Cancel the conventions, call off the debates and go straight to the Election Night scoreboard to see how large McCain's margin of victory has turned out to be. The pollsters and pundits are wrapping the story into a neat package: The Republicans went to school on Hillary Clinton's last-minute Obamacide and are finishing off what she started.
At last weekend's Saddleback shootout, the Democratic nominee did not pull the sound-bite trigger fast enough to gun down McCain's prefabbed POW anecdotes and pithy gates-of-hell promises to protect Americans from Osama, the Russians and whoever else is lurking out there in their paranoid fantasies.
Maureen Dowd, insightful as ever but much less funny, wraps it all up imagining a dead-of-night celebration by Hillary and Mac the Knife of their joint victory over the Senate upstart who wanted to take away the country they have been pandering so hard to take over.
We can turn our full attention to the Olympics, where the competition is keener and the judges aren't announcing the results before the contestants start their routines. Then, during the next two weeks of convention blather, we can all go to the beach and get a nice tan instead of watching political volleyball when we all know the score.
Showing posts with label political pundits. Show all posts
Showing posts with label political pundits. Show all posts
Wednesday, August 20, 2008
Monday, February 11, 2008
Bush: "I'm Just a Simple President"
George W. Bush certified John McCain as a "true conservative" yesterday.
In emeritus mode on Fox News, the President told Chris Wallace his successor-in-waiting "is very strong on national defense" and "tough fiscally. He believes the tax cuts ought to be permanent. He is pro-life. His principles are sound and solid as far as I'm concerned."
Asked about resistance from the Rush Limbaugh-Ann Coulter wing of the GOP, the President was confident McCain can "convince people that he is a solid conservative and I'll be glad to help him if he is the nominee."
In view of Bush's iffy record on the domestic agenda of the Rabid Right, that may not solve McCain's problem, but the Decider is upbeat about the party's prospects for November.
He pooh-poohed Barack Obama's popularity with his customary political acumen and accuracy: "The only foreign policy thing I remember he said was he's going to attack Pakistan and embrace Ahmadinejad."
"Why do you think he's gotten this far if people don't know what he stands for?" Wallace asked.
Bush's answer was on the money. "You're the pundit," he said. "I'm just a simple president."
In emeritus mode on Fox News, the President told Chris Wallace his successor-in-waiting "is very strong on national defense" and "tough fiscally. He believes the tax cuts ought to be permanent. He is pro-life. His principles are sound and solid as far as I'm concerned."
Asked about resistance from the Rush Limbaugh-Ann Coulter wing of the GOP, the President was confident McCain can "convince people that he is a solid conservative and I'll be glad to help him if he is the nominee."
In view of Bush's iffy record on the domestic agenda of the Rabid Right, that may not solve McCain's problem, but the Decider is upbeat about the party's prospects for November.
He pooh-poohed Barack Obama's popularity with his customary political acumen and accuracy: "The only foreign policy thing I remember he said was he's going to attack Pakistan and embrace Ahmadinejad."
"Why do you think he's gotten this far if people don't know what he stands for?" Wallace asked.
Bush's answer was on the money. "You're the pundit," he said. "I'm just a simple president."
Wednesday, January 09, 2008
Pitchmen of Inside Politics
If pollsters and pundits had any sense of shame, they would slink off to do penance for their performance in the past week. But they won't.
The New Hampshire resurrection of Hillary Clinton surprised them as much as did the Iowa christening of Barack Obama and Mike Huckabee as front runners, but the talking heads and numbers crunchers will be back today to sell new versions of their faulty products with as much assurance as ever.
There will be reversible explanations: Hillary's tears that were a meltdown two days ago will morph into a moment of humanity that touched the hearts of voters. Obama's surging crowds will become hordes of undecideds trying to make up their minds at the last minute.
Nothing wipes the knowing smiles off the faces of the "insiders" who, in the words of Daniel Boorstin, are well-known for their well-knowness and spew Delphic certainties that are never later subjected to proof of accuracy.
Maybe the Consumer Product Safety Commission should set up a division to recall defective opinions and polls that are a danger to our mental health.
The New Hampshire resurrection of Hillary Clinton surprised them as much as did the Iowa christening of Barack Obama and Mike Huckabee as front runners, but the talking heads and numbers crunchers will be back today to sell new versions of their faulty products with as much assurance as ever.
There will be reversible explanations: Hillary's tears that were a meltdown two days ago will morph into a moment of humanity that touched the hearts of voters. Obama's surging crowds will become hordes of undecideds trying to make up their minds at the last minute.
Nothing wipes the knowing smiles off the faces of the "insiders" who, in the words of Daniel Boorstin, are well-known for their well-knowness and spew Delphic certainties that are never later subjected to proof of accuracy.
Maybe the Consumer Product Safety Commission should set up a division to recall defective opinions and polls that are a danger to our mental health.
Tuesday, January 08, 2008
Two Kinds of Hillary Hubris
As New Hampshire prepares to vote, pundits are filing Clinton campaign death notices as confidently as they trumpeted her inevitability only weeks ago.
The coronation was premature, and the obituaries may be, too. The last time anyone looked, Matt Drudge was not empowered to pick convention delegates.
Observers detect a few tears and deride the woman who sheds them, forgetting that John Boehner, the House Republican leader, weeps buckets all the time.
Bill Clinton seems to lose his mojo with New Hampshire crowds for a day, and the New York Times finds a headline in it.
There is at least as much hubris in the herd journalism that is trampling the Clintons now as there was in their presumption that the Presidency was theirs by right of succession--and considerably more nastiness.
These observations come from a non-admirer of the Clinton campaign who suggested last summer that playing it safe could lead to a 21st century version of what Harry Truman did in 1948 to the poll-anointed sure bet, Gov. Thomas Dewey of New York, who squandered a big lead in the polls by taking voters for granted.
Hillary Clinton's hopes for the Presidency may indeed be thwarted, but it's not over until it's over, no matter what the often-wrong-but-never-in-doubt political pundits say.
The coronation was premature, and the obituaries may be, too. The last time anyone looked, Matt Drudge was not empowered to pick convention delegates.
Observers detect a few tears and deride the woman who sheds them, forgetting that John Boehner, the House Republican leader, weeps buckets all the time.
Bill Clinton seems to lose his mojo with New Hampshire crowds for a day, and the New York Times finds a headline in it.
There is at least as much hubris in the herd journalism that is trampling the Clintons now as there was in their presumption that the Presidency was theirs by right of succession--and considerably more nastiness.
These observations come from a non-admirer of the Clinton campaign who suggested last summer that playing it safe could lead to a 21st century version of what Harry Truman did in 1948 to the poll-anointed sure bet, Gov. Thomas Dewey of New York, who squandered a big lead in the polls by taking voters for granted.
Hillary Clinton's hopes for the Presidency may indeed be thwarted, but it's not over until it's over, no matter what the often-wrong-but-never-in-doubt political pundits say.
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