Opinion: Panel of ex-perts
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| In September I attended the Values Voter Summit sponsored by an affiliate of the conservative Family Research Council. Among the speakers was former Reagan education secretary, virtuecrat and gambler Bill Bennett. Bennett, a more erudite Bill O’Reilly, galvanized (as they say in political reporting) the faithful with a speech accusing Barack Obama of being insufficiently patriotic. | |
| Flash forward to Wednesday night, when Bennett appeared as part of a gaggle of ‘political contributors’ on CNN’s coverage of the third debate between Obama and John McCain. Another panelist was Donna Brazile, the former Al Gore campaign manager who played pundit in the primary season despite being a Democratic super-delegate. This morning I woke up to read in The Wall Street Journal a campaign analysis by that well-known pundit Karl Rove. | |
| Is it just me, or are we seeing a new revolving door through which political operatives leave government or the campaign trail and are snapped up as ‘analysts,’ only to be asked to assess the performance or message of their erstwhile comrades-in-arms and opponents? Forget the ethical issue; partisans cast in the role of pundits make for Must-Not-See-TV, predictable and borrrr-ing. (Gee, I wonder what Bennett thought about McCain’s performance....) | |
| I wouldn’t insist on an absolute rule barring political types from ever morphing into journalists or commentators. Ex-Clinton aide George Stephanopoulos seems to have made the transition credibly after a decent interval, and Pat Buchanan was a polemicist before his quixotic campaigns for president. But, seriously, what’s the point of asking partisans -- ‘retired’ or otherwise -- to hold forth about a candidate from the opposite party? | |
Apparently CNN thinks a panel of political plumpers and has-beens qualifies as ‘all-star talent’ (a term used in the press release promoting its coverage). If that’s entertainment, I’m Joe the Plumber Photos (top to bottom): Alex Wong/Getty Images; AP Photo/Gerald Herbert (file); AP Photo/Charlie Neibergall; ABC Inc./Steve Fenn; and AP Photo/Lori King |