Politicians aren’t supposed to be funny.
Of course, they invariably make jokes in public. They often land with a knowing, self-conscious laugh, telegraphed like a sitcom character reeling off a punchline. The audience expects it.
Lindsey Graham’s problem may be that he is funny.
This is not to say the South Carolina senator doesn’t have a host of other issues. His foreign policy rhetoric is by far the most bellicose of any candidate in the GOP 2016 field – the co-chair of Story County Republican party told the Guardian on Saturday that listening to Graham, you got the impression he wanted to go to war everywhere. For the Republicans, his domestic policy is comparatively moderate.
But can Iowans embrace a candidate who genuinely can’t resist the temptation to crack a joke?
It’s not just that Graham is funny. His routine at times can be surprisingly Borscht Belt – especially for a small-town southerner from upstate South Carolina.
On Saturday, the three-term senator joked about the retail nature of his campaign at fellow senator Joni Ernst’s Roast and Ride fundraiser in Boone, saying he would show up at “birthday parties, weddings and bar mitzvahs” in an attempt to appeal for votes. Considering that he was appearing at a combination hog roast and motorcycle rally in rural Iowa, it is unlikely that there were many of the latter in the immediate area.
At a morning event on Friday in a West Des Moines hotel ballroom, Graham drew a crowd that would have been considered standing room only if the attendees had been young enough. Instead, chairs kept being put out as the room filled up with about 70 people, among whom the 59-year-old Graham was comparatively young.
While Graham preached the twin perils of debt and terrorism, he couldn’t resist cracking wise. Even some of his serious statements could have been construed as jokes, including his promise to counter attempts by China to build artificial islands in the Pacific by “building islands right next them” and his invitation to gun rights activists to “come to my house, I’ll show you my AR-15”.
Even the campaign promise he constantly evokes – “America has too much debt and too many terrorists, I’m going to reduce both” – contains a punchline.
Yet Graham isn’t all giggles. He often focuses on foreign policy but not in the simple, jingoistic way of many other Republican candidates, who reiterate that America is great and Isis and Vladimir Putin are bad. Instead, Graham takes criticism from those more dovish than him head on, telling audiences: “You may be tired of fighting radical Islam but radical Islam is not tired of fighting you.”
Graham may also be the first Republican candidate to talk at length about the need for increased foreign aid, noting: “A small schoolhouse in Afghanistan educating a young girl can do more damage to the Taliban than a 500lb bomb.”
Not that Graham is shy about the 500lb bomb. He pledges: “I am going to unleash the American military and we are going to kick their ass.”
Graham plays up his military background. One of two veterans in the race, along with former Texas governor Rick Perry, the newly retired air force reserve colonel emphasized his military support this weekend by trotting out a half-dozen retired generals and colonels from the Iowa national guard who supported his candidacy.
Being a Republican politician, Graham also talked at length about his humble roots and the need for entitlement reform.
Yet no one at the West Des Moines event seemed ready to embrace his candidacy right away. After all, there wasn’t much of a hook for those interested in details of domestic politics from a candidate who pledged: “Don’t elect me to manage the government, I’m going to lead the free world.”
He did gain in the eyes of some attendees. John Bloom, party treasurer and longtime Republican activist in Polk County, came out with a very favorable opinion of a man he had last seen campaigning for John McCain in 2007. However, he was still weighing his options.
Judy Wade of West Des Moines was more enthusiastic. She really liked Graham, she said. She just needed to see him a few more times before making up her mind.
Graham would be more than happy to have her to show up. She just needs to remember to tip her waitress and he’ll be in Iowa for the next eight months.
