Article: If Candidates Want Smart They Should Stick With Comedy Central

It’s getting pretty ugly on the cable news-works.

MSNBC’s David Shuster found out that he wasn’t ready for prime time when he "pimped out" Chelsea Clinton, pretty much putting an end to whatever what was left in the supposed Dem-love-fest over at the Olbermann Network. Though with Chris Matthews and Tucker Carlson’s constant personal hits on Hillary, how anyone thought MSNBC only shilled for the Dems is beyond me.

Over at the FoxNews Guiliani/Anti-Anything Bill Clinton Network, the Dems had already steered clear. Bill O’Reilly had spent a good portion of every one of his "Factor" shows ripping into John Edwards and declared Chris Dodd (yes, he was at one time a presidential candidate) "a propagandist" for calling Bill on his Al-Quaeda can blow up San Francisco for all he cared comment.

But no one can accuse the No-spinster of not being fair and balanced as he excoriated Republican candidate Ron Paul for wanting to explain why there is a problem with our approach in the Middle East and was told that Bill "didn’t need any history lessons." Come on, what can we learn from history?

It’s an epidemic cable bias as you’ll rarely find a Republican this side of Sean Hannity who doesn’t refer to CNN as the "Clinton News Network."

So, what’s a candidate to do? Oprah? Sorry, owned and operated by the Obama campaign.

Tyra Banks? Ask Mike Huckabee how far that pushed him past McCain.

Hillary bought an hour on the Hallmark Channel. It’s reported that both viewers thought she was quite touching.

The fact is, the news and feature shows are pretty risky or limited in their appeal and appearing on the Lifetime Channel isn’t going to get females to vote as much as cry over your candidacy while selling yourself on QVC is a bit tacky.

So, what’s a candidate to do?

The one place that seems to becoming a safe bet for the candidates is the last place you’d think the serious business of getting elected would find itself...

The comedy world.

Leno, The Daily Show, Letterman, Stephen Colbert, Bill Maher, et al.

Think it laughable? There are precedents.

Johnnie Carson’s Tonight Show was a regular stop on the way to the presidency with seven presidents actually showing up to josh with Johnnie.

Richard Nixon’s "Laugh In" appearance turned him into a regular guy...until he was elected.

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