Secrets and Lies and Horseshit

Now that I've become a full-fledged political addict I am discovering the downside of my infatuation with the three-hour MSNBC evening bloc (late afternoon in L.A.) of Chris Matthews, Keith Olbermann and Dan Abrams. Each afternoon these hosts and their assorted correspondents (a few of whom are even Republicans, though never on "Countdown") parse and analyze to death every line and every gesture made by the major candidates and their "surrogates."

My first revelation was realizing that the issues which are trumped up in these shows are comparatively trivial and pretty meaningless to the general public. The political commentators fling around a lot of "Inside Baseball" knowledge and while their insights are interesting, they are also repetitious and not especially helpful in projecting how the general population will react. Also, since most of the Talking Heads have a distinct Obama preference, that bias colors much of their conversation. Hey, I love Rachel Maddow, and think she's brilliant, but try to get her to concede anything nice at all about John McCain. "Countdown" never pretends to be "fair and balanced" like Fox Noise (a Keith appellation), but a little more objectivity would strengthen its case, methinks.

The larger problem I am having is in accepting the really noxious nature of politics itself. My world view is dark enough without having my cynicism underscored by the insidious tone of political discourse. I'm not talking of the grotesque smear tactics such as the Swift Boating that created the second Bush administration, or the subtle attacks on "patriotism" or "senioritis" that the two campaigns bandy back and forth. When McCain calls his campaign the "Straight Talk Express" it is Orwellian in its irony, for straight talk is the element that will get both candidates immediately into hot water, with the media stoking the fires under the cauldron.

Obama says that angry Pennsylvanians become bitter with their frustrations and retreat into their private concerns. Hillary says that she has scored higher among white voters. McCain admits that he is not very well-versed in economic theory. All of these statements were true, frank admissions whose honesty only backfired in their speakers' faces. But let's hear Obama's plan to end the Iraq War, or McCain's to balance the budget by 2013, and their supporters hoot and holler and whistle, even though it's all obvious total horseshit.

If truth and frankness are then anathema to the process, it becomes very disorienting to try to figure out what is worth heeding in all the rhetoric. It seems that politics is simply the interplay of innuendo, obfuscation and misleading promises intended to induce fear in or appeal to the basic stupidity of the general population. That's not a pretty definition. But as Cronkite says, "That's the way it is."

So let's put aside briefly the lapel pins, the jowls, the Obama children, the Stepford McCain wife, the terrorist fist bumps, and all the other idiotic distractions, and simplify the issues.

Here's why I think people should vote for Obama: 1) his image will help us immeasurably abroad, and 2) he will not put conservatives on the Supreme Court when Souter, Stevens and Ginsberg leave. Here's why people should not vote for McCain: 1) it would tell the world that America is still a hopelessly racist country to the extent that we would accept a third Bush term, and 2) McCain would put more conservatives on the Court and it would become a bastion of Reactionary rulings for decades. Do I think they're both honorable men? More or less. Do I think they are each arrogant and slimy politicians? Absolutely. But that's the choice, and it would have been the same if it were Hillary vs. Romney or Edwards vs. Huckabee, etc.

Now excuse me, it's nearly 4 P.M. and "Hardball" is coming on soon. I will still partake, but don't ever expect me to segue to Fox News, because that's when I will be throwing my andiron into the TV screen.