The Whoresrace

No, not that one.

I have heard enough of the predictions and partial returns of the presidential primaries.  The candidates, at least, are the hardest working whores in the race. 

The whores in question are the media whores who spend hour upon hour punditing the “the horserace” that is the primary election. As a regular listener to both talk radio and viewer of cable news, the non-stop blabbering to which we have been exposed has been cheap, lazy, and utterly devoid of real passion for the very serious issues at play.  Instead, it was decided by both the media and their supplicants, and, most probably, the Democratic Party itself, that a Clinton/Obama race would make good soap opera, and, thus, for a year, a script was written that has been played out consistently:  “General Brothel”…

The decision has been, for all intents and purposes, taken away from the voter, because most people don’t have the radio tuned to their local Air America affiliate all day, or MSNBC every night, or, for that matter, any of the valuable websites dedicated to intellectual discourse, including this one.  Tacit visitation was given to Kucinich and Edwards, but even if one were tuned in to those radio and television stations, what breadth of information were they really receiving in order to make a truly informed decision in this race? 

There is so much talk about the mechanics of the race, the poll numbers, as if they were “brackets” on an all-star game, rather than issues, that people are left making decisions based on meaningless personality issues and the behavior of campaign staffs.  Scarcely a word has been uttered – and I tune in to an inordinate amount of such chatter – about real policy positions.

At least online, there has been real discussion of the ongoing economic collapse, the actual veteran’s issues, the stories behind the daily number of dead in Iraq, the corrupt and ineffective health insurance catastrophe.  Unfortunately, the remaining candidates’ websites don’t give as much insight.

Try finding, for example, Obama or Clinton’s policy on Gay Rights issues. I picked it and tried to look it up.   Good luck.  Edwards had pages of specifics on it.  Clinton has nothing.  Obama has a pro-forma ethereal “everyone deserves respect” paragraph.  Yet, isn’t this the very matter that, God knows, has been used to death to fight and win elections, and has been left virtually undiscussed by the media – even our “progressive” media. 

Then suddenly, for two weeks, the hardcore drive-time 5pm – 7pm slot on L.A.’s KTLK got filled by “Frangela” the nom d’etage of Frances Callier and Angela V. Shelton.  And get this: they are two brilliant, informed, funny and sassy women.  I thought a miracle had happened, because from these two, I heard more specifics on candidate’s issues in two weeks than I’ve heard in two months on the rest of the lineup.  (I will exclude Thom Hartmann from that stab, but his approach is rather dry and academic, so it’s not speaking to the broader audience seeking humor with their information).  But, alas, Frangela were being test – marketed, and have been scuttled back to a once-on-Saturdays spot. 

So, the race is back in the mouths of the rest of the whores (with apologies to Miss Lewinsky).  Next time you call in, let it be known you want discussion about the specific issues and stands of the candidates, not who has one or two more delegates today, or utterly pointless speculation about who’s going to pick up a delegate next week.  Only we can force the media – and thus the candidates – to shape up.