In the newspaper editor endorsement race, which is just causing Kos and his readers to hug themselves and levitate like Doggie Daddy with a new biscuit. The endorsement list is here. If this isn't a poignant example of the difference between the wishful-thinking left and the reality-checking right, I don't know what is. All the left needs to do is get the endorsement of the shepherds and the sheep will follow. It's a simple paradigm, so for them the fact that the media are in Kerry's corner almost obviates the need to actually hold an election. It's over, pretty much.
There's something about the naiveté of this orientation that's charming. It reminds me of a Russian roommate I had a few years ago. I taped an interview with him for a class project in order to document his views on the environment, and it was quite an eye-opener. For instance, when I asked him what ought to be done about water pollution he said that the problem had already been solved. He seemed quite dismissive of the idea, so I asked what he meant. He told me that he saw drinking fountains everywhere at the local Junior College and in our apartment building, and had concluded that they had all been fitted with filters to remove contaminants. No one had told him this was the case, and he hadn't actually seen any filters, but because the idea had occurred to him he was sure it must also have occurred to the authorities. And since that was the case they had undoubtedly already implemented his idea. The notion that the government was no smarter, and quite possibly dumber, than he was, just hadn't entered his head. When I told him that there probably weren't any filters in the drinking fountains he was crestfallen. You could almost see the house of cards start to tumble.
And like my Muscovite roommate some statist types, especially of the reality-challenged Kos persuasion, seem to assume that their task is merely to convince a few media pundits and all else will follow, as the world turns. One wonders why we bother with the electoral college. Just let Cronkite decide. But I'd like to see some studies indicating that endorsements from daily newspapers translate into votes, before I advise the President to start his concession speech. I'm sure that once-upon-a-time newspaper endorsements changed minds, but I doubt if it was recently. And it's not even as though all daily editors endorse Kerry. It's more like 60%, or something. That's a lot of faith placed in the omnipotence of a few artful dodgers at the margin. Anyway Kerry must surely be feeling pretty confident, so don't anyone mention that the credibility of MSM isn't exactly surging. Perhaps Kerry will enter tomorrow's debate secure in the false impression that the serfs have finally been put in their place.
Let's hype it.
Seriously, act like it matters. We may need every edge we can get.
Posted by Demosophist at October 13, 2004 03:01 AM | TrackBack