Editor’s Note: The opinions expressed in this article do not necessarily reflect the views of The Iowa Statesman.
By Krusty Konservative
Dictator of the Iowa Blogosphere
Audacity (n) — the willingness to take bold risks.
Absurdity (n) — the quality or state of being ridiculous or wildly unreasonable.
As you can see above, there’s a huge difference between audacity and absurdity. Donald Trump, Ted Cruz, and Mike Huckabee get it. Bobby Jindal might even get it. But Lindsey Graham, George Pataki, and most especially Rick Perry do not.
Going out on a limb and being honest about yourself, even when your net worth is measured in more than 10 figures — all to the left of the decimal point — is audacious. Especially when you’re saying what everyone else is secretly thinking, but hasn’t had the audacity to utter it themselves.
Sticking your neck out and calling out your party’s leader on the floor of the United States Senate — in direct violation of the chamber’s rules — because it’s the right thing to do is audacious. Especially when you’ve got critical pieces of legislation, bills and amendments you’ve staked your political career upon, on the debate calendar.
Taking an honest stand against a growing and merciless evil — one that threatens to consume the very soul of your nation — is audacious. Especially when in doing so, you invoke the images and memories of one of the darkest moments of human history.
Tossing your cell phone in a blender — when all you need to do is get a new number — is absurd.
Berating the audacious — to the detriment of your own efforts — is just plain absurd.
Challenging the audacious to an arm-lift contest — when you’re in a political race — is the very definition of absurdity.
The average American is fed up. He’s sick and tired of being sick and tired. And when there are 18 other people vying for his attention, it pays to be audacious. Audacious is what made America the greatest nation on earth.
Absurdity, on the other hand, might get you a little bit of earned media, but it’s the kind you don’t want: mockery and ridicule.
Graham, Pataki, and Perry all surrendered their Man Cards early in the Republican presidential primary campaign. The voters took notice and have moved on, even if the “polling numbers” don’t show it, yet (well, in Perry’s case, anyway).
We’re one brain fart away from winnowing three of the candidates out of this race before we even get to the Iowa State Fair.
The rest of the field had better be taking note. The audacious are stealing the show right now. If their answer to it is going to be absurdity, they might as well do us all a favor and drop out now.
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Herschel Krustofski is the pseudonym for the anonymous author of Krusty Konservative, the undisputed heavyweight champion of the Iowa blogosphere. If you have a suggestion for his contributions to The Iowa Statesman, write to him at krustykonservative@outlook.com.
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