It’s sort of perfect that Howard Fineman is providing a take on Al Gore’s assertion that the removal of reason from politics is a really big deal these days.

Fineman, of course, is smack dab in the middle of the problem; namely that politics has been turned into a sport and political analysis is a profession focused solely on that sport (not on the issues).

The selling of the Iraq war, the nonsensical obsession with religion in relation to major secular decisions, the absurd presidential press conferences – none of these things are covered on an issues basis by these guys. It’s all about who scored the most political points. Bush can win the game even if he ruins the country. And we can all root for our sides regardless of the fact that we really don’t like them much. It’s sports. Yeah, the Warriors are sore losers and behave a bit like thugs. But I am a Warriors fan, so go team.

Don’t get me wrong. I love that shit. I too am more interested in the wording and strategies of dudes like Frank Luntz than I am in Sunnis. While we’re on the topic, I like listening to Howard Fineman.

And that makes me (like most political bloggers) part of the problem too. Anyone want to stop for a second and realize that this administration has been BETTER able to dupe the American public during this blog heavy internet age?

You’ll know we’re back on the right track when you see a leader give a speech and you choose to turn off the television before anyone has the chance to tell you whether he/she scored any major political points.

In the meantime, I will be spending this period (when we are in a terribly destructive war, debating immigration policies that take us back several decades, see our relationship with Russia – a country with a few more WMDs than Iraq – sliding back even more decades, etc) providing my takes on the takes of a television pundit who is providing his takes on a former politician who was the right hand man of the hall of fame champ of winning the sport of politics.

Dan Benjamin recently gave an excellent talk at a Rails conference. While his focus was on the creation of a site using Rails, it has a ton of useful tips for anyone who wants to create a site and it’s now available for download. Good stuff. Purty pictures.

NBC had a bad ratings season. Well, it was bad other than their hit show Heroes. So how do they respond?

Oh come on, you know. Next season we are gonna get a hell of a lot of shows with supernatural themes.

At least Friday Night Lights made the cut. I just hope that doesn’t mean an alien is going to be playing middle linebacker.

What happens when you try to convince members of the press that anything approaching skepticism is the equivalent of treason and that the patriotic thing to do is to write down what the administration is leaking regardless of the fact that none of the dots seem to connect?

It works.

It works so well that is utterly depressing and in some ways marks a significant threat to this little republic of ours.

If you haven’t seen Bill Moyers report on the press and the Iraq war, do so immediately and tell others to do the same.

Imagine a room filled with White House journalists. The President has a list of pre-approved questions to be asked in a pre-approved order. Everyone knows that’s the score. Yet, as soon as W finishes answering one question, everyone in the press corps raises their hands, suggesting that they may be called on next. They all know it’s just an act.

That happened during a critical, primetime press conference. Who represents your interests in that scenario?

Now extend that “teamwork” between the administration and those supposedly tasked with keeping them honest as far as you can possibly imagine.

OK, you’re about a 10th of the way there.

We’re not talking about life risking war zone get the truth at any cost reporting here folks. We’re talking about taking the time to do a simple review of the widely available information. You won’t believe it when you hear just how basic were the efforts put forth by a few excellent journalists from Knight Ridder.

If only Saddam had been accused of fathering Anna Nicole’s baby – we may have gotten some deeper coverage. A crappy and dishonest administration, a weak press corp, a happily uninformed public.

Terrible.

All aggressive lobbyists totally suck. But some suck more than others:

“The National Rifle Association is urging the Bush administration to withdraw its support of a bill that would prohibit suspected terrorists from buying firearms.”