Interesting thought from Zephyr Teachout, one time Dean campaign web guru, current techPresident blogger:
...post-modern political reporters and bloggers act as hack theater critics, judging performances not by how they as individuals respond, but by how they believe the mythical "american people," "independent voters," and "women" (and most bizarrely "the media") will respond. The standard role of the most prominent commentator and reporter is theater critic first, fact-checker second, independent questioner a distant third. (The inverted triangle reflects this--five paragraphs of post-modern critique; two paragraphs of fact-checking; an unanswered question dangled like a preposition going nowhere at the end.)
No one's posted on this yet? Great post. Describes what I've been calling the Pundit Population Game. If the voting mass were all pundits then the proclamations of pundits may be valid. On the one hand these political hacks are afraid to just admit that going bonkers over the nomination of an unknown is just plain stupid, while on the other hand they describe the population of voters they wish they had. By giving in to deep analysis of possible political motivations for Palin Hysteria they simply ignore the kind of visceral emotions that elected Bush in 2004, those gut feelings that have nothing to do with a deep concern for intricate policy. The idea that Palin "looks" like she might be able to grasp economics is not the same thing as understanding why Obama's plan is better or worse than McCain's.
I'm compelled to comment on b8ovin response to the above article. Talk about hitting the nail on the head, it was refreshing to see this point driven home.
Elections have become a circus, a show, a costume party and voters have fallen into the media craze and glamor that comes with it. Voters are throwing aside the intricate matters of the issues at stake for a candidate that is for example attractive, hip or funny.
If you are one of these individuals you need to wake up to what's going on in the world and stop playing celebrity favorites.
We have a global economic crisis largely fueled by America's complacency. Americans are loosing there jobs, their homes and their identity's in these troubling times and those who are not are seeking ,a href="http://personalmoneystore.com/moneyblog/what-are-payday-loans-2/">payday loans just to help make ends meet.
This results of this election are going to be strogly felt by each of us on a personal level so you owe it to yourself to know the issues and to vote accordingly.
Don't be a media crazed puppet of propaganda.