Do political candidates Jump the Shark?
As I way laying in bed awake last night waiting to take my oldest daughter to the bus for a chorus trip departing at 3:00 AM, I was trying to ponder topics for the War College. All of a sudden last night, I was pleasantly suprised that I got noticed in a big way (at least to me), with links and fairly positive comments from SD Blog Watch Man, SD Watch, and the grandaddy of them all, South Dakota Politics.
Props from the right and the left? Oh great. That means at some point I'm going to get bashed by both sides from time to time when I shoot off my mouth.
Anyway, I was thinking, this means I need to come up with things on a regular basis. Not a problem. But they should be remotely intelligent. Oh, Crap. Have I already Jumped the Shark?
For the Pop culture deficient, To "jump the shark" - the moment when a television show or similar episodic medium is in retrospect judged to have passed its "peak" and shows a noticeable decline in quality. The "jumping the shark" concept is also used to describe other areas of pop culture, such as music and celebrities, for whom a drastic change was the beginning of the end. Coined when the Fonz on Happy Days waterskiied and jumped over a shark.
As I laid awake, I started applying that to the politicians in SD, and what signaled an end to their glory days. For Tom Daschle, I think he jumped the shark over opposing the Gulf War at it's onset. It just kind of signaled the start of his decline to the end.
On my side of the aisle, for Bill Janklow, I think he 'jumped the shark' when he ran for congress. Going from a position where he literally set the high bar for all Governors to be compared to, to the low end of the pack in congress did not seem like a positive career move. Say what you will, but you have to admit that nobody else has ever accomplished so much as the state's chief executive. Then going to be a freshman congressman? It could never be the same.
Larry Pressler jumped the shark when he ran for president. When the head of your party in your home state is questioned about it, and says (And this is true, I believe it was Dan Parish who said it) "Larry Pressler for President? I only have three words to say: Ha, Ha, Ha." Ouch. That's really harsh.
I'd be curious to hear other opinions about some of our elected officials, especially long time state legislators. Have Jim Putnam and Frank Kloucek jumped the shark, or are they like gunsmoke, and never going off the air (just switching stations from time to time)?
Props from the right and the left? Oh great. That means at some point I'm going to get bashed by both sides from time to time when I shoot off my mouth.
Anyway, I was thinking, this means I need to come up with things on a regular basis. Not a problem. But they should be remotely intelligent. Oh, Crap. Have I already Jumped the Shark?
For the Pop culture deficient, To "jump the shark" - the moment when a television show or similar episodic medium is in retrospect judged to have passed its "peak" and shows a noticeable decline in quality. The "jumping the shark" concept is also used to describe other areas of pop culture, such as music and celebrities, for whom a drastic change was the beginning of the end. Coined when the Fonz on Happy Days waterskiied and jumped over a shark.
As I laid awake, I started applying that to the politicians in SD, and what signaled an end to their glory days. For Tom Daschle, I think he jumped the shark over opposing the Gulf War at it's onset. It just kind of signaled the start of his decline to the end.
On my side of the aisle, for Bill Janklow, I think he 'jumped the shark' when he ran for congress. Going from a position where he literally set the high bar for all Governors to be compared to, to the low end of the pack in congress did not seem like a positive career move. Say what you will, but you have to admit that nobody else has ever accomplished so much as the state's chief executive. Then going to be a freshman congressman? It could never be the same.
Larry Pressler jumped the shark when he ran for president. When the head of your party in your home state is questioned about it, and says (And this is true, I believe it was Dan Parish who said it) "Larry Pressler for President? I only have three words to say: Ha, Ha, Ha." Ouch. That's really harsh.
I'd be curious to hear other opinions about some of our elected officials, especially long time state legislators. Have Jim Putnam and Frank Kloucek jumped the shark, or are they like gunsmoke, and never going off the air (just switching stations from time to time)?
Comments