Political rant

The cable news shows are abuzz with Oprah's events for Obama this weekend, but of the 60K people who attended in South Carolina, most have never voted and most probably won't next year either. We love our celebrities a whole lot more than we care about our government.

In the report I heard, they were doing a man (or rather, woman) on the street thing, and one woman who had the microphone stuck in her face said that she attended because, though she's a Republican, she didn't like any of the candidates so she was looking at the Dems. I was struck by the absurdity of this - how can she call herself a Republican and at the same time consider candidates like Obama who represent the polar opposite of everything that Republicans stand for in terms of the role of government and government priorities. It just proves that the platforms of the parties are irrelevant to the vast majority of people (who bother to vote at all), who (I believe) make their choice based almost exclusively on personality. This is at least partly a result of the way that the media cover the political contests, with much emphasis on money and on various irrelevant faux pas (speaking sharply to an audience member, getting an expensive haircut, not leaving a tip for a waitress), instead of covering with any regularity the substance of the candidates' positions, policies and priorities. I've said it before and will no doubt say it again: IT'S A CRAZY WAY TO PICK THE LEADER OF THE FREE WORLD.