Welcome to
Super Tuesday. Political pollsters, including slow-on-the-uptake Frank Luntz at
Fox News, have finally discovered that voters are angry. The next project is
figuring out why.
(Note to the
political class: It’s too late to do anything but refine earlier talking
points. If you are screwed now, unscrewed is not an option.)
But what
happens when voters get really angry? An example comes from dirt-poor
Guatemala, known for decades of strife and meddling by the United States. (Its
dictators were once picked by United Fruit Co., spawning the term “banana
republic.” United has morphed into Chiquita Brands.)
Since the late
1960s, Guatemala’s elections have been democratic, but the populace still
harbors suspicions as corruption runs deep and street gangs roam freely. The
most recent president was forced from office by scandal, thus another election.
The
center-right party’s nominee was Jimmy Morales. The center-left party nominated
Sandra Torres, a former first lady. In a runoff, the voters rejected the former
First Lady, deeming her old news.
Morales, 46,
had never held public office but was familiar to countrymen, having worked on a
prime-time TV series centered on lewd jokes and sketches. He quit to run for
the presidency and started with poll numbers people made fun of.
I know what you
are thinking. A certain GOP presidential candidate isn’t a comedian, but is an
adroit performer interesting to TV viewers (most recently proved on “Saturday
Night Live”). Some liken him a carnival barker; we’re not here to debate that.
Our former First Lady in the race gets the brunt of the name-calling, with
Twitter users firing off things like “lying treasonous crone.”
Was the
Guatemalan runoff close? Well, no. The comedian won going away … with 68% of
the vote.
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