From the NYT:

[tapuz]

While this piece is the second-most e-mailed and blogged article in today's New York Times, a cursory glance reveals that neither my flist nor friendsfriends has anyone who has (publicly) posted about it, so go read the Op-Ed piece "Bowling 1, Health Care 0" and see what you think...

Comments

[aethucyn]

On the one hand, well duh, the primary goal of the media is to make money which they do by selling advertising space the price of which is determined by circulation/ratings. Which makes it a bad way of informing the public. So yes, I agree with her. That said, I was most struck my this sentence:

"Few people even had the chance to find out about Joe Biden’s health care plan before he was literally forced from the race by the news blackout that depressed his poll numbers, which in turn depressed his fund-raising."

Fund-raising. Money, money, money. The "serious" contenders all had it (actually, except for McCain, who was broke before the primaries had even started, but he'd already built up a name due to press from a previous presidential run, and backing several bills that were atypical pieces of legislation for a Republican senator, or does saying that mess up Elizabeth Edwards' narrative?) The thing about money is it makes a nice circle, a candidate has a decent war chest, they get coverage, they get more donations. It makes sense because prior to the first vote being cast, the only way the media can identify who has support is by how much money somebody has. And let's face it, more than 4 candidates per side, and we really don't want to know, and probably not that much. Are you claiming that you're going to put in a real health care system? Sounds good to me. What's your plan? I don't really care, because it's not going to go through that way. I'm applauding you on effort, not on the particulars, because in our hearts we know that it's easier to talk about what you're going to do as president than to do it.

Now, the interesting thing is that these candidates have probably spoken to more people than probably any candidates in our lifetime. I don't remember a primary season lasting this long. And at this point, it is painfully long. We know enough about them, and really, we knew enough about all those folks who have dropped out, because they all stand for the same things. Really. But we either like the nice black man, or the woman with the famous name. The clean cut white guy was pretty good too. But the old guy with the game show host smile, meh. And really, good thing too, because McCain would steamroll over Biden. Cause when we get to round two, this is a beauty pageant, and the uncharismatic need not apply.