Not that I would be prejudiced toward a comedian as an office holder. I mean, think of John Stewart, for instance, running for office. He might well make a great senator or even president.

Indeed, I found out that my son and his friends got their political education from watching The Daily Show! They never watched the corporate news and never read the corporate press. Though the show was comedy, it never occurred to them that the issues raised were NOT serious, and they learned most of what they knew about major issues--which was quite a lot--from Stewart. A politician and/or office holder is--or rather should be--an educator and the formulator of issues. Stewart is that. So why couldn't he learn the other aspects of governing, run for and win office, and make our political life more entertaining, as an additional benefit?

I will not get into the matter of loutish ass-clowns like Donald Trump and Bush Jr.--people who put themselves forward, or are put forward, to mock our democracy and our citizenry. I don't know that Jimmy Morales is like them. I know nothing about him. Can you enlighten me, or point me to sources? Maybe he's Guatemala's 'John Stewart'!

I read the other day he seems to be pushing a right-wing agenda.

That definitely is NOT what could help the people out of poverty, is it? Rightists want to keep that vast labor pool poor, and desperate in order to steal the most work, the most energy from them possible without honoring them by paying what the people have earned with their labor.

I just found this new article from Australia in a quick search, looking for more on Jimmy Morales. It has this to say about him:

Comedian Jimmy Morales frontrunner in Guatemalan election as former president Otto Perez sits in jail
Posted Sat at 8:40pm

. . .

Mr Morales, the candidate of a conservative party called the National Convergence Front, has no experience in politics. He is promising clean government to restore Guatemalans' faith in their institutions.

He said he was the only candidate not tainted by corruption and had earned his notoriety on a shoestring budget.

"I have earned a leading role through hard work, because the other candidates ran expensive campaigns to make their faces known," he said.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-09-06/guatemalans-prepare-for-polls/6752944

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The fact he enters without known ties to any government figures should work in his favor, one would think. No doubt he will enter believing he will be under a microscope, as well, after so many Guatemalan arch-criminals in the President's Office.

John Stewart does seem to be completely sincere in his efforts to see things fairly and clearly. It seems to really matter to him.

It could be this comedian, having focused his entire life on his career hasn't spent much time cultivating political friends, and that could be a real asset.

You remember how wild right-wingers got when President Colom was in charge. They tried everything in the world to impugn him, and he left with his honor intact in spite of their efforts.

I think Morales is still casting about, trying to form his political profile. Hope to find out more about him. He seems like he's still a real novice, a little naïve.

By the way, it's good hearing some young people didn't fall prey to pre-packaged, smoothly engineered perception molding from the corporate "news" companies. That will work to their benefit.

The Rise and Fall of Guatemala’s Most Feared General

Otto Pérez Molina started his rise to power during a U.S.-backed dirty war. The uprising against impunity that brought him down has been waiting in the wings ever since.

By Jesse Franzblau, September 22, 2015.

. . .

Without serious institutional reforms, criminal networks with ties to the military will likely continue to hold sway over government affairs. Indeed, many of the activists who helped bring down Pérez Molina boycotted the September 6 general elections amid calls for the polls to be postponed in the wake of the president’s resignation just days earlier. Guatemalans wore black clothes of mourning to signify the country’s dead institutions, and banners were hung across the National Palace in Guatemala City calling the elections illegitimate.

The general elections went forward anyway, with Jimmy Morales — an actor and comedian with no political experience — coming out as the frontrunner after the first round of voting. Morales’ National Convergence party was founded by members of the powerful military veteran association AVEMILGUA — an influential group created by ex-military personnel that promotes impunity for past and contemporary military abuses. Morales is also closely linked with the well-known former general, Edgar Justino Ovalle, who like Pérez Molina led operations that led to massacres in the early 1980s and is tied to the criminal military-linked networks.

Immediate electoral prospects may be grim. But the social movements that have been galvanized over the last months will likely continue — and could push for advances in ongoing human rights legal cases — regardless of the outcome of the next vote on October 25. Whoever wins will face a citizenry from whom the fog of fear has lifted, and demands for accountability and justice continue to grow.

http://fpif.org/the-rise-and-fall-of-guatemalas-most-feared-general/

Guatemala's indigenous people don't find Jimmy Morales funny

PRI's The World
September 09, 2015 · 4:30 PM EDT

By Bradley Campbell


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Jimmy Morales, the National Convergence Front Guatemalan presidential candidate, flashes the victory sign as he addresses supporters outside his campaign headquarters in Guatemala City, September 6, 2015.

Credit:
Jorge Dan Lopez/Reuters
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Last Sunday, comic actor Jimmy Morales won the most votes in Guatemala's presidential elections, though not enough to avoid a runoff. But if he wants to change the country, he might want to reexamine his jokes, says Andrea Ixchíu. A human rights activist in Guatemala City, she says Morales usually makes fun of indigenous Guatemalans.

"He's racist," she says. "In his TV shows, as a comedian, he always makes fun of indigenous people, our customs and the way we speak. So I personally don't like him."

So why would a guy like this lead a presidential election? Ixchíu says he has the support of big media outlets in the country.

"They started pointing at Jimmy Morales as a possibility," she says. "He started appearing in TV shows and in radio station talk shows. He portrayed himself as the salvation the Guatemalan needs."

More:
http://www.pri.org/stories/2015-09-09/guatemalas-indigenous-people-dont-find-jimmy-morales-funny