Whether liberal or conservative, most pundits argue that this week's elections portended
changing political tides going into the 2010 midterm elections. But a contingent of the political punditry
warns we're reading way, way too much into idiosyncratic local, not national, elections. Now as the coverage on the meaning of the elections reached feverish heights, so did the exasperation of media critics who just couldn't take
it any more.
-
100,000 Pounds of Bullshit The Daily Show's Jon Stewart hilariously lambastes
the media's over-reaching narratives. "Vote or keep going about your
day," he titles the segment, riffing off the "vote or die" meme of
2004. "Really, these random and somewhat eccentric grab-bag of
elections are not only a referendum on the last election but predictive
of elections several years in the future?" he asks. "Might the media,
with really very few other elections to cover, be stuffing 100,000
pounds of their bullshit into District 23's five-pound bag?"
- We Need The Page Views Ezra Klein fesses up. "The problem with all this is that last night's elections weren't a
big enough sample size to say anything definitive, or even particularly
suggestive. Two governorships changed hands. Two House seats changed
hands. But we in the political press still need to write stories today,
and you out there in the audience generally deliver greater numbers to
our advertisers when we write about elections, so here we are."
- The Next Balloon Boy Kevin Drum rolls his eyes.
"I understand that everyone wants to spin yesterday's election results
in the best possible light for their side, but the sheer volume of yak
is astonishing. Was there this much postgame analysis after the
off-off-year elections in 2005 or 2007?" he asks. "In any case, jeez,
can we all get a grip? [...] Everyone needs to turn down the dial
before this election becomes the balloon boy of politics."
- 'Joe Biden Must Resign' Duncan "Atrios" Black skewers
the media spin that yesterday's election was a referendum on President
Obama's policies and that the two governors races proved him unpopular.
"Deep Thought: After tonight's elections results, Joe Biden must
resign, Sarah Palin
must be confirmed as his replacement, and then Barack Obama must
resign. The people have spoken."
- 'Just Hopeless' John Cole is incredulous. "A Question: Ever, in the history of the country, have
state Governor’s races not even in a midterm election year, but one
year into an administration, been portrayed as a referendum on the
President," he asks.
"Could Chuck Todd
explain to me how many votes in Congress for health care reform Chris
Christie and McDonnell have? Our media is just hopeless." Cole adds: "I'd be hard pressed to draw any conclusions from yesterday other than that Sarah Palin is still a loser."
- Liveblogged Descent Into Madness Wonkette's Jim Newell got a little carried away
liveblogging last night's media coverage, which he notes tended to
over-emphasize the national stakes. "Lou Dobbs hints that there could
be a repudiation of the Obama Agenda
in '40 states.' There aren’t even that many states in Mexico, Lou
Dobbs! [...] Jessica 'Hologram' Yellin is reporting from on the ground,
in Virginia,
and she brings with her a scoop! 'How are people voting? It depends on
who you talk to.' NO! It is either out of love or hate for Barack
Obama, in Washington. [...] Chris Matthews! WHY DON’T PEOPLE LIKE OBAMA
THEY HATE BUSH THEY’RE DIFFERENT WHAT IS THIS. [...] He adds (to
paraphrase), 'you can’t just ask Rahm Emanuel for pancakes
and expect, what was it, pancakes, you can’t expect those pancakes the
goddamn pancakes from Rahm.' [...] Pat Buchanan doesn’t blame this
likely loss in Virginia on Obama! He will be fired from the media."
Want to add to this story? Let us know in comments
or send an email to the author at
mfisher at theatlantic dot com.
You can share ideas for stories on the Open Wire.
User Comments
Please type your comment and click Post. If you’re not already logged in you will be prompted to log in or register