I’m not sure which disconcerts me more: stadium politics or stunt veep-ing.
Moving the Democratic Convention to a stadium[1] seems to be the culmination of politics as entertainment form. It’s already the case that reporters largely view politicians as celebrities, and if you don’t believe it, read this, so this kind of clinches it. Super Bowl production values at a political convention? I mean, I guess that politics is something everyone should get excited about, but this wasn’t what I had in mind.
Selecting a young female governor as a running mate to grab a potential gender vote seems, at least for a Republican, marvelously shrewd. The Machiavelli in me is thoroughly impressed, which means that the Mr. Smith Goes to Washington in me just passed out at the end of his filibuster.
1.) I’m still trying to find out if this was intended to be a surprise or not. It seems like it was presented as a surprise.
I’ve been drawing the same conclusion for years. Compare “Red” and “Blue” against the Cowboys and 49ers. Listen to the crowds chanting and booing at conventions on cue. Creepy.
And just because I have to put my two cents in about Palin — I was intrigued by her until she fed the media the news that her daughter was pregnant so they’d stop speculating that Palin’s youngest child was actually her daughter’s. What kind of mother would do that? I’m trying to imagine my sister in the national spotlight when she got pregnant…
Just goes to show you how much national politics has begun resembling reality TV.