Briefly recapturing the past: On the then iconoclastic, now-iconic NBC 1968-1973 comedy show, Rowen and Martin's Laugh In, cast member, Judy Carne, was often tricked into uttering the words "Sock it to me", which consistently led to her being doused with water or otherwise assaulted. "Sock it to me" also became a national catchphrase, much like the 1984 Wendy's hamburger commercial with an elderly woman asking with irritation, Where's the beef, " in reference to a competing hamburger franchise. Democratic Presidential candidate, VP Walter Mondale even used it against rival candidate Gary Hart, during a democratic presidential primary debate.

During the September 16, 1968 Laugh In episode, Richard Nixon, running once again for president, appeared for only a few seconds asking with a disbelieving vocal inflection, "Sock it to me?" Nixon was not doused or assaulted (this was pre-Watergate). But his appearance was shocking in its blurring the line between politics and entertainment and, to many a pundit, suggesting a degrading of the former institution by participating on a show of the latter TV genre. It was one thing to appear on Meet the Press. Quite another to stoop to appear on a comedy show, especially a raucous, irreverent one like Laugh In. Guesting on serious talk shows hosted by the likes of Dick Cavett or Jack Paar were a reasonable compromise with tradition and modernity. But raw comedy...?

An invitation to appear on Laugh In was extended to Nixon's opponent, Vice-President Hubert Humphrey, his Democratic opponent for President. Humphrey declined a similar invitation, seeing it as most unseemly, even for this so-called happy warrior. According to Laugh In's creator, George Schlatter, Humphrey later said that not doing the show may have cost him the election. After the Kennedy-Nixon debate speed bump, Nixon came to understand make-up. After his loss to Nixon, Humphrey came to understand the megatonnage truth of television in the age of mass media.

To momentarily digress and speaking of make-up and presidential candidates, McCain too, understands the perils of close-ups both on the hustings and on TV, which is why, at age 72 and campaigning against a much younger opponent, it makes sense that he feels the need to travel with his own make-up artist.

However, age clearly isn't the only driving motive for cosmetic aides de camp. Beheld beauty figures prominently. Truth told, McCain's September payments of $8,672 to American Idol makeup artist Tifanie White appear penny ante compared with those of the his running mate, Sarah Palin. Amy Strozzi, who was head of makeup for So You Think You Can Dance was paid $13,200 by the McCain-Palin campaign last month, according to financial disclosure reports.

Yet another truth, another "Hollywood" tradition has pervaded the political stage play in the flaw-exposing mercilessness of the digital world. Almost no one goes on camera with advanced warning without some make-up "lift." And the older the politician, the greater the cosmetic lift required-something Joe Biden

clearly understands, especially when he is debating a much younger Republican VP candidate like Sister Sarah.

But why bother with make-up? Easy (and, full disclosure, I speak from personal experience). Make-up is mask-up. Mask is hiding. Hiding or altering truths for effect is show biz. Wizard of Oz biz. Hence, much of politics is show biz. So is costuming, if we are to fully grasp the RNC's shelling out over $150,000 in September for Sarah Palin and family's clothing and grooming expenses). Clothing wise, though, let's face it. For both Democratic and Republican candidates and their spouses, politics and politics on television and on the stump has gone light years beyond Pat Nixon's "Respectable, Republican cloth coat."

Clearly America's parameters for what are acceptable and unacceptable media venues were changing. But polticians taking to the air waves was nothing new. One need only go back to FDR and his weekly radio program, Fireside Chats, which aired during The Great Depression and the War Years. The vocally charismatic POTUS employed the programs to reassure Americans about surviving the depression and righting the ship of state.

In about the same period, from 1933 to 1945, Mayor Fiorello La Guardia of New York, another New Yorker, also proved himself a master of the medium of radio. He took to the airways and commenced to provide Appledom with weekly narrative it needed to get through the Depression and World War II. Mayor La Guardia used his electronic bully pulpit to inveigh against reporters and bookies and other miscreants and people who wasted gasoline during the war years. During the show the Mayor also shared stories about his family and, like a favorite uncle, offered shopping and cooking tips. For something for which he became most famous during and after one of New York City's infamous newspaper strikes, La Guardia also gave dramatic readings of Dick Tracy, Superman and other Sunday comic strips, a special treat for the listening children.

Is it fair to call all this the entertainmentization of politics or is it really and merely the ever-expanding realization of an inexorability of technology interfacing with politics and political campaigning? If so, I think we must conclude that McLuhan was right. The medium is the message...Well, if not THE message, at the very least, A message -- A very important message. Consider: Will we see 3-dimensional, holographic video images of candidates in our "Great Media Rooms" of the future? Could the immediate answer be "you betcha!"?

Back to Palin's SNL appearance and politics as entertainment next time, dear readers. In the meanwhile, you might want to take a peek at Comedy Central's Li'l Bush to savor the salty seeds of what may promise to be a totally surreal future of politics in an immersively mediated world.

One more thing. Upon further reflection, yeah many times the medium is the message. It can change the rules of the game. And sometimes even the game itself.

DON'T FORGET TO VOTE EARLY, ABSENTEE, OR ON NOVEMBER 4TH 

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Tags: arsenio hall, candidate bill clinton, cast member, catchphrase, comedy show, democratic presidential candidate, elderly woman, entertainment media, gary hart, judy carne, laugh in cast, media, media psychology, meet the press, palin, politics, preferred terms, pulse racing, rival candidate, rorschach, rowen and martin, snl, walter mondale