What would you prefer? Looking at a naturally cute dude and/or lady, or staring at a photoshopped image that has been carefully prepared to appeal to your taste?
People are talking, but nobody’s listening:
“Senate Intelligence Committe Chair Jay Rockefeller (D-WVA) is arguing for immunity. From OpenSecrets: he has four telecomm-related firms in his top 20 contributors (AT&T Inc, 2; Time Warner, 5; Verizon, 7; National Cable & Telecommunications Assn, 20). He is standing for re-election in 2008.”
It’s a vicious cycle. Big-money campaigns create employ top of the line spindoctors to manage a slick media image, which manage things down to the point where it’s actually a question if spontaneous tearing up is just another ploy to “seem more human”. There are indeed two princes here before us, but this time both of them have diamonds in their pockets, which they scatter before us with abandon. Don’t get me wrong, here, the other side is no better. This is a poison that transcends party lines.
It’s probably just part and parcel with our modern sensibilities. Flash, flair, and being first off the mark with a story, no matter how inaccurate have become the tools of modern news, with investigative reporting taking a (distant) sideline to the latest equivalent of “Man bites dog” strange news.
What this all adds up to is politicians being bought and sold by business interests, selling their allegiances on every point they can without alienating their core constituents (and that can be fudged with a slick media campaign), all in the hopes of getting enough money to pull off another slick media campaign to get back into office.
The real question is: Why? Candidates no longer need money to push their message. Any schmuck with a video camera and a computer can put videos on the internet now. The only purpose money serves now is to fund the obfuscation that all the candidates engage in. If people want a government they can trust again, it’s time to pull the plug on spin and start electing candidates based on their real policy. No campaign material that isn’t a straight on discussion of the issues. No ad spots. No media-friendly debates designed to highlight the newest 5-second soundbyte. Simple videos of honest discussion of the issues facing our government. While we’re at it, cut out the insufferable talking heads.
Boring? Sure. We’d probably lose half our already-anemic voting body without the media glitz. But at least the people who did vote would have a real chance to evaluate the politicos on their policy and not on their media image.
