BernieHund: The Political Watchdog

We are a few hours away from Fat Tuesday, the last day of partying and revelry before Lent.  I would be more affected by the upcoming forty days before Easter except last year I gave up Lent.  So, this year I’m free to enjoy the massive overdoses of political ads and the celebrations of candidates who run up and down the polls more often than we raise and lower Old Glory.

Our eyes seek the polls and the commentary by the political pollsters and pundits every time we pick up a newspaper. We read through the online news searching for the latest updates, or we watch the Sunday morning talk shows.  For some reason this year we can’t consume enough politics to satisfy our hunger.

That brings me to a question.  Do the polls and political commentary inform us of statistics or do they sell candidates?

I bring this up because after Mike Huckabee’s win in Iowa, he still didn’t get the recognition one would have expected for a winner.  His victory was given about as much recognition as the time it took him to say “on to New Hampshire.”  I’m not trying to draw attention to the Huckabee agenda, but it seems that for the first winner of the political year, the pollsters and pundits spent too much time making excuses for the victory, or more time openly debating whether New Hampshire would be pocketed by McCain or Romney.

With John Edwards placing second in Iowa, one would have thought that the emphasis wouldn’t have necessarily moved into a two person New Hampshire primary, the two “persons” being Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton.

I have repeatedly voiced my opposition to the media bias.  But, as we move towards Super Tuesday, it seems that the polls are following the voices of the pollsters and pundits.  In fact, if we take a close look at the overview going into the big day, we may as well be talking about the Final Four… Clinton, Obama, McCain, Romney.  The media has effectively taken Huckabee and Paul out of the race, whether there was a shot in the dark from either of them or not.

During the last Republican debate, Anderson Cooper focused his attention and all the strategic questions toward McCain and Romney.  In fact, Mike Huckabee sounded like the echo of John Edwards in his last debate, constantly reminding the moderator that there were more than two candidates on the stage.  Of course, I can’t ignore the fact that as much as I like Anderson Cooper, he is not the person to moderate a debate.  He looks too soft and is entirely too polite.  Where is Ted Koppel when you need him? 

Maybe weeding out the field is the job of the media.  But, shouldn’t it be the job of the people?  All the people?

As we approach Super Tuesday the media has successfully choked the life from John Edwards, at least as far as a bid for the White House.  Prior to that, they squeezed Biden, Dodd, Richardson, and Kucinich.  Perhaps, they would have fallen by the wayside on their own, but the lack of media coverage was the strangle hold.  Rudy suicided himself.  He was no where around to collect any coverage.

With the field whittled down to two and four, the Republicans can expect attrition to set in no later than Wednesday.  By Ash Wednesday, the field should be narrowed to two and two. 

Okay, so the pollsters and pundits have made the picks for us, down to the Final Four.  But, now we must proceed with more caution than ever.  The media realizes that peer pressure works, even on adults, especially the voters.  And, with each passing day the coverage will probably become more and more slanted towards their choice for the Finals.  Broadcast news will subtly slip in bits of spin that will lead us down the path of least resistance.  And, believing that our neighbors are for one candidate or another, we will begin to form our opinions and cast our votes in order to live up to the media expectations.

A long time ago I read an article called “Pygmalion in Management”.  Today it could be rewritten as “Pygmalion in Voting”.  The premise was precise.  The study bore it out.  We tell a group of people what we expect from them and they live up to, or down to, our expectations.

Regardless of whomever tops the leader boards on Super Tuesday, we must begin to rely on the issues and the policy positions to determine our November votes.  We vote in private for a reason.  We are not forced to vote for any particular candidate.  The choice is ours.  By casting our individual votes each of us is investing in the collective future of the country.  We cannot buy into the idea that the pollsters and pundits are expressing universal views.  They, too, have an agenda and that is to get the candidate elected that they choose, even if it means selling the candidate to us so we will cast our votes for him (or her).  Buyer, beware.

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