Fresh Politics, New Media

2014 means it's time to get back to blogging. Anyone who knows me well also knows it's no secret that I am a big Bruce Springsteen fan. It's kind of a pre-requisite if you grew up in New Jersey. Perhaps the best part of my ICA 2013 London conference trip was that it overlapped with the E Street Band's stopover at Wembley Stadium in London . The ticket stub is proudly displayed in our house. Those who know the academic me also know that I spend a good chunk of my time researching the impact of exposure to political comedy and entertainment. Over the years I've found that exposure to political comedy is positively related to feelings of internal political efficacy or the belief in one's ability to effectively understand and participate in politics, that political comedy content can act as a gateway encouraging young people in particular to seek out political information from traditional news sources, and that viewing interviews on political comedy programs ...

My last post was about Mitt Romney's "oops" moment -- his statement on CNN that he does not care about the very poor . As it turns out, both comedians and the Democrats really did seize on the opportunity to chastise Romney over the remarks. Here's The Daily Show's take on the incident: The Daily Show with Jon Stewart Get More: Daily Show Full Episodes , Political Humor & Satire Blog , The Daily Show on Facebook The Obama team had a strong response -- particularly online with emails, advertising, and through the use of Twitter posts. As it turns out and according to an article in today's NY Times , they're on the lookout for Romney's gaffes, collecting more juicy content each time the candidate slips up. So, who will Mitt Romney choose not to care about next?

With his victory in Florida, Mitt Romney seems to be the presumptive GOP nominee. Luckily for us, but not for Mitt Romney, he's the type of candidate who keeps entertaining with his many gaffes. Does he think he's running against Joe Biden, not Barack Obama? In any event, Mitt Romney's latest oops moment is that he doesn't care about the very poor. Here's the original commentary so you can see for yourself. The New York Times  covered the reaction to the gaffe in an article this morning. In a thoughtful piece, Gail Collins dissects Romney's commentary . While the reaction to Romney's original comments may have been a bit overblown, the substance of what he did say is not good for a candidate who is already perceived as out-of-touch with the experience of average Americans. As a scholar of political comedy and culture, Romney's latest gaffe is noteworthy -- as is the media's reaction. Just how awkward are these comments? How much will they...

In today's New York Times , Michael Shear presents an interesting analysis of the recent gaffes made by GOP candidates including Rick Perry, Herman Cain, and Michele Bachmann. The question is whether these gaffes - particularly with respect to foreign policy - weaken assessments of the Republican Party. After all, foreign policy and national security are supposed to be among their bread and butter issues. Whether these gaffes will have an impact on the GOP in this election or the long term is debatable. At the very least they do offer good fodder for late night comedians. Here's Jon Stewart's take from last evening's broadcast on Herman Cain's interview with the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel  regarding events in Libya. The Daily Show with Jon Stewart Get More: Daily Show Full Episodes , Political Humor & Satire Blog , The Daily Show on Facebook And here's a clip of the original interview put forward by the Journal Sentinel Is this simply the l...