The resason the ellipsis sits at the end of the title of this post is that there is no real answer. The only thing faster and more predictable than one of Usain Bolt's sprints was the timing of the reactions to yesterday's Republican VP announcment. Seconds after the news was official on Romney's choice of Paul Ryan as VP (the news was out long before it was official) there was the expected avalanche of stories, tweets, etc... both praising and condeming Ryan. Expected. Predictable. And ultimately, well, ultimately part of a script that anyone reading this post could write.
The same will be true for the next month or so. Oh, we're going to have a resurgence of stories about Ayn Rand. She's this election cycle's Alaska. We knew she was there, just like we knew Alaska was a state, but now we have to scramble to find out about her. The only fun will be watching pundits misconstrue (both ignorantly and purposefully) her changing thinking about as much as Paul Ryan does. Actually, that meme may have already run its course. Rand ranks up there with Brecht and Stanislavski as one of the most often misunderstood European thinkers by Americans. (Note that Brecht and Rand immigrated to this country to become cultural icons and make real money.) But since she is so easily misinterpreted that means we can just talk in shortcuts and soundbites that demonize while at the same time propping her up on a pedastal. Her estate will be pleased.
As we near the run up to the conventions we'll hear the predictable predictions, polluted polling data, and pompous prognosticating that in the end... well, in the end will all amount to nothing. But stay tuned, after each convention we'll hear about the polls rising for each candidate, and then dismissed as post-convention bump. If there is no bump, or not a big enough bump, or too large of a bump, we'll hear that the election is over for one of the candidates. Those scripts have already been written. But never fear, soon after that we'll start hearing new memes about potential October suprises and polls narrowing accompanying the steady rhythm about disreputable ads and mudslinging that underscore any election cycle.
The potential good news is that I think we've just about run our course on dirt-dishing for this campaign now that both sides are calling each other murderers. About the only thing left to keep the ratings churning is sex. But the candidates running look too squeaky clean on that front. Although I guess the birthers are shifting their focus to talking Obama being gay. You don't need documents for that.
Maybe I'm wrong. Maybe we've run out of BS, lies by both sides, the supercilious, and the predictable. Maybe by the time October rolls around the candidates will actually have to talk about the issues.
I somehow doubt it.
