Killer Campaigning » Political Campaign Humor

Campaign Nonsense: Newspaper Removes Candidates From Photo

killercampaigning — Mon, 31 May 2010 19:59:48 +0000

This has to be one of the most ridiculous things I’ve ever heard of a local newspaper doing. Apparently The Dominion Post, a newspaper published in Morgantown, West Virginia, decided to completely remove the images of three elected officials who appeared in a picture showing the governor signing a bill into law.

The Dominion Post apparently used Photoshop to manipulate the picture and remove the images of Marion County House of Delegates members Mike Caputo, Linda Longstreth, and Tim Manchin. Here’s the before and after:

So, why the photo manipulation? Because The Dominion has a policy against running pictures of political candidates running for re-election during campaign season.

How moronic is that? A newspaper, whose job it is to report the facts in an unbiased and unfiltered fashion, decides to basically lie to its readers by publishing a photograph of a situation that never really happened.

But why stop there? If The Dominion thinks that it’s morally superior by Photoshopping out the images of office holders during election season, then wouldn’t it be even more moral to get rid of images of elected officials all together?

I’m sure that The Dominion’s readers would have appreciated it if the paper had erased the image of the governor signing the legislation in that picture, too. We need more photos of ghostly, floating pens signing documents without the help of a human.

Here’s a heads up: when the media starts manipulating images to show situations that never happened because they think they know what’s best for their audience . . . then we have a big problem.

Funny Online Video Clips of Fighting Politicians

killercampaigning — Thu, 27 May 2010 02:13:45 +0000

Here in the United States of America, we’re used to people getting passionate about political issues, often to the point that they argue and yell at each other. Politicians raise their voices and pump their fists during debates, and you can even hear the occasional curse word uttered in anger on the floor of the Senate and House of Representatives.

Compared to political squabbles in other countries around the world, however, the United States is pretty well-mannered and reserved. Rarely do our politicians ever get into physical altercations and fistfights with each other. In many other countries, however, political brawls are more commonplace.

That’s one of the many great things about the political process in our country: our political debate takes place with almost no physical altercations at all, and violence is rarely seen even when one political party takes control away from another.

Check out the funny videos below of politicians across the globe fighting, throwing punches and tackling each other during the regular course of business. While they’re humorous to watch, they should also make you thankful to live in a country where online video clips of politicians fighting aren’t very common (but not non-existent; one of the videos below takes place in the Alabama Senate).

An Election Day Feast to Purge Evil Political Campaign Spirits

killercampaigning — Wed, 19 May 2010 13:09:44 +0000

Here’s an election day tradition that we should totally start observing here in the United States.

According to an article from the Philippine Daily Inquirer, local election winners in Kibungan, Benguet (wherever that is) sponsor a traditional feast meant to appease the gods and cleanse the evil left over from recent political campaigns. The farming-town feast starts with the public slaughter of two pigs. More from the article:

“As has been the tradition, this feast won’t just be a ‘blowout’ but a common meal to promote reconciliation and harmony again between and among the various candidates who might have verbally hurt or offended each other during the campaign,” said Fausto Songyoen, the town’s civil registrar.

A local elder, or manbunong, offered the sacrificial animals to the gods and spirits, invoking them to continue to bless the community and cleanse all the negative impact of verbal attacks and accusations candidates had exchanged during the political campaign.

I’ll lead by example and start slaughtering a few pigs after every election here in Ohio. If anyone else is interested in cleansing the evils of political campaign season and appeasing the gods, drop Killer Campaigning a note and we can coordinate our efforts.

In all seriousness, I do like the general idea behind the election day feast: to promote reconciliation between the candidates and encourage members of the community to celebrate together and reach a consensus. I doubt that sacrificing animals to the spirits will ever become fashionable among the political elite here in the U.S.A., but a post-election party that encourages campaign foes to “kiss and make up” isn’t a bad idea at all.

Political Campaign Mistakes: Funny Election Candidate Gaffes

Guns, Horses & Cowboy Hats: Today’s Featured Political Campaign Ad

killercampaigning — Mon, 17 May 2010 17:37:17 +0000

Hat tip to Political Scrapbook for highlighting this over-the-top political campaign ad commercial from Dale Peterson, who is running for Commissioner of Agriculture and Industries in Alabama. This is the kind of election commercial that you will either absolutely love or absolutely hate depending upon your politics, but I guarantee it will make you chuckle regardless of whether you’re a Democrat or Republican:

You have to hand it to the guy for his unapologetic enthusiasm, even if you don’t agree with his positions. I can’t remember ever seeing a political candidate pull out a rifle in a campaign ad before. I doubt that would play well in northeast Ohio, but all politics is local.

What do you think: will this ad help or hurt Peterson in his race for Ag Commish? Do any Killer Campaigning readers have more insight into the political landscape in Alabama? Leave a comment and let us know if you do.

Killer Campaigning Article Featured on JohnChow.com

Using the Apple iPad as a Political Campaign Tool

killercampaigning — Mon, 17 May 2010 00:04:09 +0000

I got a kick out of this amusing post from AppAdvice about a Polish presidential candidate who is using his new Apple iPad as a tool to help his political campaign.

Did I say “tool?” Perhaps “prop” is a better word. Waldemar Pawlak apparently travels everywhere with his iPad, making sure that he is holding it whenever a picture is taken of him. He even takes his new tech toy with him on screen if he’s getting interviewed on television.

As corny as that might sound to voters in the United States, AppAdvice says that showing off his iPad is actually helping Pawlak in the polls:

“In the same spirit, Waldemar Pawlak, Polish runner for the presidency is playing a similar card, with his iPad. Since a couple weeks, he’s proudly boasting himself as one of the first Polish owners of Apple’s new device and doesn’t skip a chance to show it off. You can even see him bring the device to most of his TV interviews and many believe the impact is clear; it has made him surprisingly popular.”

Who knows? Maybe carrying an iPad around everywhere you go might help candidates in local elections here in the U.S., too. I’m not going to be the first to try, but I hope Killer Campaigning fans will let us know if it works out for them.

Political Campaign Mistakes: Funny Election Candidate Gaffes

killercampaigning — Fri, 14 May 2010 17:13:37 +0000

If you’re a new candidate running a local election campaign for office, you might be worried about making mistakes or getting laughed at for unintended funny gaffes. Well, don’t be. The occasional misspoken word, accident or screw-up is inevitable when you’re running for office, and you need to learn to take mistakes in stride. A simple gaffe can be made much worse by over-correcting, and it’s often best to just apologize for the mistake, ignore the attention it gets, and concentrate on your campaign plan and important issues.

A blog called Seasons of Tumult and Discord has a great post today entitled Political Kabuki Theatre that provides a fun overview of the most famous presidential political campaign gaffes, mistakes and missteps from candidates. The funny, unintended campaign screw-ups of Muskie, Nixon, Carter, Dukakis and Dean are all covered in detail, and it’s a good study for anyone who is thinking about running for office. I love this quote from the post:

“I suppose calling our political campaign season Kabuki Theater is a bit of an insult to that Japanese Cultural tradition. Nonetheless, like the Japanese version, ours is also a highly stylized dance-drama with lots of makeup. The kanji characters for Kakuki can be translated as sing, dance, skill, but an alternate translation could also be bizarre theater. Somewhat apropos, I think.”

That’s some good writing!

Remember: you’re going to make mistakes on the political campaign trail, and there’s no way to avoid all of them. But even mess-ups that seem to be career killers can be overcome by tenacious politicians who are willing to learn from their mistakes and constantly improve their campaign strategies.

Term “Senior Citizens” Was Coined in a Political Campaign Election

killercampaigning — Thu, 13 May 2010 19:26:28 +0000

This one doesn’t surprise me: according to The Senior Times, the term “senior citizens” was actually made up by a candidate running in a political campaign for office early last century. Hat tip to Elder Care Residential Services for this bit of campaign knowledge:

“The Senior Times, an online newspaper published in Quebec, Canada, says the term “senior citizen” appears to have been coined “as a euphemism for ‘old person’ during a 1938 American political campaign.”

Eventually, the Senior Times said, the term was shortened by some to “senior,” a term also used to refer to members of a graduating class in high school or college.”

Apparently, some older Americans are starting to take offense at the term “senior.” Personally, you people can call me whatever they want when I hit the age of 50 . . . as long as I can start getting discounts.

Political Campaign Election Candidates with Funny Names

killercampaigning — Tue, 11 May 2010 01:46:11 +0000

Killer Campaigning has focused before on political campaign candidates running for office with long, funny, or downright strange and weird names. Whether you have an unusual first or last name, you might be worried about how it will affect your electability if you’re campaigning for votes in a local election.

There are plenty of politicians who have been elected with funny names, and nothing so trivial should keep you from running for office if you’re truly dedicated to serving your community. In fact, as we’ve mentioned here before, a unique name–even if it brings smiles to the voters’ faces–can make you more memorable if you run a great political campaign.

If you’re a political candidate with a long, funny or unusual name, then there’s someone who you should meet: Young Boozer, a candidate for State Treasurer in Alabama. In addition to an impressive resume, Boozer has an amusing name . . . and he doesn’t shy away from it.

His campaign motto of “Funny Name, Serious Leadership” is very memorable, and he even starts out his political campaign commercial by saying “yes, that’s my real name.”

I don’t know how Young Boozer will fare in his election efforts, but you have to admire the guy for jumping into the political arena with such a humorous name. If Boozer can make a respectable run for higher office with a name like his, than nothing is stopping you from doing the same.

Hat tip to A Tale Told by an Idiot for bringing our attention to Boozer’s ad.

Political Campaigns & Elections: the Highs, the Lows, the Underwear?

killercampaigning — Fri, 07 May 2010 19:33:21 +0000

For candidates and staff, political campaigns can be a roller-coaster ride of highs and lows. Mark Pack, the Head of Digital at Mandate Communications, published an entertaining post on his blog recently that lists a few of the ups and downs he has experienced on the campaign trail this election season. His least favorite moment had to do with the media coverage of a politician”s wife and her choice of underwear:

“On a more political level, the low point reading the Daily Mail story about the underwear choices of the wife of a party leader (since pulled from their website). Is that really what some in the newspaper industry want to reduce our elections to?”

Yard Sign Design Rules: Democrats Blue, Republicans Red?

killercampaigning — Thu, 06 May 2010 17:54:57 +0000

Blue Hog Report posted an amusing critique today of political campaign yard sign designs used in local elections. You might not agree with the argument (Democrats should only be allowed to use blue yard signs, and Republicans red?), but it’s an entertaining read nonetheless.

I especially like BHR’s observations about the local library entrance on election day:

“Naturally, as a political junkie, I love soaking it all in. Volunteers from various campaigns are waving at me and being friendly, despite having no idea if I will actually vote for their candidate or if they’re even on my particular ballot for local positions; it’s early voting time, and if that one “connection” actually picks up a few votes for their candidate, it was a fruitful day.”

That’s some good writing. By the way, BHR encourages anyone who sees “a particularly stupid sign” to contact them so they can show it to their readers. Lord knows I’ve seen plenty of lawn signs over the years that would fit into that category.