Pacific Views

The Outer Darkness

Via Matt Gross:

Establishment Media

WE HAVE THE POWER

Dean Press Corps 2004

--Text on a t-shirt given to Governor Howard Dean by members of the national press after he withdrew from the race, according to Craig Crawford.

In other news, California voters are paying very little attention to the primary. Also, they favor John Kerry:

...Because Kerry is spending his advertising in other states more on the fence for Super Tuesday - Ohio, New York, and Georgia - most nonactivist voters here only know what they've read and heard from other states, Mr. Hoffenblum says.

"Mainly, voters here know Kerry looks good on TV and is winning, and so they want him," he says. "But because TV and newspaper coverage fails to report much beyond the horse-race details of who's winning, they really don't know what they are buying into."

One case in point is California voters who have told pollsters they are worried about trade issues and are not supportive of NAFTA. Such voters would in theory prefer Senator Edwards, but according to polls released this week, they still prefer Kerry. "Kerry's electability is far more important to voters here than his positions, which don't really track ... with exactly what they want," says Elizabeth Garrett, a political scientist at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles.

..."I have run into several people in academic settings who should know better [but] who have no idea how much experience Kerry has in foreign affairs," says Garrett. "If that kind of information has not filtered down to them, it doesn't bode too well for the average voter."

Monday's Daily Howler provided a classic look into the very shallow waters of political press analysis that purport to inform the public.

Gail Collins, NY Times Editorial: "So much has happened in the last four years that it’s hard to remember how low the stakes seemed when Mr. Gore and Mr. Bush were running. ...It’s not surprising that in 2000 many people thought they could afford to express their irritation with a vote for Mr. Nader."

Daily Howler: "Let’s start with the obvious. Only a fool could ever think that the stakes are low in a run for the White House. But your press corps may have persuaded itself of this absurd notion during Campaign 2000. And by the way, the stakes did seem to be low—for them. ..."

Reading on, Bob recaps the low points of media unseriousness during the 2000 election, and notes that they're still at it. Case in point, a recent profile of Teresa Heinz Kerry that focused on nothing more substantial than botox, prenuptials, and clothes. Which should make clear that if the bulk of the political press corp has deep and abiding interests, those interests would be better fulfilled in jobs as senior lifestyle editors at Vogue.