I’m sitting here watching Ms. Fiorina on Meet the Press, responding to a question about Phil Gramm’s “inartful” statements on the recession this week. This has to be one of the all time great moments in American political television. (Transcribing as it goes, so this may not be word for word accurate.)
“I don’t think Americans are paying attention to what’s being said by campaign surrogates. They’re paying attention to what’s being said by the candidates themselves.”
Ah, Carly. I’m not sure whether to call you a starry-eyed optimist or delusional. People seem to be paying attention exclusively to what surrogates, even unrelated actors, are saying. Would that we lived in an America where we were actually judging the candidates on what they say themselves. Go ask Barack Obama about that, when not only the words of his campaign aides are being parsed, but his pastor, his dog-walker and now, NSFW comedian Bernie Mac, who showed up to do a comedy routine at a fundraiser, is being treated as if he’s Obama’s staff adviser on gender equality.
The bottom line is that the media (in all forms) have very little to chatter about during the dog days of summer aside from speculating on who the VP picks will be. The 24 hour news beast must be fed daily, and so we will continue to parse, examine and pick apart every word said by every person who is willing to get behind a microphone with an opinion on the election. If Bernie Mac is fair game, so is Phil Gramm, sweetie.