Changing Political Landscape

How to explain the miniscule
to negligible boost Kerry got form giving
the "speech of his life" at the Democratic Product Rollout last Thursday.  Was
the show really so boring that nobody was watching it? Have all of the
people who intend to vote already made up their minds? Is anybody but
us paying attention?

Apparently not may people were.  TV
ratings were the lowest on record, even though the networks were
broadcasting only an action-packed hour of political rhetoric per night.
The Dowbrigade has little sympathy, however, for the party hacks who
were bemoaning the lack of prime-time network TV coverage.

That’s what happens when you try to stage professional wrestling without
the violence, plot lines or naked flesh. It made C-Span feel like a cliffhanger.  If
you want to improve ratings, guys, try hanging the losing candidates
from their heels, or let the candidates wives have at it in a pool of
vegetable oil. Give fabulous floor prizes, and let viewers at home win,
too. Get with it.

The network spurned us whine won’t hold up anyway.  Two-thirds
of American households have cable or satellite TV these days, and for
them gavel to gavel coverage was only a click away. In fact, the absence
of network coverage only affected the 33% of the population without cable,
a group consisting largely of unemployed wastrels and the super educated
who actually read books.  The first group doesn’t vote, and the
other has already made up their minds.

We have created a rowdy, sex-obsessed wired electorate with the attention
span of a hyperactive six-year-old. If you want to involve them in the
political dialog you are going to have to speed things up considerably,
change your vocabulary and use lots of special effects.