* Normally, the Washington Post cartoon that depicted an organ grinding presidential candidate with his kids as trained monkeys would be outrageously objectionable. The candidate, in this case Ted Cruz, is fair game. His kids, cute little girls, are off limits. Of course they are.
But once again, context matters. The Post cartoon was satirizing a video campaign ad that Cruz had been running. The homespun, primary ad featured his wife and two young daughters and some scripting. One daughter notably referenced a “private server.” Really.
The rule-of-thumb is now this: If your candidacy includes the politically crass use of your kids as props, then that whole process–including your shameless judgment–is now fair game. No less than your strategy of using an orchestrated episode as a campaign rationale for attacking the mainstream media.
* By now it’s more or less a given that the presidential candidacy of Donald Trump is a new low for American politics. Even for Republicans needing to appeal to that “Deliverance,” “Duck Dynasty” base.
But maybe, just maybe, we should have seen this coming. Trump was preceded by George W. Bush, who blustered on about needing an Iraqi invasion and a regime change. His inarticulate jingoism should have been the reddest of commander-in-chief red flags. Had the Republican Party had its way, we would still be saddled with the manifestly uninformed Sarah Palin still a heartbeat away from the presidency.
And now, possibly, Trump? There were signs.
* Anybody else feel this way? Enough about the over-hyped, gyrocoptering mailman from Ruskin who is now considering running for the U.S. House of Representatives. Ironically, he can run because being a felon doesn’t preclude it. Were it to happen, however, he wouldn’t be able to vote for himself.