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Humor can be a powerful tool for the savvy politician. Elections are long and brutal; the papers are filled with unkind, slanderous allegations that demand an answer. Sometimes, I think Americans would enjoy seeing one of their candidates just laugh at some of the stupid things that are said about them. Actually, that happened once.

I remember the 1980 campaign. Few of us took a California Actor-turned governor seriously. It seemed implausible that he could think of running for national office. In fact, I remember I favored a DC veteran named George H.W. Bush early on. Two memorable incidents changed my mind.

First there was a joke Reagan told on his tour bus. "How do you tell a Pole is at the cock fight? He's the guy who brought the duck.

"How do you know there are Italians at the cock fight? The duck wins."

The Press blew up. Clearly this was proof that Reagan was a closet racist. However, the more the media raised a fuss, the more people laughed at them. Society wasn't as bunched up about cultural diversity back then.

The next time he caught the attention of the press was at an event in California. He was on stage setting up for lighting before the event when a press heckler kept yelling at him. Old Ron gave him the one finger salute. The next day every paper in the nation had two or three large, uncensored photos on the front page.

Ron Reagan's poll numbers got a big bump. He became the favorite from that day forward. I voted for him because he was able to communicate directly with the American people, and he was an old-fashioned American Patriot. And he made me laugh.

Learn more about this author, Morgan Johnson.
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