Magic giant Penn Jillette — he’s both big and a giant in his profession — watched seven presidential campaign videos so you don’t have to. When he wasn’t insulted or angered, Jillette was mostly unimpressed. Unsurprisingly the videos, constructed to trigger emotional responses, don’t say much about governing. In fact the candidates don’t say much about anything. Except Rand Paul, who actually does say stuff, but makes Jillette feel “conflicted.” And Bernie Sanders, with whom he disagrees a lot, but who would get his vote — shockingly, according to Jillette.
The best part of Jillette’s assessment is when he does his magic. Here’s Jillette describing Mike Huckabee’s ad, and then — poof! — making Huckabee disappear: “He has the best name. It’s abbreviated “Huck” and that brings to mind one of my favorite books and it rhymes with my favorite word. He plays bass, he’s pretty funny and he lost a lot of weight — what’s not to like? Everything else. Also not one word about ideas of government.”
