And Now, A National Snapshot

I've noticed that the talking heads and political pundits are multiplying on TV. There are a dozen on every news show, and they all parrot each other. I've watched enough that I think I now qualify as a talking head and political pundit on TV.

My turn:

• Blacks who voted for Clinton in 92 or 96 and who attend church favor Obama by 90%.
• Blacks who voted for Bush in 92 or Dole in 96 and don’t attend church are really hard to find, but they favor Obama by 90%.
• Blacks who think Obama was uncool toward his pastor and is acting out of political expediency support Obama by 90%.
• Blacks who think Bill Clinton was “the first black president” support Obama by 90%.
• Blacks who think Hillary Clinton’s use of a John Mellencamp song as her stump speech background music is really stupid support Obama by 90%.
• Whites who secretly hate black people support Clinton by 51%.
• Whites who want us to “move beyond discussions of race” are obviously white.
• Blue collar, rural whites are perplexed that every four years people act like they care about them.
• Republicans are voting for McCain, even though they don’t like him.
• Conservative evangelicals feel neglected this year. McCain will win them in the end on a single issue.
• White, rural, college-educated, female, lesbian, blue collar Christians are just really interesting, independent and very hard to pin down. I think they are the key swing voters this year.
  

The Difference Between You and Keith Olbermann

...is that you are probably a decent, tolerable, tolerant person who doesn't pretend to walk on water, nor do you think you are the country's King Maker. Also, your hair is not pin-striped.

From Wikipedia: A pundit is someone who offers mass-media opinion, analysis or commentary on a particular subject area (most typically political analysis, the social sciences or sport), on which they are presumed to be knowledgeable. As the term has been increasingly applied to popular media personalities lacking special expertise, however, it can be used in a derogative manner. Pundit is also a slang term for politically biased people pretending to be neutral.

And for the last time, America, they're called punDITS, not punDINTS.

Pundits are nothing more than glorified bloggers who get paid. They also have whiter teeth. I recently heard Chris Matthews (hawking a book on CSPAN's "Book Notes") speak disparagingly of bloggers. He maintained that bloggers aren't bold like those in his profession, who are out there in the trenches doing battle face-to-face with people they oppose. He suggested that bloggers can hide in anonymity and toss bombs while pundits might run into their victims in the corridors of power and therefore have an obligation to maintain civility in their criticisms. Which I guess is why they say things like, "My good friend Senator Jones is a big, fat lying sack of crap."

The comments section has always been open here, Chris - you glorified blogger.

And the pundits have proven they don't know any more than bloggers this year.

Reinvigorating the American Brand

While waiting for the Republican Debate to begin last night, I tuned in to Bill O'Reilly, who had as a guest his buddy Dennis Miller. Dennis was waxing on about Iraq, among other things that he, as a comedian, is equally expert in and qualified to discuss.

Here's a portion of the transcript of what Miller had to say about the US getting involved in Iraq:

"And you know, people always say there were no WMDs, they felt misinformed. I didn't. I never thought there were WMDs. I thought we had to go in and cuff this guy around to reassert our place in the world. I think it was a reinvigoration of our brand, and I'm glad we did it."

Nice mediaspeak there, Dennis. Invading Iraq was a "reinvigoration of the American Brand."

(He was not joking. Go watch the clip. Scroll down to "Miller Time.")

I guess when you "reinvigorate a brand," in Miller's view, you reshape it into something unrecognizable from what it was, alienate your existing customer base, dilute your stock, then send out conflicting messages through a revolving door of senior management, pretty much assuring you will never acquire any new customers.

You're a genius, Dennis. You should work in advertising.

Reinvigorating the American "brand."

Kinda like what Just For Men did for your beard?