{"id":13296,"date":"2016-02-03T17:04:57","date_gmt":"2016-02-03T22:04:57","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/?p=13296"},"modified":"2016-03-02T17:42:37","modified_gmt":"2016-03-02T22:42:37","slug":"politics-as-usual-send-out-the-clowns","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/politics-as-usual-send-out-the-clowns\/","title":{"rendered":"POLITICS AS USUAL: Send out the clowns"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Alison Collins-Mrakas<\/strong><\/p>\n

Unable to obtain the endorsement of anyone of note, not even an Alderman from Podunk in the State of Nowhere, Donald Trump has instead obtained the dubious achievement of receiving the ringing endorsement of none other than Sarah Palin.
\nOr should I say, rhyming endorsement of Sarah Palin because, true to whacko form, the former Governor of Alaska, VP candidate and reality star extraordinaire, gave a rhyming, rapping, riotous \u201cstatement\u201d of support for Trump that simply has to be seen to be believed.
\nIt was beyond bizarre.
\nAs an aside, SNL\u2019s parody of Palin\u2019s statement is pretty much bang on. And hilarious.
\nCampaign theme songs? Yes.
\n\u201cBorn in the USA\u201d seems to be a favourite of candidates on both sides of the aisles, although I don\u2019t think either really understands the song, or I am certain that the Republicans wouldn\u2019t be using it. But, a rhyming, rapping, smiling, clapping \u201cendorsement\u201d for a candidate for President?
\nAnd let\u2019s not even mention the prosti-tot mini \u201cfreedom\u201d cheerleaders he trotted out last month.
\nGood Lord!
\nThis should be the final straw for Trump folks.
\nI mean, Sarah Palin is your big gun? Really? I know she has a certain amount of unexplainable appeal to a small demographic, but Sarah Palin is the best you can do?
\nShe\u2019s not fringe; she\u2019s the fronds on the fringe for heaven\u2019s sake.
\nBy any reasonable definition, Trump is not a serious candidate for President.
\nFull stop.
\nHe has no policy background, no platform to speak of, no political bona fides that would warrant him being considered let alone discussed as the leading candidate. He doesn\u2019t even make sense half the time.
\nAnd now, with Palin stumping for him, the three-ring circus that was the Trump campaign, has become a chaotic mess of incendiary messaging, quips and quibbles.
\nAnd yet \u2013 as of this week even after losing Iowa! – he is still leading in many polls. And don\u2019t get me started on the polls.
\nWhy?
\nBecause his campaign is all you hear about.
\nPublic opinion is shaped by what is put in front of it, and if what they see and hear is \u201cAll Trump, all the time”, then of course he is top of mind for those harried folks answering the phone for a political poll.
\nThese polls decide who even gets to be on the stage for the debates \u2013 top tier and undercard. Contender and Also-ran. The viability of a candidate decided by a debate organizer. How does that further the cause of democracy?
\nElizabeth May faced the same obstacles in the recent Federal election as some debate organizers\u2019 failed to include her in various debates, arguably inhibiting the ability of the public to fully assess all the candidates for Premier.
\nBefore I get a flaming email, yes, I know it is not a strictly analogous situation, but I\u2019m using it for illustrative purposes.
\nThe bottom line is coverage matters. Who you choose to focus your valuable air time on affects who we choose to consider as important \u2013 or not.
\nIn my opinion, it\u2019s time that choice is made a bit more wisely.
\nTrump\u2019s campaign is a joke.
\nIt should be seen and framed in that context, in my humble opinion. Stop covering it like it\u2019s a real campaign \u2013 because it isn\u2019t. It is a bizarre vanity exercise that needs to end. Now.
\nSomeone \u2013 anyone \u2013 please give that man the hook, and let the serious contenders take the stage.
\nUntil next week, stay informed, stay involved because this is \u2013 after all \u2013 Our Town<\/p>\n\"Facebook\"<\/a>\"twitter\"<\/a>\"mail\"<\/a>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Alison Collins-Mrakas Unable to obtain the endorsement of anyone of note, not even an Alderman from Podunk in the State of Nowhere, Donald Trump has instead obtained the dubious achievement of receiving the ringing endorsement of none other than Sarah Palin. Or should I say, rhyming endorsement of Sarah Palin because, true to whacko […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[26],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-13296","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-archive"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p3D2k4-3ss","publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-04-17 20:59:35","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13296","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13296"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13296\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13296"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13296"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13296"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}