Centerfield

Tales from the Flying Circus

Crossposted on John Brodigan for a Better America

"In politics, you have to remember that it isn't what is actually happening - it's the perception that's out there." - George H.W. Bush

Voters don't trust the candidates because they are phonies who are never honest. Candidates can't be 100% honest, because if they slip up the press will be all over them. The press will be all over them because the only thing voters seem to care about is the trivial nonsense they claim turns them off of politics.

It's a never-ending cycle that Alexandria Pelosi tried to get to the bottom to in her book Sneaking into the Flying Circus - How the Media Turn our Presidential Campaigns into Freak Shows. Honestly, she didn't really get to the bottom of anything, other than the fact that the process is all stoogats. The journey on the other hand, was a very entertaining and informative one to read.

One thing I found really interesting was I never realized how much of a "deck of cards" Howard Dean's campaign was. This book made it sound like most of his success was a media creation, because none of the other candidates were giving them anything exciting to write about. They saw crazy ol' Howard and his crazy ol' supporters, and thought, "we can sell this."

And I admit it, I fell for the hype. I admired the way he was running a "different" campaign and that he wasn't afraid to speak his mind. What I didn't realize at the time was that most of his minions were the same strain of Internet dork that I hated dealing with when I was editing the wrestling magazine. Gov. Dean turned out to be just another wack job claiming his "being a Washington outsider" qualified him for the Presidency. In the immortal words of one Bugs Bunny, "What a maroon."

They also, apparently, created Sen. Kerry's resurgence once they were bored of Crazy Howard. He was barely breathing until right before the Iowa Caucus, when one paper decided to write and article calling Kerry "The Comeback Kid." Then everyone decided to do the same, because they didn't want to miss out if he actually happened to win. Once the papers started calling Kerry the front-runner, the voters figured that he must be the front-runner so they all voted for him in Iowa. Then New Hampshire figured, "eh, I guess since everyone else is doing it." All this, just because one paper decides to write one article, and the rest of the media are a bunch of copycats. As far has his campaign went, you could almost hear the author asking herself, "Is this really the best we can come up with?"

Back to the campaign coverage and the most telling sign that the way we do things is dumb? There's a chapter focusing on an argument Ms. Pelosi had with her little niece and nephew about why she wasn't allowed in the John Kerry fundraiser. This was easily my favourite part of the book and worth the cost of admission alone. I won't spoil it here, other than to say the argument ended when the author ran out of answers and they all decided to look for a cookie.

Other highlights in the book include "The Top 10 Things You're Not Allowed to Say on a Presidential Campaign," "Top The Lessons Learned," a chapter on the protesters in NYC, and a list of off the record comments from the press corps.

The candidates are already starting to identify themselves and the real free for all starts right after the midterm elections in 2006. Will 2008 be a remake of 2004, where the actors are different but the story remains the same? Like I mentioned before, the book didn't offer a solution. It did however analyze the problem. The trick now is to do something aboot it.