Josh Marshall: Politics can never be separated from policy

[kpete]

The Deal with Palin
Josh Marshall | January 20, 2011, 1:21AM

...........

Frequently a reader will write in to say, "Why are you giving her so much attention? You're just pumping her up. If you and the other places would stop giving her so much oxygen, she and her whole circus would just wither away."

.............Palin is such a big deal because she's got a chunk of the political nation that is very, very into her. She's resonates deeply with her core supportes. She's one of those people who cuts an electric figure on the public stage because she slices right through the society and generates one intense response from one side and a completely opposite but equally intense response from the rest. And she says, let's be honest, a lot of really crazy stuff.

This is actually a real blind spot for liberals in general -- the idea that things that are crazy or tawdry or just outrageous are really best ignored. Don't give them more attention. You're just giving them what they want. Or maybe it's not so practical and utilitarian. Maybe, they say, it's just beneath us. Focus on the important stuff.

On so many levels this represents an alienation from the popular political culture which is not only troubling in itself but actually damages progressive and center-left politics in general no end. It's almost the fatal flaw. Democrats often console themselves that even when they don't win elections, usually their individual policies are more popular than those of Republicans. Too bad you can't elect a policy. It's true for instance that Health Care Reform -- which still has more opponents than supporters -- is pretty popular when you ask people about its individual components. But why is that? It's not random, because that pattern crops up again and again. It's another one of the examples where liberals -- or a certain strain of liberalism -- focuses way too much on the libretto of our political life and far too little on the score. It's like you're at a Wagner opera reading the libretto with your ear plugs in and think you've got the whole thing covered.

Politics can never be separated from policy, unless you're in a political science class or getting a Phd in health care economics. The two are inextricably combined. And any attempt to pry them apart in a deep way is not only hopeless but also deeply wrongheaded.

the rest:
http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/2011/01/the_deal_with_palin.php#more?ref=fpblg

[kentuck]

1. Thanks for posting this.

Those that ask why people watch Joe Scarborough or listen to Limbaugh should read this link.

[vi5]

3. The difference is.....

Places like TPM are actual places whose job it is to report things and drive traffic to their sites and then be able to cover other stories.

What people like myself don't get is why people who don't have or need any of those things watch crap like Morning Joe. Sorry, but people watching Morning Joe and posting "OMG MIKA MOUSE IS SUCH A RIGHT WING TROLL!!!" or "MORNING JOE SCAB IS SHILLING TODAY FOR THE REPUBLICANS!!!!!" on DU are not reporters and are not providing anything useful to anyone.

[kentuck]

4. So if we want to know what the other side is talking about...

we should not go to DU. We should go elsewhere?

It might pollute our beautiful minds?

[vi5]

5. I don't watch/listen to a single one of those shows....

Yet I manage to know what the other side is talking about. Again, places like TPM, Media Matters, or any number of other places on the internet with actual reporting and details and background all lay out the relevant talking points of the day in a streamlined manner and are paid to do so. Anyone not paid to do so watching those shows, is just feeding in to their crap and lending them even more legitimacy than they deserve. The absurd amount of posts on here about it serve zero purpose to anyone, except to make the posters who do it feel all warm and fuzzy like they are intrepid reporters serving some grand purpose and informing people about what is going on. Which would be fine if they actually were, but the nature of the posts with their ranting and raving with no details and getting all riled up at a show which something like less than .25% of America watches.

People who watch stuff like Morning Joe do so for the same reason people watch professional wrestling or Survivor or other crappy reality shows. It gets them fired up and angry at a scripted narrative being passed off as real. Which is fine. It's a free country and a free message board. Have at it. But let's not make it out to be something it's not, and let's not pass it off as some sort of necessity to civic responsibility.

[Loudmxr]

2. Policy has become separated from Law. That is why the big guys walk.

[eridani]

6. SNL really did Palin in back in 2008

What we need is more of that kind of thing.