I don't know how you responded to last night's debate. But watching one channel, satisfied I had seen another Obama drubbing of a fidgety, shifty McCain, I was bewildered by what the pundits said.
So I clicked channels, and saw them saying more or less the same thing on another channel. And another. McCain was aggressive, feisty, challenging...
Couldn't take anymore so I tried the Internet.
There, at last, was the debate I had seen. Obama winning, except among the Republican faithful. McCain, angry, annoyed, with demonstrative clips.
Later on, tv got around to reporting what the blogs had already done. But it took a few hours.
This morning, the same thing happened, only on radio.
NPR and local news were filled with stories lionizing Joe the Plumber. I couldn't believe that anyone would be naive enough to think that Joe the Plumber was anything but a stunt orchestrated by a campaign that can't win with politics so it must play stunts. As if the veep herself wasn't a stunt!
And then, here on the Internet was the story that mainstream media is at last getting around to covering. Joe the Plumber voted McCain in the primary. Joe the Plumber doesn't have a license to plumb. Joe the Plumber owes back taxes.
Again, later in the day, radio started to report what the blogosphere had seemingly instantly.
My broader question is---these mainstream media folks---what do they do all day that they seem to follow and not lead the blogosphere, the news cycle itself?
It's not like they're asking hard-hitting questions of candidates, or anything.
I got nothing else, only appreciation. As a political junkie, I'm damn glad for the State of the Internets of 2008. Sure, it's killing newspapers. But it now seems to be right on the heels of broadcast media in general.
