On that point

If the last presidential election has been any clue, most college students turn to satirical shows such as The Daily Show, The Colbert Report and Saturday Night Live to get their campaign news and a few laughs, it is no surprise that most of these students check Democrat or Independent on their ballots. What is surprising though, is that this current campaign has fostered much discourse through these mainstream media programs with the conservative candidates.

Last Saturday was a triumph for the Republican campaign, with Sarah Palin (basically appearing as herself, or perhaps more accurately, Tina Fey) taking the stage in New York City for Saturday Night Live.

Sure, she is the butt of the joke, but that doesn’t take away the fact that the Republican Party greatly benefited by her appearance. She definitely gained political capital by basically saying, “I can play along, too.”

What’s odd is that the John McCain campaign has been in the limelight of comedic programming ever since his nomination was announced. He has appeared on The Daily Show 12 times, The Late Show with David Letterman eight times and Entertainment Tonight (really?) six times.

Letterman may have rightly been upset when McCain blew him off for the “economic crisis” aka an interview with Katie Couric down the street and then some dinner, but McCain has had plenty of face time on his show already.

McCain appeared on The Late Show a couple of nights ago, confessing “I screwed up,” and gained back the support of late night television viewers he lost with his dismissal. His campaign is finally getting it. These things matter.

And it has been paying off too, because in the past couple of weeks, people are really starting to take notice. Not only do people, and the polls, now see John McCain as someone who can swing with the punches, he has become a celebrity (something he used to fear oh so much about Obama) in his own right. In fact, he always was, though now he is a celebrity the American public can digest.

One of the biggest factors in being able to stomach McCain recently has been his appearance at the Alfred E. Smith benefit dinner in New York City last Thursday. His roast of himself and Barack Obama showed he is skilled in comedic timing and delivering punch lines.

People like that, especially youth who tend to be swayed more by candidates tickling their funny bones than tugging at their heartstrings.

As demeaning as it was to call Obama “that one” during a debate, it is easily forgiven when McCain turned it around, shedding light on the questionable fervor of Obama supporters calling him “the one,” and then saying “Being a friend and colleague of Barack, I just called him ‘that one.’ My friends, he doesn’t mind at all. In fact, he even has a pet name for me: George Bush.”

Acceptance of mistakes makes a person a far better candidate then one who blindly upholds policies that so obviously failed (cough, Bush).

In these jabs at each other, and throughout the various “comedic” programs they have appeared on, Obama and McCain, while being light-hearted for the most part, have talked about issues. That is why college students check the Colbert Reportin between finishing their term papers, or columns for that matter.

Because while being funny is entertaining, comedy allows for unfettered truth. Jon Stewart, in between false campaign analysis, can ask McCain some serious questions about what he plans to do with this country.

And the candidates will actually answer, because sound bytes aren’t accepted, and will just be made fun of later. For the most part, these pundits, Stewart, Colbert, Letterman, Leno, O’Brien, Maddow, and the list goes on, are doing a better job at probing the candidates on issues that are worthy of discussion than most of the “legitimate” news networks.

So, McCain should keep up his media blitz for the next couple of weeks. It may not guarantee him the election, but if his past appearances are taken into account, it couldn’t hurt. With so much horrible things going on in the world today, legitimate news with a side of comic relief is the best way to go.