Some of the ideas in this diary are from Ezra Klein's article in
The American Prospect. I disagree with several things he says, but a couple of his many ideas are compelling to me - the Bulworth reference and the concept of disintermediation. I urge everyone read his piece.
http://www.prospect.org/...
1)
Bulworth (1998, written by, directed by and starring Warren Beatty):
The film follows the title character, California Senator Jay Billington Bulworth (played by Beatty), as he runs for re-election. After staying up for multiple days during a nervous breakdown, Bulworth takes out a murder-for-hire contract on himself. After his episode Bulworth can only tell the truth and, since he has nothing left to live for, begins an unorthodox political campaign, rapping and pointing out how little the people really matter to everyday politicians and touching upon such as racism, politicians playing the media, corporate-controlled government and even hints at campaign finance reform. Bulworth then takes off in the polls and decides to live. Unfortunately, he can't get the hit called off...
2) Margaret Carlson (journalist for Time, CNN, The New Republic, Los Angeles Times) on Imus in the Morning (10/10/2000) discussing the lies about Gore that she helped spread
Gore's fabrications may be inconsequential--I mean, they're about his life. Bush's fabrications are about our life, and what he's going to do. Bush's should matter more but they don't, because Gore's we can disprove right here and now...You can actually disprove some of what Bush is saying if you really get in the weeds and get out your calculator or you look at his record in Texas. But it's really easy, and it's fun, to disprove Gore...
[snip]
... I actually happen to know people who need government and so they would care more about the programs, and less about the things we kind of make fun of... But as sport, and as our enterprise, Gore coming up with another whopper is greatly entertaining to us. And we can disprove it in a way we can't disprove these other things.
3.) A fifty cent word:
disintermediation, as defined by Wikipedia.
In economics, disintermediation is the removal of intermediaries in a supply chain: "cutting out the middle man." Instead of going through traditional distribution channels, which had some type of intermediate (such as a distributor, wholesaler, broker, or agent), companies may now deal with every customer directly, for example via the Internet. One important factor is a drop in the cost of servicing customers directly.
So we have three things - the fictional story of a politician who decides to tell the truth; a journalist who admits that there is "sport" in destroying a superior presidential candidate; and a big word defined as taking out the middle man.
After the Supreme Court decided the 2000 presidential election, Al Gore left political office and has not returned. Over the past five years, Gore has become increasingly visible. With the 2008 presidential election only about 2½ years away, it's time to play guessing games about who will run.
Here's why Al Gore will run and win: Bulworth, Margaret Carlson, disintermediation
Since disintermediation means:
the removal of intermediaries
...we're going to remove the intermediary.
Bye bye Margaret. And bye bye to Margaret Carlson's lies.
Of course, Margaret Carlson is a symbol of the press corp, the MSM, the mainstream media, the punditocracy. She is the one who let the cat out of the bag when she said:
But it's really easy, and it's fun, to disprove Gore.
See, Margaret Carlson wasn't really supposed to tell us that. Because journalists are supposed to be objective - that's what they tell those journalism students. So, when the intermediary does damage, we are better served by removing them, or, to use that big word - we are better served by disintermediation.
Other than the Supreme Court, it was distortion from the media that prevented Al Gore from becoming president. And the outcome isn't small potatoes. The biggest difference - no war in Iraq. Al has said so. And I take him at his word on that.
Now, there was a politician in the 2004 election who had a bit of Bulworth in him. And that was Howard Dean. He was the guy who told it like it is. I think we can all pinpoint that tipping point - it's what the media likes to call the Dean Scream. Must of us now know the circumstances behind the scream - the media played an isolated audio channel that made it sound like Dean was nuts. In real-life Dean was just trying to be heard. Hmmm... it's the pesky intermediary again.
Ezra Klein of The American Prospect ruminates on this:
[Dean] was also running the way Gore wished he had run. The Dean campaign's architect, Joe Trippi, told me, "What I've learned from people who are close to Gore was that, had he gone in 2004, he had this vision of running a disintermediated, Internet-driven, decentralized campaign. His vision was the Dean campaign!
Gore wishes he ran the campaign that Dean ran. Gore, however, has much more going for him than Dean. To start with, he has a better resume. And, as for 2008, Dean is out of consideration. I am well aware that Gore has said he has no plans for a 2008 run. But Gore has done something that no other politician ha effectively done - he has removed the middle man.
On of the biggest slams against the Democratic Party and Nancy Pelosi is their complete disdain for the blogosphere. It's one thing when the MSM marginalizes us, but is another when our own party does so. Dean was the catalyst. And, ironically, it is Gore who initiated this Internet we are all using. He was at the forefront of disintermediation long before anyone else. He is the sole politician that not only believes in cutting out the middle man, but is actively doing so. He is going to speak the truth to the American people... just like Bulworth did. And luckily for us, he won't resort to rapping. He's going to do it via the Internet and via his television channel, Current. He has taken the first steps towards assuring us that we will no longer be made sport of by the Margaret Carlson's of the world.