Palindrome: Sarah Palin runs for VP

[Alternate title: Capitalism brought us 24-hour news networks]

A co-worker forwarded this brilliant bit of journalism today: http://ccinsider.comedycentral.com/cc_insider/2008/09/jon-stewart-ann.html. Now the really sad thing is, I consider what Jon Stewart does to be journalism. I can't say the same thing for the "journalists" that he features. The gist of the clip is different conservative pundits saying something like, "Sarah Palin has great experience. She's been a governor [would that be governess? that sounds like something from one of those Jane Austen novels], and she was mayor of, like, the second largest city in Alaska." Stewart rejoins, "Let's see . . . she was mayor of a town of . . . 9,000 people!" He then plays a clip of the same person (Karl Rove) from a few weeks ago saying, "If Obama picks Tim Cain, that would be totally politically pandering. His only experience is as governor, lieutenant governor and as mayor of Richmond. That's the 102nd largest city in the country! There are only 200,000 people in that town! It's smaller than Chula Vista, California and Aurora, Coloraduh [actual pronunciation]!" Seriously. The rest of the clips were of very similar partisan asininity from a variety of conservative pundits.

[solidifying centrist position]

I need to make clear that I know both sides do this. I hate the activity and results of both sides. All my Christian bits are straining to keep me from hating the actual people. But this sort of stuff is destroying our country. The average American picks one or two pundits on whose every word they can hang. They go around spouting all kinds of crazy, because they haven't managed to listen to anyone giving a balanced perspective. And why are we destroying America this way? It sells. Sponsors know they can get their ad impressions on cable news networks. They keep sponsoring this schlock where the anchors and pundits are trying to come up with something original to say to gain viewership, only they don't actually do much real research; they only make ad hominem attacks in a whiny, strained voice for as long as the camera is on them. (This is not unlike how I would sound if I were speaking instead of writing this.) So the Glorious Capitalism has brought this upon us. Makes me very angry.

Back to Ms. Palin again. The liberals are trying everything they can to get dirt on McCain and Palin. The conservatives are doing everything they can to defend against these attacks, forgetting in their fervor that they used the exact same rhetoric against the Democrats a few weeks ago. And the fact that the VP candidate is a woman only makes it worse. I've never heard so much sexism (in a reverse sort of way). They keep reaching to make sure that everyone lays off Ms. Palin. "She's such a helpless little girl! Stop attacking her!" From the liberal side, they say things like, "She's such a helpless little girl! Destroy her!"

But then you hear what Palin says after a stupid question at a press conference. "Judge me on the job I do. It doesn't matter if I'm a woman; I'm still held to a high standard." This is exactly right. Can we stop making personal attacks and digging up dirt? We can ask things like, "Is he capable of being a good leader if his underage daughter goes out and gets smashed?" (That was so 2003.) "Is she capable of being a good leader when her teen daughter is pregnant and she has an infant with disabilities?" These are fair questions. But the tone of offense and defense between the parties makes reasonable assessment impossible. "Is it a good idea to have a freshman senator taking over the presidency?" I happen to know that Obama has some crazy cred, such as being top of his law class at Harvard, president of Harvard Law Review, a constitutional law professor for twelve years (refreshing after years of constitutional disregard), state senator for seven years, chair of foreign relations subcommittee, etc. I don't know the cred about the others, but they have theirs too. (Runner up Miss Alaska . . . ) But we still have to ask smart questions and listen for intelligent answers.

Frankly, I think either ticket would be quite capable of governing the country well. I may not agree with all the policies of one or the other, but then again, I don't remember getting my DNA extracted so they could make my clone president. We must get back to intelligent dialogue. It's unfortunately absent, first in the media, and by extension in the campaigns and politics in general.