Political Theatre category archive

Shaun Mullen tries to figure out why the media continue to be fascinated with and give credence to a person whom my mother would have aptly characterized as “the biggest nothing.” It’s another example of something I mentioned the other day: the “Entertainment-Tonightization” of our political reporting.

A nugget:

There are few, if any, better examples of a resume without a person than Palin, whose sheer vapidity and penchant for making over-the-top declarations; indeed, saying the wrong thing time and again, nevertheless makes her such a magnet for people who are convinced, as she is, that America has gone crazy. (We actually kind of agree here, although for different reasons.)

Read the rest. And weep.

Unfortunately, the fellow who bested him in the primary is even loonier.

Wendell Potter wonders whether the establishment press attended the same Senate hearing as he. A nugget:

If you read the accounts of the hearing in The Washington Post, USA Today, Politico or CBS News — the only news outlets I could find that provided any coverage — you would not have read anything about the $3 billion consumers have saved as a result of the MLR provision or how the law has benefited the Fernandez family.

The focus of all those stories was a brief exchange toward the end of the hearing between Committee Chair Jay Rockefeller, a West Virginia Democrat, and GOP Sen. Ron Johnson of Wisconsin about whether the color of President Obama’s skin might explain why some people are opposed to the law.

In politics news, as in entertainment reporting, it’s all about celeb gossip. In politics news, though, real events, data, and statistics matter, but the gossip is what reporters give us.

Today’s Virginia Republican Party, aided by a turncoat Democrat, could give corruption lessons to Jimmy Hoffa.

Hate-full twits.

Wingnuttery is a vile and loathsome thing.

Via Bob Cesca’s Awesome Blog.

According to James Howard Kunstler, it’s not just a Sherlock Holmes story; it’s life in these United States (as politicians are wont to say) today. A nugget:

That is, first of all, a place of far less influence on everybody else, in a new era of desperate struggle to remain modern. That fading modern world is the house that America built, the great post World War II McMansion stuffed with dubious luxuries in a Las Vegas of the collective mind. History’s bank has foreclosed on it, and all the nations and people of the world have been told to make new arrangements for daily life. The U.S. wants everybody to stay put and act as if nothing has changed.

Do read the rest, especially the to-do list at the end. Frankly, there’s not an item on it that I can take exception to.

Anne Laurie at Balloon Juice posted this so I don’t have to (and, frankly, I had not realized it in its entirety-that’s why I read stuff, to learn–but she is spot on: there are those who divide us to gain their own ends).

In the Bangor Daily News, conservative commentator Jim Fossel offers advice for identifying phony “advocacy” groups.

Given the current tendency for the proponents of the most venal causes to wrap themselves in the most colorful display of American flag bunting, like buzzards in pheasant suits, his guidelines are timely. The Society for Puppies and Kitty Cats, from which you received a touching appeal, may turn out to be a front for the CCCCFF (Corporation for Commercially Canning Canines and Freezing Felines).

However, if a group never — or incredibly rarely — endorses anyone in one particular party, no matter where they stand on the issues, that can be a red flag that the group is truly a partisan one. Similarly, if the group never criticizes members of one party, even when they go against their issues, that’s telling. A group that truly advocates for an issue will work with or against a politician based on his or her record, not political party.

Another telling indication of partisanship is legislative ratings. Many organizations rate legislators, supposedly on how well they agree with their issues. Groups that are merely partisan fronts will have highly polarized ratings — for example, almost all Democrats getting 10 percent or less, and all Republicans getting 90 percent or more. Of course, though it’s rare, an issue may be truly partisan, so it’s not fair to judge based on that alone; this is just one indicator.

Really, now, both sides don’t do it.

Until persons stop buying the myth that they do, we are stuck.

Der Spiegel looks beyond the distressingly rightward leanings of the EU elections to find a ray of hope. The EU is starting to be noticed.

Although voter turnout was down in many places and right-wing populists scored significant gains, this weekend’s European Parliament election was historically important. It has shifted the balance of power in Europe in favor of voters.

For the first time in the European Union’s history, the major parties in the European Parliament launched top candidates who campaigned for the job of European Commission president and gave stump speeches across much of Europe in an experiment that affected more than 400 million voters.

I don’t know enough about the European Union to have an opinion beyond this: that the states of Europe, whose petty wars inform the curriculum of “Western History,” are trying to work together is an unavoidably good thing. Just read the rest.

Steven M.

Via Juanita Jean.