Category — Politics

One day, in “Somedayland”, the media will elevate the discourse of the candidates.

One day, the candidates will elevate the discourse of the electoral population.

One day, we’ll move beyond whisper campaigns that play off fears and destroying national hope.

One day, politicians will hold themselves to their public promises, and to the ethical standards of most normal people.

One day, my turds could be used as renewable fuel in the Delorians we’ll all fly.

Until then, we’ll have to deal with this bullshit that political candidates and the media throw at each other, for their personal amusement.

(via the Slog: Why is Clinton Still Running? “White Americans.”)

“A long Democratic battle doesn’t automatically help the Republicans. In fact, it hurts the Republicans in certain ways. Mr McCain becomes less interesting to the media. Stories about him move off page one and grow smaller. TV coverage becomes spotty and short. There are not yet big and deep and unbridgeable differences between the two Democrats and there is plenty of time to heal most wounds (except, perhaps among the young if Mrs Clinton were to win). Continuing to build a profile and lay the predicate for the short fall campaign against either Democrat becomes the challenge for Mr McCain while the Democrats battle it out.” — Karl Rove

Sens. Hillary “Out of the Republican Playbook” Clinton and Barack “I’m too good to be true” Obama know this. Which is why most of the debates focus on the minutia (e.g. campaign strategies, traditional experience vs. non-traditional experience), and playing up how the Republicans have damaged this nation.

The fact that the DNC finally has a solid and agreed upon platform before going into primaries says a lot. And you see it in the coverage. Television news networks who play this as a “America’s Next Top President” like the gridlock, because it’s tension, drama, and all the glitzy things that reality tv has had that they never could.

I saw this on Tuesday at our watch party. Both on MSNBC and CNN the majority of the clips were not Huckabee/McCain, but rather Clinton/Obama. The networks aren’t going to leave something that has mobilized so many people to vote; it’s already a story they don’t have to sell.

What this means in terms of the “storyline” of the nomination bids, is McCain will get more desperate to get news attention. However, Rove is right when he says that the young Dems will feel extremely wounded if Clinton secures the nomination. On a apathetic, semi-rural college campus of 12,000+, I’ve heard more people interested in elections for once. I’ve also heard from a lot of people who felt betrayed by the 2004 election, that if Clinton secures the DNC bid, they’re jumping ship to McCain. I can’t say I’m far behind.

Karl Rove is master election puppeteer, how else could he get an idiot with a shitty resumé elected? He indeed knows what he’s talking about, and is more right than we’d like to admit.

• Alive! - WSJ.com (via BBC’s Justin Webb which was found via the Slog)