Republican politicians are the 21st Century’s Welfare Kings and Queens.

There is a scene in Family Guy’s fifth season where Lois Griffin is running for Mayor. She simple says “9/11 was bad” and it sends the crowd wild. She almost can’t believe how easy it is. This is, of course, a a parody for comedic purposes, because these days, Republican politicians can believe how easy it is.

Although this doesn’t appear in the clip, I can easily imagine a more cerebral, professorial type Democratic opponent launching into a wonky lecture about the destabilising effect the subsequent shift in US foreign policy had on the Middle East. That response would not, needless to say, send the crowd wild.

This hypothetical response from Lois’ opponent is reminiscent of Michael Dukakis’ 1988 infamous ‘death penalty answer’. Dukakis stated he has always opposed the death penalty, claiming there are “better and more effective ways to deal with violent crime”, and his policy alternatives were sound too— highlighting how Massachusetts, the state he was Governor for, had the “biggest drop in crime of any…state in America and the lowest murder rate of any…state in America”. Of course, that didn’t matter, because it was much easier for the Bush team to push the racist Willie Horton ad instead. Election won.