Ohio’s newest puppetmaster

Posted on by

In 2005 much of Ohio politics was dominated by the controversy surrounding a scandal dubbed “Coingate” by the media:

Coingate is a nickname for the Thomas Noe investment scandal in Ohio revealed in early 2005 in part by Ohio newspaper Toledo Blade. The Ohio government’s Bureau of Workers’ Compensation fund (BWC) invested hundreds of millions of dollars in high risk or unconventional investment vehicles run by people closely connected to the Ohio Republican party who had made large campaign contributions to many senior Republican party officials.

A rare coin investment fund has attracted particular scrutiny after it was reported that two coins worth more than $300,000 had been lost. Further investigation then revealed that coins worth $10-$12 million were missing and that only $13 million of the original $50 million invested could be accounted for. [Link]

As you would expect, politicians, especially Democrats running for office this year, find it beneficial to point to the Coingate affair as another example of Republican corruption and a reason to vote to change the status quo. One of those politicians is a Democrat named Subodh Chandra (see previous SM mention here) who is running for Attorney General of Ohio. Subodh recently talked about the Coingate affair to drum up support at one of his fundraisers. Well…he didn’t so much “talk” about Coingate, rather he…well you’ll see:

<

p>Apparently it was a “kid friendly” fundraiser. What? Kids in pre-school really do dig politics. The man is providing a valuable service to a segment of the population that lacks a voice in their government. His puppeteering skills aren’t bad either. The Cleveland Plain Dealer provides a play-by-play and mentions a second clip posted to the Chandra campaign website as well:

…the seven-minute skit features a clueless “King Bob Taft,” a snorting “Piggy Tom Noe” and a couple of asleep-at-the-switch characters named “Patrolman Petro” and “Montgomery” who weren’t paying attention while Piggy was busy looting the Ohio Bureau of Workers’ Compensation.

“Helloooo there, I’m King Taft,” Chandra intones as his sons Akaash, Chéthan and Karthik squeal with delight. “You know what I did? I’ll tell you what I did. What I wound up doing was taking 50 MILLION DOLLARS of money that was meant for injured workers, and you know what I invested it in: Rare coins, Beanie Babies and autographed baseballs!”

The skit ends with a couple of off-key sing-alongs, including “We Love Corruption,” set to the tune of Queen’s “We Are the Champions”:

We love corruption, my friends.

We’ll get indicted in the end.

We love corruption, we love corruption.

No time for governing because we love corruption.

The second clip is a “Separated at Birth” spoof featuring Chandra’s Democratic primary opponent, Sen. Marc Dann, as Homer Simpson and Chandra as Apu Nahasapeemapetilon, the Hindu Kwik-E-Mart employee on “The Simpsons…” [Link]

<

p>

The Simpsons spoof took me by surprise. In what is either a stroke of genius or one of pure folly, Chandra himself draws a comparison to the famous Kwik-E-Mart owner. Watching the clip above you will also see that he compares Apu’s accent with his own, just so the voters know he isn’t an Indian stereotype. It’s the first time I’ve seen a strategy like this from an Indian American candidate.

8 thoughts on “Ohio’s newest puppetmaster”

  1. Ummm. Just watched that video. Not sure how I feel about it…I guess as long as it speaks to the voters.

  2. apropos of nothing, i went to davis with subodh’s little brother. 😉 i know you were all DYING to learn that fun fact.

  3. think that the apu spoof is a folly..the video doesn’t load up….he seems a little off with the concept in my mind… heck…apu has his own ‘blog’… as we figured out months ago… it is amusing in a tongue in cheek way…but good enough for a campaign..in my mind no go…i’d be a little irritated if he was running in my state…

  4. Wow. I’ve been a supporter of Chandra for a while now (heard him speak, seems very intelligent, and he is a brown man in Ohio…) and this seems completely random. Probably a last ditch attempt to have Ohioans connect with an Indian man. Everyone knows the Simpsons, right?

    I don’t know that this’ll help him out. Seems like more of a freakshow tactic to me. Would be interesting to hear the campaign strategy behind this. Primaries are only two weeks away!

  5. Wow. Next, Maybe Jesse Jackson can do a video showing how he’s different from Buckwheat.

  6. Isn’t Apu a republican. After all it was a democract in Mayor Quimby who tried to deport him once?

  7. Maybe Jesse Jackson can do a video showing how he’s different from Buckwheat.

    Whoa! The actual clip from the Simpsons is more subtle and satirical than raw stereotype — in the clip, Apu is pretending not to speak English very well for his own purposes, and is presumably getting the last laugh in the process. To compare Apu to Buckwheat seems more than a bit overheated. It’s the Simpsons, for goodness sakes — no one is immune from satire on that show.

  8. To compare Apu to Buckwheat seems more than a bit overheated. It’s the Simpsons, for goodness sakes — no one is immune from satire on that show.

    Is racist humor not racist when it’s humor? Because if so, there’s a ton of humor you’ll want to roll in.

    Apu is the only regular character skewered for what he is rather than who he is. Like Glengarry Glen Ross, the racism in the character has been toned down over time as the desi population has risen.