Pols and Polls

The debate-poll-primary model for US politics is severely broken.

I'm sick to death of polls. A Daily Show had Zogby on tonight and he basically had no excuse for why his polls were wrong going into the NH primary.

John Stewart's question, "Do polls influence the election?" was completely valid, and Zogby laughed it off.

To me, the answer is YES. Polls do influence the way people vote. Anything that is covered in the media is going to affect the way people think when they enter the voting booth. If Sen. Obama's supporters saw in a poll he had an 11-13% lead over Sen. Clinton, they probably decided to skip the primary.

The problem, like former President Bill Clinton said, is that the 24 hour news networks are constantly trying to beat each other with the newest information and they chase after the superficial crap no one cares about.

Don't talk to me about what dress Sen. Clinton is wearing. Don't talk about how articulate Sen. Obama is. Where do they stand on important issues? Don't just give me sound bites and attack ads.

The latest debate model of debate, debate, debate is the most contrived, nonsensical scheme of the media.

The general public is content to let Anderson, Blitzer, Hannity, et cetera tell them what they want to hear. These are the same dumbasses who covered Paris Hilton's release from jail, after all, and now we're letting them tell us how we should vote based on biased polls, farcical debates, and partisan rhetoric that they are all using to generate more ratings revenue?

The real problem is that people just aren't reading. There's no real journalism going on in the election. The media is just interviewing journalists from other outlets and calling them experts. It's sickening.

Of course, what everything boils down to is that it takes a lot of time and careful thought to pick a candidate. You have to research someone if you really want to make an informed decision.

My father said that Sen. Obama scares him. My dad is 69 years old and an avid fan of Faux News, the ones who accuse Obama of being everything from a liberal Christian, to a Musilim to a terrorist. I think my dad could like Obama if he didn't listen to the crap put out by the 24 hour media.

I urge everyone to perform their civic duties and carefully research and think about a candidate. Turn the television off and read through each candidate's web sites. Read the Washington Post, the Wall Street Journal, or something. Don't pick someone because of how they are portrayed on TV.