Des Moines Register
11-08-07
So, a candidate walks into a debate
Politicians wield humor, a double-edged sword, with subtlety
By ERIN CRAWFORD
REGISTER STAFF WRITER
Cracking a joke is dangerous for politicians.
Jokes offend. They're easily misinterpreted. Worst of all, sometimes they're just
not funny.
But when comedy works, humor can cover a mistake, nail a competitor's
weakness and even fix a big personality problem.
Humor has helped Rudy Giuliani stand out, said Rachel Paine Caufield,
associate professor in Drake University's Department of Politics and International
Relations. Caufield teaches a class in political satire.
She said Giuliani's humor seems natural, as if he's a guy who enjoys humor.
"He has his set jokes and they work well," she said. In particular, Giuliani's riff on
Hillary's "Baby Bond" proposal made audiences chortle.
"We're going to have to add to that the cost of the large bureaucracy that's going
to have to print up the bonds with Hillary's picture on them," Giuliani has joked
more than once.
But Caufield's favorite Giuliani moment came during a debate, when the
candidate was asked about mistakes he'd made as a Catholic.
At that moment, a raging storm affected the sound system.
As a Catholic, Giuliani said, that was "a frightening thing."
Caufield called the moment "off-the-cuff, stylish and self-deprecating."
Nothing wins over an audience faster than self-deprecation. Take the word of
Hiawatha Rutland, an Iowa State University graduate student who has been
trying to launch a stand-up career.
"(Politicians act self-deprecatingly) to be more intimate with the audience and to
open up more," he said. "If you can't make fun of yourself, they won't trust you."
Self-deprecation can interrupt a bout of negative press, the sort you encounter
when you spend $400 on a haircut.
Candidates seemed to be having a best-one-liner contest after John Edwards'
financial disclosures showed how much he had paid to keep his coif cultivated that is, until Edwards himself joined the fray: "I still believe in an America where
you can come from absolutely nothing to spending $400 on a haircut."
Humor can be a gentle way to criticize the competition.
After Giuliani befuddled an audience by taking a call from his wife in the middle of
a speech, Sen. John McCain took the opportunity to rib the fellow Republican
(who happened to be polling much better than he was).
Answering his own cell phone at an event, McCain joked, "I promise you this is
not my wife."
Both Mike Gravel and Rep. Dennis Kucinich have found themselves standing idle
at debates while front-running candidates fielded questions. Both used humor to
point out they were being ignored.
When the candidates were asked about the role of prayer in their life in one
debate, Kucinich answered, "I've been standing here for the last 45 minutes
praying to God you were going to call on me."
Caufield said such joking comes off better than loud complaining.
"It's a way of expressing displeasure without sounding bitter," she said.
A quick wit can ease the recovery from a bad verbal whoopsie, such as
misstating what state you're campaigning in.
At an event in Elkader, Sen. Barack Obama referred to the Iowa town as "right
here in Illinois." He recovered with: "This is my turf. I'm claiming it right now."
At other times, the humor is unintentional, Caufield said. Alan Keyes and Gravel
are both funny in ways she compares to Ross Perot's being funny. "They have
unusual ways of phrasing things," she said.
Expect to see less funny business as the Jan. 3 Iowa caucuses draw nearer.
Every candidate at this stage is trying to avoid a misstep.
Others never dare tell a joke to begin with. Caufield cites Romney as running a
particularly joke-free campaign.
"Perhaps the reason Romney opts for joke-free speeches is that his weak points
- a religious affiliation some voters are uncomfortable with and a record too
liberal for some conservative voters - aren't the sorts of things politicians can joke
about.
Reporter Erin Crawford can be reached at (515) 284-8438 or
ecrawford@dmreg.com