Great minds discuss ideas.
Average minds discuss events.
Small minds discuss people.
-Eleanor Roosevelt
I submit the following two part argument.
PART ONE
The mainstream media feeds America a steady diet of people, with a dash of events, and not ideas. Scandals, polls, soundbytes, but not meaningful reviews of policy initiatives or discussions about the dry details of politics, and certainly not deep, thoughtful examinations of ideologies. They focus on gossip and drama. For example, as the fight over the FISA bill raged this week, Spitzer and his whore hogged the headlines.
Unfortunately, Barack Obama wanted to talk about ideas, and very abstract ones at that. The media was hesitant, because ideas don't sell papers. Gossip does. The longer this was an election about speeches about vague things like reconciliation and hope and changing the future, the tougher it would be for the MSM to keep their readers/watchers interested.
Enter Hillary Clinton's "kitchen sink" approach. The media was given a way out, a golden opportunity to sell papers/magazines, get more clicks, etc. Hallelujah, the election continues, AND it's no longer about ideas and other boring material. Now it's Jerry Springer with ballots. The "kitchen sink" of character assassination gives the media an excuse to turn this into a discussion about people, with a dash of events, and not ideas. Every time Clinton or Obama swipe at each other, an editor doesn't have to publish a story about ideas. The great minds starve and the small ones gorge.
PART TWO
Imho, the greatest thing about Daily Kos has always been the discussion. Both the front page and the community diaries provided raw, brutally honest commentary on battles that the MSM chose not to cover. The inherent democratization of the place allowed for a potluck of liberal ideology, people chipping in news items that covered ideas, events and people --- all three, existing in harmony. It was a bustling meritocracy that allowed great minds to mingle. I learned more from reading discussions between DKos resident geniuses than I ever did in any poli sci class. By my watch, that lasted up until about summer '07, when the impeachment debates gave way to primary wars.
At first, the primary wars were civil discussions, weren't even 'wars' really and it was still a lot of interesting, informative reading. Unfortunately, we gradually became entangled in the MSM narrative; my guess is it was because folks got so obsessed with winning they became like activist pundits on behalf of their candidates, but I digress. However it happened, we're now stuck in the same cycle of "he said, she said" that everybody else is dealing with, and getting sick of by the day. Daily Kos is no longer special. It's not a refuge from the MSMBS, it's become an amplifier. We're stuck in a quagmire of a discussion about people, with a dash of events, and not ideas.
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In conclusion, the neverending campaign is damaging for America, but it's especially hurtful for people who want to pay attention to politics all the time, i.e., us. Imho, it's almost a catch-22: you can't improve politics without paying attention, but paying attention requires following the news, but the MSM narrative is destructive for politics. The blogosphere offers the potential to get around it, to build a better discourse, but only if we work at it. We've clearly been lagging lately.
So I'm going to be more careful about hitting the "recommend" button from now on and I hope you will, too.