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Forget Foreign Affairs

    The Associated Press recently printed an article entitled “Positions of the Candidates”, which outlined the opinions of five Emmett Kelly understudies, Newt Gingrich, Ron Paul, Rick Perry, Mitt Romney and Rick Santorum, on various campaign issues. (For younger readers, Emmett Kelly, who based his sad faced “Weary Willie” on depression era hobos, was perhaps the most famous clown in circus history.)
    The issues discussed were Abortion, the Economy, Education, Energy, the Environment, Health Care, Taxes and Terrorism. No mention was made of what is probably the most important of all presidential responsibilities: Foreign Affairs. Why would that be?
     Here are a few possibilities:
  • Not even one of the greatest group of comedians in history thinks that management of foreign affairs is as important as these other “hot button” issues.
  • Newt understands the meaning of the word “affairs” only when it is not preceded by any modifiers.
  • They think that their knowledge of the subject is so far above the intelligence of the voters that the electorate would not understand it.
  • They believe the voters do not care about the relationship between the United States and the rest of the world.
  • They think that the subject became superfluous after the deaths of Sadam Hussein and Osama bin Laden.
     Of course, the simple explanation is that someone at the AP decided not to include the subject in the article. As usual, the media always decides what the public wants to know.
     But really, if the voters are not interested in the candidates' thoughts on Foreign Affairs, we are in really bad shape.
******
     My books, “There Are Only Seven Jokes” and “The Spirit Runs Through It” are available in paperback, or at the Kindle Store.
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