Once again, a political rally turns into a bash the other side gathering, instead of dealing with the issues of the day. This time the irreverent speech award goes to the Republican Party, who pulled Mitt Romney out of the woodwork and sent him to Iowa to stump for Joni Ernst, running as a conservative for U.S. Senate.
On one level the fact that Romney is even stumping for Ernst is hypocritical, as Ernst is Tea Party Conservative favorite and Romney is categorized as a Republican Party ‘Establishment’ spokesmen. This odd couple made it difficult for Romney to speak positively for a candidate of a party that detest his ‘Big Government’ approach, this only left one option; turn the rally into a Democrat bashing party.
Instead of aiming at Ernst’s opponent, Romney took aim at his favorite target, Obama; with a joke that was not only long winded but old material, as the crowd feverishly responded even before the punch line was even delivered.
The joke started off with President Obama needing to prove his identity, initially one would expect this to be the beginning of a ‘birther’ joke, but the plot twist came in the punchline saying that the President ‘did not have a clue’ how to prove his identity.
This sent everyone into a hysterical knee slapping laughing fit. While these types of jokes might be acceptable while having a couple beers at the bar with friends or even on an Internet message board, it is counter-productive in an official type setting. While neither side of the political spectrum is immune to these types of childish actions, it was Mitt that portrayed himself as the ‘adult’ during the 2012 elections; now maybe if he could only act like one maybe the American people could start growing as a single nation again, instead of a politically divided country.