I hope to God, or at least to blind Fortune, that when this election is over we get to experience the death of the 24 hour news cycle.
I say this because it is clear- to me, at least- that we have entered the late decadent phase of the cable news/Internet driven mania that masqueades as public discourse. Take this weekend’s “analysis” of the past week. More than one pundit declared the week a “victory” for John McCain becuas his campaign was “driving the discussion” with his “Celebrity” ad.
When pissing off your funders- as he did Paris Hilton’s mom- and generally looking like you’re a doddering old fool who let’s his campaign advisors talk him into all kinds of dumb shit (Sturges, The McPain Grimmace) is counted as a “win” we’ve got some serious rethinking to do about who we want to be as a people.
What makes me sad is that up to about a month ago I still respected John McCain. Now I just look at him as a bad joke: Ol’ Pappy McPain.
