Saturday, July 30, 2016

Toto Is from Kansas, Tim Kaine Isn't

by Pa Rock
Citizen Journalist

Someone I know who lives in the Kansas City area and attends a fair number of live shows and concerts there told me once that visiting performers commonly screw-up during the shows by telling their audiences how great it is to be in Kansas.  Apparently big numbers of people in those Kansas City, Missouri, audiences don't appreciate the fact that their visiting celebrities don't bother to expend minimum effort to find out what state they are in - and the result is often raucous derision and booing.  Not a great way to start a show.


Two years ago I had the great good fortune to be in the audience at the Sprint Center in Kansas City - again, in Missouri - to watch a double-barrelled music extravaganza starring Cher and Cyndi Lauper.  Lauper was the opening act in that huge venue, and she entered by walking through the audience under a trailing spotlight.  Her first line of the evening was, "Toto, I don't believe were in Kansas any more.  In fact, I don't think we've been in Kansas at all."  The crowd roared its approval for the star who had taken the time to find out exactly where she was performing!

Two days ago I read a piece at DailyKos in which a political reporter mentioned that Democratic vice-presidential nominee, Tim Kaine, had grown up in Kansas.  Wrong, Kimosabe.  Senator Kaine grew up in Kansas City, Missouri, and says that he is looking forward to campaigning in the state of his youth - Missouri.

There is a Kansas City, Kansas - and it is a major suburb of Kansas City, Missouri.  It is, however, the Missouri portion of the metroplex that is so well known:   the skyline, the casino boats, the Sprint Center, the Kauffman Center, the Kansas City Royals, 18th and Vine, the Kansas City Star, the American Royal, the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum, the University of Missouri at Kansas City, Rockhurst University, the Nelson Art Gallery, the Power and Light District, a myriad of Truman landmarks, and the best barbecue in the world.

Kansas City, Missouri, is a happening place, and it's very up-to-date!  It;s the place where Tim Kaine is from, and it will hopefully be the place where he returns for some aggressive campaigning.

Up until very recently many news reports were indicating that Hillary had already written off Missouri and would be ceding our ten electoral votes to Trump.  Hopefully having a Missourian on the ticket will cause her to readjust that calculus and give people in the "show me" state a chance to become part of history and not just another unimportant political footnote.   Voters who are ignored will have other options.

Sam Brownback, Kris Kobach, and Toto the Dog are all from Kansas - and, of the three, Toto is by far the smartest and most likable.   Tim Kaine, on the other hand, is strongly rooted in Missouri.

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