Political Twilight Zones

By Alan Caruba

Those of an older generation may still remember the popular television show, “The Twilight Zone.” It featured spooky stories every week about people encountering events that defied reality.

Well, the campaigns have entered their own twilight zones in which reporters, commentators, pollsters, and those whose business it is to be interested in such events will talk themselves blue in the face while the rest of us turn the dial, searching for anything else to pass the time.

Serious public interest will not reoccur until Friday, September 26, the date of the first presidential debate between Sen. John McCain and Sen. Barack Obama. Between now and then the candidates will be touring obscure towns in the so-called “battleground” States, hoping to gin up some excitement.

The real excitement, of course, is the fact that the kids have finally gone back to school. Their little dramas will be main agenda for most parents. Older ones will have departed for college, allowing for the fumigation of their rooms. Then, too, the football season, college and professional, has begun.

Meanwhile, for pure entertainment value, watching the left go completely insane over Gov. Sarah Palin provides more than enough fun for political junkies; those losing their wits and those watching them come unglued. The entire nation will tune in for the October 2nd vice presidential debate. It will be followed by two more presidential debates; one on October 7 and the next on October 15.

After that we all get to wait around for Election Day on November 4th, a day on which at least half the registered voters will not vote. This is a trend dating back to the 1960s.

Already, though, Sen. Obama looks like he just doesn’t care that much anymore. He’s fairly robotic these days, completely predictable as he responds to various events, and suffering from being “too cool for the room.” People are beginning to suspect he’s just too cerebral for the job. His supporters are more like teenagers going through their first real crush or Democrat pols doomed to endlessly repeat, “the failed years of the Bush administration.”

By contrast, Sen. McCain looks like he is having a great time. Gov. Palin looks like she’s hunting big game on the campaign trail. Who knew that Republicans could get this energized?

It’s not that Americans don’t enjoy politics. We do, but we also know that staying in a state of constant excitation over everything either candidate has to say is a waste of energy.

Probably the best part of the whole campaign is the way the mainstream media, like drug-crazed addicts, continue to debase what little credibility they have left. Aside from their economic problems—the loss of their classified advertising base and the flight of other advertising dollars—the once great newspapers of the nation are self-destructing from such biased reporting that only their obituary pages offer any promise of accuracy.

It’s okay to ignore the campaign for the next two weeks or so. Those who intend to vote have made up their minds. Those that haven’t will likely forget to vote.