at one another, puzzled about the meaning of what was just said.
Somehow, this verbally challenged group of lawmakers managed to avoid a pending shutdown and approved funds for DHS. Our own Senator Jim Inhofe brought a snowball to the Senate floor. He then offered it as proof that Global Warming is over, which should comfort all those Oklahoma residents currently living in an officially declared drought. Wit? Humor? Intelligence? In Oklahoma City state Rep. Mike Christian offered a bill to make breathing 100% nitrogen gas, the secondary form of execution in the state. Christian said, “You can pick up nitrogen anywhere. You can pick it up at a welding supply company.” His bill passed. I should mention another Oklahoma City Representative, Sally Kern. Some of her statements have caused moans and raised eyebrows in the state and laughter,… mostly outside the state. For example, Miss Sally said, “Blacks in Oklahoma have a higher than usual incarceration rate because they don’t want to study as hard in school.” Then she gave us, “Women don’t work as hard as men.” Several times she has explained that “Homosexuality is a bigger threat to America than terrorism.” On that issue it’s no surprise that she’s behind House Bill 1598 which ensures therapy to convert someone from gay to straight. Wit? Humor? Intelligence? Now before we start throwing verbal stones at Miss Sally and the rest, perhaps its best we take a look a how they got their jobs. They were elected. So the fault, it would appear, rests with the folks who bothered to vote,… while the majority stayed home. Perhaps before the next election, voters might want to remember the lyrics from a John Denver song, ‘Poems, Prayers and Promises’. The lyrics are,…
The children and the flowers are my brothers and my sisters. Their laughter and their loveliness would clear a cloudy day. And the song that I am singing is a prayer for non-believers, come and stand beside me,… we can find a better way.”
I’m Sam Jones and that’s my perspective.
