Jonah may not realize the historic significance of his post on a possible run for the presidency by actor Yaphet Koto. Unless I have missed something, this would be the first time that a James Bond villain has thrown his steel-tipped hat into the ring. Koto (or Kotto–both spellings seemed to be in use) played Dr. Kananga, in Live and Let Die with Roger Moore as Bond and Jane Seymour as the love interest. Kananga used voodoo as the respectable cover for his heroin racket–a more plausible-than-usual plotline for a Bond movie.
But the plotline for Koto’s candidacy may be less plausible. Koto is running not as an independent (that’s the name of the newspaper that set this hare running) but as a Republican, albeit as one who thinks the country is “on the wrong track.” Still more mysteriously, he seems to have disappeared. He didn’t answer the Independent’s phone calls and his website is “down.” He is also a member of the Camerounian Royal Family, Jewish (his first name is Hebrew for “comely”), and a former advisor to Steve Forbes. All I will say is: be on the lookout for a one-armed man. While thinking about this, I began to wonder if Mike Huckabee had reminded anyone of a film character. No, not Elmer Gantry, but Lonesome Rhodes, the cornpone villain of the 1955 movie, A Face in the Crowd. Lonesome may be the only time Andy Griffiths ever played a villain, but he does so brilliantly as a mix of southern charm and redneck thuggery. Lonesome’s sly attacks on his television sponsor’s.ads that go on to boost sales have a slight flavor of Huckabee’s post-modern campaign ads. I thought I might be the first to break this comparison on the Corner, but I did a quick google check–and 2020 people had beaten me to it. See the movie–left-wing but terrific.
SPOILER WARNING: Lonesome eventually gets done in by Ivy League liberals (standing in for the Club for Growth, Rod.)