Inessentials: The Blog

Here are a list of politics-related things that get talked about far too much for their worth. They are things that I really don’t care about. I almost hate to repeat them, since they’re already too talked about, but I’m hoping it helps to say that we should turn our attention to other things.

• How much money the RNC spent on Palin’s wardrobe and makeup. (Like all candidates, she needs packaging. For various reason, in our society it’s more expensive for women than men. So what?)
• Whether or not a particular program is “socialist.” (Either it’s a good idea or a bad idea, the label doesn’t matter.)
• Just about anything that gets Andrew Sullivan really worked up. (Who is the real mother of Trig Palin? Really? You want the campaign to issue a statement about your baseless speculation?)
• Whether Obama served on the same board as a reformed terrorist. (If William Ayers was ever a terrorist, he’s now a reformed terrorist. Shouldn’t that be the goal for all terrorists – turning them into Citizens of the Year?)
• Whether McCain was disrespectful to Obama in the debates by not looking him in the eyes. (With all the stuff they talked about and disagreed about, is this really what matters? I don’t buy the argument that this somehow shows McCain is a poor leader.)
• The fact that both candidates have gone negative. (Isn’t half of campaigning explaining why the other person is wrong? Why is that off-limits? The real issues are whether the attacks are (a) truthful, (b) important, and (c) a distraction from the attacker’s lack of positions. I’m also bothered by some people’s feeling that because both campaigns are running negative ads they are somehow equally bad, when some of the charges are much more disgusting than others.)
• Who I’d rather hang out with/bowl with/have a beer with. (I’m not voting for a neighbor, I’m voting for POTUS and POTUS-in-waiting. Why should likability or relatability matter at all (except insofar as it might help them push their agenda through Congress)?)
• What Matt Drudge, CNN, Fox News, MSNBC, or any other pundit showing up on TV has to say (partial exemption for PBS). (There’s no analysis happening on TV. Try Obsidian Wings or The American Conservative for decent analysis from the left and the right, respectively.)
• That your news organization commissioned a poll. (I’ve refrained from paying attention to any polls not filtered through the compilers over at 538.)

I’m sure there’s more, but you get the idea.