Jay Kersting's Blog

If you haven't seen the latest from JibJab yet, check it out here.

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So, am I wrong and is Jon Stewart right? Possibly.

What I am referring to is the reaction to the The New Yorker cover cartoon.  Go here and see this what Jon Stewart said on The Daily Show back on Tuesday night. The whole segment starts about 6 minutes in, but the real meat of it is at the 8 minute mark.

Stewart said the reaction from the Obama campaign should have been different.  "Let me put the statement out tfor you, 'Barack Obama is in no way upset by the cartoon that depicts him as a Muslim extremist.  Because you know who gets upset at cartoons?  Muslim Extremists!  Of which Barack Obama not.  It is just a F****** cartoon.'"

Now I know that Jon Stewart was going for a laugh, and he got it.  But maybe he is making a better and stronger point that the thin-skinned junior Senator from Illinois could learn from.

Think about it for a second or two.  If Obama does not express outrage, that puts EVERYTHING on John McCain to react or not react.  If McCain expresses the outrage that he did express, then he doesn't get satire, right?  If he does nothing, then he is out of touch.  If he says it is no big deal, like Stewart says that Obama should have done, then he can be portrayed as an insensitive bigot by the jihadist cells working for the Obama campaign.

I tend to believe after hearing Jon Stewart's piece, that Barack Obama screwed up.

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By the way, that is not to say that I still don't think that the cartoon was sort of in bad taste.  I do think so.  I get the satire behind it, but I think good satire has a basis in truth.  The picture of Barack Obama in the Muslim garb does have a basis in truth, we have seen the picture.  But nothing else there does. 

And, the cover has little to do with the story.  All they have in common is that Barack Obama is the centerpiece.  Period. 

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Now to get back to the main topic of the day, can the candidates learn anything from comedy?

Overall, the definitive answer is, well, maybe.

Late night shows are able to easily take on John McCain.  Take every old joke you have ever heard and you can adjust it to a McCain joke.  He has done it himself.

But the lack of jokes about Barack Obama actually hurt him.

I am serious with this one.

No jokes about him, allowing him to react to the jokes, do not allow us to see that he has a sense of humor.

Now, I really don't think that he does.  If he did, we would have seen it by now.  

Instead, we see a stiff and thin-skinned robot who can work masterfully off of a teleprompter.

Think about that a little bit.

It might be ANOTHER reason why he will not do joint townhall meetings with John McCain. 

Does he do ANYTHING impromptu?

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If you are here in Jefferson City next week, join me at HyVee on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday (7/23-25) for the show and register for a pretty exiciting Kansas City Royals prize pack.

We will be giving away 10 - Family Four Packs of tickets to the August 2nd game when the Royals host Mid-Missouri native Joe Crede and the Chicago White Sox.  Not only can you get the tickets to the game, but HyVee is throwing in $25 worth of GAS!  But, as Billy Mays would say, there is more.  We also are giving you $20 worth of concession vouchers per ticket, $80 for the four-pack, so you can eat and drink at Kauffman Stadium.

And here is where I get to "triple the offer"...no, not more tickets, but all of the winners can come to Kauffman Stadium early and we will go down on the FIELD for batting practice!

You have to come to HyVee during the show, I will be in the food court, to register each day.  You do not have to be present to win, but you need to register each day in order to win.

I hope to see you at HyVee next week during the show.  Lots of good guests will be joining me there over the three days.

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Have a great Thursday.   Add comments and send your e-mails.