Political Theatre category archive

Over at Balloon Juice, John Cole is less than optimistic.

At the San Francisco Chronicle, J. C. Riley makes a strong case that “Kevin” is the masculine form of “Karen,” based on empirical observation of Kevins in the wild.

Several of my favorite news sites are run by major California newspapers, so I’ve seen many headlines regarding the attempted recall of California Governor Newsom, and I remember well Arnold Schwarzenegger’s* rise to the governor’s office a couple of decades ago.

I have never been a proponent of recalls and, frankly, am glad that my state does not embrace them. Also, I have long thought that there was something seriously broken about California’s recall procedure; in other states that have recall provisions, you do not see the recall frenzy that you see in Cali.

Now comes Michele Cottle to explain. A nugget:

All elected officials, of course, must contend with unhappy constituents and partisan passions. But California leaders face an additional challenge: an out-of-touch recall system adopted more than a century ago that invites frequent, even frivolous, attempts to oust officials for any perceived offense. Every California governor since 1960 has endured at least one recall attempt. In his first term, Newsom has faced five. The only Republican to capture the state’s governorship in the past two decades was Arnold Schwarzenegger, who won as part of the 2003 recall of the Democrat Gray Davis.

Later in the article, she details what makes California’s recall procedure so vulnerable to abuse. It’s an object lesson in how to get it wrong.

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*My favorite Schwarzenegger quote is, “In Hollywood, there are two kinds of people, actors and stars. I am a star.”

The writer of a letter to the editor of The Roanoke Times muses on the difference between a political party and a cult.

Via Juanita Jean.

Words can indeed have consquences.

As it turns out, getting your license to practice law suspended for spreading election disinformation through the courts doesn’t exactly sit well with law schools that have awarded you honorary degrees. Imagine that! Who’d have thought?

On Friday, Drexel University revoked the honorary Doctor of Laws degree it bestowed upon Giuliani in 2009, long before he became America’s deposed mayor.

Warning: Language

Via C&L.

One more time, “social” media isn’t.

David addresses the question of why Republicans emphasize “culture war” issues over policy issues.

Aside:

I would also suggest that, if Republicans clearly expressed their policy positions (such as “make the rich richer and the poor poorer” and, to put it bluntly, “let’s return to the days of de facto, if not de jure segregation”) they would lose many of their supporters–not the hard core ones, natch, but enough to reduce their power to a pittance.

One more time, “social” media isn’t.

Image via Job’s Anger.

Writing at Psychology Today Blogs, Patricia Prijatel explores why those who rely on “social” media for news and information are among the most misinformed and offers some suggestions for remedying this. Here’s a bit:

Consider a few facts:

• Most Americans (80 percent) get their news on digital devices. About half get it from social media. We’re inhaling only snatches of information, not nearly what we need to become the kind of well-informed citizenry our Constitution assumes.

• Most of those—70 percent—read only the headline of an article. You’ve seen this—people arguing with an article that is clearly satire, or concluding that the piece said what they wanted it to say, rather than what it actually said. They clearly read no farther than the headline.

• Those who rely on social media are the most ill-informed Americans. (See 1 and 2 above.) But, boy, they may feel strongly about their misinformation.

One more time, “social” media isn’t.