Yesterday there were another trio of Republican primary contests. They were held in Minnesota, Missouri, and Colorado. The surprising thing about the results is not that Rick Santorum finished first in all three, it’s that anybody cares at all about these results.
There exactly zero delegates awarded last night. Santorum’s prospects for winning the nomination are no better today than they were yesterday. And for the record, yesterday he did not have a tea bag’s chance in Jello.
Nevertheless, the media is awash in speculation that this meaningless sweep of delegate-free states has somehow turned the election on its ear. They are openly challenging what they previously proclaimed was the inevitability of Mitt Romney. But come Super Tuesday they will see that Romney is just as inevitable as he ever was. Romney will be the GOP nominee. The only scenario in which that will not come to pass is if he makes a phenomenal mistake, or there is a brokered convention led by a conservative delegate revolt.
So why is the media carrying on this way? Because they are placing their priorities where they always place them – on money. Contested elections are a steaming swamp of melodrama. The only thing about these races that make them interesting enough for most people to follow is their entertainment value, and controversy = entertainment. Therefore, the networks do not want the race to be over because it would put an end to the reason that anyone is paying attention. They certainly are not watching to hear for the 47th time that Obama is an incompetent, Soros-funded, Muslim, Alinskyite. And they aren’t watching to learn the candidates’ positions on abortion or taxes.
The only reasons that viewers tune in are: 1) To witness a horrifying train wreck, or 2) To keep up with the horse race. Since no one but the candidates have any control over the potential for train wrecks, the media has to keep the fallacy of a fluid horse race alive in order to continue to draw an audience. Consequently, we have this pointless discussion of Santorum as a viable candidate with a real chance of winning the nomination. He doesn’t. Neither does Gingrich. Neither does Paul. And the media knows it.
The audience is being played by a marketing machine that is only concerned with how many impressions they can deliver for the next Appleby’s commercial. It is a pathetic rejection of the sort of honest journalism that should be informing people about the real issues in the race. The sooner that people stop being excited about irrelevancies like primaries that don’t award delegates and endorsements from clowns like Donald Trump, the sooner we can focus on what’s important and on what will actually have an impact on our lives.
As far as the audiences for the network nightly news shows, namely ABC NBC and CBS, those audiences are virtually catatonic anyway, if not technically brain-dead.
They’re just staring at their televisions out of habit, or because they’re bored and/or alone at that hour.
There is little else to explain why people would stare mindlessly at those well-groomed well-dressed talking heads prattling on inanely about whatever nothingness is being promoted today by the nothing candidacies of santorum and gingrinch and formerly hermain cain etc.
And so if the audience attends purely out of habit or boredom and expects nothing really, then be a good showman and give them what they want/expect, give them nothing.
I can’t be sure of what exactly the nightly network news shows are broadcasting nowadays, because I haven’t watched that crap in more than a decade (I broke that habit long ago), but I’ll take your word for it, that they’re broadcasting nothing of real use or of any informational value, because that’s how I remember them back in the Rather Jennings Brokaw days, and why would anything have changed since then.
If anything, it’s more proof that the republitards are nowhere near a unified force these days, too much schism, you got your evangelitards, and neo-conservatards, and your teatards and your libertardian/paultards. It used to be enough that they all just hated the “uppity darkie” that was in the white house, but not anymore.
You may be missing the point of why the corporate media gins up such a frantic and contested electoral horse race: the more the media creates the impression that anyone but Rmoney has a shot, the more money ALL of the candidates will think they need to spend on advertising (Rmoney to keep up, the also-rans because they are led to think they have a chance). And the more money that’s spent on political ads directly benefits–you guessed it–the corporate media and the companies that own them.
I didn’t miss the point, I just didn’t cover it in this article. I have elsewhere raised that exact point, noting that there is a sort of collusion between the media and political operatives.
I did an article on Rupert Murdoch giving the Republican Governor’s Association and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce (amongst others) millions of dollars that they would later give back to him by spending it on advertising on Fox News and other News Corp properties. Murdoch actually made a profit on his supposed charitable contributions.
You are right – that is still going on today. The press is raking it in from both sides – the ratings which translate into higher ad revenue, and the ad buys by campaigns. It’s incestuous and corrupt.
Another point: The real story about the Santorum victories that the corporate media somehow seemed to overlook is that the Republican party, especially in more rural areas, has been taken over by the Christian Right, especially the Dobson faction. Another story is that extremists like Santorum win Republican caucuses is because all the moderates have absquatulated from the Republican party, leaving only RW extremists who vote for the likes of Santorum.