Serious people. Not so serious people.

I am struck on political forums by serious people and not so serious people. Sadly, many of the not so serious people want to be taken seriously.

Recently, the conservative columnist Mona Charen wrote about Rev. Al Sharpton’s ‘revelation’ that his family was owned by Strom Thurmond’s family. It, of course, raised the issue and discussion on slavery. Considering the wonderful movie, “Amazing Grace” is out speaking quite eloquently on the topic, it was an interesting moment. Of course, Sharpton did a lot of grand standing and Charen, to her credit, addressed the issue that slavery is still an issue in many parts of the world. She made an observation that Al Sharpton is not a serious person. I would agree with her.

I think that Jesse Jackson used to be a serious person. He followed Martin Luther King, Jr., who was a serious person. But Jackson seems to have been lost in his celebrity. Both Jackson and Sharpton ran for the Presidency and lost badly. I read of someone putting Barack Obama in the same category and almost fell of my chair. Agree with him or not, Barack Obama is a very serious person.

Seriousness is not a racial issue, it’s a gravitas issue. In the conservative world, George Will is a serious person. Whether you agree with him or not, he makes cogent arguments. Rush Limbaugh likes to ridicule people and though he seems to long to be a player, he has become increasingly less serious.

Which brings me to Ann Coulter who write prolifically and is invited to conservative gatherings because she brings ‘a voice.’ Sadly, she is not a serious person. She made a comment about John Edwards using the ‘faggot’ word and people have been outraged. Why they are outraged just now by her comments boggles one’s imagination, but they are outraged.

Ponder for a moment. Ann Coulter is a hard living woman. She is in her mid-40's and wears incredibly short mini-skirts to show the world how glamorous she is. She seems to delight in making tawdry comments about people. Who can forget her comments about the widows of 9/11 victims?

Coulter once dated Bob Guccione, Jr., whose father was the founder of that great and serious magazine, Penthouse. She’s never been married and is noted to be part of the hard party set.

She is questioning, however, what she perceives to be the ethical core of John Edwards. He has been married to Elizabeth for close to 30 years. They have several children and lost one in a tragic car accident. Elizabeth has battled through breast cancer. Edwards has never been questioned as anything but an upstanding family man. He has stood by his wife through better and worse, and nary a scandalous word about him. So, I guess that makes him a good target for a crude statement by Ann Coulter.

Ann Coulter is not a serious person.

Being liberal or conservative does not make one serious or not. Having gravitas does. As long as we empower the clowns in our society and give them the illusion of seriousness, we are going to be plagued by more and more of them.